SESSION SNAPSHOT: Arkansas legislators seek to clarify FOIA, overhaul state employee pay plan

by Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate
March 14, 2025

Arkansas lawmakers during the ninth week of the 95th General Assembly advanced legislation backed by the governor that would overhaul the state’s higher education system and the state employee pay plan.

Arkansas ACCESS, the higher education bill, debuted Monday in the Joint Education Committee where critics focused on a provision to prohibit excused absences for students who participate in protests or attempts to influence legislation. 

After opponents kept raising concerns about infringing on free speech, the committee approved an amendment that would allow excused absences for attempts to influence legislation if students obtain parental consent. Opponents noted that the amendment only applied to students in high school, not college. 

Arkansas ACCESS, which was filed as two identical bills in the House and Senate, will likely clear final legislative hurdles next week and be sent to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ desk.

On Tuesday, lawmakers turned their attention to a proposed overhaul of the state employee pay plan, which is expected to cost $139 million. Sanders has previously said the goal of the plan is to recruit and retain employees in hard-to-fill positions, and to clarify the promotion ladders in each state agency. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the bill next Tuesday. 

An Arkansas House committee on Wednesday also approved two bills that mirror stalled legislation aimed at regulating companies’ online interactions with children. Protecting children’s online activity is another stated goal of Sanders’ administration. 

House Speaker Brian Evans, R-Cabot, told reporters Thursday that lawmakers “made really good strides this week” as they pushed to stay on track to wrap up their business by April 16. 

“We’ve seen really good movement, committees have worked long,” Evans said. “We’ve had committees that’s been meeting up into the night, and the purpose of that is just to make sure that the public is being heard, staying however long it takes.”

Longer days are likely to continue next week, he said, as lawmakers continue considering a variety of bills, including a $750 million appropriations bill for a Franklin County prison project that’s expected to generate discussion. 

1) FOIA bills

A Senate committee approved two bills this week that would define a public meeting, an effort to bring clarity to the state’s government transparency law. 

Senate Bill 376 defines a public meeting as any gathering of more than two members of a public body. Senate Bill 227 would set parameters for what members of city councils, quorum courts or school boards can discuss outside of a public meeting. 

SB 227 also would amend the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to add a cybersecurity breach as a reason to meet in executive session, introduce and regulate remote meeting attendance, and allow a court to nullify official actions taken as a result of violations of open meetings law.

SB 227 passed out of the Senate Thursday. SB 376 is on the upper chamber’s agenda on Monday.

2) Energy and environment

Arkansas lawmakers on Wednesday approved an amended bill to streamline the process for building electricity-generating plants in the state, one week after rejecting the original proposal. 

Senate Bill 307 sponsor Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, said the bill aims to mitigate the sharp increase in rates that’s expected when the state purchases or generates new energy to meet anticipated demand in the coming years. 

While Sen. Mark Johnson, R-Little Rock, said he appreciated Dismang’s work on the amendments, but he still didn’t believe the bill did enough to protect ratepayers. 

Meanwhile, legislation that would make it harder to protect Arkansas watersheds from possible pollution from large animals farms finally got a hearing Tuesday after weeks of deferrals. The proposal by Sen. Blake Johnson, R-Corning, received support from agricultural interests and opposition from environmental advocates. 

Johnson ultimately pulled Senate Bill 290 for revisions. 

3) Nitrogen Gas

Arkansas could become the fifth state to allow executions by nitrogen gas after lawmakers approved House Bill 1489 and sent it to the governor’s desk this week. 

Supporters of the bill say the state has a responsibility to carry out capital punishment and must find new ways to do as securing the necessary drugs for lethal injection has become increasingly difficult.

Alabama is the only state to have carried out nitrogen gas executions, and HB 1489 opponents have criticized the method as experimental and inhumane.

4) New bills 

Arkansas lawmakers filed about 140 bills by Thursday evening, including: 

Senate Bill 426 by Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, establishes “enhanced penalties” for immigrants lacking legal status who commit a “serious felony involving violence,” ensures that sheriff’s offices and the Arkansas Department of Correction’s Division of Correction can participate in the Warrant Service Officer program, and expands the state’s ban on sanctuary cities to include counties and unincorporated areas. 

Senate Bill 433, by Sen. Jim Dotson, R-Bentonville, would require the 10 Commandments to be displayed in public schools and taxpayer-funded buildings. 

Senate Bill 434, also by Dotson, would require that a majority of all registered voters eligible to vote approve a constitutional amendment in order for it to become law.

Senate Bill 450 by Sen. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville, would require the Arkansas Department of Education to include a human fetal growth and development discussion “in the relevant standards” during the state’s academic standards revision cycle. Davis opposed a similar bill that stalled in committee after critics questioned its age appropriateness, medical accuracy and inclusion of a video developed by an anti-abortion group. 

Lawmakers return to the Capitol on Monday for one more week of meetings before taking the following week off for Spring Break. Meeting schedules, agendas and livestream videos are available on the Arkansas Legislature’s website.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

The post SESSION SNAPSHOT: Arkansas legislators seek to clarify FOIA, overhaul state employee pay plan appeared first on arkansasadvocate.com

UPDATED: Arkansas Supreme Court chief justice harassed court staff, per human resources report

by Tess Vrbin, Arkansas Advocate
March 13, 2025

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:25 p.m. on March 13, 2025, to clarify whose emails Justice Hudson filed into evidence in a 2024 lawsuit, and again at 5:05 p.m. to include the Supreme Court’s latest per curiam order and Tom Mars’ motion for Justice Wood to recuse herself from ongoing litigation.

A report made public Thursday asserts that Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Karen Baker harassed judiciary employees on Dec. 4-5, 2024, after she was elected but before she was sworn in as the first elected female chief justice.

“Justice Baker intimidated staff, appears to have targeted female employees of color, indicated an intention to retaliate based on her perception of how employees voted, and indicated an intention to retaliate based on her perception of whether employees were cooperating with Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission’s investigation into her colleague’s conduct,” the report from the Administrative Office of the Courts human resources department states.

Baker’s behavior violated the AOC’s anti-harassment policy, according to the Jan. 10 report. The policy states in part: “Harassment undermines the integrity of the judiciary and violates the standard professional working environment to which employees are entitled… In particular, discrimination based on disability, color, gender, national origin, race, religion, or sex is strictly prohibited.”

AOC Director Marty Sullivan asked Baker on Jan. 13 to stay away from the agency’s offices and not to communicate with his staff, pending the conclusion of a Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission (JDDC) review against her. This disciplinary action is outlined in the report’s conclusion.

“If the perpetrator was under the authority of the AOC, HR would likely recommend termination or other serious disciplinary measures,” the report states. “Nevertheless, the AOC has an obligation to protect employees from further harassment.”

The filing of the report is the latest development in an ongoing dispute between Baker and most of her colleagues since she became chief justice Jan. 1. Previously, five of the other six justices blocked Baker’s attempts to fire 10 judiciary employees, including Sullivan, and appoint three new judges to the JDDC within three days of taking the oath of office. The JDDC investigates complaints about the conduct of judges and the justices.

The five justices stated in their per curiam orders that Baker was acting beyond the scope of her new authority. Baker has repeatedly maintained that state law and the state Constitution give the chief justice the authority to act unilaterally in personnel and appointment matters.

Associate Justice Courtney Hudson did not participate in the orders blocking Baker’s actions. She and Baker also did not participate in a March 6 order requiring Baker to file the HR report with the court by Tuesday nor in a Thursday morning order that allowed the release of a redacted version of the HR report.

Associate Justice Cody Hiland also did not participate in Thursday’s initial order or the following per curiam order reiterating the court’s stance that the HR report should be made public with redactions.

The March 6 order as well as Thursday’s resulted from an administrative civil appeal Baker filed Jan. 23 against Sullivan. In that filing, her attorney, Tom Mars, asked the high court to dismiss Sullivan’s “findings and recommendations” from the human resources investigation.

Five justices said in the March 6 order that Baker’s claim of visiting the Justice Building for “completely legitimate reasons” in December was “impossible” to verify without the HR report. The report submitted Monday was initially sealed because it pertained to allegations that the high court had not ruled on, Supreme Court Clerk Kyle Burton said Tuesday.

Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office, representing Sullivan, asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to deny Baker’s request to keep the document sealed. Monday’s submission included “additional factual allegations or characterizations related to the AOC investigation and report” that did not belong in the filing, according to Griffin’s office.

Mars filed a motion on Wednesday to withdraw Baker’s initial petition to the court. The motion alleges that Sullivan “decided to invent” AOC’s anti-harassment policy “out of whole cloth” shortly before completing the human resources report.

Sullivan declined to comment on the report, and Mars did not comment Thursday afternoon before publication.

Later Thursday afternoon, Mars filed a motion urging Associate Justice Rhonda Wood to recuse herself from the case. He cited Wood’s statement that “Marty Sullivan is the most amazing man on Earth” and that Baker should apologize to Sullivan during a rare public Supreme Court business meeting on Jan. 23, in which Wood and other justices were critical of Baker’s actions since becoming chief justice.

Mars said this indicated bias on Wood’s part, in addition to the fact that Wood was Baker’s opponent for the chief justice position in last year’s election that went to a runoff.

“Human nature being what it is, it would be surprising if Justice Wood did not hold at least somewhat of a grudge,” Mars wrote.

The allegations

The human resources document corroborates reports that Baker entered Sullivan’s office on Dec. 4 when he was not present. She “was observed looking throughout Mr. Sullivan’s office, including the area behind his desk” and later returned with two other people.

Their names are redacted in the document, but surveillance footage obtained via the state’s public records law and reported in December by Arkansas Business showed that Baker’s former law clerk, Department of Commerce Chief of Staff Allison Hatfield, and Hudson were the chief justice-elect’s two companions.

A court employee who saw the trio at Sullivan’s office Dec. 4 “had the distinct impression that the two [others] were purposefully distracting the employee and blocking the view,” the report states.

Baker then visited AOC’s Court Information Systems Division, where she told an employee who didn’t recognize her that the individual must not have voted for her, or voted at all, in November, the report states. The individual was one of two employees who reported feeling harassed by Baker approaching them, and witnesses corroborated their accounts, according to the HR report.

“The employees realized that Justice Baker had spoken only with employees of color and skipped the many white employees,” the report states. “The employees reported feeling targeted by Justice Baker because of the employees’ race.”

Baker also asked another Court Information Systems Division employee for information that the employee did not provide, responding with “That’s all I need to know” when the person hesitated, according to the report.

Court Information Systems Division director Tim Holthoff and deputy director Cecil Davis were among the 10 judiciary employees Baker attempted to fire in January. So was Pete Hollingsworth, chief of the Supreme Court Police Department, which received a complaint from a court employee who saw Baker, Hudson and Hatfield in AOC’s administrative suite, according to the report.

In the Jan. 3 order blocking the firings, Baker and Hudson’s colleagues called the firings “retaliatory.” On Jan. 2, Baker “confronted” Sullivan and Hollingsworth “about their responses to Freedom of Information Act requests involving her,” according to the order. The Court Information Systems Division is also involved in AOC’s responses to FOIA requests.

Baker returned to AOC’s administrative suite Dec. 5 and tried to order one of the employees she approached the previous day to let her into Sullivan’s locked office. The employee “was visibly shaken and appeared to feel humiliated by Justice Baker’s actions toward her,” the report states.

Upon learning another employee had been instructed not to unlock Sullivan’s office, Baker said “things would be changing come January.”

Disputes over JDDC

On Jan. 8, Baker issued an opinion declaring invalid her colleagues’ orders blocking her attempted AOC firings and JDDC appointments. The other justices, with the exception of Hudson, issued a statement saying Baker’s “later-filed dissent” from their two orders “has no legal effect beyond that of a dissenting opinion.”

Baker spent more than an hour fielding questions from the other justices about her behavior in the Jan. 23 Supreme Court business meeting, the same day she filed the civil appeal against Sullivan.

Associate Justice Shawn Womack said at the meeting that the court attempted to make new appointments to JDDC late last year, but the effort was delayed, including by Baker.

Womack asked Baker if she “intentionally” tried to “get control of the commission that was investigating” her as soon as she became chief justice. Baker said she was not the only justice under investigation and did not respond further to the question.

Circuit Judge H.G. Foster of Conway, the judge who swore in Baker as chief justice at midnight on Jan. 1, was one of the three blocked JDDC appointees. Before 12:30 a.m., Baker drew up the appointment orders for Foster and two other judges, one of whom had just retired from the bench. JDDC members are required to be sitting judges.

The human resources report specifies that Baker “indicated an intention to retaliate” against court employees based on whether they were cooperating with a JDDC “investigation into her colleague’s conduct.”

Five justices referred Hudson to the disciplinary panel in September 2024 for “flagrant breaches of confidentiality” after she filed former Chief Justice John Dan Kemp’s emails into evidence in her attempt to block the release of emails between her, Hatfield and others in response to a FOIA request from Arkansas Business. Kemp, Baker’s predecessor, did not run for reelection last year.

Baker wrote in her dissent that the majority had “a fundamental misunderstanding” of the FOIA and had damaged the Supreme Court’s credibility. She made transparency a focus of her successful runoff campaign against Wood.

The JDDC gave notice last week that it will hold a special meeting Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

The post Arkansas Supreme Court chief justice harassed court staff, per HR report filed in ongoing litigation appeared first on arkansasadvocate.com

SUMMARY: Arkansas lawmakers are debating the Arkansas Access bill, a 123-page education overhaul aimed at making it easier for students to earn degrees, certifications, or licenses. However, some high school students oppose the bill, arguing it violates their right to protest. The bill would ban political protests, student walkouts, and advocacy during the legislative process, sparking concerns about limiting students’ voices. Additionally, it would eliminate or reduce positions on state education boards. The Arkansas Education Association opposes the bill, citing concerns about its impact on education governance. Further details will be discussed tonight.

Arkansas lawmakers are debating a bill that would make several changes to the state’s education system.

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