Senate panel backs
juvenile records bill
The Senate Committee on Judiciary endorsed a bill Monday intended to allow judges to seal certain juvenile court records at any time.
House Bill 1472 by Carol Dalby, R-Texarkana, passed the panel in a voice vote without audible dissent. The measure advances to the full Senate for further action.
Under current law, courts are required to keep records of delinquency adjudications for "which a juvenile could have been tried as an adult" for 10 years.
Dalby's bill would narrow this requirement to cover cases with a "felony involving violence" as defined in another section of state law. Dalby said during a committee meeting last week these offenses would include first- and second-degree murder, kidnapping, rape and other charges.
"This bill is giving juveniles who maybe committed something less than that an opportunity to get their records sealed and move on with their life," she said when presenting the bill to the House Committee on Judiciary on Feb. 28.
The bill would allow but not require courts to expunge these records, Circuit Court Judge Troy Braswell said.
-- Will Langhorne
Elementary school
ag legislation OK'd
A bill that would create an agricultural education pilot program in public elementary schools sailed through the Arkansas Senate on Monday.
The Senate voted 34-0 to send House Bill 1336 by Rep. Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, to the governor.
The state Department of Education supports creating the pilot program that is backed by the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation, said Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, who is the Senate sponsor of the bill.
Starting with the 2025-2026 school year, the state Division of Elementary and Secondary Education may consult industry stakeholders, including the Department of Agriculture and the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation, to establish a pilot program to provide for agricultural education in elementary schools in Arkansas under the bill.
The pilot program required by the bill may determine whether and how to implement an elementary agricultural education program statewide.
The division, in consultation with the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation and Agriculture Department, may select via an application process a minimum of six elementary schools for participation in the pilot program.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Bill on substituting
core classes passes
The Arkansas Senate on Monday approved a bill that would require the state Division of Elementary and Secondary Education to include in the academic standards a means by which public school students may substitute comparable elective classwork in career and technical education for required core academic classes required for graduation.
The Senate voted 34-0 to send House Bill 1329 by Rep. Scott Richardson, R-Bentonville, to the governor.
For the purpose of creating the approval process for substituting required core classes with comparable elective coursework pertaining to career and technical education, the bill would establish the Career and Technical Education Embedded Academics Certification Committee.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Senate endorses
new college name
The Arkansas Senate on Monday approved a bill that would change the name of South Arkansas Community College in El Dorado to South Arkansas College.
The Senate voted 34-0 to send House Bill 1883 by House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, to the House for further consideration.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Health facilities bill
on felony advances
The Arkansas Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Monday advanced a bill that would require health care facilities to post a written notice about the felony status under certain state law for attacking a health care professional, including a nurse.
The Senate committee sent Senate Bill 344 by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, to the full Senate. National and state data show an upward trend in violence and incivility against nurses and other health care professionals in clinical settings, the bill states.
Under the bill, the written notice would be required to be posted at entrances to a health care facility, emergency department, clinic or long-term care facilities that are used by patients and visitors and in a patient waiting area of a health care facility, emergency department, clinic or long-term care facility.
The Arkansas Nurses Association would be required to provide the Department of Health a digital poster design that shall be used by a health care facility under the bill. The bill would require a law enforcement agency to allow a health care professional listed under Arkansas Code Annotated 5-13-202 (a) (4) (E) to list a work address in lieu of his or her home address when filing a police report or complaint related to an incident that meets the requirements of battery in the second degree under that part of state law.
-- Michael R. Wickline