Arkansas Code
Subchapter 1 - General Provisions
§ 10-2-112. Prefiling of bills and resolutions — Assignment to committee — Printing

(a)
(1) The Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate, under the direction and supervision of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, shall establish a system for the prefiling of bills and resolutions beginning on:
(A) November 15 of each year preceding a regular session of the General Assembly;
(B) The second Monday of January of each year of a fiscal session of the General Assembly which is held in a year in which the preferential primary election is held in May under § 7-7-203; and
(C) The second Monday of March of each year of a fiscal session of the General Assembly which is held in a year in which the preferential primary election is held in March under § 7-7-203.

(2) A nonappropriation bill may not be prefiled prior to a fiscal session due to the requirement in Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 86, that a concurrent resolution be approved by a vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the members elected to each house before either body may consider a nonappropriation bill.
(3) Under that presession filing system, each member-elect of the General Assembly and holdover member of the Senate who will be serving at the next-following regular session of the General Assembly shall be permitted to prefile bills and resolutions for the next regular session as soon as the members-elect of the next General Assembly are certified to the Secretary of State.

(b) The Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate, respectively, shall assign numbers to House and Senate bills and resolutions.
(c) The Speaker-elect of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall provisionally assign all prefiled bills and resolutions to committees. Upon the convening of the General Assembly, the respective bodies shall review the assignment of the bills and resolutions made prior to the convening of the session by the Speaker-elect of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and shall make official assignments of the bills and resolutions in accordance with their respective rules.
(d) The legislative printing contract which includes the printing of bills, resolutions, committee reports, special reports, approved acts, and other specified legislative documents shall include the printing of prefiled bills and resolutions filed pursuant to this section.

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