---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO ALLOW THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION TO EMPLOY THE DIRECTOR OF ARKANSAS TOBACCO CONTROL."
description: "TO ALLOW THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION TO EMPLOY THE DIRECTOR OF ARKANSAS TOBACCO CONTROL."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 597"
citation: "Arkansas SB 597 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dotson", "J. English"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-03-23T18:32:14+00:00"
last_action: "2021-04-26T19:27:45+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/48066c05-a4cb-4b28-a258-3f61d2abb159"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "cc543cfcc3064d0d57b25162480db651b7a58f9105dd50e8b240bc61af3ea5c9"
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 597 (2021) — TO ALLOW THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION TO EMPLOY THE DIRECTOR OF ARKANSAS TOBACCO CONTROL.

## Version chain

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

1. **SB 597** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2021R/Public/Searchable/SB597.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed. — **25–3** (pass) · upper
- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **88–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Dotson — primary (person)
- J. English — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-03-23T18:32:14+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2021-03-29T18:44:42+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to CITY, COUNTY & LOCAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-01T18:08:56+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-05T19:48:41+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-04-05T19:48:57+00:00** Ordered immediately transmitted to the House.
- **2021-04-05T21:55:34+00:00** RECEIVED FROM THE SENATE
- **2021-04-05T22:24:29+00:00** Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on HOUSE RULES `reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-14T18:21:10+00:00** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2021-04-20T19:40:38+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-04-20T19:40:46+00:00** Returned To the Senate as passed.
- **2021-04-20T22:59:34+00:00** Returned from the House as passed.
- **2021-04-20T22:59:40+00:00** ORDERED ENROLLED
- **2021-04-21T16:37:49+00:00** Reported correctly enrolled and ordered delivered to the Governor.
- **2021-04-21T16:37:59+00:00** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. `executive-receipt`
- **2021-04-26T19:27:45+00:00** Notification that SB597 is now Act 917 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/48066c05-a4cb-4b28-a258-3f61d2abb159`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).