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Judiciary Committee passes series of bills, adopts amendments; key items indexed
Summary
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved multiple bills as amended, including SB 177 (electronic reporting/timeframes), SB 8 (narrowed protections on images of minors), HB 12‑34 (interstate compact fees), HB 12‑39 (warrantless searches of outbuildings under supervision), SB 169 (judicial terms cleanup), SB 7 (limited access for legislators to certain closed hearings), SB 86 (parent counsel funding cleanup) and SB 91 (waiver of TPR waiting period in best‑interest cases).
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a slate of bills on Thursday, adopting amendments where noted. The committee recorded motions and carried votes on the following items (motions were made and seconded on the record where indicated):
- SB 177 (Garner): Standardizes multiple offender‑reporting deadlines to a single five‑calendar‑day compliance window and removes the statutory option to mail data to the Arkansas Crime Information Center, reflecting the center’s move to an all‑electronic offender management system. Committee motion: do pass; motion carried.
- SB 8 (Garner, as amended): Sponsor narrowed the bill and added defenses (including a reasonable‑person ancillary‑use defense) and clarifications for use of images of minors; the Arkansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said the amendment was a substantial improvement and suggested an additional exception for historic images. Committee motion: do pass as amended; motion carried.
- HB 12‑34 (Cooper, Rep. Petty): Clarifies payment of fines and fees and cost levied by the interstate commission for adult offender supervision (interstate compact); committee motion: do pass; motion carried.
- HB 12‑39 (Cooper): Clarifies that the existing warrantless‑search waiver for offenders under supervision includes detached garages and outbuildings when those areas are effectively common areas for the supervised individual; committee motion: do pass; motion carried.
- SB 169 (Flowers, amended): Technical correction restoring statutory language about district court judge terms, including the next election cycle; amendment adopted and bill passed.
- SB 7 (Clark, as amended): Amendment adopted; bill creates a limited exception allowing legislators to attend certain closed health/welfare juvenile hearings for observation while preserving judicial authority to exclude them under rules of evidence/procedure; juvenile judges testified in support and the committee passed the bill as amended.
- SB 86 (Clark): Cleans up parent‑counsel payment rules by moving compensation from dollars‑per‑hour to contracts and shifts approval of the funding formula to the Arkansas Parent Counsel Commission; committee motion: do pass; motion carried.
- SB 91 (Clark): Allows a judge to waive the three‑year wait after a termination of parental rights (TPR) if the court finds waiver is in the child’s best interest; juvenile judges supported the change and the committee approved the bill.
Several bills were handled with only brief discussion and no public opposition recorded in the transcript. Where the transcript recorded specific movers or seconds, those names are noted in the committee record; full roll‑call tallies were not read into the record for every vote. The committee adjourned after a short procedural series of calendar moves.
