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Act 848 of 2025 (HB 1958): to require public entities to create a policy concerning the authorized use of artificial intelligence

Record US-AR-01 · Act 848 of 2025 (HB 1958); amends Ark. Code 25-1-128

Issued by
Arkansas General Assembly (95th General Assembly, Regular Session 2025; sponsors Rep. S. Meeks and Sen. J. English); approved by the Governor
Jurisdiction
Arkansas (US)
Level · region
Sub-national · North America
Country
United States
Published / adopted
2025-04-17
In force
2025-08-05
Language
English
Official identifier
Act 848 of 2025 (HB 1958); amends Ark. Code 25-1-128

Summary

Amends Arkansas Code § 25-1-128 to require every taxpayer-funded public entity to create an artificial intelligence and automated decision tool policy. The policy must define the authorized use of AI and of automated decision tools (systems using AI developed or modified to make, or be a controlling factor in, consequential decisions) and require an authorized human employee or designee to make any final decision, whatever the tool recommends. Employees must be trained on the appropriate use of such tools in deciding outcomes, state entities' policies must be available to the public on request, and public entities must set a disciplinary procedure for violations.

Safety topics

public-sector usehuman oversightaccountability & liability

Status notes

Filed on 1 Apr 2025; passed the House on 7 Apr 2025 and the Senate on 10 Apr 2025 with Senate Amendment No. 1, which only added Sen. J. English as a cosponsor; the House concurred on 14 Apr 2025 and the bill became Act 848, approved on 17 Apr 2025. The Act has no emergency clause or specified effective date, so it took effect on 5 Aug 2025, the effective date of such acts of the 2025 regular session, which adjourned sine die on 5 May 2025. It amends § 25-1-128 as already amended by Act 205 of 2025. Each policy must also prohibit using a public entity's technology resources to express personal political opinions to elected officials or lobby them (with exceptions), to engage in illegal activities or to override security procedures. The Department of Education, with the State Cybersecurity Office, must develop the technology resources and AI and automated decision tool policies used by each type of state educational institution.

Sources

Open the official source https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/Detail?id=HB1958&ddBienniumSession=2025%2F2025R

Secondary source: https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2025R%2FPublic%2F&file=848.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2025%2F2025R

Local copy

Archived. Last attempt 2026-10-17 23:06:22 UTC

Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/US-AR-01/2026-10-12/official.html
Retrieved 2026-10-12 04:49:20 UTC
SHA-256 0b28cb1e49a21812a0ef1e957d61d2b2ab12f0d98047af2a64f7b42ebcc846f8
Linked document (PDF) (third-party copy, not published) archive/US-AR-01/2026-10-12/document-1.pdf
Retrieved 2026-10-12 04:49:23 UTC
SHA-256 2b76e66a52e43f6ce2e9c51b458d1779bd3bc1a12b11acc3743c63187087c3da
Linked document (PDF) (third-party copy, not published) archive/US-AR-01/2026-10-12/document-2.pdf
Retrieved 2026-10-12 04:49:26 UTC
SHA-256 41fdc599fb780ffe51463bde0f05c69dd1c23ef5de3caaa265ca0e1562b61db6
Secondary source (third-party copy, not published) archive/US-AR-01/2026-10-12/secondary.pdf
Retrieved 2026-10-12 04:49:29 UTC
SHA-256 34ba7a9be7a1e9f501cbdf5b0a34ca9fed05001906a2f28ec62c86b566ce20c2

Verification

A
The instrument's own official text, or an official register, was stored and confirms the title, date and status. checked 2026-10-18 · official-url-fetched
Recheck of 18 Oct 2026: re-read the Arkansas General Assembly bill page for HB1958 (2025R), the engrossed bill, Senate Amendment No. 1 and the Act 848 PDF, all stored on 12 Oct 2026 from arkleg.state.ar.us (the archiver found them unchanged on 17 Oct 2026). The bill page confirms the title, the sponsors, the history, the Act number and the Act date (4/17/2025); the Act confirms the provisions in the summary and notes, the absence of an emergency clause and its approval on 4/17/25. The stored files give the sponsors' initials only and do not name the Governor, so the issuing body no longer gives full names. The effective date of 5 Aug 2025 comes from Arkansas Attorney General Opinion No. 2025-032 of 12 May 2025 to the Secretary of State, stored in this run from ag-opinions.s3.amazonaws.com; that host is not listed as official, so the date rests on a source the evidence script counts as secondary until a person records who runs the host. That the Act is in force rests on that general rule and on the absence of any repeal in the stored files; no current text of Ark. Code § 25-1-128 was stored, so later amendments were not checked.
Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-18: 9 field(s) supported.

History

  1. 2026-10-18notes: Passed the House 7 Apr 2025 and the Senate (as amended) 10 Apr 2025; House concu → Filed on 1 Apr 2025; passed the House on 7 Apr 2025 and the Senate on 10 Apr 202 — rewritten from the stored files: filing date, the content of Senate Amendment No. 1, the effective date of 5 Aug 2025 and the sine die date, the Act 205 base text, the prohibitions and the Department of Education's duty added; the remark on what the fetched pages did not confirm moved to verification.note2026-10-18-recheck-north-america-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  2. 2026-10-18summary: Amends the statute on public-entity technology and cybersecurity policies to req → Amends Arkansas Code § 25-1-128 to require every taxpayer-funded public entity t — the vague last sentence ('made available as specified') replaced by what the Act requires: state entities' policies available to the public on request, and a disciplinary procedure for violations2026-10-18-recheck-north-america-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  3. 2026-10-18date_in_force: – → 2025-08-05 — set to 5 Aug 2025: the Act has no emergency clause or effective-date section, and Attorney General Opinion No. 2025-032 gives 5 Aug 2025 as the effective date of such acts of the 2025 regular session2026-10-18-recheck-north-america-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  4. 2026-10-18issuing_body: Arkansas General Assembly (95th General Assembly, Regular Session 2025; sponsors → Arkansas General Assembly (95th General Assembly, Regular Session 2025; sponsors — the stored files name the sponsors only as 'S. Meeks' and 'J. English' and do not name the Governor; the full first names and the Governor's name are removed2026-10-18-recheck-north-america-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

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Texas TRAIGA Texas (US) · In force

Citation

Arkansas General Assembly (95th General Assembly, Regular Session 2025; sponsors Rep. S. Meeks and Sen. J. English); approved by the Governor. Act 848 of 2025 (HB 1958): to require public entities to create a policy concerning the authorized use of artificial intelligence [Act 848 of 2025 (HB 1958); amends Ark. Code 25-1-128]. 2025-04-17. https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/Detail?id=HB1958&ddBienniumSession=2025%2F2025R. Status: In force; verified 2026-10-18 (level A). Local copy archive/US-AR-01/2026-10-12/official.html retrieved 2026-10-12 04:49:20 UTC, SHA-256 0b28cb1e49a21812a0ef1e957d61d2b2ab12f0d98047af2a64f7b42ebcc846f8. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record US-AR-01.

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