Why did the Arkansas AG reject the 2018 minimum wage increase ballot title even though the underlying policy was simple?

Plain-English summary

David Couch sponsored a 2018 initiated act that would have raised the Arkansas state minimum wage in steps: from $8.50 to $9.25 in January 2019, $10.00 in 2020, $11.00 in 2021, and $12.00 in 2022. The policy itself was simple. The drafting was not.

To explain to voters who would and would not be covered, the sponsor copied the entire statutory definitions of "employer" and "employee" from Ark. Code Ann. § 11-4-203 directly into the ballot title. The resulting title ran to 967 words and pulled in technical terms (gratuities, independent contractor, man-day, hand-harvest laborer) that themselves require their own definitions to understand. AG Leslie Rutledge rejected it.

The AG's complaint was specifically about voter comprehension under time pressure. The Arkansas Supreme Court has repeatedly held that voters in an Arkansas booth have a statutory five-minute time limit and that a ballot title must be short enough that the average voter can read and understand it in that window. Newton v. Hall in 1938 had already disapproved a 706-word ballot title as too long; this one was over 250 words longer. The AG declined to draft a substitute, noting that the proposal was significantly defective and that Couch should redesign it.

The 2018 cycle did, ultimately, see a successful Arkansas minimum-wage increase. Issue 5 (a different draft, not this one) reached the November 2018 ballot and Arkansas voters approved it.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2018. 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.

The Arkansas state minimum wage was raised by ballot measure in November 2018 and reached $11.00 per hour by January 2021 under that measure. Current Arkansas wage law, including coverage and exemptions, should be checked against the present version of Ark. Code Ann. § 11-4-201 et seq., not this 2018 rejection.

Common questions

What is the five-minute voting booth limit?

Ark. Code Ann. § 7-5-309 sets a five-minute time limit on a single voter's use of a booth when other voters are waiting. The Arkansas Supreme Court treats this as a real constraint on ballot-title length: a title too long to read and digest in roughly that time frame defeats the purpose of giving voters informed consent at the moment of voting.

Could the AG have just trimmed it?

The AG has authority under Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107 to substitute a clearer title where the underlying measure is sound and only the title needs work. But the AG declined to do that here, citing prior opinion 2012-033 and noting that where the deficiencies are fundamental, the AG can decline to act as a drafter for the sponsor. This particular minimum-wage proposal needed the sponsor to make a basic drafting choice (summarize the existing definitions, do not copy them), and that choice belongs to the proponent.

Did Arkansas's minimum wage actually go up in 2018?

Yes. A different 2018 ballot initiative, Issue 5, reached the November 2018 Arkansas ballot and was approved by voters. It raised the state minimum wage on a phased schedule. The Couch draft reflected in this opinion never qualified.

Why does the ballot title need to define "employee"?

Because Arkansas's wage statute exempts large categories of workers (some agricultural, some seasonal, some at small employers, students, certain camp employees, and many more). A reader who only sees "raise the minimum wage" will not learn from the title alone whether their own job is covered. The AG's view was not that exemptions could be hidden, but that the sponsor had to summarize them in plain language rather than dumping the statutory text wholesale into the ballot.

Is a 967-word ballot title definitely too long?

The Arkansas Supreme Court has not set a hard numeric ceiling, but Newton v. Hall held in 1938 that a 706-word title was "so complex, detailed, lengthy, misleading and confusing" that voters could not intelligently choose. The AG used that precedent here. Any sponsor drafting a long ballot title runs the risk that even if the AG certifies it, the Arkansas Supreme Court can later strike it on length grounds.

Background and statutory framework

The minimum-wage policy itself was a straightforward amendment to Ark. Code Ann. § 11-4-210, which sets the state hourly minimum-wage floor. The drafting failure was on the ballot-title side, not the substance. The AG's review framework comes from Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107 and a long line of Arkansas Supreme Court opinions:

• Newton v. Hall, 196 Ark. 929, 120 S.W.2d 364 (1938): a 706-word title was deemed too long for an Arkansas voter to digest in the booth.
• Dust v. Riviere, 277 Ark. 1, 638 S.W.2d 663 (1982): re-emphasized that length and complexity are real considerations even though Amendment 7 gets a liberal construction.
• Wilson v. Martin, 2016 Ark. 334, 500 S.W.3d 160: technical terms in a ballot title must be defined; voters should not be expected to be experts.

Citations

• Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107 (Supp. 2017)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 7-5-309 (statutory five-minute voting booth limit)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 11-4-203(3), (4) (statutory definitions of "employer" and "employee")
• Ark. Code Ann. § 11-4-210 (state minimum wage)
• Ark. Const., art. 5, § 1 (Amendment 7, the initiative-and-referendum power)
• Newton v. Hall, 196 Ark. 929, 120 S.W.2d 364 (1938)
• Dust v. Riviere, 277 Ark. 1, 638 S.W.2d 663 (1982)
• Wilson v. Martin, 2016 Ark. 334, 500 S.W.3d 160
• Bailey v. McCuen, 318 Ark. 277, 884 S.W.2d 938 (1994)
• Op. Att'y Gen. 2012-033 (cited for the AG's discretion to decline a substitute)
• Op. Att'y Gen. 2016-099 (cited for prior AG warnings about ballot-title length)

Source

• Landing page: https://arkansasag.gov/divisions/opinions-foia/attorney-general-opinions-search/

Original opinion text

Opinion No. 2018-053
May 14, 2018
David A. Couch, Esq.
STATE OF ARKANSAS
ATTORNEY GENERAL
LESLI E RUTLEDG E
1501 North University, Suite 228
Little Rock, AR 72207
Dear Mr. Couch:
I am writing in response to your request for certification, pursuant to Ark. Code
Ann. § 7-9-107, of the popular name and ballot title for a proposed initiated
measure.
At the outset, I wish to make clear to you that the decision to certify or reject
a popular name and ballot title is in no way a reflection of my view of the
merits of a particular proposal. I am not authorized to, and I do not, consider
the merits of the measure when making a decision to certify or reject.
Arkansas Code Annotated § 7-9-107 authorizes my office to 1) certify the popular
name and ballot title of a proposed measure, 2) substitute and certify the popular
name and ballot title, if practicable, or 3) reject the entire submission if "the ballot
title, or the nature of the issue, is presented in such manner that the ballot title
would be misleading" to voters. 1 The purpose of my review under section 7-9-107
is to ensure that the popular name and ballot title honestly, intelligibly, and fairly
set forth the purpose of the proposed amendment or act.2 In this way, voters will
have a fair understanding of the issues presented by reference to the ballot title
alone.3
1 Ark. Code Ann.§ 7-9-107(c) (Supp. 2017).
2 See Arkansas Women's Political Caucus v. Riviere, 283 Ark. 463, 466, 677 S.W.2d 846, 848
( 1948).
3 Becker v. Riviere, 270 Ark. 219, 226, 604 S.W.2d 555, 558 (1980) (internal citations omitted).
323 CENTER STREET. SUITE 200 · LITTLE ROCK. ARKANSAS 72201
TELEPHONE (50 1) 682-2007 · FAX (501) 682-8084
ARKANSASAG.GOV David A. Couch, Esq.
Opinion No. 2018-053
Page 2
Section 7-9-107 neither requires nor authorizes this office to make legal
determinations concerning the merits of the proposed act or amendment, or
concerning the likelihood that it will accomplish its stated objective. In addition,
consistent with Arkansas Supreme Court precedent, unless the measure is "clearly
contrary to law,"4 this office will not require that a measure's proponents
acknowledge in the ballot title any possible constitutional infirmities.5
Consequently, this review has been limited primarily to a determination, pursuant
to the guidelines that have been set forth by the Arkansas Supreme Court,
discussed below, of whether the popular name and ballot title you have submitted
accurately and impartially summarize the provisions of your proposal.
REQUEST
You have requested certification, pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107, of
the following popular name and ballot title for a proposed initiated act:
Popular Name
An Act to Increase the Arkansas Minimum Wage
Ballot Title
An act to amend the Arkansas Code concerning the state minimum
wage; the act would raise the current state minimum wage from
eight dollars and fifty cents ($8.50) per hour to nine dollars and
twenty-five cents ($9.25) per hour on January 1, 2019, to ten dollars
($10.00) per hour on January 1, 20202 [sic], to eleven dollars
($11.00) per hour and [sic] January 1, 2021 [sic] and to twelve
dollars ($12.00) per hour on January 1, 2022. The act makes no
other changes to the existing law regarding the state minimum wage
other than to increase the minimum wage. Existing Arkansas Law
defines employer as any individual, partnership, association,
corporation, business trust, the State of Arkansas, any political
subdivision of the state, or any person or group of persons acting
4 See Kurrus v. Priest, 342 Ark. 434, 445, 29 S.W.3d 669, 675 (2000); Donovan v. Priest, 326
Ark. 353, 359, 931S.W.2d119, 121 (1996); Plugge v. McCuen, 310 Ark. 654, 841S.W.2d139
(1992).
5 As part of my review, however, I may address constitutional concerns for consideration by the
measure's proponents. David A. Couch, Esq.
Opinion No. 2018-053
Page 3
directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an
employee. Employer does not include any individual, partnership,
association, corporation, business trust, or any person or group of
persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in
relation to an employee for any work week in which fewer than four
(4) employees are employed. Existing Arkansas Law defines
employee as any individual employed by an employer but shall not
include: (A) Any individual employed in a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional capacity or as an outside commission-
paid salesperson who customarily performs his or her services away
from his or her employer's premises taking orders for goods or
services; (B) Any student performing services for any school,
college, or university in which he or she is enrolled and is regularly
attending classes; (C) Any individual employed by the United States;
(D) Any individual engaged in the activities of any educational,
charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization in which the
employer-employee relationship does not in fact exist or in which
the services are rendered to the organizations gratuitously; (E) Any
bona fide independent contractor; (F) Any individual employed by
an agricultural employer who did not use more than five hundred
(500) man-days of agricultural labor in any calendar quarter of the
preceding calendar year; (G) The parent, spouse, child, or other
member of an agricultural employer's immediate family; (H) An
individual who: (i) Is employed as a hand-harvest laborer and is
paid on a piece-rate basis in an operation that has been, and is
customarily and generally recognized as having been, paid on a
piece-rate basis in the region of employment; (ii) Commutes daily
from his or her permanent residence to the farm on which he or she
is so employed; and (iii) Has been employed in agriculture less than
thirteen ( 13) weeks during the preceding calendar year; (I) A
migrant who: (i) Is sixteen (16) years of age or under and is
employed as a hand-harvest laborer; (ii) Is paid on a piece-rate basis
in an operation that has been, and is customarily and generally
recognized as having been, paid on a piece-rate basis in the region of
employment; (iii) Is employed on the same farm as his or her
parents; and(iv) [sic] Is paid the same piece-rate as employees over
sixteen (16) years of age are paid on the same farm; (J) Any
employee principally engaged in the range production of livestock;
(K) Any employee employed in planting or tending trees, cruising,
surveying, or felling timber or in preparing or transporting logs or David A. Couch, Esq.
Opinion No. 2018-053
Page 4
other forestry products to the mill, processing plants, or railroad or
other transportation terminal if the number of employees employed
by his or her employer in the forestry or lumbering operations does
not exceed eight (8); (L) An employee employed by a nonprofit
recreational or educational camp that does not operate for more than
seven (7) months in any calendar year; (M) A nonprofit child
welfare agency employee who serves as a houseparent who is:(i)
[sic] Directly involved in caring for children who reside in
residential facilities of the nonprofit child welfare agency and who
are orphans, in foster care, abused, neglected, abandoned, homeless,
in need of supervision, or otherwise in crisis situations that lead to
out-of-home placements; and (ii) Compensated at an annual rate of
not less than thirteen thousand dollars ($13,000) or compensated at
an annual rate of not less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) if the
employee resides in the residential facility and receives board and
lodging at no cost; (N) An employee employed in connection with
the publication of a weekly, semiweekly, or daily newspaper with a
circulation:(i) [sic] Of less than four thousand ( 4,000); and (ii) The
major part of which is within the county in which the newspaper is
published or counties contiguous to the county in which the
newspaper is published; (0) An employee employed on a casual
basis in domestic service employment to provide:(i) [sic] Babysitting
services; or (ii) Companionship services for individuals who are
unable to care for themselves because of age or infirmity; (P) An
employee engaged in the delivery of newspapers to retail
subscribers; (Q) A home worker engaged in:(i) [sic] Making wreaths
composed principally of natural holly, pine, cedar, or other
evergreens; and (ii) Harvesting natural holly, pine, cedar, and other
evergreens used in making such wreaths; or (R) (i) An individual
employed by an establishment that is an organized camp or a
religious or nonprofit educational conference center if: (a) The
organized camp or a religious or nonprofit educational conference
center does not operate for more than seven (7) months in a calendar
year; or (b) During the preceding calendar year, the average receipts
of the organized camp or a religious or nonprofit educational
conference center for any six ( 6) months of the preceding calendar
year were not more than thirty-three and one-third percent (33 1/3%)
of the average receipts of the organized camp or a religious or
nonprofit educational conference center for the other six (6) months
of the preceding calendar year. David A. Couch, Esq.
Opinion No. 2018-053
Page 5
GUIDELINES
The popular name is primarily a useful legislative device.6 It need not contain
detailed information or include exceptions that might be required of a ballot title,
but it must not be misleading or give partisan coloring to the merit of the
proposal.7 The popular name is to be considered together with the ballot title in
determining the ballot title's sufficiency.8
"It has long been regarded as axiomatic that the majority of voters, when called
upon to vote for or against a proposed measure, will derive their information about
its contents from an inspection of the ballot title immediately before exercising the
right of suffrage."9 Accordingly, the ballot title must include an impartial
summary of the proposed amendment or act that will give the voter a fair
understanding of the issues presented.10 According to the Court, a ballot title will
not be legally sufficient unless it "adequately inform[ s ]" the voters of the contents
of a proposed amendment or act so that they can make a "reasoned decision in the
voting booth." 11 A ballot title's failure to "honestly and accurately reflect what is
contained in the proposed [act or] Amendment" may lead the Court to conclude
that the "omission is significant."12 The Court has also disapproved the use of
terms that are "technical and not readily understood by voters."13 Without a
definition of such terms in the ballot title, the title may be deemed insufficient. 14
6 Pafford v. Hall, 217 Ark. 734, 739, 233 S.W.2d 72, 75 (1950).
7 See, e.g., Chaney v. Bryant, 259 Ark. 294, 297, 532 S.W.2d 741, 743 (1976); Moore v. Hall, 229
Ark. 411, 316 S.W .2d 207 ( 195 8). For a better understanding of the term "partisan coloring,'' see
infra note 20.
8 May v. Daniels, 359 Ark. 100, 105, 194 S.WJd 771, 776 (2004).
9Wilson v. Martin, 2016 Ark. 334, 7, 500 S.WJd 160, 166 (citing Christian Civic Action
Committee v. McCuen, 318 Ark. 241, 884 S.W.2d 605 (1994)).
10 Becker, 270 Ark. at 226, 604 S.W.2d at 558 (internal citations omitted).
11 Lange v. Martin, 2016 Ark. 337, 500 S.WJd 154, at n. 2.
12 Id. at 9, 500 S.W.3d at 159.
13 Wilson, 2016 Ark. 334 at 9, 500 S.W.3d at 167.
14 Id. David A. Couch, Esq.
Opinion No. 2018-053
Page 6
Additionally, if information omitted from the ballot title is an "essential fact which
would give the voter serious ground for reflection, it must be disclosed."15 At the
same time, however, a ballot title must be brief and concise; 16 otherwise voters
could run afoul of the statutory five-minute limit in voting booths17 when other
voters are waiting in line.18 The ballot title is not required to be perfect, nor is it
reasonable to expect the title to cover or anticipate every possible legal argument
the proposed measure might evoke.19 The title, however, must be "free of any
misleading tendency whether by amplification, omission, or fallacy, and it must
not be tinged with partisan coloring."20 The ballot title must be honest and
impartial,21 and it must conve~ an intelligible idea of the scope and significance of
a proposed change in the law. 2
Furthermore, the Court has confirmed that a ballot title cannot be approved if the
text of the proposed measure itself contributes to confusion and disconnect
between the language in the popular name and the ballot title and the language in
the measure. 23 The Court concluded that "internal inconsistencies would
inevitably lead to confusion in drafting a popular name and ballot title and to
confusion in the ballot title itself. "24 Where the effects of a proposed measure on
15 Bailey v. McCuen, 318 Ark. 277, 285, 884 S.W.2d 938, 942 (1994).
16 See Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107(b).
17 Ark. Code Ann. § 7-5-309(b )(1 )(B) (Supp. 2017).
18 Bailey, 318 Ark. at 284, 884 S.W.2d at 944.
19 Id. at 293, 884 S.W.2d at 946-47.
20 Id. at 284, 884 S.W.2d at 942. Language "tinged with partisan coloring" has been identified by
the Arkansas Supreme Court as language that "creates a fatally misleading tendency" (Crochet v.
Priest, 326 Ark. 338, 347, 931 S.W.2d 128, 133 (1996)) or that "gives the voter only the
impression that the proponents of the proposed amendment wish to convey of the activity
represented by the words." Christian Civic Action Committee, 318 Ark. at 249, 884 S.W.2d at
610.
21 Becker v. McCuen, 303 Ark. 482, 489, 798 S.W.2d 71, 74 (1990).
22 Christian Civic Action Committee, 318 Ark. at 245, 884 S.W.2d at 607 (internal quotations
omitted).
23 Roberts v. Priest, 341 Ark. 813, 825, 20 S.W.3d 376, 382 (2000).
24 Id. David A. Couch, Esq.
Opinion No. 2018-053
Page 7
current law are unclear or ambiguous, it is impossible for me to perform my
statutory duty to the satisfaction of the Arkansas Supreme Court without ( 1)
clarification or removal of the ambiguities in the proposal itself, and (2)
conformance of the popular name and ballot title to the newly worded proposal.
RESPONSE
In light of the Court's pronouncements, noted above, it is my opinion that a
number of additions or changes to your ballot title are necessary in order to more
fully and correctly summarize your proposal. I cannot, however, at this time,
fairly or completely summarize the effect of your proposed measure to the
electorate in a popular name or ballot title because of central, fundamental
ambiguities in the text of the measure itself. Because of these significant issues, I
again have not conducted a thorough, point-by-point review of your proposal.25
Rather, I will point out what I view to be these baseline deficiencies with your
submission.
DISCUSSION
The ballot title must both accurately summarize the proposed measure's text and
sufficiently inform the voters about the changes in current law they are being
asked to approve. A fundamental flaw in your current proposed measure turns on
this latter requirement.
You attempt to inform voters what existing law provides by restating verbatim the
statutory definitions of both "employer" and "employee"26 into the ballot title.
Merely regurgitating these technical terms' definitions and turning them into
sentences for inclusion in a ballot title does not, in my opinion, serve to adequately
summarize the current law you propose to change. In fact, it more likely
compounds the problem regarding what voters are expected to read and
comprehend during their time in the voting booth by introducing new technical
terms contained within these definitions.27
25 Cf Op. Att'y Gen. 2016-099.
26 See Ark. Code Ann.§ 11-4-203(3) and (4) (Supp. 2017).
27 For example, the terms "gratuit[ies]," "independent contractor," and "man-day," all included in
the definition of "employer" as copied in your ballot title, are terms defined in the Arkansas
Code, and would therefore, in my opinion, amount to "technical terms." As such, voters should
not have to guess as to their meanings in this context. See Wilson, 2016 Ark. 334 at 9, 500
S.W.3d at 167. David A. Couch, Esq.
Opinion No. 2018-053
Page 8
Moreover, your failure to succinctly summarize your proposed changes to current
law has significantly expanded your proposed ballot title, which can complicate
matters for voters because of their limited time in a voting booth. 28 While not
reason alone for me to reject your popular name and ballot title, at 967 words,
your ballot title is quite long. As I have explained in the past,29 while the Court is
willing to give Amendment 730 a liberal construction when determining the
sufficiency of a ballot title, 31 the Court has clearly stated "that does not mean that
liberality knows no bounds or [that] common sense has no place in the matter."32
As the Court explained:
While neither the length nor complexity of the ballot title should be
a controlling factor, it is a consideration. The great majority of
Arkansas voters are limited, as a practical matter, in the amount of
time that can be spent considering such a proposal. Furthermore,
common sense requires that we ask whether the average voter can
make an intelligent considerate decision based on the ballot title. 33
With these precedents in mind, prudence would suggest that you consider whether
a ballot title of a length like the one you have currently proposed would meet the
Court's standards for intelligent consideration by the voters in the allotted time.
Should you choose to revise and resubmit your measure and ballot title, your
ballot title must thoroughly and concisely summarize the proposed measure's
important features. And how you choose to acknowledge your proposal's effects
on existing law, and how you convey that to the voters, is a matter for you to
determine and submit to this office in draft form. Where a proposed ballot title is
28 See supra text accompanying notes 16-18.
29 See, e.g., Ops. Att'y Gen. 2018-032, 2017-055, 2017-042, 2016-099.
3° Codified at Ark. Const., art. 5, § 1 (Supp. 2017).
31 See Becker, supra note 3, 270 Ark. at 225, 604 S.W.2d at 558.
32 Dust v. Riviere, 277 Ark. 1, 6, 638 S.W.2d 663, 666 (1982).
33 Id. The Court, referencing its earlier opinion in Newton v. Hall, 196 Ark. 929, 120 S.W.2d 364
(1938), noted that "the length of the title could be a serious objection because the law recognizes
that an elector's time is limited in occupying a voting booth." Id The Court ultimately held that
the ballot title in that case, which contained 706 words, was "so complex, detailed, lengthy,
misleading and confusing that the Arkansas voter cannot intelligently make a choice based on the
title." Id. David A. Couch, Esq.
Opinion No. 2018-053
Page 9
so deficient in summarizing the proposal and its effect in a fair, accurate, and
complete manner, this office may decline to prepare a substitute ballot title.34
CONCLUSION
The problems noted above are not necessarily all that are contained in your
proposal, but they are sufficiently serious to require me to reject your popular
name and ballot title. They render me unable to substitute language in a ballot title
for your measure. Further, additional issues may come to light on review of any
revisions of your proposal.
My office, in the certification of ballot titles and popular names, does not address
the merits, philosophy, or ideology of proposed measures. I have no constitutional
role in the shaping or drafting of such measures. My statutory mandate is
embodied only in Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107, and my duty is to the electorate.
Based on what has been submitted, my statutory duty is to reject your proposed
ballot title for the fore~oing reasons and instruct you to redesign the proposed
measure and ballot title. 5
Sincerely,
~"'-----~7~~
LESLIE RUTLE~
Attorney General
Enclosure
34 See Op. Att'y Gen. 2012-033 (and opinions cited therein).
35 Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107(c). POPULAR NAME
AN ACT TO INCREASE THE ARKANSAS MINIMUM WAGE
BALLOT TITLE
An act to amend the Arkansas Code concerning the state minimum wage; the act
would raise the current state minimum wage from eight dollars and fifty cents
($8.50) per hour to nine dollars and twenty-five cents ($9.25) per hour on January
1, 2019, to ten dollars ($10.00) per hour on January 1, 20202, to eleven dollars
($11.00) per hour and January 1, 2021 and to twelve dollars ($12.00) per hour on
January 1, 2022. The act makes no other changes to the existing law regarding
the state minimum wage other than to increase the minimum wage. Existing
Arkansas Law defines employer as any individual, partnership, association,
corporation, business trust, the State of Arkansas, any political subdivision of the
state, or any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the
interest of an employer in relation to an employee. Employer does not include
any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, or any
person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an
employer in relation to an employee for any work week in which fewer than four
(4) employees are employed. Existing Arkansas Law defines employee as any
individual employed by an employer but shall not include: (A) Any individual
employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity or as
an outside commission-paid salesperson who customarily performs his or her
services away from his or her employer's premises taking orders for goods or
services; (B) Any student performing services for any school, college, or
university in which he or she is enrolled and is regularly attending classes; (C)
Any individual employed by the United States; (D) Any individual engaged in
the activities of any educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization
in which the employer-employee relationship does not in fact exist or in which
the services are rendered to the organizations gratuitously; (E) Any bona fide
independent contractor; (F) Any individual employed by an agricultural
employer who did not use more than five hundred (500) man-days of
agricultural labor in any calendar quarter of the preceding calendar year; (G) The
parent, spouse, child, or other member of an agricultural employer's immediate
family; (H) An individual who:(i) Is employed as a hand-harvest laborer and is
paid on a piece-rate basis in an operation that has been, and is customarily and
generally recognized as having been, paid on a piece-rate basis in the region of
employment; (ii) Commutes daily from his or her permanent residence to the
farm on which he or she is so employed; and (iii) Has been employed in
agriculture less than thirteen (13) weeks during the preceding calendar year; (I)
A migrant who: (i) Is sixteen (16) years of age or under and is employed as a
hand-harvest laborer; (ii) Is paid on a piece-rate basis in an operation that has been, and is customarily and generally recognized as having been, paid on a
piece-rate basis in the region of employment; (iii) Is employed on the same farm
as his or her parents; and(iv) Is paid the same piece-rate as employees over
sixteen (16) years of age are paid on the same farm; (J) Any employee principally
engaged in the range production of livestock; (K) Any employee employed in
planting or tending trees, cruising, surveying, or felling timber or in preparing or
transporting logs or other forestry products to the mill, processing plants, or
railroad or other transportation terminal if the number of employees employed
by his or her employer in the forestry or lumbering operations does not exceed
eight (8); (L) An employee employed by a nonprofit recreational or educational
camp that does not operate for more than seven (7) months in any calendar year;
(M) A nonprofit child welfare agency employee who serves as a houseparent
who is:(i) Directly involved in caring for children who reside in residential
facilities of the nonprofit child welfare agency and who are orphans, in foster
care, abused, neglected, abandoned, homeless, in need of supervision, or
otherwise in crisis situations that lead to out-of-home placements; and (ii)
Compensated at an annual rate of not less than thirteen thousand dollars
($13,000) or compensated at an annual rate of not less than ten thousand dollars
($10,000) if the employee resides in the residential facility and receives board and
lodging at no cost; (N) An employee employed in connection with the
publication of a weekly, semiweekly, or daily newspaper with a circulation:(i) Of
less than four thousand (4,000); and (ii) The major part of which is within the
county in which the newspaper is published or counties contiguous to the county
in which the newspaper is published; (0) An employee employed on a casual
basis in domestic service employment to provide:(i) Babysitting services; or (ii)
Companionship services for individuals who are unable to care for themselves
because of age or infirmity; (P) An employee engaged in the delivery of
newspapers to retail subscribers; (Q) A home worker engaged in:(i) Making
wreaths composed principally of natural holly, pine, cedar, or other evergreens;
and (ii) Harvesting natural holly, pine, cedar, and other evergreens used in
making such wreaths; or (R) (i) An individual employed by an establishment that
is an organized camp or a religious or nonprofit educational conference center if:
(a) The organized camp or a religious or nonprofit educational conference center
does not operate for more than seven (7) months in a calendar year; or (b) During
the preceding calendar year, the average receipts of the organized camp or a
religious or nonprofit educational conference center for any six (6) months of the
preceding calendar year were not more than thirty-three and one-third percent
(33 1/3%) of the average receipts of the organized camp or a religious or
nonprofit educational conference center for the other six (6) months of the
preceding calendar year. BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE ST ATE OF ARKANSAS:
SECTION 1. Arkansas Code§ 11-4-210(a), concerning the state minimum
wage, is amended to read as follows:
(a)(l) Beginning October 1, 2006, every employer shall pay each of his or
her employees wages at the rate of not less than six dollars and twenty-five cents
($6.25) per hour except as otherwise provided in this subchapter.
(2) Beginning January 1, 2015, every employer shall pay each of his or her
employees wages at the rate of not less than seven dollars and fifty cents ($7.50)
per hour, beginning January 1, 2016 the rate of not less than eight dollars ($8.00)
per hour and beginning January 1, 2017 the rate of not less than eight dollars and
fifty cents ($8.50) per hour except as otherwise provided in this subchapter.
(3) Beginning January 11 2019, every employer shall pay each of his or her
employees wages at the rate of not less than nine dollars and twenty-five cents
($9.25) per hour/ beginning January 11 2020 the rate of not less than ten dollars
($10.00) per hour, beginning January 1, 2021 the rate of not less than eleven
dollars ($11.00) per hour beginning January 11 2012 the rate of not less than
twelve ($12.00) per hour except as otherwise provided in this subchapter.