A whole raft of new laws went into effect on August 1st. In Arkansas, you can see the things they care about. Who can use which bathroom has new restrictions, and children under 16 no longer need a permit to work. They've also made it scarier for doctors to offer gender-affirming care, and have legislated how teachers can use pronouns.
I hope many of these laws will be tested in court soon.
Children
Act 195 — Removes the requirement for children under 16 years old who wish to work in Arkansas to obtain an employment certificate from the Division of Labor.Act 274 — Allows minors who receive gender-affirming health care to sue physicians for medical malpractice for providing this care up to 15 years after they turn 18. The law allows private enforcement of the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act of 2021, a lawyer with the Arkansas Attorney General's Office said in February. The SAFE Act went on trial in late 2022, the first trial in the U.S. over a ban on gender–affirming health care for minors, and was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in June.
Act 612 — Requires pornography websites to verify that users are at least 18 years old.
