---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO EXTEND MATERNITY LEAVE FOR STATE EMPLOYEES; TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE CATASTROPHIC LEAVE PROGRAM; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
description: "TO EXTEND MATERNITY LEAVE FOR STATE EMPLOYEES; TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE CATASTROPHIC LEAVE PROGRAM; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 426"
citation: "Arkansas SB 426 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gazaway", "Irvin"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-03-14T22:06:00+00:00"
last_action: "2023-04-12T13:19:05+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/22393d3c-25f9-44bb-90e7-7d7f427dcbd5"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "1b5815eb94d78b5626874e50270a1bc9f8f6c805046bd0a09aa271c3972ce8c0"
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 426 (2023) — TO EXTEND MATERNITY LEAVE FOR STATE EMPLOYEES; TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE CATASTROPHIC LEAVE PROGRAM; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.

## Version chain

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

1. **Act 770** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2023R%2FPublic%2F&file=770.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2023%2F2023R)
2. **Amendment S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FAMEND%2F2023R%2FPublic%2FSB426-S1.pdf)
3. **SB 426** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2023/2023R/Bills/SB426.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **93–0** (pass) · lower
- Read the third time and passed. — **35–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Gazaway — primary (person)
- Irvin — primary (person)
- Vaught — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-03-14T22:06:00+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2023-03-14T22:22:05+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS-SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-29T18:48:27+00:00** Rules suspended.
- **2023-03-29T18:48:32+00:00** Withdrawn from Committee for purpose of amendment # 1
- **2023-03-29T18:48:35+00:00** Placed on second reading for purpose of amendment.
- **2023-03-29T18:48:39+00:00** Amendment # 1 read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and adopted, ordered engrossed.
- **2023-03-29T22:21:08+00:00** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2023-03-29T22:21:17+00:00** Re-referred to STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS-SENATE `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-03T17:27:09+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-03T21:36:45+00:00** Rules suspended.
- **2023-04-03T21:38:06+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-03T21:38:13+00:00** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2023-04-03T21:38:21+00:00** Ordered immediately transmitted to the House.
- **2023-04-03T23:07:22+00:00** RECEIVED FROM THE SENATE
- **2023-04-04T00:43:09+00:00** Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS- HOUSE `reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-05T17:05:05+00:00** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2023-04-06T21:05:21+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-06T21:05:23+00:00** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2023-04-06T21:05:28+00:00** Returned To the Senate as passed.
- **2023-04-06T23:21:19+00:00** Returned from the House as passed.
- **2023-04-06T23:21:21+00:00** ORDERED ENROLLED
- **2023-04-07T19:28:13+00:00** Reported correctly enrolled and ordered delivered to the Governor.
- **2023-04-07T19:28:16+00:00** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. `executive-receipt`
- **2023-04-12T13:19:05+00:00** Notification that SB426 is now Act 770 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/22393d3c-25f9-44bb-90e7-7d7f427dcbd5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).