TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC RECORDS AND ARCHIVES; AND TO REQUIRE APPROVAL OF THE ARKANSAS STATE ARCHIVES PRIOR TO THE DESTRUCTION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS.
HB 1608 requires Arkansas State Archives approval before destroying handwritten documents over 50 years old held by state or county governments. It modifies existing records laws to mandate this review for both state records (Section 1) and county records transferred to permanent media (Section 2). The bill specifically targets handwritten historical documents, not all records or non-handwritten materials. This change ensures potentially significant historical documents receive archival review before disposal, without altering rules for younger or non-handwritten records.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2025
Signed into Law
Mar 2025
Introduced Feb 26, 2025
Signed Mar 18, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison
What changed between versions
Act 319
→
HB 1608
·
2 edits
MINOR
The bill text was reformatted from Act 319 to HB 1608 with minor layout adjustments, including removal of the approval date and repositioning of header metadata. No substantive policy changes, funding amounts, or eligibility criteria were altered.
TECHNICAL
Removed the approval date 'APPROVED: 3/18/25' from the document header.
Adjusted spacing and alignment of bill header metadata, including date and time stamps.
Floor votes
How they voted
This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
13
Key actions
7
Committee
2
Mar 18, 2025
Signed into law
Notification that HB1608 is now Act 319
lower
Mar 13, 2025
Lower · Passed
Returned from the Senate as passed.
lower
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
Returned to the House as passed.
upper
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
Read the third time and passed.
upper
Mar 12, 2025
Upper · Passed
Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass
upper
Mar 6, 2025
Lower · Passed
Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate.
lower
Mar 5, 2025
Lower · Passed
Returned by the Committee Do Pass
lower
Feb 26, 2025
Introduced
Filed
lower
2 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
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