---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO CREATE THE WORKFORCE EXPANSION ACT OF 2021."
description: "TO CREATE THE WORKFORCE EXPANSION ACT OF 2021."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 153"
citation: "Arkansas SB 153 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gilmore", "Ray"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 19
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-01-19T19:21:17+00:00"
last_action: "2021-04-19T17:53:22+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bb5db7f5-595a-4f96-abaf-86edc9a0640e"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "894a29d9f01887c849d82cdaf45edb7caea80fb3dae59e7f445d98ff99b82f61"
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 153 (2021) — TO CREATE THE WORKFORCE EXPANSION ACT OF 2021.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FAMEND%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FSB153-S1.pdf)
2. **SB 153** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2021R/Public/Searchable/SB153.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed. — **33–0** (pass) · upper
- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gilmore — primary (person)
- Ray — primary (person)
- B. Ballinger — cosponsor (person)
- B. Davis — cosponsor (person)
- B. Johnson — cosponsor (person)
- Beaty Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Beckham — cosponsor (person)
- Bledsoe — cosponsor (person)
- Boyd — cosponsor (person)
- Brooks — cosponsor (person)
- Brown — cosponsor (person)
- C. Tucker — cosponsor (person)
- D. Sullivan — cosponsor (person)
- D. Wallace — cosponsor (person)
- Flippo — cosponsor (person)
- Furman — cosponsor (person)
- Haak — cosponsor (person)
- Hester — cosponsor (person)
- K. Hammer — cosponsor (person)
- M. Berry — cosponsor (person)
- McCollum — cosponsor (person)
- T. Garner — cosponsor (person)
- Underwood — cosponsor (person)
- Wardlaw — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-19T19:21:17+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2021-01-19T20:19:17+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-10T14:40:12+00:00** Withdrawn from Committee for purpose of amendment # 1
- **2021-03-10T14:40:22+00:00** Amendment # 1 read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and adopted, ordered engrossed.
- **2021-03-10T19:12:37+00:00** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2021-03-10T19:12:51+00:00** Re-referred to PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE - SENATE `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-17T22:48:09+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-18T18:20:45+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-18T18:21:01+00:00** Ordered immediately transmitted to the House.
- **2021-03-18T21:32:31+00:00** RECEIVED FROM THE SENATE
- **2021-03-18T22:25:31+00:00** Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE- HOUSE `reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-08T19:30:03+00:00** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2021-04-12T20:35:37+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-04-12T20:35:47+00:00** Returned To the Senate as passed.
- **2021-04-13T18:53:17+00:00** Returned from the House as passed.
- **2021-04-13T18:53:24+00:00** ORDERED ENROLLED
- **2021-04-13T21:00:27+00:00** Reported correctly enrolled and ordered delivered to the Governor.
- **2021-04-13T21:00:31+00:00** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. `executive-receipt`
- **2021-04-19T17:53:22+00:00** Notification that SB153 is now Act 725 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/bb5db7f5-595a-4f96-abaf-86edc9a0640e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).