Arkansas legislative glossary

Arkansas uses a few words in ways that are hard to guess from outside the building. A bill history says a bill was "ordered engrossed," the Legislative Council began as a committee that works between sessions, and every county has a "quorum court" that passes ordinances instead of trying cases. This page defines those words, grouped by where you will meet them.

Definitions describe the rules as written in the sources listed with each term. Where a rule comes from a chamber's rule book, the edition is named, because chambers adopt new rules each General Assembly.

The Legislature and its staff

General Assembly

The Arkansas Legislature. It has two chambers: a House of Representatives with 100 members and a Senate with 35 members. A simple majority is 51 votes in the House and 18 in the Senate.

Source: Bureau of Legislative Research, Arkansas Senate

Arkansas Legislative Council ALC

A joint committee of House and Senate members. It began as a committee to gather information for legislators between sessions. It has 36 regular members, 20 chosen by the House and 16 by the Senate, and 24 ex officio members serve alongside them. It was created by Act 192 of 1947 and changed by Act 264 of 1949. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas describes it today as "an organizing committee and a door keeper to the General Assembly." It oversees the Bureau of Legislative Research.

Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas

Administrative rules review

State agencies must file proposed rules with the Legislative Council, which assigns them to its Administrative Rules Subcommittee. The subcommittee takes public comment, and a rule is treated as approved unless members ask for a vote and a majority of a quorum votes not to approve it. During a session, a rule review subcommittee of the Joint Budget Committee does this job instead.

Source: Ark. Code Ann. § 10-3-309

Joint Budget Committee JBC

The joint House and Senate committee that considers appropriation bills and budget proposals. It may meet between sessions, and the members named to serve at the next regular session may attend the budget hearings the Legislative Council holds before the session, after October 1.

Source: Arkansas Senate: Joint Budget Committee

Bureau of Legislative Research BLR

The Legislature's staff agency. It drafts bills, appropriation bills, resolutions and amendments, does budget and fiscal research, prepares fiscal impact statements, and staffs almost all committees. It serves all 135 members "on a nonpartisan and impartial basis" and does not do research for private individuals. The Legislative Council oversees it.

Source: Bureau of Legislative Research, Encyclopedia of Arkansas

Interim

The time between sessions. Committees such as the Legislative Council and the Joint Budget Committee keep meeting in the interim to study issues, review agency rules and prepare budgets.

Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Arkansas Senate: Joint Budget Committee

Sessions

Regular session

The main lawmaking session, which meets on the second Monday in January of each odd-numbered year and may take up any bill or resolution. The Legislature may change the start date. A regular session may last 60 calendar days, or longer if two-thirds of the members of each house vote to extend it, and no more than 75 days unless three-fourths vote to extend it further.

Source: Ark. Const. art. 5, § 5, Ark. Const. art. 5, § 17

Fiscal session

A shorter session in each even-numbered year for appropriation bills only. The Constitution sets it for the second Monday in February, and the Legislature may change that date. Any other bill needs approval from two-thirds of the members of each house before it can be considered. A fiscal session may last 30 calendar days and may be extended once, by no more than 15 days, with a three-fourths vote of each house. Fiscal sessions began in 2010 under Amendment 86.

Source: Ark. Const. art. 5, § 5, Ark. Const. art. 5, § 17

Sine die

Latin for "without a day." Adjourning sine die is the official end of a session. The date matters because many acts take effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns sine die.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law

How bills move

Bill numbers SB 1, HB 1001

Each bill gets a number in the chamber where it is filed. Senate bills are numbered from 1 and House bills from 1001, so HB 1001 is the first House bill of a session.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law

First and second reading

A bill is read three times in the chamber where it starts. The second reading usually comes right after the first, and after the second reading the bill is assigned to a committee.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law

Shell bill

A bill, typically with no substantive provisions, that is filed so it can later be amended to carry the sponsor's actual proposal within the subject of its title. Under House rules, the Speaker may declare a bill a shell bill after first reading, and it goes to committee only once it has been amended and engrossed with real content.

Source: Rules of the House, 92nd General Assembly, Rule 39(c)

Do pass

A committee's recommendation that the full chamber pass a bill as written. The bill moves to the chamber's calendar.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law, House Rule 69

Do pass as amended

A committee's recommendation that the chamber pass a bill with the committee's amendments. In the House, if any of those amendments are not adopted on the floor, the bill goes back to the same committee.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law, House Rule 69

Do not pass

A committee's recommendation against a bill. In the Senate, the full chamber can still pull the bill out of committee, but only by an extraordinary majority, which the Senate says is rare.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law

Without recommendation

A Senate committee can leave a bill on its agenda without recommending it either way.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law

Engrossed

Reprinted with adopted amendments written into the text. In a bill history you will see "Amendment No. 1 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed," then "REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED." House rules say an amended House bill can't be acted on until the engrossed version has been printed and placed on each member's desk.

Source: SB611 of 2025, bill history, House Rule 47(c)

Consent calendar

A separate House calendar for bills that a committee recommended "do pass" and that the committee or the Speaker considers non-controversial. Under the 92nd General Assembly's rules, the House takes it up on Thursdays and at other times the Speaker chooses.

Source: House Rule 70

Third reading

The final reading of a bill on the floor, right before debate and the vote on passage.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law

Enrolled

The final copy of a bill that has passed both chambers, checked and sent to the Governor. A bill history shows "ORDERED ENROLLED," then "Reported correctly enrolled and ordered delivered to the Governor."

Source: SB611 of 2025, bill history

Votes and becoming law

Appropriation bill

A bill that authorizes state money to be spent. Appropriations need a three-fourths vote, which is 27 votes in the Senate, and most take effect on the first day of the next fiscal year. Appropriation bills are the business of the fiscal session.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law, Ark. Const. art. 5, § 5

Two-thirds vote

Needed to amend or repeal a measure the voters approved, which is 24 votes in the Senate and 67 in the House, and to pass an emergency clause. The Constitution counts two-thirds of all members elected to each house, not just those present.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law, Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1

Emergency clause

A section stating that a measure is needed right away for "the preservation of the public peace, health and safety." It must state the facts that make it an emergency and pass on a separate roll call by two-thirds of all members elected to each house. An act with an emergency clause takes effect when the Governor signs it instead of waiting 90 days.

Source: Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1, Arkansas Senate

Veto and override

The Governor may sign a bill, veto it, or let it become law without a signature. During a session, a bill the Governor does not return within five days, not counting Sundays, becomes law. If adjournment prevents its return, the Governor has 20 days after adjournment to file a veto with the Secretary of State. To override, each house needs a majority of its whole elected membership, 51 in the House and 18 in the Senate.

Source: Ark. Const. art. 6, § 15, Arkansas Senate

Act

A bill that has become law. It is given an Act number, which is how it is cited from then on. SB611 of 2025, for example, became Act 900.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law, SB611 of 2025

Effective date

When an act starts to apply. Many acts take effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns sine die. Some set their own date, acts with an emergency clause take effect on signature, and most appropriations start with the next fiscal year.

Source: Arkansas Senate: How a bill becomes a law

County government

Quorum court

The legislative body of an Arkansas county. It passes ordinances and appropriates county money, and it may use local legislative authority that the Constitution or state law does not deny. It has 9, 11, 13 or 15 members depending on the county's population, and it meets each month.

Source: Ark. Const. amend. 55, Association of Arkansas Counties

Justice of the peace JP

A member of the quorum court. Justices of the peace are elected to two-year terms from single-member districts within the county, which the county election commission redraws after each census.

Source: Association of Arkansas Counties, Ark. Const. amend. 55

County judge

The county's chief executive, not a trial judge. The county judge runs county roads, approves spending of appropriated funds and administers the quorum court's ordinances. The county judge presides over the quorum court without a vote but can veto its actions, and a veto can be overridden by three-fifths of the court's total membership.

Source: Association of Arkansas Counties