# Arkansas HB1712: TO ESTABLISH THE SOCIAL WORK LICENSURE COMPACT IN THIS STATE. Arkansas HB1712, TO ESTABLISH THE SOCIAL WORK LICENSURE COMPACT IN THIS STATE., is a 2025 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Jamie Scott (Democratic), Joey L. Carr (Republican); status enacted, last action 2025-04-16 (Notification that HB1712 is now Act 639) (as of 2026-10-19). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-HB1712-2025 - As of: 2026-10-19 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Arkansas HB1712 - State: Arkansas - Session: 2025 Regular Session - Title: TO ESTABLISH THE SOCIAL WORK LICENSURE COMPACT IN THIS STATE. - Status: enacted - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2025-03-10 - Last action: 2025-04-16, Notification that HB1712 is now Act 639 - Sponsors: Jamie Scott (Democratic), Joey L. Carr (Republican) - Cosponsors: 0 - Touches household money: no - Roll calls: 2 (122 yes, 3 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 13 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Social workers gain cross-state practice options: benefit, medium. The law makes Arkansas a member of the Social Work Licensure Compact. A worker’s home state must issue a multistate license to an eligible resident applicant. The license covers practice in participating states within the worker’s bachelor’s, master’s, or clinical category, including services throu… - Military families can keep licensing ties: benefit, low. Active-duty service members and their spouses with multistate licenses may choose a state where they hold that license as home state. They may keep that home-state designation throughout the service member’s active duty. This preserves their licensing relationship during military service. - Social worker investigations continue across states: benefit, low. Moving to a new home state does not end a pending social work investigation. The former state must finish it and report its findings through the data system. The system administrator must promptly notify the new home state of disciplinary actions. Participating states may investigate together and m… - License restrictions can stop cross-state work: cost, medium. A restriction on a multistate license deactivates permission to practice in every other participating state. After home-state disciplinary action, that permission stays inactive until restrictions end and every disciplinary condition is met. Another state may also deactivate permission within its b… - Multistate social workers can face fees: cost, low. Home states may charge social workers a fee to issue a multistate license. The Compact Commission may also charge multistate license holders fees and assess participating states each year. Commission charges cover its approved yearly budget only to the extent other revenue does not cover it. The la… - Arkansas must meet shared licensing standards: cost, low. The Arkansas Social Work Licensing Board administers the Compact and may adopt rules consistent with it. Arkansas must regulate at least one covered license category and maintain qualifying education, clinical training, and complaint-review standards. Continued membership requires national-exam sta… - Social workers face multistate license standards: mixed, medium. Applicants need an active, unrestricted home-state license and fingerprints or other biometric data for FBI and state criminal-history checks. Each category requires a qualifying degree from an accredited program or one in qualifying candidacy. Applicants must pass the category’s national exam, qua… - States share social worker discipline powers: mixed, medium. Only the home state may discipline the multistate license itself. Other participating states may restrict local practice permission, impose fines, and issue investigation subpoenas while following due-process rules. States must give out-of-state conduct equal weight and may use another state’s find… - Moving social workers must update licenses: mixed, low. Workers can hold only one multistate license and home state, but may hold separate single-state licenses. After moving between participating states, they must immediately apply for reissuance, pay fees, and notify their former home state. The new state verifies eligibility, repeats criminal-history… - Social worker records cross state lines: mixed, low. The Commission must run a shared licensing data system and assign each multistate applicant a unique identifier. States must submit and monitor required license, disciplinary, denial, investigation, and nonconfidential alternative-program records. Significant investigative information is limited to… - Social workers get state-exit transition periods: mixed, low. A state can lose membership for unresolved violations only after notice, help, exhausted compliance measures, and a majority delegate vote. A terminated state must immediately notify licensees and recognize Compact licenses for at least six months after notice. A state may also repeal its membershi… - Commission staff gain civil lawsuit protections: mixed, low. Commission members and staff receive civil immunity for covered actions within their duties or reasonably believed to be within them. The Commission must defend them and pay qualifying settlements or judgments; they may hire their own lawyer at personal expense. These protections exclude intentiona… - Shared commission sets social work rules: mixed, low. The law establishes a joint-state Commission to administer the Compact, make rules, and oversee compliance. Compact terms override conflicting state requirements only where they conflict; courts may limit Commission rules that conflict with state practice laws. A majority of member-state legislatur… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Jamie Scott (Democratic), Senate - Sponsor: Joey L. Carr (Republican), House ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-04-09 | Senate | Senate Vote - Wednesday, April 9, 2025 7:44:23 PM | pass | 30 | 2 | 3 | | 2025-03-17 | House | House Vote - Monday, March 17, 2025 2:24:03 PM | pass | 92 | 1 | | ## Actions (13) - 2025-04-16: Notification that HB1712 is now Act 639 (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: Read the third time and passed. (Senate) - 2025-04-07: Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass (Senate) - 2025-03-17: Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE - SENATE (Senate) - 2025-03-17: Received from the House. (Senate) - 2025-03-17: Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. (House) - 2025-03-13: Returned by the Committee Do Pass (House) - 2025-03-10: Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE- HOUSE (House) - 2025-03-10: Filed (House) ## Bill text - HB1712 - Introduced, 2025-03-10: [PDF](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2025R%2FPublic%2FHB1712.pdf) - Act Version: [PDF](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2025R%2FPublic%2F&file=639.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 - [HB1712 - Introduced (PDF)](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2025R%2FPublic%2FHB1712.pdf) - [Act Version (PDF)](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2025R%2FPublic%2F&file=639.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-HB1712-2025 (as of 2026-10-19).