Legislative Update (10/1)

As you know, on Thursday Senator Missy Irvin (RINO-Mountain View) concocted a scheme to kill off some of the bills by sending them back to the Senate Health committee, supposedly so Asa’s bureaucrats could weigh in on them. She was successful, but after a lengthy hearing today, these bills came out of Senate Health with a DO PASS recommendation. They were all passed unanimously. Next, they will go to the full senate.

SB 730 – provides unemployment benefits for employees terminated due solely to V refusal (the Garner bill) https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FSB730.pdf

SB 739 – provides exemptions to employees (the Hammer bill) (This is a negotiated bill, most likely to become law immediately.) https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FSB739.pdf

SB 732 – prohibits coercion and allows employees to sue (the Blake Johnson bill) https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FSB732.pdf

SB 731 – establishes a right of privacy (the Ballinger bill) https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FSB731.pdf

Some of the bills that failed or were not run were duplicates.

The House health committee passed HB 1977 out of committee today, which provides for employee exemptions (the Bryant bill) https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FHB1977.pdf

Remember, the reality is that we do not have a majority conservative legislature (we can change that in May). Our legislature is roughly 40% conservative, 35% RINO, and 25% Democrat. While the democrat votes don’t matter, the conservatives always need RINO votes in order to pass bills, especially when they require a 2/3 majority to become effective immediately (the emergency clause). These bills often must be watered down in order to make them viable.

Each of these bills must pass their respective health committee, the entire House, the entire Senate, and must survive Asa’s likely veto. This is a difficult hurdle, but we have some brave legislators who are working tirelessly to protect our individual rights. Please direct your anger where it is warranted, not at those working on our behalf. The good news is that the “good” list is growing. Soon, we will publish a list of the senators and representatives clearly on our side.

Finally, let the process play out. Don’t expect these bills to be passed within hours or days. Senator Hammer and others were willing to work all weekend in order to get these protections passed, but leadership (Hickey) wanted to recess for the weekend. The patriot legislators are working throughout the weekend on the fence sitters.

These are the senators who should be contacted over the weekend. Remind them that you expect them to vote FOR the medical freedom legislation next week and that they will be held accountable for their votes:

Bledsoe, Caldwell, Dismang, Eads, English, Hickey, Hill, Irvin, Pitsch, Sample, Sturch (We will need 8 of these votes.)

I have updated the contact lists and posted them under the ‘Contact Lists’ tab of the website. Be sure to download the new files.

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