---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO AMEND THE PRIOR AUTHORIZATION TRANSPARENCY ACT; TO PROHIBIT PRIOR AUTHORIZATION FOR MEDICATION-ASSISTED TREATMENT; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
description: "TO AMEND THE PRIOR AUTHORIZATION TRANSPARENCY ACT; TO PROHIBIT PRIOR AUTHORIZATION FOR MEDICATION-ASSISTED TREATMENT; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 1656"
citation: "Arkansas HB 1656 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["D. Ferguson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 25
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2019-03-04"
last_action: "2019-04-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/90856818-3b82-48e1-8b9f-8c7a9714da6a"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "aa1c5ecdb70c17c13a8d273630e749ea22d57719bff198d2db0eda7e11bd504c"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ar"]
---

# Arkansas HB 1656 (2019) — TO AMEND THE PRIOR AUTHORIZATION TRANSPARENCY ACT; TO PROHIBIT PRIOR AUTHORIZATION FOR MEDICATION-ASSISTED TREATMENT; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HB 1656** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2019R/Public/Searchable/HB1656.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed. — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate amendment # 1 read and concurred in. — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **90–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- D. Ferguson — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-03-04** Filed `introduction`
- **2019-03-04** Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on INSURANCE & COMMERCE- HOUSE `reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2019-03-20** Returned by the Committee with the recommendation that it do pass as amended 1 `committee-passage`
- **2019-03-25** Placed on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
- **2019-03-25** Amendment No. 1 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage`
- **2019-03-25** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2019-03-26** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-03-26** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2019-03-26** Received from the House.
- **2019-03-26** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to INSURANCE & COMMERCE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-02** Returned by the Committee with the recommendation that it Do Pass as amended, Amendment # 1 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-03** Placed on second reading for purpose of amendment.
- **2019-04-03** Amendment # 1 read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and adopted, ordered engrossed.
- **2019-04-03** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2019-04-03** Rules suspended.
- **2019-04-03** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-04-03** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2019-04-03** Returned To the House as passed as amended.
- **2019-04-03** Returned From Senate as passed, as amended # 1
- **2019-04-03** Re-referred to the Committee on INSURANCE & COMMERCE- HOUSE `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-05** Returned by the Committee with the recommendation that it do pass, concur in Senate Amendment No. 1 `committee-passage`
- **2019-04-08** Senate amendment # 1 read and concurred in.
- **2019-04-08** TO BE ENROLLED
- **2019-04-09** Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office.
- **2019-04-12** Notification that HB1656 is now Act 964 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/90856818-3b82-48e1-8b9f-8c7a9714da6a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).