---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO CREATE THE HIGHER EDUCATION CONSUMER GUIDE ACT."
description: "TO CREATE THE HIGHER EDUCATION CONSUMER GUIDE ACT."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 397"
citation: "Arkansas SB 397 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Irvin", "Speaks"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 19
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-02-25T16:55:13+00:00"
last_action: "2021-04-05T17:17:50+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/96511a2e-ef93-4810-a194-a9f80db61b4e"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "fa8180c60c54647b434f24e3aeae0602e2b8f628ee5559a03f01931e43b8967d"
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 397 (2021) — TO CREATE THE HIGHER EDUCATION CONSUMER GUIDE ACT.

## 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%2FSB397-S1.pdf)
2. **SB 397** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2021R/Public/Searchable/SB397.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed. — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **94–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Irvin — primary (person)
- Speaks — primary (person)
- B. Davis — cosponsor (person)
- Barker — cosponsor (person)
- Bentley — cosponsor (person)
- Bledsoe — cosponsor (person)
- Brown — cosponsor (person)
- C. Fite — cosponsor (person)
- Cavenaugh — cosponsor (person)
- Crawford — cosponsor (person)
- D. Ferguson — cosponsor (person)
- Dalby — cosponsor (person)
- Haak — cosponsor (person)
- J. English — cosponsor (person)
- J. Mayberry — cosponsor (person)
- Lundstrum — cosponsor (person)
- M. Gray — cosponsor (person)
- McKenzie — cosponsor (person)
- Vaught — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-25T16:55:13+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2021-02-25T19:27:57+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-08T19:32:38+00:00** Withdrawn from Committee for purpose of amendment # 1
- **2021-03-08T19:33:14+00:00** Amendment # 1 read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and adopted, ordered engrossed.
- **2021-03-08T19:33:43+00:00** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2021-03-08T19:34:09+00:00** Re-referred to EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-08T23:20:38+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-09T19:35:57+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-09T19:36:09+00:00** Ordered immediately transmitted to the House.
- **2021-03-09T21:32:10+00:00** RECEIVED FROM THE SENATE
- **2021-03-09T22:45:30+00:00** Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on EDUCATION COMMITTEE- HOUSE `reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-23T18:11:30+00:00** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2021-03-30T18:25:54+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-30T18:26:00+00:00** Returned To the Senate as passed.
- **2021-03-30T19:36:16+00:00** Returned from the House as passed.
- **2021-03-30T19:36:22+00:00** ORDERED ENROLLED
- **2021-03-31T17:25:41+00:00** Reported correctly enrolled and ordered delivered to the Governor.
- **2021-03-31T17:25:45+00:00** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. `executive-receipt`
- **2021-04-05T17:17:50+00:00** Notification that SB397 is now Act 539 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/96511a2e-ef93-4810-a194-a9f80db61b4e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).