A Bill banning cell phone use in school is now law in Arkansas.

 

The “Bell to Bell, No Cell Act,” similar to legislation in Oklahoma requires strict phone-free policies in schools during the school day. As with the Oklahoma bill, exceptions are allowed to be made in the event of an emergency or for medical reasons. Senate lawmakers clarified that any devices such as tablets that were issued by the school would be exempt from the rule. The new Arkansas law is set to take effect during the upcoming 2025-2026 school year.

 

Another bill signed into law yesterday will provide every public school student with one free breakfast for each school day regardless of their eligibility for a federally-funded free or reduced-price meal. The program will use federal funding and money from the state's food insecurity fund to provide the free breakfasts. Part of the fund will also come from money collected out of the taxes received from the sale of medical marijuana.

 

Sanders also signed a bill that will now allow for raw milk products to be sold at places outside of the farm where it came from, including farmers' markets. It requires each jug of milk that is sold to have a warning label on it stating that it is raw milk and will need to have contact information for the farm where the milk came from.