# Arkansas HB1835: CONCERNING SPECIALTY COURT PROGRAMS; AND TO UPDATE AND CLARIFY THE LAW CONCERNING DRUG COURT, MENTAL HEALTH COURT, VETERANS COURT, AND DWI/BWI SPECIALTY COURT PROGRAMS. Arkansas HB1835, CONCERNING SPECIALTY COURT PROGRAMS; AND TO UPDATE AND CLARIFY THE LAW CONCERNING DRUG COURT, MENTAL HEALTH COURT, VETERANS COURT, AND DWI/BWI SPECIALTY COURT PROGRAMS., is a 2025 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Carol Dalby (Republican), Tyler Dees (Republican); status enacted, last action 2025-04-16 (Notification that HB1835 is now Act 691); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-16). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-HB1835-2025 - As of: 2026-10-16 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Arkansas HB1835 - State: Arkansas - Session: 2025 Regular Session - Title: CONCERNING SPECIALTY COURT PROGRAMS; AND TO UPDATE AND CLARIFY THE LAW CONCERNING DRUG COURT, MENTAL HEALTH COURT, VETERANS COURT, AND DWI/BWI SPECIALTY COURT PROGRAMS. - Status: enacted - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2025-03-18 - Last action: 2025-04-16, Notification that HB1835 is now Act 691 - Sponsors: Carol Dalby (Republican), Tyler Dees (Republican) - Cosponsors: 0 - Touches household money: yes - Roll calls: 2 (131 yes, 0 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 12 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Shared path to clearing court records: benefit, high. The law replaces separate mental health court and pre-adjudication probation dismissal-and-sealing provisions with a shared specialty court process. After successful completion, the prosecutor must recommend dismissal and sealing, and the judge must approve after reviewing criminal history. Sealing… - Courts follow shared standards and reviews: benefit, low. Specialty court evaluations must reflect nationally recognized, peer-reviewed standards, with committee rules approved by the Supreme Court. Programs established on or after April 1, 2015 receive evaluations after two funded years. Programs existing on April 1, 2015 had to be evaluated before spend… - Drug courts gain programs and staffing: benefit, low. Each judicial circuit can establish multiple drug court programs, but does not have to create additional programs. The law removes the prior drug-court-specific approval requirement; the general Supreme Court administrative-plan approval rule remains. Approved adult programs must have at least one… - More flexibility for court service contracts: benefit, low. The state courts office can hire or contract with attorneys to serve on specialty court teams or represent participants. The law removes the prior limits on attorney categories. Qualified treatment providers can serve on a court team or treat participants, without having to do both. The office can… - Guilty plea required before court judgment: cost, high. To qualify for pre-adjudication specialty court status, a person must face a filed charge and be arraigned in circuit court. They must enter the program by pleading guilty before the court enters judgment or gives a sentence. Entering without a guilty plea no longer qualifies. - Fewer state commitments for drug courts: cost, medium. The Division of Community Correction no longer has the listed duties to arrange intensive outpatient and short- or long-term inpatient treatment. The law also removes its contracted counseling arrangements, including the 30-participant caseload limit and prior funding agreement process. The state c… - Juvenile drug courts limited to delinquency: cost, medium. Juvenile drug court programs and services remain authorized for delinquency cases. The law removes this authorization for dependency-neglect and family-in-need-of-services cases. It also removes the Department of Human Services’ listed counseling, staffing, testing, and treatment duties for those c… - County transfers come with local rules: mixed, medium. The law replaces the former judge-transfer procedure with county transfers requiring the receiving judge’s consent and both judges’ written order. The receiving court applies its program rules and can order treatment or sanctions, including jail. The original court keeps the case and collects offen… - Court fees have caps and safeguards: mixed, medium. Courts can assess a specialty court user fee up to $250, paid into the state Specialty Court Program Fund. Pre-adjudication participants represented by public defenders can also face a separate fee up to $250, credited to public defender funding. Fee coverage lists pre-adjudication probation, drug,… - Mental health courts update operating rules: mixed, low. The mental illness definition no longer fixes diagnostic criteria to the manual edition dated January 1, 2017. A condition must still substantially limit one or more major life activities. A district judge can run a mental health specialty court when no circuit judge can do so consistently. Each ju… - Named specialty courts need state approval: mixed, low. Circuit and district specialty courts must receive Supreme Court approval through their court’s administrative plan. Evaluation and approval rules name pre-adjudication probation, drug, Swift and Certain Accountability, mental health, veterans, juvenile drug, HOPE, DWI/BWI, and family treatment pro… - State coordinates courts and requires reporting: mixed, low. A Specialty Court Programs Division and coordinator replace the state’s drug-court-only division and coordinator. The coordinator supports the advisory committee, connects agencies and providers, maintains drug court information, and trains judges and staff. Every court running a specialty program… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Carol Dalby (Republican), House - Sponsor: Tyler Dees (Republican), Senate ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-04-09 | Senate | Senate Vote - Wednesday, April 9, 2025 8:38:15 PM | pass | 33 | 0 | 1 | | 2025-03-31 | House | House Vote - Monday, March 31, 2025 2:30:08 PM | pass | 98 | 0 | | ## Actions (13) - 2025-04-16: Notification that HB1835 is now Act 691 (House) - 2025-04-10: Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office. (House) - 2025-04-10: TO BE ENROLLED (House) - 2025-04-10: 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) - 2025-03-31: Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to JUDICIARY COMMITTEE - SENATE (Senate) - 2025-03-31: Received from the House. (Senate) - 2025-03-31: Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. (House) - 2025-03-20: Returned by the Committee Do Pass (House) - 2025-03-18: Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on JUDICIARY COMMITTEE- HOUSE (House) - 2025-03-18: Filed (House) ## Bill text - HB1835 - Introduced, 2025-03-18: [PDF](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2025R%2FPublic%2FHB1835.pdf) - Act Version: [PDF](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2025R%2FPublic%2F&file=691.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) - HB1686: TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING LICENSES TO CARRY CONCEALED HANDGUNS. (failed) - 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) - 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 - [HB1835 - Introduced (PDF)](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2025R%2FPublic%2FHB1835.pdf) - [Act Version (PDF)](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2025R%2FPublic%2F&file=691.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) - [HB1686: TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING LICENSES TO CARRY CONCEALED HANDGUNS.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-HB1686-2025) - [HB1237: TO PROHIBIT MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS FROM SOLICITING INJURED INDIVIDUALS; AND TO S…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/AR-HB1237-2025) - [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-HB1835-2025 (as of 2026-10-16).