When did the Arkansas Public School Health Services Advisory Committee created by Acts 414 and 935 cease to exist?
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This page answers the general question as of 2017. Ezel answers yours: what it means for your facts, under current Arkansas law, with citations.
Plain-English summary
Representative Mary Bentley asked a simple question with a simple answer: did the Public School Health Services Advisory Committee have a sunset date, and if so, when? The AG confirmed yes, and December 31, 2017, was the date the Committee was abolished by statute.
The Committee was originally created by Act 414 of 2013 to study on-campus health services for Arkansas public school children. Act 414 set an initial termination date of December 31, 2014. Act 935 of 2015 amended that provision (codified at Ark. Code Ann. § 6-18-709(a)(4)) and pushed the sunset out to December 31, 2017. The AG noted, in a footnote, that Bentley's question referenced "Act 945 of 2015" but the applicable act was Act 935.
The AG also clarified that the individual members' service ended with the Committee. The statute consistently treated the Committee as a single unit with a fixed work window. Once the Committee ceased to exist, there was nothing for members to belong to.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 2017. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.
Background and statutory framework
Act 414 of 2013 directed the General Assembly to study "the provision of better on-campus health care services for Arkansas public school children to inform the General Assembly so that it may determine the best policy for the state." The Committee included two legislative members, one each from the House and Senate Education Committees, appointed by their respective chairs (§ 6-18-709(a)(1)).
The fixed-term language was deliberate:
The term of the Public School Health Services Advisory Committee shall expire on December 31, 2017. (§ 6-18-709(a)(4) as amended by Act 935 of 2015)
Section 6-18-709(e) further structured the Committee's window:
(1) The Public School Health Services Advisory Committee shall continue to meet until its term expires and make any further recommendations to the House Committee on Education and Senate Committee on Education that the Public [School] Health Services Advisory Committee deems necessary.
(2) During its term, the Public School Health Services Advisory Committee shall conduct further study or provide additional information or reports at the request of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education.
The repeated phrase "during its term" reinforced that the Committee was a finite-life body, not an indefinite one.
The AG's reasoning
The AG cited two foundational statutory-construction principles:
- Weiss v. McFadden, 353 Ark. 868 (2003): "construe a statute just as it reads, giving its words their ordinary and usually accepted meaning in common language."
- Thompson v. Younts, 282 Ark. 524 (1984): courts will not adopt strained constructions to expand or restrict plain language.
Applying both, the AG read § 6-18-709(a)(4)'s language ("shall expire on December 31, 2017") as a hard end-date. Because the statute referred to the Committee as a single unit with respect to both its work and its time to complete it, the abolition of the Committee on December 31, 2017, ended the legislative authority granted to the body. The members' individual terms of service ended at the same time, because there was no longer a Committee to serve on.
The AG did not address what should happen to in-progress reports, unfinished recommendations, or whether the General Assembly could (or did) extend the sunset further. That would have required separate legislative action.
Common questions
What did the Committee actually do during its lifespan?
The opinion describes only the statutory framework, not the Committee's substantive output. Section 6-18-709(e) required the Committee to make recommendations to the House and Senate Education Committees and to conduct further study or provide reports at those committees' request.
Why was the original 2014 sunset extended?
The opinion does not explain the policy reason for Act 935's extension. It simply notes that Act 935 "expressly repealed Act 414's earlier termination date" and substituted December 31, 2017.
Could the legislature have extended the sunset again?
Yes. The General Assembly could have amended § 6-18-709(a)(4) to push the date out a second time, just as Act 935 did the first time. The opinion was issued three months before the December 31, 2017, sunset, so any further extension would have required action in the Fiscal Session or a subsequent Regular Session.
What happened to the Committee's prior recommendations?
The opinion does not address this. As a matter of general practice, advisory-committee reports already submitted to the standing legislative committees would remain in those committees' records and could be acted on independently of the advisory body's continued existence.
Was the typo "Act 945" a real document or just an error?
The AG treated it as a clerical error. The correct citation is Acts 2015, No. 935.
Source
Original opinion text
Opinion No. 2017-075
September 19, 2017
The Honorable Mary Bentley
State Representative
142 Shady Lane
Perryville, AR 72126-8103
Dear Representative Bentley:
This is in response to your request for my opinion concerning the following question, which I have slightly paraphrased:
Is there an end, or sunset, date for the Public School Health Services Advisory Committee, formed by Act 414 of 2013 ["Act 414"] and Act 935 of 2015 ["Act 935"]?
RESPONSE
Yes. A plain reading of the controlling law clearly states that the term of the Public School Health Services Advisory Committee ("the Committee") ends on December 31, 2017.
(Footnote: Your opinion request asks whether there is an end date for the Committee pursuant to Act 935 of 2015 or Act 414 of 2013. Indeed, both acts contain a sunset clause for the Committee. Act 414, which created the Committee, included a Committee termination date of December 31, 2014. Act 935 amended the statute, in relevant part, to extend the Committee's existence to December 31, 2017. That amendment, which expressly repealed Act 414's earlier termination date, is the controlling law on the matter. (Please also note that while your opinion request refers to "Act 945," the applicable act is Act 935 of 2015.))
DISCUSSION
In 2013, the General Assembly created a Public School Health Services Advisory Committee, authorizing it to conduct "[a] study ... concerning the provision of better on-campus health care services for Arkansas public school children to inform the General Assembly so that it may determine the best policy for the state." Among the Committee's membership are two legislative members, one from the House of Representatives and one from the Senate, each appointed by the chairmen of those respective bodies' Education Committees.
The legislature gave this Committee a fixed amount of time to complete its work by setting a firm date when the Committee would be abolished:
The term of the Public School Health Services Advisory Committee shall expire on December 31, 2017.
Section 6-18-709 is the source of legislative authority for the Committee (its creation, composition, and function). The cardinal rule of statutory interpretation is to construe a statute just as it reads, giving its words their ordinary and usually accepted meaning in common language. Courts will not resort to a strained construction of statutory language for the purpose of restricting or expanding a statute's plain meaning.
As stated above, section 6-18-709 clearly provides that the Committee's term shall expire on December 31, 2017. This means that the Committee shall cease to exist, and the legislative authority granted to the Committee will be revoked as of that date. Moreover, the statute does not contemplate that the individual Committee members would continue to serve the by-then abolished Committee beyond that expiration date. Indeed, section 6-18-709 consistently refers to the Committee as a single unit with respect to its work and the time it has to complete this work:
(1) The Public School Health Services Advisory Committee shall continue to meet until its term expires and make any further recommendations to the House Committee on Education and Senate Committee on Education that the Public [School] Health Services Advisory Committee deems necessary.
(2) During its term, the Public School Health Services Advisory Committee shall conduct further study or provide additional information or reports at the request of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education.
Based on the foregoing, and in my opinion, the governing statute clearly sets December 31, 2017, as the date abolishing the Committee. As such, it follows that the terms of service of the individual members appointed to the Committee will also end as of that date.
LESLIE RUTLEDGE
Attorney General
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