LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - State Senator Linda Collins-Smith (R-Pocahontas) has pulled her pulled her "bathroom bill" that faced strong opposition from Governor Asa Hutchinson, tourism groups, and the LGBT community.
As the legislature nears the end of the session, Collins-Smith has withdrawn Senate Bill 774 from the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday and recommended the bill be studied in the interim judiciary committee. The proposed bill failed to even make it out committee since its introduction.
The "Arkansas Physical Privacy and Safety Act" proposed that any bathroom in a government building that has multiple stalls can only be used by people of one designated sex. The bill says that a person's sex would be determined by the sex listed on their birth certificate. Another bill, HB1894, was filed this session that would have prevented Arkansans from amending their birth certificate, but it has also failed to make it out of committee.
In a press release, Collins-Smith claimed the bill would "protect the privacy, dignity, and well-being of all Arkansans."
Governor Hutchinson made reiterated on several occasions that he didn't see a need for introducing a "bathroom bill" law in Arkansas.
Collins-Smith's bill has been compared to North Carolina's "bathroom bill," but the North Carolina Senate passed an HB2 repeal bill Thursday morning. The controversial anti-LGBT law has been in place for over a year and led to widespread opposition and economic losses for the state.
