The House Education Committee advanced HB1569. This bill allows school districts to develop policies for distribution of excess food. As long as health department standards are met, this bill would allow schools to give students the left-over food from lunch to take home.
The Education Committee also advanced HB1018. This bill allows school districts with more than 20,000 students to increase the number of school board members to nine.
The House Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee advanced HB1627. This bill states the Department of Health may provide prescription monitoring information to federal prescription drug monitoring programs or other states’ prescription drug monitoring programs
The committee also advanced HB1658 which requires legal residency in Arkansas for licensure as osteopathic physician.
The House Public Transportation Committee advanced HB1646. This bill adds railroad operating facilities to the list of critical infrastructure sites where unmanned aircraft, or drones, are prohibited.
The House Judiciary Committee advanced HB1506. This bill imposes a criminal penalty (class A misdemeanor on first offense & class D felony on second offense) for theft of items from a cemetery or grave site.
The Judiciary Committee also advanced SB318. This bill prohibits female genital mutilation of a minor. It also creates awareness programs concerning & statistical tracking of unlawful female genital mutilation.
The House Revenue and Taxation Committee advanced SB345. This bill phases down a tax credit used by health insurance companies to reduce insurance premium taxes.
The full House voted in favor of HB1290. This bill allows pharmacists to provide access to oral contraceptives.
The House also voted in favor of SB10, which prohibits level 3 and level 4 sex offenders from wearing a costume or passing out candy during the two weeks before and after Halloween.
The House will reconvene on Wednesday at 1:30pm.