Senate panel advances cleanup to Historical Monument Protection Act, narrows look-back provision

Senator Johnson, sponsor of SB 121, told the Senate State Agencies Committee the amendment is a technical cleanup to the Arkansas State Capitol and Historical Monument Protection Act and is intended to limit a prior "look-back" provision. "We will amend the bill again to try to clean this up a little better," Johnson said, stressing the change narrows the retrospective reach of the law.

Johnson said the act’s operative date — April 28, 2021 — matters. The amendment, he said, applies only to any monument removed without a waiver after 04/28/2021 or to a monument partially removed in the last five years "where the portion removed is still in the possession of the public entity." He gave the Capitol Guards monument in MacArthur Park and a Fort Smith flag-display site as illustrations where components were separated or removed and where the amendment clarifies whether the statute applies.

During discussion, Senator Tucker said he worried the bill could criminalize conduct that was legal when taken and described a long-running philosophical concern about retrospective laws. Johnson replied the narrowed language and the possession requirement are designed to avoid unfair retroactivity: "We might talk about the action being done within the last 5 years, but we're really looking at just probably really 2021." Johnson also noted stakeholders including the municipal league, association of counties, and the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism had reviewed the changes.

Committee officers moved and seconded the amendment; the committee adopted it and then passed the bill as amended.

The committee did not sign up members of the public to testify on this item and no further referral was announced. The next procedural step will be whatever referral the sponsor requests for floor consideration.