# Arkansas HB1653: TO SET STANDARDS FOR LICENSING AND REGULATION OF PSYCHIATRIC RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FACILITIES; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. Arkansas HB1653, TO SET STANDARDS FOR LICENSING AND REGULATION OF PSYCHIATRIC RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FACILITIES; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY., is a 2025 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Frances Cavenaugh (Republican), Missy Irvin (Republican); status enacted, last action 2025-04-16 (Notification that HB1653 is now Act 636) (as of 2026-10-19). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-HB1653-2025 - As of: 2026-10-19 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Arkansas HB1653 - State: Arkansas - Session: 2025 Regular Session - Title: TO SET STANDARDS FOR LICENSING AND REGULATION OF PSYCHIATRIC RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FACILITIES; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. - Status: enacted - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2025-03-04 - Last action: 2025-04-16, Notification that HB1653 is now Act 636 - Sponsors: Frances Cavenaugh (Republican), Missy Irvin (Republican) - Cosponsors: 1 - Touches household money: no - Roll calls: 2 (129 yes, 0 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 7 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Stronger psychiatric care standards for children: benefit, medium. These standalone, nonhospital facilities must have an Arkansas Medicaid agreement for inpatient care for people under 21. They need recognized accreditation and must attest to meeting federal safety and care-need standards as they existed January 1, 2025. State reviews cover every resident, regardl… - More residents get personal money protections: benefit, low. Psychiatric residential treatment facilities now fall under the relevant long-term-care rules. Residents of these facilities and assisted living facilities receive the personal-money protections included in those rules. This change protects residents' own funds; it does not create a new cash benefi… - Limits on children's psychiatric treatment admissions: cost, medium. A licensed and permitted psychiatric residential treatment facility can admit a child only through one of six categories. The child or a parent must live in Arkansas, or another state's child welfare agency must arrange the placement. Payment by another state's Medicaid program also qualifies, as d… - Annual renewal rules for care administrators: cost, low. Long-term-care administrators other than nursing home administrators must renew by January 1 each year and document required continuing education. Late or incomplete renewal makes them ineligible to serve and suspends their license on January 2. A license not renewed by March 1 expires March 2. A r… - Stricter licensing for psychiatric treatment operators: cost, low. Operators must get a state health-services permit before an Office of Long-Term Care license; adding beds requires both approvals. Licensed capacity counts both Arkansas and out-of-state clients, and inpatient psychiatric facilities cannot use a residential childcare license. The state must end a l… - More psychiatric beds with expansion limits: mixed, medium. Arkansas allows up to 900 additional children's psychiatric treatment beds through a limited exception to its bed freeze. Eligible beds were either licensed by the child welfare board before this provision took effect but not yet permitted, or fully built and usable by January 1, 2025. Beds serving… - Changed licensing exemptions for child-care providers: mixed, low. The law removes listed child welfare licensing exemptions for acute-care hospitals, human development centers, and certain licensed community family homes. It also removes exemptions for the Division of Developmental Disabilities Services and developmental-disability waiver providers. These entitie… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Frances Cavenaugh (Republican), House - Sponsor: Missy Irvin (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: Jeremy Wooldridge (Republican), House ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-04-09 | Senate | Senate Vote - Wednesday, April 9, 2025 6:33:05 PM | pass | 34 | 0 | | | 2025-04-02 | House | House Vote - Wednesday, April 2, 2025 2:28:47 PM | pass | 95 | 0 | 2 | ## Actions (21) - 2025-04-16: Notification that HB1653 is now Act 636 (House) - 2025-04-10: Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office. (House) - 2025-04-09: TO BE ENROLLED (House) - 2025-04-09: Returned from the Senate as passed. (House) - 2025-04-09: Returned to the House as passed. (Senate) - 2025-04-09: EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED (Senate) - 2025-04-09: Read the third time and passed. (Senate) - 2025-04-07: Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass (Senate) - 2025-04-02: Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE - SENATE (Senate) - 2025-04-02: Received from the House. (Senate) - 2025-04-02: EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED (House) - 2025-04-02: Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. (House) - 2025-04-01: Returned by the Committee Do Pass (House) - 2025-03-31: REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED (House) - 2025-03-31: Amendment No. 2 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed. (House) - 2025-03-31: Placed on second reading for the purpose of amendment. (House) - 2025-03-05: REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED (House) - 2025-03-05: Amendment No. 1 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed. (House) - 2025-03-05: Placed on second reading for the purpose of amendment. (House) - 2025-03-04: Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE- HOUSE (House) - 2025-03-04: Filed (House) ## Bill text - HB1653 - Introduced, 2025-03-04: [PDF](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2025R%2FPublic%2FHB1653.pdf) - Act Version: [PDF](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2025R%2FPublic%2F&file=636.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2025%2F2025R) ## Related bills - HB1265: AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR. (enacted) - HB1237: TO PROHIBIT MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS FROM SOLICITING INJURED INDIVIDUALS; AND TO SET PENALTIES FOR A VIOLATION OF THE PROHIBITION OF SOLICITATION OF INJURED INDIV… (failed) - HB1686: TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING LICENSES TO CARRY CONCEALED HANDGUNS. (failed) - SB440: TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING EMBALMERS AND FUNERAL DIRECTORS; TO REGULATE THE USE OF ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS; AND TO REGULATE ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS FACILITIES. (failed) - HB1695: TO CLARIFY THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS FOR PROPERTY SUBJECT TO A MUNICIPAL LIEN; TO ALLOW A MUNICIPALITY TO PETITION TO SET ASIDE THE SALE OF PROPERTY TO CERTAIN P… (failed) - HR1012: TO AMEND THE RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY; TO REQUIRE THAT A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BE SELECTED A… (failed) ## Sources - [HB1653 - Introduced (PDF)](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2025R%2FPublic%2FHB1653.pdf) - [Act Version (PDF)](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2025R%2FPublic%2F&file=636.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2025%2F2025R) ## Related - [HB1265: AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-HB1265-2025) - [HB1237: TO PROHIBIT MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS FROM SOLICITING INJURED INDIVIDUALS; AND TO S…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-HB1237-2025) - [HB1686: TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING LICENSES TO CARRY CONCEALED HANDGUNS.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-HB1686-2025) - [SB440: TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING EMBALMERS AND FUNERAL DIRECTORS; TO REGULATE THE US…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-SB440-2025) - [HB1695: TO CLARIFY THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS FOR PROPERTY SUBJECT TO A MUNICIPAL LIEN; TO…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-HB1695-2025) - [HR1012: TO AMEND THE RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-HR1012-2025) - [Arkansas bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/arkansas/bills) - [Arkansas state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/arkansas) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-HB1653-2025 (as of 2026-10-19).