---
type: "Bill"
title: "EXCUSING MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY FROM PARTICIPATING ON A JURY UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES; AND TO PERMIT CERTAIN OLDER ARKANSANS TO DECLINE JURY SERVICE."
description: "EXCUSING MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY FROM PARTICIPATING ON A JURY UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES; AND TO PERMIT CERTAIN OLDER ARKANSANS TO DECLINE JURY SERVICE."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 1159"
citation: "Arkansas HB 1159 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["M. Johnson", "S. Meeks"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 16
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-01-12T17:29:56+00:00"
last_action: "2021-03-02T19:06:08+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c7487d19-69aa-44f5-b707-4d5071aca74b"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "b7e50d87219a08df8d1a3cf48b448f4b848f806f9318353adfced69d2f690ea4"
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 1159 (2021) — EXCUSING MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY FROM PARTICIPATING ON A JURY UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES; AND TO PERMIT CERTAIN OLDER ARKANSANS TO DECLINE JURY SERVICE.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FAMEND%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FHB1159-H1.pdf)
2. **HB 1159** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2021R/Public/Searchable/HB1159.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **73–14** (pass) · lower
- Read the third time and passed. — **33–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- M. Johnson — primary (person)
- S. Meeks — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-12T17:29:56+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2021-01-12T19:55:33+00:00** Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on JUDICIARY COMMITTEE- HOUSE `reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-01-27T14:43:28+00:00** Placed on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
- **2021-01-27T14:43:31+00:00** Amendment No. 1 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage`
- **2021-01-27T16:23:47+00:00** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2021-02-04T17:52:26+00:00** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-08T19:40:34+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-08T21:24:09+00:00** Received from the House.
- **2021-02-08T21:24:25+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to JUDICIARY COMMITTEE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-24T19:40:25+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-25T21:20:40+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-25T21:21:14+00:00** Returned to the House as passed.
- **2021-02-25T23:12:59+00:00** Returned From the Senate as passed.
- **2021-02-25T23:13:00+00:00** TO BE ENROLLED
- **2021-02-26T18:09:43+00:00** Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office.
- **2021-03-02T19:06:08+00:00** Notification that HB1159 is now Act 222 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c7487d19-69aa-44f5-b707-4d5071aca74b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).