Monday marked the start of the seventh week of the 2025 General Session of the Arkansas Legislature. Lawmakers sent three highly-debated bills to the governor for a signature to become law.
Canvasser bills
Members of the Arkansas Senate gave final approval to two bills changing the way the petition process works in the state.
Senate Bill 208 requires Arkansas voters to show a photo ID before they’re allowed to sign a petition. Senate Bill 211 requires canvassers to sign an affidavit saying they haven’t broken any election laws.
SB208 passed on a party-line vote, with Republican Sens. Jimmy Hickey and Gary Stubblefield not voting. Stubblefield and Republican Sens. Clint Penzo and Bryan King joined Democrats in voting against SB211, with Hickey again not voting. Both bills are sponsored by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton.
Hammer is also the sponsor of several other bills aimed at changing the petition process. Senate Bill 207, which requires canvassers to notify potential signers that petition fraud is a criminal offense, was signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week.
Senate Bill 209 would allow the secretary of state to reject signatures collected by a canvasser if the secretary of state finds “by a preponderance of the evidence” that the canvasser violated state law. Senate Bill 210 requires potential signers to read the ballot title of an initiative in the presence of a canvasser, and Senate Bill 212 would create a “Document Validity Division” of the Secretary of State’s Office tasked with investigating potential fraud in the petition process. SB209, SB210 and SB212 are still in the committee process
Two other measures relating to petitions, House Bill 1221 and House Bill 1222, were also signed into law early last week. The former prohibits signatures for petitions from being carried over from previous election cycles; the latter requires the attorney general to reject ballot titles which conflict with federal law, conflict with other ballot measures, or are found by the attorney general to be unconstitutional.
Proponents of the bills have argued they’re necessary to safeguard the security of the direct democracy process. Opponents have said they’re intentionally restricting ballot initiatives and referenda, making it harder for grassroots groups to refer measures to the ballot.
Library directors
Senate Bill 181, sponsored by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, gained final approval by the full House of Representatives Monday. The bill strips the requirement that regional library system directors hold a master’s degree from a program accredited by the American Library Association.
Proponents of the bill have said rural library systems have had trouble attracting talent because of the requirement, since Arkansas does not have any such graduate programs. Opponents have said obtaining an accredited master’s degree online is easy, and that substituting work experience for education isn’t the best course of action.
Rep. Tippi McCullough, D-Little Rock, was the lone lawmaker to speak against the bill on the House floor Monday.
“I think it’s important that people get this degree, because there’s a lot of things that are taught in that that I’m not sure you can get in just your typical librarian experience. You have to learn how to manage 50 to 60 people, you need to be able to manage millions of dollars,” McCullough said.
The bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Rebecca Burkes, R-Lowell, said it was inspired by the Phillips County Library in Helena-West Helena having issues finding a director with the required degree.
“Keep in mind that we give waivers all the time to teachers who don’t have particular degrees to teach particular subjects, so this is not something new for us,” Burkes said.
The bill would also apply to the Arkansas State Librarian as well as directors of regional library systems in the state. Members of the House voted 60 to 26 to send Senate Bill 181 to Gov. Sarah Sanders for a signature.
