House votes down custodial-parents bill

The House on Feb. 25 voted down a bill that would set greater limits on the ability of custodial parents to move long distances across the state.

House Bill 1114, by Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, received just 32 ayes in the 100-member House, falling 32-43. A later attempt to expunge the vote, which would have allowed Lowery to rework the bill in committee, fell two votes short.

In both a House committee last week and on the floor Feb. 25, Lowery said the personal experience of having his ex-wife attempt to move their children to Missouri served as inspiration for HB1114. The bill would force the parent who has primary custody of the children to prove that it is within the kids’ best interest before moving 60 miles away within Arkansas.

Out-of-state moves, Lowery said, are covered by existing Arkansas Supreme Court precedent.

The bill, however, sparked a passionate floor speech by Rep. Sarah Capp, R-Ozark, a family attorney who said she opposed the bill because it would saddle custodial parents with up to $1,500 in legal fees — in rural areas — to file the court notices that HB1114 would require.

“It would make people in my field a lot of money and I’m still against it,” Capp said.

Other lawmakers expressed concern that abusive partners would be kept in the loop about their ex-spouses’ and children’s exact whereabouts under the bill’s disclosure requirements. Lowery responded that he was willing to make changes to those requirements on the Senate side.