Title 10, General Assembly

(a) The President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives may administer oaths to the members and officers of their respective houses. (b) The President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or the chair of a com…

In all elections made by either house or by a joint vote of both houses, the votes of a majority of all the members present shall be necessary to a choice, and when an election shall be by joint vote, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives sha…

(a) If, after the biennial general election and prior to the convening of the regular session, a statement signed by fifty (50) or more members of the House of Representatives who will serve at the next-following regular session of the General Assembly is filed with the current S…

(a) Whenever the daily proceedings of either house of the General Assembly shall be made up in manuscript form, the manuscript shall be signed each day by the presiding officers of the respective houses and attested by the secretary or clerk thereof. (b) In addition to the transc…

(a) When by the Constitution or laws of the state a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives is required, they shall assemble with their clerks on the day and at the hour previously agreed on for that purpose in the hall of the House of Representatives. (b) When t…

(a) If any person, whether a member or not, shall be guilty of any disorder in the presence of either house or a Committee of the Whole, or in a joint meeting of both houses, while in session, the presiding officer of the house or joint meeting or Chair of the Committee of the Wh…

(a) Any person who, by tampering with the mechanism of the electric roll call system in the Chamber of the House of Representatives, willfully causes the vote indicated at any station to be incorrectly recorded is guilty of a violation and upon conviction shall be fined not less …

(a) (1) The Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate, under the direction and supervision of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, shall establish a system for the prefiling of bills and resolut…

(a) All appointments made by the Governor of members of boards and commissions of the State of Arkansas, except appointments of members of boards and commissions governed by specific constitutional provisions that may be in conflict with this section, shall be subject to confirma…

(a) (1) Any bill filed with the Senate that requires an expenditure of public funds by a municipality or county or otherwise imposes a new or increased cost obligation on any municipality or county shall have a fiscal impact statement attached to it prepared by the author of the …

(a) Any proposed legislation affecting any publicly supported retirement system or pension plan to be considered by the General Assembly at a regular session shall be introduced in the General Assembly during the first fifteen (15) calendar days of a regular session. (b) (1) No s…

(a) When a bill that has passed both houses of the General Assembly shall be returned by the Governor without his or her signature and with his or her objections thereto, and, upon reconsideration, shall pass both houses by the constitutional majority, it shall be authenticated a…

Every bill which shall have passed both houses of the General Assembly and shall not be returned by the Governor within five (5) days, having thereby become a law, shall be authenticated by the Governor causing the fact to be certified thereon by the Secretary of State in the fol…

(a) When any member elected to either house of the General Assembly shall resign in the recess thereof, he or she shall address and transmit his or her resignation in writing to the Governor. (b) Whenever the Governor shall receive any resignation or notice of vacancy or when he …

(a) When any member shall resign during any session, he or she shall address his or her resignation to the presiding officer of the house of which he or she is a member, which resignation shall be entered upon the journal. (b) In all cases of vacancies happening or being declared…

(a) (1) When any vacancy shall happen in the Senate for a district composed of more than one (1) county, the writ of election shall be directed to the sheriff of the county first named in the law establishing the district.(2) When the vacancy shall happen in a senatorial district…

(a) The Speaker of the House of Representatives is authorized to designate up to ten (10) members of the House of Representatives at any one (1) time and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate is authorized to designate up to five (5) senators at any one (1) time to assist in th…

(a) The President Pro Tempore of the Senate or the Chair of the Senate Efficiency Committee, or both, are hereby authorized to designate one (1) or more members of the Senate or staff, or both, to represent the Senate at regional or national conferences of legislators or other of…

(a) The General Assembly hereby determines that the conducting of an Institute of Legislative Procedure prior to the convening of regular sessions of the General Assembly on rules and legislative procedure and current fiscal conditions and other problems in state government is es…

(a) All bills introduced in either house of the General Assembly to change any of the existing circuit court districts through redistricting or by providing additional judgeships shall be referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee if the bill is from the Senate or the House Judic…

(a) The House Management Committee with the approval of the Speaker of the House of Representatives may employ at its discretion employees of the House of Representatives and may transfer or discharge any employee if it is deemed in the best interest of the House of Representativ…

(a) The Assistant to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall be under the direction of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. (b) The amount of salary to be paid to the assistant shall be determined by the Senate Efficiency Committee.

(a) (1) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires, “fiscal impact statement” means a realistic written statement of the purpose of a proposed law, or a rule promulgated under a law, and the estimated financial cost to the state or any local school district of…

In respect to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and in observance of his birthday, neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate shall convene in session nor shall any of their committees meet on the third Monday in January.

(a) The General Assembly finds:(1) Arkansas Constitution, Article 5, § 15, provides, in part, that “for any speech or debate in either house, [the members of the General Assembly] shall not be questioned in any other place”;(2) The common law doctrine of legislative privilege shi…

(a) (1) Any cost study analysis, cost study audit, adequacy study, or other study commissioned or funded by the General Assembly concerning the state's education system and any conclusion or recommendation resulting from a cost study analysis, cost study audit, adequacy study, or…

(a) During regular sessions, fiscal sessions, and special sessions of the General Assembly, the House of Representatives and the Senate may broadcast live audio and video of their proceedings on the Internet. (b) This requirement includes only proceedings held in the House Chambe…

Each biennium, the House of Representatives and the Senate shall establish a People First advisory legislative session concerning disability issues and authorize staff assistance to conduct the People First advisory legislative session.

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Entity of the state” means any agency, board, bureau, commission, committee, council, department, division, institution of higher education, office, public school, quasi-public organization, or other political subdivision of the state;(2) “Fiscal …

(a) The Governor shall submit the names of all appointments for which Senate confirmation is required by law to the Senate within ten (10) days following the appointment. (b) During the interim between legislative sessions, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall call a Sen…

(a) As used in this subchapter, “fiscal impact statement” means a realistic statement of the purpose of a proposed law, or a rule promulgated under a law, and the estimated financial cost to the state or any local school district of implementing or complying with the proposed law…

(a) (1) The annual salaries of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives established by law shall be payable in equal monthly installments from funds appropriated for that purpose.(2) The Auditor of State is designated as disbursing officer of funds appropriated for …

(a) The Auditor of State is authorized and directed to pay to the surviving spouse, or if there is no surviving spouse then to the surviving children, or if there is no surviving spouse or children then to the next of kin of any member of the General Assembly who shall die before…

(a) (1) The Senate Efficiency Committee shall determine, within the limitations of the Arkansas Constitution and Internal Revenue Service guidelines, the amount of per diem and mileage reimbursement to be paid from Senate appropriations.(2) Subdivision (a)(1) of this section does…

(a) (1) The chair of each of the standing, select, and joint committees of either house of the General Assembly, the cochairs of the Legislative Council and the chairs of each subcommittee of the Legislative Council, the cochairs of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee and th…

(a) (1) Members or alternate members serving as members of the interim committees of the General Assembly as defined in subsection (b) of this section and members of the General Assembly who shall perform “other interim legislative duties as authorized by law” as defined in subse…

(a) Each house shall control its own contingent expenses. When any account properly chargeable to the House of Representatives shall be adjusted and allowed according to the Rules of the House of Representatives, a certificate thereof shall be granted, signed by the Speaker of th…

(a) The Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives shall procure all printing, stationery, paper, and other necessary supplies for the use of the House of Representatives and shall have the power to distribute them among the members. (b) The Secretary of the Senate shall procure…

(a) The various committees of the General Assembly that are authorized to meet during the interim between legislative sessions are hereby authorized to meet during a recess of the General Assembly of two (2) weeks or more in duration. (b) A member of the General Assembly attendin…

(a) When the General Assembly is in recess for a period of two (2) weeks or more, a member of the General Assembly is:(1) Authorized to attend national or regional conferences under the same conditions as apply to the attendance at the conferences after sine die adjournment of th…

Funds appropriated to the Bureau of Legislative Research for interim committee study expenses shall be available for use by interim committees meeting during an extended recess of the General Assembly as authorized in § 10-2-223.

(a) The Senate and the House of Representatives meeting separately or in joint meeting may:(1) Issue the necessary subpoenas and process to summon and compel a person to appear before them or a committee thereof;(2) Carry into execution their orders and sentences; and(3) Summon a…

(a) All process issued by the House of Representatives and subpoenas and other process for witnesses when attendance may be required in the House or before a committee of the House shall be under the hand of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and attested by the Chief Cl…

(a) Every witness attending either house or a committee thereof or a joint meeting of both houses, being summoned, shall be allowed the same fees as allowed by law to witnesses for their attendance in any court, to be paid as other costs. (b) The fees of all officers and witnesse…

(a) In cases not otherwise provided for by law, depositions may be taken and read in either house or before a committee thereof, or before both houses in joint meeting, in all cases in which the taking and reading of depositions would be allowed in any cause pending before a cour…

(a) The chair or a member at any time acting as chair of a committee of either house of the General Assembly or joint committee of the two (2) houses of the General Assembly, or his or her designee, when the committee is empowered to issue subpoenas for persons, papers, or record…