Arkansas Legislature hearing and floor video

Arkansas has three public places to watch the Legislature. They overlap, and none of them is a full index of everything said in a hearing, so it helps to know which one to open first.

Where to watch

Not every meeting on the calendar has a video link. Some entries show only an agenda or attachments, and a canceled meeting is marked "Meeting Cancelled."

Finding a specific hearing

1. Open the calendar. Go to Meetings and Events and set a start and end date, or use This Week or This Month.
2. Find the committee. Each row lists the time, the committee name and the room. Some start times are written as "upon adjournment" of another meeting, so the clock time is an estimate.
3. Check the agenda first. Open the Agenda to see which bills or items were taken up, and Docs for the exhibits presented.
4. Open the video. Use the Video button for that meeting. It opens the recording on the Legislature's video host.
5. Past sessions. Each committee also has a Past Meetings page on arkleg, where earlier meetings list their agenda and video links by session.

The floor calendar

Floor sessions follow the chamber calendars, also on arkleg. The calendar page has four calendar types, House, Senate, House Budget and Senate Budget, and a date picker. On days with no floor session it shows a line saying there is no calendar for that date. The same menu links to Bills on Committee Agendas and the House Roll Call.

To find the floor debate on a bill, check which day it was on a chamber calendar for third reading, then open that day's floor video from House Watch Live or AR-CAN. Bills the House treats as non-controversial may move on a consent calendar with little or no debate.

Video in The Gavel

The Gavel links hearing video to the bills and agendas it belongs to. Recorded hearings open in the app split into chapters by agenda item, so you can jump to the bill you care about instead of scrubbing through a long meeting. Every line links back to the bill, the agenda or the video it came from.

Questions

Can I watch Arkansas legislative committee hearings live?

Yes. House floor sessions and House committees stream on the House Watch Live page, and AR-CAN links livestreams from the House and Senate. The arkleg Meetings and Events calendar links video for many committee and joint meetings.

Where are past hearings archived?

On the arkleg calendar and each committee's Past Meetings page, through the Video link for each meeting. The House Watch Live page has an archive search, and AR-CAN keeps archived events on YouTube.

Are there official transcripts of committee hearings?

The sources on this page publish video, agendas and attachments. None of them describes an official word-for-word transcript of committee hearings. The House and Senate journals record floor actions and votes.

Why doesn't a meeting have a video link?

Not every meeting is recorded or linked. Some calendar entries carry only an agenda or attachments, and some meetings are canceled. If you expect a recording, check the committee's Past Meetings page or the House archive search.