Arkansas House approves simpler adjournment script in new house rule

Representative Terry Meeks, the committee’s senior House member, successfully pushed a change to the House’s adjournment procedure that shortens the traditional nine‑item recital used to preserve continuity of business. "The new adjourned motion will simply be that in accordance with house rule 33(m), I move we adjourn until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon," Meeks told the committee, adding that the change will “shorten it down to that nice short sweet sentence.”

Meeks said the procedural shift is intended to save time over the course of a session, noting that a few seconds saved each day becomes meaningful when multiplied across weeks. He also framed the change as easing the transition for the next senior member who will be asked to perform the adjournment script: "It also means that when I pass the torch down to Representative Kozart that he won't have to endure having to learn all 9 of those items," Meeks said.

Committee members asked about the rule’s flexibility. Representative McKenzie asked whether there had ever been an instance when the full preamble was not used; Meeks responded that the recital had been a long‑standing custom but that the proposed language preserves flexibility by allowing a mover to add exceptions if needed (for example, "in accordance with house rule 33(m), except for the fact that we're not gonna lay the calendars on the desk, I move we adjourn until 1:30 tomorrow"). Representative Dolby and others voiced support for the cleaner script.

The committee moved the measure as a "do pass" recommendation. After brief discussion and several members’ expressions of appreciation for Meeks’s daily adjournment tradition, the chair called for a voice vote. The committee recorded the voice response in favor and the chair announced passage of the rule change.

The rule change now appears to be set for consideration by the full House under the committee’s recommendation.