A substantial change from the original text of the Act is the manner in which members of the proposed five-person Arkansas Transparency Commission are appointed. The Attorney General in his December 18 Opinion stated that it is unconstitutional to have members appointed by the Arkansas Supreme Court. To rectify this, the Drafting Committee updated the language so that the Speaker of the House, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the minority leader of the Senate shall each appoint one member who shall each be a licensed attorney in good standing, who is not a justice or judge, but who is a former elected circuit court judge, Judge of the Court of Appeals, or Supreme Court Justice; the minority leader of the House of Representatives shall appoint one person having demonstrated expertise in the government transparency laws of this state; and the Lieutenant Governor shall appoint one person with experience as a journalist or representative of the media.
The Drafting Committee also added language from a bill proposed by Rep. Vivian Flowers (D-65) during the last legislative session concerning the notice of public meetings. The new language requires that notice of regular meetings be published online at least forty-eight hours before the meeting takes place if the entity or governing body of the entity owns or maintains a website or a social media page; and furnished at least forty-eight hours before the meeting takes place to anyone who requests the information.
Certification of the proposed popular name and the proposed ballot title for the Initiated Act is required to clear the way for ACT to begin collecting signatures of registered voters. The signatures of 72,563 registered Arkansas voters are required to be turned into the Secretary of State's office by July 5 to qualify the proposed Initiated Act for the November 5, 2024 general election ballot.
Response from the Attorney General is due January 8, 2024 on the proposed Constitutional Amendment and January 9 on the proposed Initiated Act.
The full text of the revised Act is attached as an addendum.
To learn more or become involved, visit https://arcitizens4transparency.org/
To make a secure online donation to help cover the costs of getting the Amendment on the 2024 ballot, visit https://goodchange.app/donate/arfortransparency
Members of the drafting committee include Sen. Clarke Tucker, Chairman; Nate Bell; David Couch; Jennifer Waymack Standefer; Robert Steinbuch; John E. Tull, III; and Ashley Kemp Wimberley.