More ‘good’ bills from 91st session; many adjustments
As promised, here are some more of the good bills that have been made into law. As of April 13, 1,113 Acts have been signed into law by Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Such good bills are:
• Act 419 — Prohibiting improper sexual conduct between a probation or parole officer and a person being supervised on probation, parole or other court-ordered reasons.
• Act 420 — To amend the law concerning a county treasurer’s commission.
• Act 427 — To require that any increases in professional development funding each school year be used for professional learning communities.
• Act 429 — Concerning criminal victim notifica- tion; and concerning the release of a person who committed a criminal act and was adjudicated to have a mental disease or defect.
• Act 430 — To protect citizens who are victims of judicial ethics violations; to create a cause of action against judges and justices who have been convicted of certain offenses; and to create an exception to judicial immunity.
• Act 431 — To amend certain criminal offenses concerning abuse of public office; and to amend the law concerning abuse of office; and to amend the law concerning abuse of public trust.
• Act 439 — To be known as “Shannon’s Law”; and concerning the possession and sale of blue lights and law enforcement insignia.
• Act 451 — To designate a portion of U.S. Highway 65 as the “Delta Rhythm & Bayou Blues Highway.”
• Act 454 — To update the interstate nurse’s licensure compact.
• Act 471 — To provide tuition assistance for soldiers and airmen of the Arkansas National Guard.
• Act 488 — To require cosmetology students to have training in domestic violence and sexual assault awareness.
• Act 506 — To be known as the Mental Health Spe- cialty Court Act of 2017.
• Act 538 — To require lifetime registration on the Arkansas Sex Offender Registry for a person convicted of rape when the rape involved the use of force.
•Act 539 — The establishment of the Fair Sentencing of Minors Act of 2017.
• Act 577 — To provide for the transfer of wireless devices in domestic abuse proceedings.
• Act 583 — To create the Arkansas Domestic Violence Shelter Act; create a domestic violence shelter fund and establish procedures for funding domestic violence shelters.
• Act 590 — To create the offense of improper use or
of altering the State Seal.
Act 650 — To amend the law concerning the issuance of a permit for special cargo transported by a farm machinery equipment dealer.
• Act 666 — To create the Teacher’s Classroom Investment Deduction.
• Act 706 — To amend the law concerning distracted driving.
• Act 778 — To create penalties under the State Plant Board for the misuse of Dicamba or related products; to limit the use of penalties above one
thousand dollars ($1,000); and to direct moneys to scholarships and training of personnel.
• Act 787 — To amend requirements for campaign signs and materials.
• Act 798 — To improve election administration transparence; and to resolve a conflict in the law concerning public notice of elections.
• Act 811 — To mandate that the Department of Health establish and maintain a suicide prevention hotline.
• Act 849 — Concerning the possession of an open container containing an alcoholic beverage.
• Act 894 — To make foster children eligible for a scholarship in the Succeed
Scholarship Program
• Act 921 — To direct the Department of Arkansas Heritage to conduct a feasibility study concerning the establishment of a Civil War Museum in Arkansas.
• Act 1007 — To require institutions of higher education to provide information on mental health and suicide prevention services to entering students.
• Act 1009 — To create the Trail of Tears Historic Bike Route.
• Act 1013 — To create the sudden cardiac arrest prevention act.
• Act 1063 — To create the Right To Read Act.
• Act 1113 — To add teachers in Grades five (5) and six (6) as teachers eligible to receive additional compensation for volunteering to teach more than the maximum number of students allowed by law.
Next week some of the bad bills and how we will live with them.