Sarah Kellogg

An Arkansas House committee has passed legislation allowing students who meet the requirements for state residency or have lived in Arkansas for a certain period of time to qualify for in-state tuition at a state-supported university.

In order to qualify, the person must be an Arkansas resident under current code or have lived in the state for three years at the time of applying for the college, and either graduated from a public or private high school in Arkansas or received the equivalent of a high school diploma in the state.

An Arkansas House committee failed to take action on a bill would allow physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. The proposal would have allowed patients who have a disease verified by the appropriate physician as life ending, the option to seek medication that would kill them.

Rep. Dan Douglas, R-Bentonville, presented the bill to the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Tuesday. He said it would just give another option of care for patients who are suffering.

Aspiring or current young women filmmakers in the Little Rock area will have the opportunity to work with and learn from professionals in the industry as they create a short film, as a part of a new free program.

A bill that would bar Arkansas prosecutors from seeking the death penalty for those convicted of a crime and with a diagnosed serious mental illness failed in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

According to the legislation, qualifying medical conditions would include symptoms of delusions, hallucinations, extremely disorganized thinking, and mania.

An Arkansas House committee postponed voting on a bill that would establish a Warranty of Habitability for rented residential properties in favor of making some changes to the legislation.

The House Committee on Insurance and Commerce dedicated the majority of its meeting Wednesday on HB1410, which establishes minimum standards that landlords must maintain for their rented properties. Arkansas is currently the only state in the country without a law placing the burden of repairs and maintenance on landlords as opposed to tenants.

A House committee cleared legislation that allows schools to give surplus food to students. While the practice was not previously prohibited, this bill gives explicit permission to do so.

Previously pending for a fiscal impact evaluation, the House Education Committee re-referred the bill to the agenda on Tuesday. According to Rep. Jim Dotson, R-Bentonville, the bill’s sponsor, the legislation would not have a fiscal impact on the state.

Part of Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s highway plan needs one final vote to fully pass in the legislature. The House Committee on Revenue and Taxation approved the bill on Tuesday.

The proposed highway plan is split into two parts. The first part, a permanent extension of the half-cent sales tax on fuel, requires approval by constituents on the 2020 general election ballot. An extension of the tax is predicted to raise $205 million annually for the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

More than 6.4 million people visited Pulaski County according to a new report by the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. While this number is comparable to how many tourists came to the county last year, it does continue an increasing trend in annual visitors over the past ten years, according to the report. 

According to Gretchen Hall, CEO of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, Pulaski County visitors make up a considerable percentage of total visitors to Arkansas. 

An Arkansas House committee has passed legislation that would create a list of people required to notify authorities if they believe there is a serious threat to a school. The bill also makes it a misdemeanor if someone fails to report a perceived threat.

HB 1437 lists over 35 occupations that would qualify a person as a mandated reporter. Those include teachers, licensed nurses, foster care workers and many others.

A state Senate committee failed to pass a bill that would have granted nurse practitioners in Arkansas the authority to write prescriptions without the necessity of a collaborative practice agreement with a licensed physician.

Currently, nurse practitioners who want to operate independently, need a practice agreement to treat their patients at the same level as a physician, including the ability to prescribe medication. The bill would have removed this requirement. Some other states in the country have removed this demand.