---
type: "Bill"
title: "CONCERNING INDIGENT PERSONS AND THE USE OF A PUBLIC DEFENDER."
description: "CONCERNING INDIGENT PERSONS AND THE USE OF A PUBLIC DEFENDER."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 1213"
citation: "Arkansas HB 1213 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Maddox"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 16
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-01-19T18:53:59+00:00"
last_action: "2021-04-01T17:05:36+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6f07c77d-8200-4014-a9b4-5b1fbf0b1f02"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "0043277e89d99fa5b8afe4ac06da8e13cbcc72031572c9324a520bc973eb9983"
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 1213 (2021) — CONCERNING INDIGENT PERSONS AND THE USE OF A PUBLIC DEFENDER.

## 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%2FHB1213-H1.pdf)
2. **HB 1213** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2021R/Public/Searchable/HB1213.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **94–2** (pass) · lower
- Read the third time and passed. — **35–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Maddox — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-19T18:53:59+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2021-01-19T21:33:44+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`
- **2021-02-23T14:25:34+00:00** Placed on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
- **2021-02-23T14:25:38+00:00** Amendment No. 1 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage`
- **2021-02-23T16:33:30+00:00** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2021-03-02T21:37:31+00:00** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2021-03-03T19:22:13+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-03T22:57:20+00:00** Received from the House.
- **2021-03-03T22:57:29+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to JUDICIARY COMMITTEE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-22T18:26:11+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-29T19:45:47+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-29T19:46:05+00:00** Returned to the House as passed.
- **2021-03-29T23:03:32+00:00** Returned From the Senate as passed.
- **2021-03-29T23:03:35+00:00** TO BE ENROLLED
- **2021-03-30T13:42:55+00:00** Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office.
- **2021-04-01T17:05:36+00:00** Notification that HB1213 is now Act 502 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6f07c77d-8200-4014-a9b4-5b1fbf0b1f02`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).