Clint Penzo

Voted to pass House Bill 1752. Money in certain savings accounts is now out of reach when someone loses a court case over a debt. The protection covers health savings accounts, college savings plans, disability savings programs, Coverdell education accounts and inherited retirement accounts. What decides it is the tax treatment: the account is covered if federal tax on it is waived or put off until the money is paid out. There is no dollar cap and no listed exception. Retirement and pension plans were already protected and stay so. The Arkansas Senate passed it 18-14 and it became Act 681 of 2025.

April 9, 2025Supports Reduce Wealth Gap

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted to pass Senate Joint Resolution 11. It would change the Arkansas Constitution's right to keep and bear arms. The right would cover hunting, recreation and any other lawful purpose, not just common defense, and it would reach ammunition, firearm parts and accessories. The amendment calls the right natural, fundamental and individual, and says it shall not be infringed. This is not law. It goes to Arkansas voters at the November 2026 general election, and would take effect on January 1, 2027 only if they approve it. The Arkansas Senate adopted it 28-7. Both chambers agreed, so it goes on the November 2026 ballot.

April 10, 2025Opposes Gun Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted to pass House Bill 1365. It strips race and sex requirements from the membership of about twenty state boards. Seats once set aside for a Black member, a woman, or a member of a minority race are now open to anyone. That covers the pharmacy board, the athletic commission, the bail bond board, the counseling board, the teacher retirement board and the tobacco board, among others. Two whole statutes are repealed. They had asked health licensing boards to reflect the state's makeup. They had also let named Black and Hispanic health groups put forward names. One deleted line called for geographic balance on community college boards, so that is gone too. The Arkansas Senate passed it 24-6 and it became Act 938 of 2025.

April 15, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted to pass Senate Bill 520. It bars Arkansas counties, cities and towns from running a diversity, equity and inclusion program or office. They also may not ask a job seeker or worker to write down their views on race, ethnicity, sex, color or national origin. Any Arkansas resident may report a breach of the rule. If the local government does not fix it in 30 days, that resident may sue and have their legal fees paid. The act still allows different treatment by sex where it serves an important public purpose. It also still lets staff teach and talk about these ideas. The Arkansas Senate passed it 22-7 and it became Act 747 of 2025.

April 8, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted to pass Senate Bill 223. It lists religious rights that students and staff keep at public schools, and makes every district and open-enrollment charter school hand the list to each student and employee once a year. Students may pray alone or together whenever they may speak freely, form religious clubs, hand out religious texts, and use religious views in assignments they choose. Most of the listed rights are written as equal treatment with comparable non-religious activity. The staff list is much shorter and does not include praying aloud or leading prayer. Schools may keep religious texts in libraries. The act sets no penalty and creates no right to sue. The Arkansas Senate passed it 25-8 and it became Act 400 of 2025.

February 25, 2025Supports Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted to pass Senate Bill 3. It bars state and local government in Arkansas from treating anyone better or worse because of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. That rule covers public jobs, public schools and colleges, and what the government buys. Most of the act repeals programs that were already in place. Schools no longer write plans to hire and keep minority teachers. State colleges no longer run programs to keep minority students and staff. State agencies no longer try to hire minority workers in step with the state's population. The Critical Needs Minority Teacher Scholarship is renamed and opened to any student who meets the grade and test rules. The act protects preferences given to veterans. The Arkansas Senate passed it 24-6 and it became Act 116 of 2025.

February 12, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted to pass Senate Bill 491. A company that contracts with the state employee benefits office must now agree to have its data checked by an outside audit. The office may not sign with a company that refuses. Its director must build that audit process and may ask any company to go through it. A company found to have handed the state wrong data pays five hundred dollars for a first offense and a thousand for each one after, and can lose its license to operate in Arkansas. The act sets no requirement that the company knew the data was wrong. Lawmakers said accurate data matters because it is used to price the cost of bills. The Arkansas Senate passed it 19-7 and it became Act 956 of 2025.

April 16, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted to pass House Bill 1683. Arkansas state and local government may not buy an electric vehicle, or a part for one, unless the maker gives a sworn statement that no forced labor was used. The statement must reach back through every part and through the mining of the materials. A maker that knowingly lies faces a penalty of ten thousand dollars for each false statement, or half the purchase price, whichever is more. A government body that knowingly breaks the rule pays the state ten thousand dollars for each false statement, or the full purchase price, whichever is more. A staff member who does so owes five thousand dollars personally, as does each board member who voted yes. The rule reaches only contracts signed, changed or renewed after the act took effect. The Arkansas Senate passed it 19-9 and it became Act 924 of 2025.

April 15, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted to pass House Bill 1150. It bars a pharmacy benefits manager from owning a retail pharmacy in Arkansas. A pharmacy benefits manager is a company that health plans hire to run their drug coverage, including setting what pharmacies get paid. The ban covers a stake held directly, or through a parent company or a branch. The State Board of Pharmacy must cancel or refuse to renew any permit held against the ban. The board may still grant a limited permit when a rare drug would otherwise be hard to get. Pharmacies losing a permit had to write to their patients before the ban began on January 1, 2026. The Arkansas Senate passed it 26-9 and it became Act 624 of 2025.

April 9, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted against passing Senate Bill 437. It creates a permit system for large wind farms, meaning those of five megawatts or more and taller than two hundred feet. A developer needs a state permit and, where a local government has its own rules, a local permit too, and local rules may not be looser than the state's. A turbine must sit back from a neighbor's property line by 3.5 times its height or 2,500 feet, whichever is more, and at least a mile from a school, hospital, church, nursing home or town. Noise is capped and flicker from the blades is limited to thirty hours a year. The developer pays for an outside study of effects on wildlife, water, property values and tourism, must carry insurance, and must post a bond for the full cost of taking the farm down. Projects already under development on April 9, 2025, including those with signed land leases or studies under way, are exempt. The Arkansas Senate passed it 18-14 and it became Act 945 of 2025.

April 16, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted to pass House Bill 1929. Arkansas state agencies may no longer use the term West Bank for the land Israel took from Jordan in the 1967 war. They must call it Judea and Samaria instead. Agencies also may not spend state money making material that uses the banned term. The rule covers guidance, rules, briefings, press releases and other agency material, and reaches state colleges. The head of an agency may waive it if they decide a waiver serves the state and write to lawmakers within thirty days. The act sets no penalty, and it does not bind private speech, local government or school districts. The Arkansas Senate passed it 22-11 and it became Act 797 of 2025.

April 14, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing House Bill 1574. Only Arkansas residents may now be paid to collect names for a ballot petition. For a statewide measure the person must also be domiciled here, which means Arkansas is their one fixed and permanent home. A sponsor who knowingly hires someone outside those limits is fined two thousand five hundred dollars for each such person hired. That fine is the act's only enforcement. Unpaid volunteers are not covered. The Arkansas Senate passed it 25-8 and it became Act 453 of 2025.

March 31, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing House Bill 1489. Arkansas may now carry out a death sentence with nitrogen gas as well as lethal injection. The act sets no procedure for a nitrogen execution and does not say who picks between the two. The prison director must tell a condemned prisoner in writing, within seven days of the death warrant, which method will be used, and must name the drugs if it is injection. The secrecy rule that already hid drug suppliers is widened to cover nitrogen suppliers, and shielding them from public records requests and lawsuits. The division must publish its nitrogen procedure on request. A death sentence now stays in force even if a court strikes down a method. The Arkansas Senate passed it 26-9 and it became Act 302 of 2025.

March 11, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted to pass House Bill 1222. The Attorney General may now turn down a proposed ballot measure if its text clashes with the United States Constitution or a federal law. That is a new reason, on top of the old power to reject wording that misleads. It stays the Attorney General's choice. The act also bars a sponsor from having two clashing versions of the same idea before the Attorney General at once. A sponsor may file a new version after one is rejected, or, once one is certified, after the next general election. Two measures clash if they cover the same subject, have the same aim, and differ in wording anywhere. So even near-identical drafts are caught. Petitions filed against that rule must be turned down. The Arkansas Senate passed it 25-8 and it became Act 154 of 2025.

February 18, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted to pass House Bill 1221. A signature on a ballot petition is no longer valid if it was collected after the next general election that follows approval of the measure's wording. The Attorney General's approval of that wording also expires on the same date. A sponsor whose approval expires must start over. Officials must reject late signatures at the first count, not only on review. The act took effect the day the Governor signed it, in time for the 2026 election cycle. The Arkansas Senate passed it 25-8 and it became Act 153 of 2025.

February 18, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing House Bill 1878. County election officials must now hold early voting at a site in each city with more than fifteen thousand people, counted at the last national census. The duty applies at the main party primary and at the general election. It does not apply where the county clerk already runs early voting in that city. Counties may still add other early voting sites if they choose. The Arkansas Senate passed it 18-16 and it became Act 978 of 2025.

April 16, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing House Bill 1965. It sets up a state program to help food shops open or grow where fresh food is hard to buy. The Arkansas Economic Development Commission runs it and may award grants, loans or both. Money can pay for building or fixing up a grocery store, for farmers' markets, food cooperatives, mobile markets and delivery, and for equipment, staff training and start-up stock. To apply, a shop must serve an underserved area, show it is committed to selling fresh produce, and take both food stamp and WIC benefits. Restaurants cannot apply. The act sets aside no money of its own, and the program runs only so far as funds are available. The Arkansas Senate passed it 22-10 and it became Act 870 of 2025.

April 14, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing House Bill 1428. Hotel rooms built for guests with mobility disabilities must have a bed no more than twenty-three inches high, measured from the floor to the top of the mattress. The height has to be met whether or not the mattress is pressed down. New lodging businesses are bound straight away. A business that already existed must meet the rule only when that room is upgraded or reaches the end of its life. The Arkansas Senate passed it 18-14 and it became Act 855 of 2025.

April 14, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing House Bill 1641. Using a tracking device to follow someone is now part of the crime of harassment in Arkansas. A tracking device is defined as one that shows where a device is, or where it moves, by sending electronic signals. Three things must all be true for the offense: the person meant to track someone, had no good cause or legal authority, and did not have that person's consent. A parent or legal guardian may still track a child under eighteen. The act does not change the penalty for harassment. The Arkansas Senate passed it 20-6 and it became Act 600 of 2025.

April 8, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing House Bill 1424. Arkansas Medicaid and private health plans must now cover care for illnesses caused by severe obesity. The act sets who counts, using body mass index: 40 or higher, or 35 or higher with a linked illness such as high blood pressure, sleep apnea or diabetes. Plans must cover four named weight-loss surgeries, plus counseling and care before and after. The act does not make plans cover weight-loss drugs. A doctor must write an order saying the care is needed. The patient must confirm they joined a weight loss program and had checks first. Insurers may ask for up to three months of preparation. Surgery is covered only for patients aged eighteen and over. The rule for private plans started on January 1, 2026. The Arkansas Senate passed it 23-6 and it became Act 628 of 2025.

April 8, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing Senate Bill 551. It adds new rules to petitions for a local vote on whether alcohol may be sold. A canvasser is the person who collects names. The canvasser must warn each signer that petition fraud is a crime. The canvasser must also check a copy of the signer's photo ID, and may not take a name if identity cannot be confirmed. The signer must read the ballot title in front of the canvasser. Skipping the warning or the reading step is now a crime. The county clerk must throw out all of a canvasser's names if the clerk finds it more likely than not that the canvasser broke these laws. The Arkansas Senate passed it 18-9 and it became Act 764 of 2025.

April 3, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing Senate Bill 392. It rebuilds how Arkansas classifies and pays state employees. Four pay tables become six, adding new ones for law enforcement and safety and for specialized work, and every job title and code is rewritten. A career path is created so staff can move up within a job family. A new program helps repay student loans for a degree tied to the job, at up to two thousand dollars a payment and ten thousand dollars in all, paid from money agencies already have. Separate extra payments for hazardous duty, education and location are folded into two. The pools of spare positions agencies could draw on are cut from 1,500 to 500 and from 500 to 250. The Arkansas Senate passed it 22-7 and it became Act 499 of 2025.

April 1, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing Senate Bill 411. It is now an offense to drive on a public road with a front bumper raised at least four inches above the rear one. It covers cars, pickups, sport utility vehicles and panel trucks whose suspension, frame or body has been changed to do that. Raising the front changes where the headlights point and where the vehicle strikes in a crash. The fine is two hundred fifty dollars, rising to five hundred for a second offense within a year. A third offense within a year also costs the driver their license for twelve months. The state does not have to prove the driver knew. The Arkansas Senate passed it 18-10 and it became Act 492 of 2025.

March 19, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing Senate Bill 366. It creates a state program that pays grants to strengthen homes against wind and hail damage, using a national building standard. Only a detached single-family home that the owner lives in and holds a homestead exemption on can qualify; mobile homes and condominiums cannot. The owner must pay for a certified inspector out of pocket, get bids from three certified builders, and hold wind insurance. Grant money goes straight to the builder once the work passes. Insurers must give a premium discount on a home that meets the standard where the discount can be justified by the figures, from July 2026. The papers a homeowner files are secret and cannot be used in a private lawsuit. The Arkansas Senate passed it 18-9 and it became Act 427 of 2025.

March 12, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing Senate Bill 307. The Generating Arkansas Jobs Act lets power and gas companies charge customers for big new plants and lines while they are still being built. Customers now pay a profit on that work before it serves anyone. The state can order refunds later if it finds the spending was wasteful. The act puts the Public Service Commission on tight clocks. If it misses one, the company's filing takes effect on its own. The act also ends an eight percent cap on how fast wholesale power cooperatives may raise rates. It cuts back who may take part in hearings on big projects, and drops the rule that put the papers in local libraries. Wind projects built in Arkansas cannot be charged for this way. The Arkansas Senate passed it 23-9 and it became Act 373 of 2025.

March 12, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing Senate Bill 211. Every canvasser must file a sworn statement with the Secretary of State. A canvasser is a person who collects names to put a measure on the ballot. The statement says the canvasser followed Arkansas's rules on collecting names, lying under oath, forgery and fraud. Until it is filed, none of that canvasser's names may be counted. Once it is filed, that canvasser may not collect more names, unless the Secretary of State rules the petition qualifies for extra time to add names. Names are not thrown out if the canvasser died or was too ill to file. The statement is not proof either way that the names are real. The Arkansas Senate passed it 24-9 and it became Act 241 of 2025.

March 3, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted against passing Senate Bill 207. A canvasser must now warn each person that petition fraud is a crime before that person signs. A canvasser is a person who carries a petition around and collects names to put a measure on the ballot. The warning has to be spoken out loud. It may be written only when speaking is not possible, and then it goes on its own sheet, not on the petition. Skipping the warning is added to the list of things a canvasser may be punished for. The Arkansas Senate passed it 25-9 and it became Act 218 of 2025.

February 26, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted against passing Senate Bill 209. The Secretary of State must throw out every signature a canvasser collected if that canvasser is found to have broken Arkansas law on collecting names, lying under oath, forgery or fraud. A canvasser is someone who collects names to put a measure on the ballot. The finding is made by the Secretary of State alone, using the lowest standard of proof in American law, which asks only whether something is more likely true than not. No court ruling, charge or conviction is needed. Signatures with nothing wrong with them are thrown out too. The act sets out no hearing and no appeal. The Arkansas Senate passed it 21-11 and it became Act 273 of 2025.

February 12, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against passing Senate Bill 210. A person may now sign a petition only after reading the ballot title in front of the canvasser, or hearing it read aloud there. The ballot title is the official summary voters see. A canvasser is someone who collects names to put a measure on the ballot. Having read it earlier somewhere else does not count. A canvasser who knowingly takes a signature without that step commits an offense. The canvasser must also swear on each signature sheet that every signer did it. The Arkansas Senate passed it 22-10 and it became Act 274 of 2025.

February 12, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026