Lawmakers approve amendment to restore franchise participants, tighten transfer rules

Representative Jeff Wardlaw, R‑94, asked the Senate Insurance & Commerce committee to adopt an agreed amendment to House Bill 17 83 and walked members through the bill’s main provisions.

Wardlaw said the amendment returns certain franchise participants to the bill after stakeholder negotiations: “The beer folks wanted out, so we took them out. They came back to us yesterday and wanted back in,” and the amendment “appeases all parties and makes it back to an agreed upon bill.”

The bill’s principal effects, as Wardlaw described them, are to make specified sections retroactive under the 1977 franchise regulation act, to strike a 1991 “expansion law” exemption, and to permit franchises to be sold or transferred to family members (spouse, child or heir) only after an established financial‑stability review. “There would have to be some establish stabilization of those people being eligible to take that franchise over,” Wardlaw said, explaining that the review is intended to ensure transferees are “financially stable, business ready, and ready to take over the franchise.”

Wardlaw also said the amendment changes venue to Arkansas courts so franchise disputes would be heard in-state.

After brief colloquy, Senator Johnson moved a do-pass-as-amended recommendation; Senator Hickey moved the amendment. The committee voted in favor and the chair announced the bill passed out of committee.

The committee record shows the amendment was presented as an agreed compromise among stakeholders and that no public opposition was recorded during the hearing. The bill was passed as amended and sent forward to the next stage.