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Votes at a glance: Action on multiple Judiciary Committee bills
Summary
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on a series of bills with mixed results: several measures passed and were advanced to the Senate, some failed, and one was pulled for rewrite. This roundup lists each bill handled during the hearing and its committee outcome.
On the session's Judiciary Committee calendar the panel acted on a number of bills with limited discussion, including several noncontroversial measures and a few contested items. Below is a concise list of committee actions recorded during the hearing.
Votes at a glance
- Senate Bill 325 — Sponsor: Senator Alan Clark. Subject: Judges' amendments were incorporated; committee adopted the amendment and passed the bill. Outcome: passed to the Senate (committee voice vote). (Transcript evidence: discussion beginning at the start of the hearing and vote recorded: "The bill passes.")
- Senate Bill 326 — Sponsor: Senator Alan Clark. Subject: Same package as SB 325 with additional AOC and juvenile judges' amendments; committee adopted the amendment and passed the bill. Outcome: passed to the Senate (committee voice vote).
- House Bill 1704 — Presenter: Seth Raimler, Arkansas Professional Firefighters; sponsor in Senate: Senator Clark. Subject: Prohibits adverse custody findings solely because a parent is a firefighter with a nontraditional schedule. Committee action: motion to pass adopted; bill passed out of committee.
- Senate Bill 277 — (See separate article) — Committee passed the bill and advanced it to the Senate after extended debate.
- Senate Bill 458 — Sponsor: Senator Greg Letting. Subject: Required consideration of adverse childhood experiences in transfer/sentencing (pulled for rewrite). Outcome: pulled for further work; no committee passage.
- Senate Bill 472 — Sponsor: Senator Josh O'Brien. Subject: Juvenile vaping violation in schools; allows up to 20 hours community service. Outcome: failed in committee (motion to pass did not carry).
- Senate Bill 487 — Sponsor: Senator Irvin. Subject: Juvenile court sealing/expungement clarifications for delinquency records; committee adopted a verbal amendment to add a House sponsor and then passed the bill as amended. Outcome: passed to the Senate.
- Senate Bill 490 — Sponsor: Senator Irvin. Subject: Waiver authority for juvenile registry fees when juveniles are ordered to register as required; committee passed the bill as amended. Outcome: passed to the Senate.
- House Bill 16609 (label in transcript: House Bill 16 69) — Sponsor: Representative Bentley. Subject: Statutory protections for faith‑based foster/adoption providers and religious exercise in placement decisions. Committee adopted an amendment requested by the Attorney General's office and passed the bill. Outcome: passed to the Senate.
Notes on procedure and vote recording
Most committee actions were conducted by voice vote; the transcript records outcomes (passed/failed/pulled) but does not include roll‑call tallies for individual members. When a bill was amended and passed as amended, the amendment and final passage are noted in the transcript. For several items (SB 325/326, HB 1704, SB 487, SB 490, HB 16‑69) discussion was brief and supportive; others drew extended testimony and debate and are covered in separate articles.
