---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PETITION REQUIREMENTS TO FORM A NEW POLITICAL PARTY; TO REQUIRE SIGNATURES OF THREE PERCENT (3%) OF THE TOTAL VOTES CAST IN THE MOST RECENT GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
description: "TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PETITION REQUIREMENTS TO FORM A NEW POLITICAL PARTY; TO REQUIRE SIGNATURES OF THREE PERCENT (3%) OF THE TOTAL VOTES CAST IN THE MOST RECENT GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2019"
identifier: "SB 163"
citation: "Arkansas SB 163 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["T. Garner"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 17
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2019-01-24"
last_action: "2019-02-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e571b496-f643-483e-9b1b-a7bfa5042f49"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "a5e3a65a23e7f8f522707df16981ec28175d9847ac323f29e184d1f5df558b92"
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 SB 163 (2019) — TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PETITION REQUIREMENTS TO FORM A NEW POLITICAL PARTY; TO REQUIRE SIGNATURES OF THREE PERCENT (3%) OF THE TOTAL VOTES CAST IN THE MOST RECENT GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.

## Version chain

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

1. **SB 163** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2019R/Public/Searchable/SB163.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **61–21** (pass) · lower
- Read the third time and passed. — **27–7** (pass) · upper
- EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED — **70–16** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- T. Garner — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-24** Filed `introduction`
- **2019-01-24** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS-SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2019-01-29** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-01-30** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-01-30** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2019-01-30** Ordered immediately transmitted to the House.
- **2019-01-30** RECEIVED FROM THE SENATE
- **2019-01-30** Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS- HOUSE `reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2019-02-06** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2019-02-13** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-13** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2019-02-13** Returned To the Senate as passed.
- **2019-02-13** Returned from the House as passed.
- **2019-02-13** ORDERED ENROLLED
- **2019-02-14** Reported correctly enrolled and ordered delivered to the Governor.
- **2019-02-14** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. `executive-receipt`
- **2019-02-19** Notification that SB163 is now Act 164 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e571b496-f643-483e-9b1b-a7bfa5042f49`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).