---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS CODE AS IT PERTAINS TO REFERENCES TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE DIVISION OF HIGHER EDUCATION; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
description: "TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS CODE AS IT PERTAINS TO REFERENCES TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE DIVISION OF HIGHER EDUCATION; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 551"
citation: "Arkansas SB 551 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brooks", "J. Dotson"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 17
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-03-30T22:40:49+00:00"
last_action: "2023-04-12T13:37:16+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f5917ba6-813c-4253-b875-acb73adc8579"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "12beb127aec2715236d3a547f78f82f52350826640a19a512cf405262161bf4b"
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 551 (2023) — TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS CODE AS IT PERTAINS TO REFERENCES TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE DIVISION OF HIGHER EDUCATION; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.

## Version chain

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

1. **Act 786** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2023R%2FPublic%2F&file=786.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2023%2F2023R)
2. **SB 551** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2023/2023R/Bills/SB551.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **94–0** (pass) · lower
- Read the third time and passed. — **34–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

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

## Timeline

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

- **2023-03-30T22:40:49+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2023-03-30T23:35:39+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-03T18:06:23+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-04T20:55:57+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-04T20:56:00+00:00** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2023-04-04T20:56:06+00:00** Ordered immediately transmitted to the House.
- **2023-04-04T22:14:26+00:00** RECEIVED FROM THE SENATE
- **2023-04-05T00:59:13+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`
- **2023-04-06T17:12:40+00:00** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2023-04-07T14:44:53+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-07T14:44:55+00:00** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2023-04-07T14:45:00+00:00** Returned To the Senate as passed.
- **2023-04-07T17:42:31+00:00** Returned from the House as passed.
- **2023-04-07T17:42:33+00:00** ORDERED ENROLLED
- **2023-04-07T19:15:24+00:00** Reported correctly enrolled and ordered delivered to the Governor.
- **2023-04-07T19:15:37+00:00** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. `executive-receipt`
- **2023-04-12T13:37:16+00:00** Notification that SB551 is now Act 786 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f5917ba6-813c-4253-b875-acb73adc8579`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).