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Full-Text Articles in State and Local Government Law

The Hard Work Is Worth It: Overcoming Unfavorable Determinants To Pass Pro-Immigrant Education Policy In A Conservative State Legislature, Megan Cardwell Godfrey May 2022

The Hard Work Is Worth It: Overcoming Unfavorable Determinants To Pass Pro-Immigrant Education Policy In A Conservative State Legislature, Megan Cardwell Godfrey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Immigrants, English learners (ELs), and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD)students often lag behind their White, monolingual peers in academic achievement and English language proficiency. While there are policy solutions to improve academic and linguistic opportunities and outcomes for immigrant/EL/CLD students, such as implementing bilingual instructional models and increasing teacher diversity, these pro-immigrant policies can be hard to come by in some legislative contexts due to unfavorable economic, social, or political determinants. This qualitative case study analyzed the multifaceted political work that contributed to the passage of two pro-immigrant education policies in the Arkansas 93rd General Assembly: a bill for bilingual …


Why Arkansas Act 710 Was Upheld, And Will Be Again, Mark Goldfeder Feb 2022

Why Arkansas Act 710 Was Upheld, And Will Be Again, Mark Goldfeder

Arkansas Law Review

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. - ironically, not Mark Twain The recent Eighth Circuit ruling in Arkansas Times LP v. Waldrip, the lawsuit revolving around an Arkansas antidiscrimination bill, has led to a lot of (at best) confusion or (at worst) purposeful obfuscation by people unwilling or unable to differentiate between procedural issues and the constitutional merits of a case. In other words, reports of the bill’s death have been very much exaggerated.


Dead Men Tell No Tales: Arkansas’S Grave Failure To Honor Its Constituents’ Postmortem Quasi-Property Right, Mckenna Moore Dec 2021

Dead Men Tell No Tales: Arkansas’S Grave Failure To Honor Its Constituents’ Postmortem Quasi-Property Right, Mckenna Moore

Arkansas Law Review

It is doubtful that Hulon Rupert Austin woke up on the day of March 7, 1986 and expected it to be his last. March 7 was a typical day—a workday—that started with a simple drive to a job site with his co-worker. A day that began so unremarkably ended with his co-worker looking up from where he was working to see “Austin lying on the ground.”


Splitting Scales: Conflicting National And Regional Attempts To Manage Commercial Aquaculture In The Exclusive Economic Zone, Brandee Ketchum Jul 2021

Splitting Scales: Conflicting National And Regional Attempts To Manage Commercial Aquaculture In The Exclusive Economic Zone, Brandee Ketchum

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Like other environmental resources subject to public use, various interest groups struggle over joint management of scarce fisheries resources. Further, differing goals for resource management, such as financial goals versus conservation goals, frequently pit regional groups against one another. In some cases, regional interests may conflict with overall national interests. As goes the water and the air, so go the fish.


A Bittersweet Deal For Consumers: The Unnatural Application Of Preemption To High Fructose Corn Syrup Labeling Claims, Josh Ashley Jul 2021

A Bittersweet Deal For Consumers: The Unnatural Application Of Preemption To High Fructose Corn Syrup Labeling Claims, Josh Ashley

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The recent rise of consumer consciousness regarding the health qualities of foods and beverages has become something akin to common knowledge. Reflecting this rise, studies reveal that labels regarding the health qualities of a food are more likely to increase sales. And among the health labels consumers prefer, labels describing the product as natural top the list. One website reports that according to a recent study, 31.3-percent of respondents thought that "100% natural" was the best description to read on a label, compared with only 14.2-percent who thought that "100% organic" was the best description. "All natural ingredients" was the …


Reconsidering Federalism And The Farm: Toward Including Local, State And Regional Voices In America's Food System, Margaret Sova Mccabe Jul 2021

Reconsidering Federalism And The Farm: Toward Including Local, State And Regional Voices In America's Food System, Margaret Sova Mccabe

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Why is the relationship between our food system and federalism important to American law and health? It is important simply because federal law controls the American food system. This essay considers how federal law came to structure our food system, and suggests that though food is an essential part of our national economy, the dominating role of the federal government alienates citizens from their food system. It does so by characterizing food as a primarily economic issue, rather than one that has ethical, health, and cultural components. However, state and local governments have much to offer in terms of broadening …


Legitimate Exercises Of The Police Power Or Compensable Takings: Courts May Recognize Private Property Rights, Terence J. Centner Jul 2021

Legitimate Exercises Of The Police Power Or Compensable Takings: Courts May Recognize Private Property Rights, Terence J. Centner

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Under their police power, governments regulate nuisances and take actions in emergency situations. For protecting humans, animals, and plants from diseases and other pests (jointly referred to as diseases), governments order inoculations, quarantine items and people, and seize and destroy property.' With respect to plants and animals, the United States Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to prohibit the importation and movement of items than may be infested. The Secretary also has the authority to hold, treat, and destroy items to prevent the dissemination of plant and animal pests. State governments take additional actions to


Put A Cork In It: The Use Of H.R. 161 To End Direct Wine Shipping Throughout The States Once And For All, Victoria H. Jones Jul 2021

Put A Cork In It: The Use Of H.R. 161 To End Direct Wine Shipping Throughout The States Once And For All, Victoria H. Jones

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Due to Congress' recent agenda, oenophiles throughout the country are up in arms about the possible threat to their beloved wine. Wine lovers and other alcohol enthusiasts face the very real fear that access to their favorite products may soon be heavily restricted. This is in large part attributed to the fact that House Resolution 1161 would effectively change the ways in which states regulate alcohol shipment. The possible implications of this bill range from the forced shutdown of many wineries and distilleries due to lack of funding, to the smaller effects of regulation such as the inability of customers …


United States Food Law Update: Shrouded By Election-Year Politics, State Initiatives And Private Lawsuits Fill In The Gaps Created By Congressional And Agency Ossification, A. Bryan Endres, Lisa R. Schlessinger, Rachel Armstrong May 2021

United States Food Law Update: Shrouded By Election-Year Politics, State Initiatives And Private Lawsuits Fill In The Gaps Created By Congressional And Agency Ossification, A. Bryan Endres, Lisa R. Schlessinger, Rachel Armstrong

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Observers of food law in the 2012 presidential election year witnessed a dramatic slowing of federal initiatives-perhaps arising from a desire by both Congress and the administration to avoid upsetting critical constituent groups during a year seemingly dominated by campaigns and endless talking points. For example, Congress failed to take action on a unique compromise between what some had considered mortal enemies-the Humane Society of the United States and United Egg Producers-that would implement a federal animal welfare standard for laying hens in return for abandoning ballot measures in various states. Similarly, the FDA waited until the early days of …


An Overview Of Arkansas' Right-To-Farm-Law, L. Paul Goeringer, H. L. Goodwin May 2021

An Overview Of Arkansas' Right-To-Farm-Law, L. Paul Goeringer, H. L. Goodwin

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In the1980s, state legislatures in all fifty states enacted statutes commonly referred to as "right-to-farm" laws. Arkansas enacted its right-to-farm law ("the Act") in 1981. While there are similarities, these laws differ from state-to-state. All right-to-farm laws provide agricultural producers with statutory defenses to nuisance challenges, subject to certain conditions. As one scholar has noted, right-to-farm laws are designed "to protect existing farm investments by reducing actions under nuisance law that enjoined agricultural activities." These laws also work to preserve farmland and protect established farmland from the pressures of urbanization, allowing "farmers to continue with their husbandry pursuits rather than …


Food Sovereignty In The United States: Supporting Local And Regional Food Systems, Allison Condra May 2021

Food Sovereignty In The United States: Supporting Local And Regional Food Systems, Allison Condra

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Today, perhaps more than ever, an increasing portion of U.S. society is paying attention to and asking questions about our food and agricultural system. We are recognizing the immense consequences of the agricultural "efficiencies" we valued and wrote into our policies in the seventies-for example, growing corn "fence row to fence row" and the ease ofmicrowaved meals and prepackaged foods. 3 The increasingly global nature of our food system and its consequences are becoming more apparent. Food safety concerns-prompted by a growing number of foodborne illness outbreaks and the government's response in the 2009 Food Safety Modernization Act-loom large and …


Let My Brewers Go! A Look At Home Brewing In The U.S., Hannah Jeppsen May 2021

Let My Brewers Go! A Look At Home Brewing In The U.S., Hannah Jeppsen

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In mid-August of 2012, a group of Americans stormed the White House, demanding transparency on a subject many Americans may find surprising: beer. More specifically, Americans requested White House home brew recipes, a presidential secret until Barack Obama's administration released them on September 1, 2012. Not only does Obama enjoy a good home brew, he is also the first president to brew in the White House and even take beer on the campaign trail. However, it was the August petition that garnered home brewing national media attention.


Health And Welfare Preempted: How National Meat Association V. Harris Undermines Federalism, Food Safety, And Animal Protection, Marya Torrez May 2021

Health And Welfare Preempted: How National Meat Association V. Harris Undermines Federalism, Food Safety, And Animal Protection, Marya Torrez

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In 2008, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released an undercover video filmed at the Hallmark Meat Packing Company and Westland Meat Company (Hallmark/Westland) in Chino, California. "The footage depicted nonambulatory cows being kicked, dragged, electrocuted, jammed with forklifts and sprayed in the nostrils with water to simulate drowning - in an effort to get them to stand up and walk to their slaughter." At least five inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - the federal agency tasked with ensuring that food safety and animal welfare guidelines are followed - were present at the time. The …


A Costly Victory: June Medical, Federal Abortion Legislation, And Section 5 Of The Fourteenth Amendment, Thomas J. Molony Apr 2021

A Costly Victory: June Medical, Federal Abortion Legislation, And Section 5 Of The Fourteenth Amendment, Thomas J. Molony

Arkansas Law Review

The United States Supreme Court’s recent major abortion ruling in June Medical Services L.L.C. v. Russo was a win for abortion rights supporters, but a costly one. Although the June Medical Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, a majority of the Justices—and most importantly, Chief Justice Roberts, whose concurrence constitutes the Court’s holding—stressed that Casey’s constitutional standard for pre-viability abortion regulations is not the amorphous balancing test the Court suggested in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, but a more deferential one under which a pre-viability regulation typically will be …


Food Entrepreneurs And Food Safety Regulation, Nina W. Tarr Jan 2021

Food Entrepreneurs And Food Safety Regulation, Nina W. Tarr

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The green wave of environmental advertising among organic food producers, distributors, and retailers begun during the 1990s has become an all-out green tsunami. The organic food market is the fastest growing segment of the American food industry. Consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the impact their purchases have on several environmental issues. As a result, those consumers are becoming more aware of their spending power and are willingly altering their buying practices to purchase from companies that emphasize environmental responsibility. In fact, some retailers' inventory is already being scanned for alternative green products by their customers' iPhones because, guess what, …


Securing Crypto: Exempting Certain Cryptoassets From The Arkansas Securities Act, Jesse Kloss Dec 2020

Securing Crypto: Exempting Certain Cryptoassets From The Arkansas Securities Act, Jesse Kloss

Arkansas Law Review

Out of fifty states in 2019, Arkansas was ranked forty-fourth for technology and innovation with a grade of “F,” thirty-sixth for economy with a grade of “D+,” and thirty-seventh for business friendliness with a grade of “D+.” It is time to make Arkansas an innovation and business friendly state. Exempting certain fully functional cryptoassets, those that have some purpose other than a speculative or investment purpose, from the Arkansas Securities Act is one step towards doing so.


The Secret Sauce Of Ballot Initiative Approval: Eliminating Issues Within Arkansas's Pre-Circulation Review, Nancy Smith Feb 2020

The Secret Sauce Of Ballot Initiative Approval: Eliminating Issues Within Arkansas's Pre-Circulation Review, Nancy Smith

Arkansas Law Review

As Justice Thurgood Marshall once said, “Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.” Democracy is essential to the American political system. Direct democracy, however, exists in only twenty-four states. Known as citizen lawmaking, direct democracy allows citizens to place constitutional amendments and statutes on statewide ballots without legislative support or intervention. It places power directly into the hands of citizens through a petition process that cumulates in voters making the ultimate decision.


Too Plain To Be Misunderstood: Sovereign Immunity Under The Arkansas Constitution, Robert C. Dalby Feb 2019

Too Plain To Be Misunderstood: Sovereign Immunity Under The Arkansas Constitution, Robert C. Dalby

Arkansas Law Review

The framers of the constitution certainly knew that instances of hardship would result from the prohibition of suits against the State, but they nevertheless elected to write that immunity into the constitution. The language is too plain to be misunderstood, and it is our duty to give effect to it. Given the fluid nature of the law, time is often the greatest enemy of clarity in court precedent. From law students to experienced judges, anyone who has tried to research the doctrine of sovereign immunity under the Arkansas Constitution has surely struggled with that enemy as they sift through the …


Medical Marijuana In Arkansas: The Risks Of Rushed Drafting, Carol Goforth, Robyn Goforth Feb 2019

Medical Marijuana In Arkansas: The Risks Of Rushed Drafting, Carol Goforth, Robyn Goforth

Arkansas Law Review

Arkansas voters passed the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment to the state constitution in late 2016. Almost certainly, the vast majority of voters did so without reading or understanding the intricacies of the initiative, and instead voted simply to affirm their desire to permit the medical use of marijuana in the state. Among many other provisions, the amendment imposed a 120 day time limit (later extended by the Arkansas legislature to 180 days) within which the Arkansas Department of Health and other agencies were to adopt rules implementing the voter mandate. While six months might seem like plenty of time in …