KUAR | By Tess Vrbin / Arkansas Advocate
After two days of bipartisan backlash against proposed changes to Arkansas’ Freedom of Information Act, lawmakers late Tuesday filed narrower legislation to exempt information related to security services provided to the governor and other state officials. It’s the third attempt in as many business days to alter the state’s 1967 public records law.
The first version of the legislation, filed Friday upon Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ call for a special legislative session this week, did not have enough support to advance in the House or Senate on Monday.
A second bill filed Monday night met opposition from nearly two dozen people Tuesday in a five-hour hearing before the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, which did not vote on the bill.
John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate
Jimmie Cavin, right, is escorted from the Senate State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee meeting by a State Capitol Police officer after being told to leave by committee chairman Sen. Blake Johnson, R-Corning. Cavin had been expressing his opposition to SB9, which would make changes to the state’s Freedom of Information Act when he and Johnson exchanged heated words.