---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE AS THEY RELATE TO TEACHER LICENSURE."
description: "TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE AS THEY RELATE TO TEACHER LICENSURE."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 1609"
citation: "Arkansas HB 1609 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["B. Davis", "Evans"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 16
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-03-13T18:40:01+00:00"
last_action: "2023-04-12T14:53:33+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9a1718b2-3aaa-438e-ab87-704a83aebff8"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "60bc80a54f5b0c1007f7b7152171e3e3f7f4d6444be60e152a5e82ebcc6dc32f"
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 HB 1609 (2023) — TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE AS THEY RELATE TO TEACHER LICENSURE.

## Version chain

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

1. **Act 732** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2023R%2FPublic%2F&file=732.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2023%2F2023R)
2. **Amendment H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FAMEND%2F2023R%2FPublic%2FHB1609-H1.pdf)
3. **HB 1609** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2023/2023R/Bills/HB1609.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed. — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- B. Davis — primary (person)
- Evans — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-03-13T18:40:01+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2023-03-13T23:00:00+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`
- **2023-03-31T04:01:00+00:00** Returned by the Committee with the recommendation that it do pass as amended 1 `committee-passage`
- **2023-04-03T13:54:44+00:00** Placed on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
- **2023-04-03T13:54:46+00:00** Amendment No. 1 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage`
- **2023-04-03T19:21:28+00:00** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2023-04-04T21:11:23+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-05T03:57:01+00:00** Received from the House.
- **2023-04-05T18:07:46+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-06T16:01:06+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-06T22:41:15+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-06T22:41:20+00:00** Returned to the House as passed.
- **2023-04-06T23:45:02+00:00** Returned From the Senate as passed.
- **2023-04-06T23:45:08+00:00** TO BE ENROLLED
- **2023-04-07T15:30:34+00:00** Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office.
- **2023-04-12T14:53:33+00:00** Notification that HB1609 is now Act 732 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9a1718b2-3aaa-438e-ab87-704a83aebff8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).