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Votes at a glance: Key bills passed or moved during Arkansas Senate morning session
Summary
The Senate passed a slate of bills covering school discipline, medical staffing, public safety in schools, highway construction bonding, pension administration and ballot measure rules, and moved several controversial items to a later calendar. Vote tallies were read into the record where recorded.
The Arkansas Senate moved a number of bills during its morning business hour, approving legislation on school discipline and device rules, physician noncompete agreements, highway construction bonding, student-athlete sudden cardiac arrest prevention, school background-check waivers, and multiple housekeeping items affecting pensions and ballot measures. Several controversial measures were pulled or moved to a later calendar.
Highlights
- Senate Bill 142 (Deese): After the Senate concurred in an amendment that clarified definitions for school-issued devices and added exemptions for special events and concurrent classes, the Senate passed Senate Bill 142 (the bill described on the floor as creating the "bell to bell to sell to no sell act" and amending public school discipline policy requirements). The secretary recorded the final tally as 27 yeas, 1 nay and 1 present/not voting; the presiding officer announced the bill passed and directed enrollment.
- Senate Bill 139 (Boyd): The Senate passed legislation clarifying enforceability of covenants not to compete for certain licensed medical professionals. The bill received broad floor discussion about enforceability and business implications; the presiding officer announced the bill passed and it was transmitted to the House.
- Senate Bill 202 (Hickey): A bill to amend statutory bonding requirements for State Highway Commission construction projects passed on a recorded vote of 31 yeas, 0 nays.
- Senate Bill 226 (Ledding/Lehi): An update to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act to add basic CPR certification for school staff passed on a recorded vote of 31 yeas, 0 nays. Sponsors and committee witnesses said the change responds to concerns raised by the Arkansas Athletic Association and seeks to restore stronger student-athlete protections.
- Senate Bill 228 (Hammer): A bill aligning waiver treatment for nonlicensed school staff with licensed staff — so a granted local waiver need not be reapproved every five years unless the employee leaves and is rehired — passed 31 yeas, 0 nays.
- House and administrative bills: The Senate passed multiple house bills on third reading, including bills on instruction standards (House Bill 1060), pension administration and emergency clauses for local police and fire retirement systems (House Bill 1118 and House Bill 1119), and bills establishing a registry and expanded duties for dialysis technicians and novice teacher mentoring exceptions. Vote tallies where recorded on the floor included: House Bill 1060, 27 yeas and 6 nays; House Bill 1118 (emergency clause), 32 yeas and 0 nays; House Bill 1119 (emergency clause), 32 yeas and 0 nays; House Bill 1183 (dialysis patient care technician act, as amended), 32 yeas and 0 nays; House Bill 1189 (novice teacher mentoring amendment), 31 yeas and 0 nays. The Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act companion passed on a recorded vote of 24 yeas, 0 nays.
- Items pulled or postponed: Senate Bill 12 (King) was passed over to be taken up next week at the sponsor’s request. The presiding officer also accepted a motion to move Senate Bills 209 and 210 — characterized as controversial — to Monday’s calendar.
What remained procedural: Several committee reports, amendments and engrossing motions were handled by unanimous voice votes or by roll call; clerks read lists of members on each recorded vote for the official record.
Votes referenced here are the tallies as read into the Senate journal during the session.
