Credit Arkansas Senate
It’s now up to the Arkansas House to consider overriding a veto of a bill that would prohibit local police from enforcing federal gun laws in Arkansas. The Senate voted 21-12 Monday to override Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of Senate Bill 298.
In a letter to lawmakers announcing his veto Friday, the governor said the partnership between state and federal law enforcement is essential and breaking that would put the safety of Arkansans at risk.
Hutchinson also said because the bill would make current federal gun laws unenforceable on a state level, it would be unclear the impact that would have on current criminal proceedings.
Credit Arkansas Senate
A bill that could have allowed public and open enrollment charter schools to place limitations on teaching certain aspects about racism failed in a Senate committee on Monday.
By a vote of 4-3, the Senate Education Committee did not get the five votes needed to advance House Bill 1761.
The legislation, which underwent significant changes through an amendment process, would have given schools the ability to prohibit materials, lessons or teachings on racism that fell under a list of five ideas. Those included that an individual from any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or that the United States as a whole is systemically racist.
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Credit Arkansas Senate
A bill that would have prohibited public schools and state-supported higher education institutions in Arkansas from requiring educators refer to students by their preferred names or pronouns failed in a legislative committee on Wednesday.
The Senate Education Committee, through a voice vote, did not have the support needed to advance House Bill 1749 to the Senate, where if it passed again, would have gone to the governor.
Under the bill, an employee of a public school or a state-supported university would not be required to use a pronoun, title or other word to identify a student as either male or female when it is inconsistent with the student’s sex.
Credit Arkansas Senate
The Arkansas Senate has passed the appropriation for the state Department of Commerce for the 2021-2022 fiscal year after failing it on three previous votes.
Senators voted 28-2 on Wednesday, gaining one additional vote for the needed 27 to pass it. The Senate failed to pass the appropriation both on Monday and Tuesday.
Senators ultimately voted twice on Senate Bill 132 on Wednesday. The first vote gained 27 votes, but a motion to “sound the vote” by Republican Sen. Trent Garner of El Dorado caused the bill to fail again. Garner has said he would not vote for an appropriation for the department due to a lack of confidence in Commerce Secretary Mike Preston,