---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO AMEND LAWS REGARDING CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS; AND TO REQUIRE CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS ON CONTRACTORS IN DESIGNATED POSITIONS OR DESIGNATED FINANCIAL OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY POSITIONS."
description: "TO AMEND LAWS REGARDING CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS; AND TO REQUIRE CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS ON CONTRACTORS IN DESIGNATED POSITIONS OR DESIGNATED FINANCIAL OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY POSITIONS."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 1277"
citation: "Arkansas HB 1277 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hawks"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 18
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2019-01-28"
last_action: "2019-03-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6c4c4317-46a3-4e06-a2f3-baf611597995"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "897da5c32a064127067c20cd47cbb0040c176696f81ea6416ca1903a17127c53"
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 1277 (2019) — TO AMEND LAWS REGARDING CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS; AND TO REQUIRE CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS ON CONTRACTORS IN DESIGNATED POSITIONS OR DESIGNATED FINANCIAL OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY POSITIONS.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/Document?type=pdf&chamber=&source=Amendments&bill=HB1277-S1&ddBienniumSession=2019%2F2019R)
2. **HB 1277** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2019R/Public/Searchable/HB1277.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed. — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **91–0** (pass) · lower
- Senate amendment # 1 read and concurred in. — **94–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hawks — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-28** Filed `introduction`
- **2019-01-28** 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`
- **2019-02-06** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2019-02-11** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-11** Received from the House.
- **2019-02-11** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS-SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2019-02-26** Returned by the Committee with the recommendation that it Do Pass as amended, Amendment # 1 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-02-27** Placed on second reading for purpose of amendment.
- **2019-02-27** Amendment # 1 read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and adopted, ordered engrossed.
- **2019-02-27** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2019-02-28** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-28** Returned To the House as passed as amended.
- **2019-02-28** TO BE ENROLLED
- **2019-02-28** Returned From Senate as passed, as amended # 1
- **2019-03-04** Senate amendment # 1 read and concurred in.
- **2019-03-04** TO BE ENROLLED
- **2019-03-04** Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office.
- **2019-03-06** Notification that HB1277 is now Act 318 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6c4c4317-46a3-4e06-a2f3-baf611597995`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).