LITTLE ROCK – The legislature officially adjourned the 2025 regular session on May 5, and is not scheduled to convene again until the 2026 fiscal session.
The legislature will consider spending bills during next year’s fiscal session, which begins at noon on the second Wednesday in April. The legislature changed the starting date of fiscal sessions in Act 405 of 2025, which also changed the date of the primary elections to the first Tuesday in March.
Arkansas has been alternating the dates of primary elections, depending on whether or not it is a presidential election year. Primaries have been held in May, except when there is an election for president, when Arkansas primaries have been held in March.
Holding primaries in March gives Arkansas voters more influence in determining who will be the presidential nominee of the major political parties. If Arkansans voted in May the results would rarely matter because usually by May each party’s candidate has sewn up the nomination.
Act 405 standardizes election dates as well as the dates for candidates to file for office. The filing period will be for a week beginning in early November.
Also this year the legislature enacted laws on social and cultural issues. Act 573 of 2025 requires all public schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The poster must be at least 16 by 20 inches so that it is visible for everyone in the room.
The intent of Act 955 of 2025 is to preserve order and dignity in women’s restrooms and facilities where women have traditionally enjoyed privacy and safety. If a person encounters someone of the opposite sex in a public bathroom, for example in a school, college or courthouse, that person can file a lawsuit seeking damages from the governmental entity.
Act 116 prohibits preferential treatment by state agencies, local governments, higher education and public schools districts, except if the policies benefit veterans.
Act 938 repeals racial and gender quotas from laws that create boards and commissions. For example, previous law required a member of the Financial Education Commission to be someone who is in a racial minority. That requirement has been repealed. The membership of the Commission on Closing the Achievement Gap no longer will no longer have to represent the racial and ethnic diversity of Arkansas.
Act 747 prohibits cities and counties from having policies that promote diversity, inclusion or equity. Local governments cannot have a policy that promotes hiring and promotion based on ethnic or racial background, sex or national origin.
Act 979 of 2025 expands the ability of people to sue a physician for medical malpractice after procedures that changed their gender when they were minors. Act 274 of 2023 allows medical malpractice lawsuits for injuries received during gender transition procedures. It defines surgical practices that would make a physician liable.
Act 979 of 2025 adds gender affirming interventions for minor children to the acts for which a physician would be liable for medical malpractice. The definition of a gender affirming intervention includes cross-sex hormone therapy and the use of puberty blockers.
Act 711 requires Arkansas drivers’ licenses to identify the holders’ gender as male or female, and prohibits the issuance of a license that designates the gender with an X, or a license not designate a gender.
