Committee approves two bills to track and broaden disability accommodations in Arkansas higher education

The Senate Education Committee voted to pass two higher‑education bills aimed at improving data and access for college students with disabilities.

HB 17‑28 would require the Arkansas Division of Higher Education (ADHE) to include counts of students who register for disability accommodations and cohort tracking for retention and graduation in its annual report. HB 17‑66 would expand the types of documentation institutions may accept when students request accommodations and require clearer, plain‑language descriptions of accommodation processes on campuses.

Why it matters: Lawmakers and advocates said the bills address a statewide lack of comprehensive data on postsecondary students with disabilities and seek to reduce administrative barriers that block access to accommodations. Supporters argued the measures will help policymakers and institutions know whether services are effective and where to target improvement.

What sponsors told the committee

Senator Brianne Davis, sponsor for the measures in the Senate, presented both bills and introduced Allison Guthrie, who testified on HB 17‑28 and HB 17‑66. Guthrie said there is “no publicly recorded, statewide data on any aspect of students with disabilities in higher education,” and urged the committee to “count us in.” She described both personal and research‑based reasons the bills are needed.

Guthrie said institutions should be required to report the proportion of students who register for accommodations and the retention and graduation rates for those cohorts. She also told the committee that many students encounter barriers in higher education because documentation requirements are onerous or out of date, and that expanding acceptable documentation would ease transition from K‑12: “This bill seeks to eliminate the barriers that it can. It expands documentation. So it would allow for previous IEPs to count, previous 504 plans to count as documentation… and would not require the reevaluation of a student's permanent disability.”

Committee exchange and clarifications

Senator Sullivan asked whether higher education institutions have transition processes when students move from K‑12 to college. Guthrie and Senator Davis explained the bills do not create new assessments but would begin tracking students who self‑identify and register for services at institutions. The bills rely on institutions’ existing disability services processes but seek uniform reporting and greater transparency about eligibility criteria and reasonable accommodations.

Several senators asked implementation and scope questions about documentation, the plain‑language disclosures required in catalogs and orientation, and whether institutions would have to proactively identify students (sponsors said they would not). The committee heard no public opposition.

Votes and outcome

For both HB 17‑28 and HB 17‑66 the committee moved the bills by voice votes after a motion to pass and passed both measures. Committee minutes record the outcomes as “You passed your bill.” No formal roll‑call tallies were recorded in the transcript.

Ending

Sponsors said they will work with institutions to implement reporting and documentation changes. Supporters framed the bills as incremental—focused on data collection and removing procedural barriers—rather than creating new program entitlements. The committee approved both measures to proceed to the next step in the legislative process.