UACES Facebook In the Weeds: Arkansas Government Disclosure Act of 2024
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In the Weeds: Arkansas Government Disclosure Act of 2024

by Kristin Higgins - February 9, 2024

Update: This proposal did not qualify for the 2024 ballot.

Go "deep into the weeds" with us on the Arkansas Government Disclosure Act 2024, a proposed Arkansas 2024 ballot issue. Find links and more information about the proposal.

We will publish a voter guide on all 2024 Arkansas ballot issues in October. In the meantime, this blog post shares information about this proposed citizen initiative.

Ballot Information

The popular name may be called the title by some people:

The Arkansas Government Disclosure Act of 2024 

Sometimes called a ballot summary, this is the information that appears on voter petitions and would appear on the ballot if the issue qualifies:

An initiated act repealing a provision of Act 883 of 2023, which allows a school’s board of directors, superintendent, and attorney to hold a meeting outside public observation to discuss pre-litigation, litigation, settlement, contract disputes, and real property; providing that a public record is exempt from disclosure to the extent that it contains information in which an individual has a substantial personal privacy interest; providing that, if access to a public record is not provided immediately upon request, the custodian must promptly write the requester explaining why and providing a time and date within three working days of the request that the responsive records will be made available; providing that a custodian’s failure to respond to a request for public records within three working days of the date of the request is considered a denial of the request, unless the custodian’s time to respond has been extended by the Arkansas Government Transparency Commission; requiring that all public meetings be conducted in a manner that allows the public to attend and hear the governing body’s meaningful discussion and deliberation on official business; requiring that the time, place, and 

Voters see the popular name and ballot title on Election Day. The full text of proposed acts do not appear on the ballot.

Read the full text of the act as provided by the sponsor.

The Arkansas Attorney General is responsible for certifying that popular names and ballot titles are free from misleading information. Only after this certification can sponsors start collecting voter signatures.

Date Certified: Jan. 24, 2024

Read the AG's Opinion

Sponsors must collect signatures from at least 72,563 Arkansas voters, with a certain percentage coming from at least 50 counties. The deadline to submit signatures is July 5, 2024.

Secretary of State's Initiatives and Referenda Handbook

A state law, such as this proposal, could be changed by the legislature in any legislative session.

A constitutional amendment would change the state's constitution, which dates back to 1874. Constitutional issues require a vote of the people to add, change, or remove.

Sponsors of the The Arkansas Government Disclosure Act of 2024 are also collecting voter signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment, The Arkansas Government Disclosure Amendment of 2024.

 

Ethics Commission Information

Supporters and opponents of a proposed ballot issue are required to file paperwork with the Arkansas Ethics Commission upon raising or spending $500. 

To see the financial statements filed by Arkansas Citizens for Transparency, go to https://www.arkansasethics.com/ and click on "LO-BQC, BQC, AND LQC FILINGS"

Use the drop down menu to find the group's name. Doing this will reveal their filings with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

As of April 5, 2024, there are no opponents registered with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

 

Websites

Websites for supporters and opponents will be added as they are known. As of Feb. 9, there is no publicly known opposition to this proposed ballot issue.

 

Lawsuits

Lawsuits may be filed throughout the Arkansas ballot issue process. When that occurs, we will provide links to those case files below.

Sponsors of two ballot issues related to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act sued Attorney General Tim Griffin in January 2024. Arkansans for Transparency asked the Supreme Court to compel Griffin to approve their popular names and ballot titles, saying the delay was cutting short their time to collect voter signatures. Ballot issue groups must publish their titles in a newspaper in June and turn in voter signatures in July.

On Jan. 30, the Attorney General's Office asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit now that the office had certified the names of the two proposals, allowing sponsors to go forward with signature collecting. The same day the group's attorneys filed paperwork agreeing to dismiss the lawsuit.
 

Court: Pulaski County Circuit Court

Case Summary: https://caseinfonew.arcourts.gov/opad/case/CV-24-40

 

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