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2025 Arkansas legislative session
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| 2025 Arkansas legislative session |
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| General information |
| Scheduled session start: January 13, 2025 Scheduled session end: May 5, 2025 |
| Leadership |
| Senate President Leslie Rutledge (R) House Speaker |
| Elections |
| Next Election: November 3, 2026 Last Election: November 5, 2024 |
| Previous legislative sessions |
| 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 |
| Other 2025 legislative sessions |
In 2025, the Arkansas State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 13 and adjourn on May 5.
The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2024 elections. Republicans won a 29-6 majority in the Senate and a 81-19 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta. At the start of the 2025 session, Arkansas was one of 20 state legislatures where Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.
Leadership in 2025
Arkansas State Senate
- Senate president: Leslie Rutledge (R)
- Majority leader: Blake Johnson (R)
- Minority leader: Greg Leding (D)
Arkansas House of Representatives
- Speaker of the House: Brian Evans (R)
- Majority leader: Howard Beaty (R)
- Minority leader: Andrew Collins (D)
Partisan control in 2025
- See also: State government trifectas
Arkansas was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2025 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.
Arkansas was also one of 20 state legislatures where Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.
The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Arkansas State Legislature in the 2025 legislative session.
Arkansas State Senate
| Party | As of January 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 6 | |
| Republican Party | 29 | |
| Total | 35 | |
Arkansas House of Representatives
| Party | As of January 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 19 | |
| Republican Party | 81 | |
| Total | 100 | |
Regular session
The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2025 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation has met these criteria yet in 2025. This information is provided by BillTrack50.
Legislation trackers
- See also: Legislation Trackers
Ballotpedia’s legislation trackers are your go-to resource for staying on top of key legislative topics. We capture any bill introduced on the topic across all of the 50 state legislatures, and we track the movement of the bill every step of the way. We provide real-time updates and translate legislative legalese into easily understandable language. As of the 2025 session, Ballotpedia provided tracking on the following topics. Click on the links below to view related bills from the 2025 session:
Standing legislative committees
A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.
At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session, there were 45 standing committees in Arkansas' state government, including 17 joint legislative committees, 14 state Senate committees, and 14 state House committees.
Joint legislative committees
- Academic Facilities Oversight Committee
- Advanced Communications and Information Technology Committee
- Boys State Committee
- Code Revision Commission
- Constitutional Amendments Committee
- Economic and Tax Policy Committee
- Game and Fish Commission Oversight Committee
- Girls State Committee
- Governor's Emergency Fund Review Committee
- Joint Budget Committee
- Joint Energy Committee
- Joint Performance Review Committee
- Legislative Council
- Legislative Facilities Committee
- Legislative Joint Auditing Committee
- Legislative Printing Requirements and Specifications Committee
- Public Retirement and Social Security Programs Committee
Senate committees
- Ethics Committee
- Senate Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee
- Senate Children and Youth Committee
- Senate City, County and Local Affairs Committee
- Senate Education Committee
- Senate Efficiency Committee
- Senate Insurance and Commerce Committee
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee
- Senate Public Retirement and Social Security Programs Committee
- Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee
- Senate Rules, Resolutions and Memorials Committee
- Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee
- Transportation, Technology and Legislative Affairs Committee
House committees
- Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs Committee
- House Advanced Communications and Information Technology Committee
- House Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee
- House City, County and Local Affairs Committee
- House Education Committee
- House Insurance and Commerce Committee
- House Judiciary Committee
- House Management Committee
- House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee
- House Revenue and Taxation Committee
- House Rules Committee
- House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee
- Legislative Orientation Committee
- Public Transportation Committee
Legislatively referred constitutional amendments
In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.
The methods by which the Arkansas Constitution can be amended:
The Arkansas Constitution provides two mechanisms for amending the state's constitution—a citizen-initiated process and a legislative process. Arkansas requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.
Initiative
- See also: Initiated constitutional amendment
An initiated constitutional amendment is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that amends a state's constitution. Eighteen (18) states allow citizens to initiate constitutional amendments.
In Arkansas, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 10% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. Arkansas requires that a petition must contain qualified signatures equaling at least half of the required percentage of signatures (5%) from each of 50 of the state's 75 counties. A simple majority vote is required for voter approval.
Legislature
A simple majority vote is required during one legislative session for the Arkansas State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 51 votes in the Arkansas House of Representatives and 18 votes in the Arkansas State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.
Historical partisan control
The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Arkansas.
Arkansas Party Control: 1992-2025
Eleven years of Democratic trifectas • Eleven years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Historical Senate control
Republicans won control of the Arkansas State Senate in 2012. In 2024, they won a 29-6 majority.
The table below shows the partisan history of the Arkansas Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.
Arkansas State Senate election results: 1992-2022
| Year | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | '06 | '08 | '10 | '12 | '14 | '16 | '18 | '20 | '22 | '24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 30 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 20 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| Republicans | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 15 | 21 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 28 | 29 | 29 |
Before 1992
Democrats held the chamber between 1874 and 2012. From 1914 to 1968, there were no Republican members of the chamber.
Historical House control
Republicans won control of the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2012. In 2024, they won an 81-19 majority.
The table below shows the partisan history of the Arkansas House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.
Arkansas House of Representatives election results: 1992-2022
| Year | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | '06 | '08 | '10 | '12 | '14 | '16 | '18 | '20 | '22 | '24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 89 | 88 | 86 | 76 | 72 | 70 | 72 | 75 | 71 | 55 | 49 | 36 | 27 | 26 | 22 | 18 | 19 |
| Republicans | 10 | 12 | 14 | 24 | 28 | 30 | 28 | 25 | 28 | 45 | 51 | 64 | 73 | 74 | 78 | 82 | 81 |
Before 1992
Democrats held the chamber between 1874 and 2012. The Democratic majority did not fall below 95 seats from 1900 to 1978.
Analysis
Adopted legislation, 2014-2024
- See also: The State Legislative Decade - Arkansas
In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.
See also
| Elections | Arkansas State Government | State Legislatures | State Politics |
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External links
Footnotes
