---
type: "Bill"
title: "CONCERNING THE POSSESSION AND USE OF PEPPER SPRAY OR TEAR GAS."
description: "CONCERNING THE POSSESSION AND USE OF PEPPER SPRAY OR TEAR GAS."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 1597"
citation: "Arkansas HB 1597 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["B. Ballinger", "Boyd"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 19
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-03-02T17:47:21+00:00"
last_action: "2021-04-05T18:10:27+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4825b699-2cbb-4800-89d7-d7bd0bce6614"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "78dcc14d3b3e2a9f3646755718ce1f1a324e9a7a430d3ca2b3c7c9a4ad37240a"
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 1597 (2021) — CONCERNING THE POSSESSION AND USE OF PEPPER SPRAY OR TEAR GAS.

## 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%2FHB1597-H1.pdf)
2. **Amendment H2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FAMEND%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FHB1597-H2.pdf)
3. **HB 1597** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2021R/Public/Searchable/HB1597.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **87–0** (pass) · lower
- Read the third time and passed. — **34–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- B. Ballinger — primary (person)
- Boyd — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-03-02T17:47:21+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2021-03-02T23:00:09+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`
- **2021-03-08T14:34:30+00:00** Placed on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
- **2021-03-08T14:34:33+00:00** Amendment No. 1 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage`
- **2021-03-08T18:42:11+00:00** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2021-03-15T13:33:00+00:00** Placed on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
- **2021-03-15T13:33:05+00:00** Amendment No. 2 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage`
- **2021-03-15T16:46:56+00:00** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2021-03-16T21:56:36+00:00** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2021-03-17T20:28:20+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-17T22:43:36+00:00** Received from the House.
- **2021-03-17T22:43:55+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to JUDICIARY COMMITTEE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-30T18:27:04+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-31T20:30:41+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-31T20:30:50+00:00** Returned to the House as passed.
- **2021-03-31T21:46:12+00:00** Returned From the Senate as passed.
- **2021-03-31T21:46:14+00:00** TO BE ENROLLED
- **2021-04-01T13:48:18+00:00** Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office.
- **2021-04-05T18:10:27+00:00** Notification that HB1597 is now Act 566 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4825b699-2cbb-4800-89d7-d7bd0bce6614`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).