Committee amends public‑meetings definition to require more than two members for meeting protection; critics warn of daisy‑chain risk

Senate Bill 376 would amend the definition of "public meetings" in state law to specify that meetings of more than two members of a bureau, commission or agency qualify as public meetings for purposes of the Freedom of Information Act.

Sponsor Senator Clark told the committee the change was intended as a clarification; he and other senators discussed how the bill would interact with a separate measure considered earlier in the same session (which clarified other FOIA meeting rules). Proponents said the bill aims to provide a clearer threshold for when an assembly of members must observe public‑meeting rules.

Opponents and open‑government advocates said the change creates a potential loophole that would permit deliberation by serial one‑on‑one conversations (sometimes called a "daisy chain"). Robert Steinbach, the author of a treatise on the Arkansas FOIA, urged the committee to add language addressing serial communications to prevent circumvention; Andrew Bagley, president of the Arkansas Press Association, said the bill would "undo" the progress made earlier that day and warned it would invite abuse by some local governments that might use sequential one‑on‑one contacts to arrive at a collective decision outside public view.

Committee members discussed possible technical fixes — for example, specific language to prohibit intentional serial communications designed to evade public‑meeting rules — and several senators said they would work on an amendment. The committee adopted the bill as amended in committee; the transcript records an extended debate and that senators committed to continue drafting clarifying language to address the "daisy chain" concern.