Arkansas Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Arkansas, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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What standards does the Arkansas AG apply when reviewing a proposed initiated constitutional amendment, and why was the 2024 recreational marijuana ballot title rejected?
The AG rejected the proposed 'Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment of 2024.' Defects included impermissible incorporation by reference of statutes (violating the full-text requirement), ambiguity…
Why did Arkansas reject the 2020 recreational marijuana ballot title?
The AG rejected the entire submission. The measure was virtually identical to one already rejected in Op. 2018-119, and the same threshold defects in the proposal itself made it impossible to draft a …
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General reject the 2018 Arkansas Regulation of Marijuana Amendment ballot title?
The AG rejected the entire submission. The proposal was substantially the same recreational-marijuana amendment the AG had already rejected in Opinion 2018-100 for being a convoluted statewide decrimi…
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General reject the 2018 'Arkansas Cannabis Hemp and Recreational Marijuana Amendment' ballot title?
The AG rejected the entire submission at the threshold. The proposal was the same measure the AG had already rejected in Opinion 2017-006 as ambiguous and misleading. Recycling language previously ide…
Why was the proposed Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment of 2020 ballot title rejected by the Attorney General?
The Attorney General rejected the popular name, ballot title, and entire submission. The proposal recycled multiple earlier rejected recreational-marijuana submissions, and its convoluted decriminaliz…
Why was the Arkansas Cannabis Amendment ballot title rejected for failing to clearly explain its effect on the existing medical marijuana amendment?
The Attorney General rejected the popular name, ballot title, and proposed Arkansas Cannabis Amendment. The ballot title left voters unable to understand how the proposal would interact with the exist…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the Arkansas Cannabis Amendment ballot title submitted by John Wesley Hall in 2018?
AG Rutledge rejected John Wesley Hall's 2018 popular name and ballot title for the proposed Arkansas Cannabis Amendment, citing three threshold defects: inadequate disclosure of continued federal ille…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the 2018 ballot title for the proposed Hemp and Cannabis constitutional amendment?
The AG rejected the title because the proposal said it would 'regulate' cannabis without explaining how that interacted with Arkansas's existing Medical Marijuana Amendment (Amendment 98), so voters c…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the 2018 cannabis constitutional amendment that would have repealed and replaced Amendment 98?
AG Rutledge rejected the proposal because the ballot title did not adequately summarize the proposal's substance, including how it would repeal the existing Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment 98 and…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the 2018 Arkansas True Grass recreational marijuana ballot title?
The AG rejected it for fundamental ambiguities in the proposal text. The AG also reminded the Arkansas True Grass committee that drafting and accurately summarizing the measure are the sponsor's respo…
Why did Arkansas reject Mary Berry's 2018 recreational marijuana ballot title for the third time?
AG Rutledge rejected this third Arkansas True Grass submission for the 2018 recreational-marijuana amendment because the latest text was a condensed re-organization of language already rejected. The o…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the Arkansas True Grass recreational marijuana ballot title for the second time?
AG Rutledge rejected the second Arkansas True Grass submission for the 2018 recreational-marijuana amendment because the sponsor added back large blocks of decriminalization text that the AG had previ…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the 2018 recreational marijuana ballot title for the True Grass committee?
Rejected. The AG rejected the Arkansas True Grass committee's recreational marijuana ballot title, finding that the proposed amendment's regulatory scheme was too convoluted to be summarized in an int…
Why was the December 2017 True Grass cannabis ballot title rejected?
Rejected. The AG concluded that the True Grass committee's December 2017 recreational cannabis amendment had a regulatory scheme too convoluted to be summarized in an intelligent, impartial, and hones…
Why was the November 2017 Arkansas True Grass cannabis ballot title rejected by the AG?
Rejected. The AG found two threshold problems in the True Grass committee's November 2017 recreational cannabis amendment. First, the proposed ballot title essentially copied verbatim the lengthy 'unl…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the Arkansas True Grass recreational marijuana ballot title in 2017?
The AG rejected the entire submission. The proposed measure had a Section 10 listing 13 categories of unlawful activity that was completely absent from the ballot title, and the text contained undefin…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the second Arkansas Blue Grass cannabis ballot title submission in October 2017?
The AG rejected the entire submission because the proposed amendment retained the same kinds of textual ambiguities flagged in earlier opinions, which made an accurate ballot title impossible to draft…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the Arkansas True Grass recreational marijuana ballot title in October 2017?
The AG rejected the submission because the proposed amendment's defined terms were internally inconsistent (carry/carrying on/personal effect) and its plant-cultivation rules contained multiple irreco…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the third 'Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment' submission from True Grass BQC in September 2017?
The proposal's two new defined terms, 'carry on' and 'personal effects,' were defined in ways that did not make sense or that introduced new ambiguity. 'Carry on' meant possession 'on one's body and p…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the September 2017 'Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment' draft from True Grass BQC?
The proposal contained five fundamental defects: it offered an open-ended list of alternative popular names (including one to be chosen by the AG); it used confusing noun-and-verb 'acts to cultivate' …
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the 2017 'Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment' ballot title submitted by Mary L. Berry?
Three fundamental ambiguities, the AG said: when the amendment would actually take effect, whether age limits applied to people working for licensed businesses, and what 'considered legally served' me…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary Berry's July 21, 2017 cannabis amendment without going through the usual ambiguity analysis?
Because Berry's submission was substantively identical to two recent rejections (her own Opinion 2017-076 and Larry Morris's Opinion 2017-081, both from the same True Grass committee), the AG declined…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Larry Morris's July 2017 'Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment of 2018' draft from True Grass?
Four defects: the effective date was contradictory ('effective November 7, 2018' but also 'shall be made lawful' by some unidentified third party); the Section 4 list of legalized 'acts' used confusin…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary Berry's 2018 recreational-marijuana amendment ballot title?
Rejected. AG Rutledge declined to certify Mary Berry's proposed 'Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment of 2018' because the expungement provision in Section 8 was ambiguous and the proposal said n…
Why did the Arkansas AG refuse to certify Larry Morris's 2017 recreational-marijuana ballot title?
Rejected. AG Rutledge declined to certify the popular name and ballot title for Larry Morris's proposed 'Arkansas Decriminalization of Recreational Marijuana Amendment' because the underlying proposal…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary Berry's second 2017 recreational-marijuana ballot title?
Rejected. AG Rutledge declined certification of Mary Berry's second 2017 recreational-marijuana proposal. The revised version retained the same two ambiguities the AG had flagged two weeks earlier (Op…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Larry Morris's second 2017 recreational-marijuana ballot title?
Rejected. AG Rutledge declined certification of Larry Morris's second 2017 recreational-marijuana proposal. Four ambiguities prevented certification: inconsistent use of 'business,' 'person,' and 'dri…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary Berry's first 2017 recreational-marijuana ballot title?
Rejected. AG Rutledge declined certification of Mary Berry's first 2017 recreational-marijuana proposal. Section 4(f)(3) and Section 5(c) created ambiguity about whether design and packaging rules app…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Larry Morris's first 2017 recreational-marijuana ballot title?
Rejected. AG Rutledge declined to certify the popular name and ballot title for Larry Morris's first 2017 recreational-marijuana amendment because of seven distinct ambiguities in the proposal text, r…
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General reject Mary Berry's recreational marijuana ballot title?
AG Rutledge rejected the ballot title for Mary Berry's proposed Arkansas Cannabis Hemp and Recreational Marijuana Amendment of 2018. The underlying text contained five concrete ambiguities (field-tag …
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Larry Morris's recreational marijuana ballot title?
AG Rutledge rejected the popular name and ballot title for Larry Morris's proposed recreational marijuana and industrial hemp amendment due to ambiguities in the underlying text. Where a proposal is i…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary Berry's first cannabis amendment ballot title?
AG Rutledge rejected the popular name and ballot title for Mary Berry's first proposed Arkansas cannabis hemp and recreational marijuana amendment due to ambiguities in the underlying text. Berry subm…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Jason D. Berry's 2017 ballot title for the Cannabis Hemp and Recreational Marijuana Amendment?
AG Rutledge rejected Jason D. Berry's proposed Cannabis Hemp and Recreational Marijuana Amendment ballot title. Three drafting defects controlled: Section 3(i)'s THC-content definition was ambiguous a…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Larry B. Morris's 2017 ballot title for the proposed Arkansas Cannabis Amendment?
AG Rutledge rejected Larry B. Morris's proposed Arkansas Cannabis Amendment ballot title. Five drafting defects controlled: Section 3(f)'s sheriff-issued transport-pass language was internally ambiguo…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary L. Berry's 2017 ballot title for the Cannabis Hemp and Recreational Marijuana Amendment?
AG Rutledge rejected Mary L. Berry's proposed Cannabis Hemp and Recreational Marijuana Amendment ballot title. Two defects controlled: Section 3(i)'s definition of 'products produced from marijuana' c…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary L. Berry's January 2017 ballot title for the Cannabis Hemp and Recreational Marijuana Amendment?
AG Rutledge rejected Mary L. Berry's January 2017 proposed Cannabis Hemp and Recreational Marijuana Amendment ballot title. Eight specific drafting defects controlled, including unclear treatment of b…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary L. Berry's December 2016 ballot title for a recreational and medical marijuana amendment that overlapped with the just-approved AMMA?
AG Rutledge rejected Mary L. Berry's submission of a proposed Cannabis Hemp and Recreational Marijuana Amendment because the ballot title failed to explain how the new amendment would affect the recen…
Why did Arkansas reject the Arkansas Cannabis Amendment ballot title in 2016?
Rejected. The AG could not certify the proposed Arkansas Cannabis Amendment's popular name and ballot title because the underlying measure was internally ambiguous, especially on tax rates, penalty st…
Why did Arkansas reject the first Arkansas Cannabis Amendment ballot title in 2016?
Rejected. The AG could not certify Mary Berry's first version of 'The Arkansas Cannabis Amendment' because the underlying measure was internally ambiguous on 14 distinct issues, including residency re…
Did the Arkansas AG certify a 2016 ballot title legalizing recreational and medical marijuana plus industrial hemp?
AG Rutledge certified the popular name as submitted and substituted a corrected ballot title for sponsor Mary L. Berry's 2016 initiated constitutional amendment that would have regulated industrial he…
Can a proposed Arkansas constitutional amendment legalize recreational marijuana, medical marijuana, and industrial hemp in a single ballot measure?
Not on this draft. The AG rejected the Arkansas Cannabis Amendment because its findings did not match its operative provisions, its licensing scheme was framed as optional, and key terms like 'state m…
Can a proposed Arkansas constitutional amendment legalize recreational and medical marijuana along with state-regulated cultivation, retail, and testing facilities?
Not on this draft. The AG rejected the Arkansas Cannabis Amendment because the definitions and operative provisions did not match: marijuana licenses were defined as individual-only but Section 9 cont…
Can Mary Berry's proposed Arkansas Cannabis Amendment qualify for the ballot through the AG certification process?
Not on this first draft. The AG rejected Mary Berry's initial Arkansas Cannabis Amendment because of ambiguities in the proposal's text. Berry resubmitted twice more (Opinions 2016-006 and 2016-012), …
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Attorney general opinions in Arkansas are written by the Arkansas Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.