---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO ENSURE THAT BUSINESSES ARE NOT PENALIZED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH FOR THE BEHAVIOR OF THEIR PATRONS OR CUSTOMERS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS 2019 (COVID-19) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
description: "TO ENSURE THAT BUSINESSES ARE NOT PENALIZED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH FOR THE BEHAVIOR OF THEIR PATRONS OR CUSTOMERS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS 2019 (COVID-19) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 254"
citation: "Arkansas SB 254 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["K. Hammer", "Lundstrum"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 21
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-02-02T17:29:32+00:00"
last_action: "2021-03-17T22:22:43+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7f532690-1703-4cba-af75-c575cbc15576"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "862e5ca57dd3b7a49aef943bfd7740d3d79e94331f12cfb2df42d4a6e228782a"
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 254 (2021) — TO ENSURE THAT BUSINESSES ARE NOT PENALIZED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH FOR THE BEHAVIOR OF THEIR PATRONS OR CUSTOMERS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS 2019 (COVID-19) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.

## 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%2FSB254-S1.pdf)
2. **SB 254** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2021R/Public/Searchable/SB254.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **74–16** (pass) · lower
- Read the third time and passed. — **32–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- K. Hammer — primary (person)
- Lundstrum — primary (person)
- A. Clark — cosponsor (person)
- B. Smith — cosponsor (person)
- Barker — cosponsor (person)
- Beck — cosponsor (person)
- Beckham — cosponsor (person)
- Bentley — cosponsor (person)
- Boyd — cosponsor (person)
- Brown — cosponsor (person)
- Bryant — cosponsor (person)
- C. Cooper — cosponsor (person)
- Caldwell — cosponsor (person)
- Cavenaugh — cosponsor (person)
- Cloud — cosponsor (person)
- Coleman — cosponsor (person)
- Cozart — cosponsor (person)
- Crawford — cosponsor (person)
- D. Wallace — cosponsor (person)
- Furman — cosponsor (person)
- Gonzales — cosponsor (person)
- Haak — cosponsor (person)
- Hester — cosponsor (person)
- Hollowell — cosponsor (person)
- Irvin — cosponsor (person)
- L. Johnson — cosponsor (person)
- Ladyman — cosponsor (person)
- Lynch — cosponsor (person)
- M. Gray — cosponsor (person)
- M. Johnson — cosponsor (person)
- McGrew — cosponsor (person)
- Miller — cosponsor (person)
- Payton — cosponsor (person)
- Penzo — cosponsor (person)
- Pilkington — cosponsor (person)
- Rice — cosponsor (person)
- Speaks — cosponsor (person)
- Tollett — cosponsor (person)
- Underwood — cosponsor (person)
- Vaught — cosponsor (person)
- Warren — cosponsor (person)
- Watson — cosponsor (person)
- Wing — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-02T17:29:32+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2021-02-02T19:12:11+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-04T14:25:50+00:00** Withdrawn from Committee for purpose of amendment # 1
- **2021-02-04T14:25:58+00:00** Amendment # 1 read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and adopted, ordered engrossed.
- **2021-02-04T19:09:18+00:00** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2021-02-04T19:09:37+00:00** Re-referred to PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE - SENATE `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-08T22:28:49+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-09T21:21:56+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-09T21:22:07+00:00** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2021-02-09T21:22:34+00:00** Ordered immediately transmitted to the House.
- **2021-02-09T22:12:39+00:00** RECEIVED FROM THE SENATE
- **2021-02-09T22:25:24+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`
- **2021-03-10T01:07:53+00:00** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2021-03-10T20:49:08+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-10T20:49:11+00:00** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2021-03-10T20:49:19+00:00** Returned To the Senate as passed.
- **2021-03-10T22:02:39+00:00** Returned from the House as passed.
- **2021-03-10T22:02:46+00:00** ORDERED ENROLLED
- **2021-03-11T16:46:23+00:00** Reported correctly enrolled and ordered delivered to the Governor.
- **2021-03-11T16:46:29+00:00** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. `executive-receipt`
- **2021-03-17T22:22:43+00:00** Notification that SB254 is now Act 401 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7f532690-1703-4cba-af75-c575cbc15576`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).