LITTLE ROCK – This past regular session both the Senate and House filed over 1,600 bills. Of those bills, 1,026 passed both chambers and were signed into law by the governor. Here are a few bills that stand out for the 2025 Regular Session.
Act 140 of 2025, known as the “Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act,” changes Medicaid regulations to make prenatal care much more accessible in areas of the state that have been designated as maternal care deserts, because of a lack of obstetricians.
It establishes presumptive eligibility for pregnant women who apply for Medicaid. This allows them to get immediate prenatal care, while they are waiting for a full application to be processed.
Medicaid coverage will include office and home visits, laboratory fees, tests ordered by a physician, blood work, remote monitoring, fetal non-stress tests and glucose monitoring to detect possible gestational diabetes. Self-measurement blood pressure devices will also be covered.
The legislature has approved Act 387 of 2025 that clarifies the meaning of a medical emergency when the life of a pregnant woman and her unborn child are threatened. The bill’s sponsors said they wanted to clarify that physicians who act in good faith to save a woman’s life would not be prosecuted under Arkansas anti-abortion laws if the unborn child unintentionally dies.
About 708,000 Arkansas homeowners will save $56 million from Act 330 of 2025. This act raises the homestead property tax credit by $100 to $600 a year. Previously, the credit was $500.
Act 1008 of 2025 will exempt food and groceries from the one-eight cent state ales tax approved by voters in 1996 to benefit conservation efforts. The act will lower taxes by about $10.9 million a year. The bill does not repeal any local option city and county sales taxes on groceries.
Both chambers approved a lengthy bill to change the way juvenile justice statues are found in law books. The juvenile code has long been difficult to navigate because of overlapping jurisdictions among various courts. That makes it difficult for a juvenile’s family to know their rights, and for social services workers to keep track of their duties when protecting vulnerable children.
People within the juvenile justice system have spent hundreds of hours dividing juvenile laws into separate “sensible” sections. According to section one of Act 518 of 2025, it only makes technical corrections not substance changes to the juvenile code.
To review all acts that were passed earlier this year you can search online on the Arkansas State Legislature website at https://arkleg.state.ar.us.
The Senate and House will reconvene on the second Wednesday in April 2026, but only to pass appropriation bills for the fiscal year starting in July 2026. The fiscal session cannot extend past 30 days, unless both chambers vote to extend the session. If that happens the fiscal session by law can only be extended by 15 days.
