Title 20, Public Health and Welfare

(a) (1) Unless prohibited by the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., as it existed on January 1, 2025, or other existing federal law, a private property owner may ban an emotional support animal from his or her private property.(2) If the private property is a business, t…

(1) This law is enacted to provide for a Governor's commission to carry on a continuing program to promote the interests of persons with disabilities in this state, in recognition that:(1) Arkansas has a public awareness of, and community interest in, the problems of persons with…

(a) There is created a commission to be known as the “Governor's Commission on People with Disabilities” composed of eleven (11) members appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate. (b) (1) Six (6) of the members shall be persons with disabilities.(2) Members…

(a) The Commissioner of Arkansas Rehabilitation Services, the director of the appropriate division as determined by the Secretary of the Department of Commerce, and the Director of the Division of Workforce Services or any director, commissioner, or administrator of successors' a…

(a) The Chair of the Governor's Commission on People with Disabilities shall be appointed biennially by the Governor and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. (b) The chair is empowered to select from the Governor’s Commission on People with Disabilities membership a vice chair …

(a) A notice of regular and special meetings shall be mailed to members of the Governor's Commission on People with Disabilities not less than ten (10) days in advance. An agenda for the meeting shall accompany the notice of meeting. (b) A quorum shall consist of not less than on…

(1) The Governor's Commission on People with Disabilities shall:(1) Advise and assist the Governor in developing policies designed to meet the needs of citizens with disabilities;(2) Help coordinate state and private provider programs and activities relating to persons with disab…

(a) The Governor's Commission on People with Disabilities shall establish such subcommittees as it determines necessary. (b) Membership of subcommittees shall not be limited to members of the commission. (c) Subcommittees shall maintain written records of their activities and sub…

(a) The appropriate division as determined by the Commissioner of Arkansas Rehabilitation Services, the Secretary of the Department of Commerce, or any other agency or division as the Governor shall designate shall provide administrative support to the Governor's Commission on Pe…

(a) The Governor's Commission on People with Disabilities may receive any gifts, grants, or donations made for any of the purposes of its program. (b) The commission may disburse and administer the gifts, grants, and donations in accordance with the conditions established by the …

(a) It is the policy of this state to accord individuals with visual, hearing, or other physical disabilities all rights and privileges of other persons with respect to the use of public streets, highways, sidewalks, public buildings, public facilities, public carriers, public ho…

Any person, firm, or corporation, or the agent of any person, firm, or corporation, who denies or interferes with the admittance to or enjoyment of public facilities and housing accommodations by an individual with visual, hearing, or other physical disabilities or otherwise inte…

(a) Individuals with visual, hearing, or other physical disabilities shall have the same rights and privileges as other persons to the full use and enjoyment of:(1) The public streets, highways, sidewalks, walkways, public buildings, public facilities, and other public places;(2)…

(a) Every individual with visual, hearing, or other disabilities has the right to be accompanied by a service animal especially trained to do work or to perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability in or upon any and all public ways, public places, and other p…

(a) Individuals with visual, hearing, or other physical disabilities shall be entitled to full and equal access, as other members of the general public, to all housing accommodations offered for rental, lease, or compensation in this state subject only to the conditions and limit…

The driver of a vehicle approaching a person with a visual or hearing disability who is carrying a cane which is predominately white or metallic in color with or without a red tip or using a guide or hearing ear dog or the driver of a vehicle approaching a person with another phy…

(a) State agencies which require any persons, agencies, boards, commissions, businesses, or other entities to display signs for individuals with disabilities shall require those persons, agencies, boards, commissions, businesses, or other entities to display only the blue and whi…

(a) An individual with visual, hearing, or other physical disabilities and his or her guide, signal, or service dog or a dog trainer in the act of training a guide, signal, or service dog shall not be denied admittance to or refused access to the following because of the dog:(1) …

(a) (1) Before filing a civil action or petition for injunctive relief based on a claim that an entity's website does not conform with applicable law, codes, guidelines, or standards regulating the functionality of an entity's website to accommodate a person with a disability as …

(a) An individual shall not misrepresent an animal to be a service animal or service animal-in-training to a person or entity that operates a public accommodation. (b) An individual who violates subsection (a) of this section may be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed two hu…

(a) As used in this section, “Section 14(c) certificate” means a special certificate issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., as existing on January 1, 2023. (b) As long as a Section 14(c) certificate is issued by the United States Department of…

(a) The General Assembly finds that there is an urgent and substantial need to:(1) Enhance the development of infants and toddlers with developmental delays and to minimize their potential for developmental delay;(2) Reduce the educational costs to our society, including our stat…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Council” means the State Interagency Council;(2) “Developmental delay” means a child is delayed in any one (1) or more of the following areas:(A) Physical development;(B) Cognitive development;(C) Language and speech development;(D) Psychosocia…

(a) A statewide system of coordinated, comprehensive, multidisciplinary, interagency programs providing appropriate early intervention services to all developmentally delayed infants and toddlers and their families shall include the minimum components under subsection (b) of this…

(a) Each infant or toddler with disabilities and the infant's or toddler's family shall receive:(1) Multidisciplinary assessment of unique needs and the identification of services appropriate to meet these needs; and(2) A written individualized family service plan developed by a …

(a) In addition to using funds provided under this subchapter to plan, develop, and implement the statewide system required by Pub. L. No. 99-457, the state shall use these funds:(1) For direct services for infants and toddlers with disabilities that are not otherwise provided fr…

(1) The procedural safeguards shall be the same as required under Pub. L. No. 94-142 and Pub. L. No. 99-457 and shall provide the following at a minimum:(1) (A) The timely administrative resolution of complaints by parents. Any party aggrieved by the findings and decision regardi…

(a) Funds provided under the Pub. L. No. 99-457 grant may not be used to satisfy a financial commitment for services which would have been paid for from another public or private source but for the enactment of Pub. L. No. 99-457, except that, whenever considered necessary to pre…

(a) (1) A State Interagency Council composed of at least fifteen (15) members with a maximum of twenty-five (25) members is established.(2) The council members and the cochairs of the council shall be appointed by the Governor for a term of three (3) years. One (1) cochair shall …

It is the intent of the General Assembly to ensure that the notification of all persons with a disability resulting from a traumatic head injury be made to the Department of Health by appropriate individuals or public and private agencies in order that all persons might obtain th…

“Head injury” or “traumatic head injury” means any insult to the brain not of a degenerative or congenital nature, but caused by an external physical force, that may produce a diminished or altered state of consciousness which results in impairment of cognitive abilities or physi…

(a) (1) The Department of Health shall establish and maintain a central registry of persons with a disability resulting from a traumatic head injury.(2) The department may grant or contract services to ensure services and the tracking of persons with a disability resulting from a…

(a) Within thirty (30) business days of the report and identification of a person with a disability resulting from a traumatic head injury under § 20-14-703, the Department of Health or an authorized agent of the Department of Health shall notify the person with a disability or t…

(a) The General Assembly finds that:(1) (A) The practice of interpreting affects the public health, safety, and welfare and civic, economic, social, academic, and recreational aspects of life.(B) Therefore, the practice of interpreting should be subject to licensure and regulatio…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Cued speech” means the system of handshapes that represent groups of consonant sounds and hand placements that represent groups of vowel sounds that is used with natural speech to represent a visual model of spoken language;(2) “Deaf individual…

(a) (1) A person who is not licensed under this subchapter and who pleads guilty or nolo contendere to or is found guilty of holding himself or herself out to the public as a licensed qualified interpreter is guilty of a violation and shall be fined not less than one hundred doll…

(a) The Advisory Board for Interpreters between Hearing Individuals and Individuals who are Deaf, Deafblind, Hard of Hearing, or Oral Deaf is created within the Department of Health. (b) The board shall consist of seven (7) members appointed by the Secretary of the Department of …

(a) The Advisory Board for Interpreters between Hearing Individuals and Individuals who are Deaf, Deafblind, Hard of Hearing, or Oral Deaf shall:(1) Recommend rules for the operation of the Advisory Board for Interpreters between Hearing Individuals and Individuals who are Deaf, …

(a) After consideration of the recommendation of the Advisory Board for Interpreters between Hearing Individuals and Individuals who are Deaf, Deafblind, Hard of Hearing, or Oral Deaf, the Secretary of the Department of Health shall:(1) Issue or deny a license or a renewal of lic…

(a) A licensed qualified interpreter shall meet criteria established under this subchapter for interpreters, including without limitation certification or credentialing by the:(1) Arkansas Rehabilitation Services Quality Assurance Screening Test;(2) Educational Interpreter Perfor…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, it is unlawful for an individual to use the title “licensed qualified interpreter” or “licensed provisional interpreter” or to hold himself or herself out as an interpreter between a hearing individual and an individual wh…

The State Board of Health shall adopt rules to implement this subchapter.

(1) The General Assembly finds that:(1) An intellectual or physical disability does not diminish an individual's right to health care;(2) The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities, yet ma…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Anatomical gift” means a donation of all or part of a donor's body after his or her death for transplantation or transfusion purposes;(2) “Auxiliary aids and services” includes without limitation:(A) Qualified interpreters and other effective m…

(a) A covered entity shall not do any of the following based solely on a qualified individual's intellectual or physical disability:(1) Determine that a qualified individual is ineligible to receive an anatomical gift or organ transplant;(2) Deny medical or other services related…

(a) A qualified individual alleging a violation of this subchapter may bring an action in the appropriate circuit court for injunctive or other equitable relief. (b) Unless otherwise prohibited by Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 80, the court shall:(1) Schedule a hearing as soon…