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Arkansas

State statutes

Guidance Act 308 (2021) — energy-choice preemption (Hutchinson-era) + Sanders anti-ESG agenda
Enacted: 2021-04-29

Arkansas's state-level posture on energy-choice municipal regulation operates through a single 2021 preemption statute plus Gov. Sanders's aggressive anti-ESG legislative leadership. Act 308 (2021), signed by then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), prohibits local governments from adopting any ordinance aimed at limiting the energy source utility customers might prefer. Parallel to Arizona HB 2686 (2020), Tennessee 2020, Oklahoma, and Louisiana La. R.S. 30:2379. Act 308 does not name lawn equipment but its energy-choice framing creates a legal shadow over any hypothetical Arkansas municipal Berkeley-style GLB ordinance. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R, January 2023–) has led the nation in anti-ESG legislation — Arkansas has enacted 7+ anti-ESG measures since 2021 per Arkansas Advocate (July 2025). Sanders sued EPA over ozone regulations (2023), signed the Arkansas Wind Energy Development Act with stringent siting, and issued an EO to Speed Permitting for Economic Development Projects. No GLB-specific EO. Sanders's environmental posture is structurally hostile to any future GLB pathway. No state GLB/SORE bill has been filed in the 94th GA (2025) or 95th GA (2026). The combined Act 308 + anti-ESG framework is the operative constraint on any Arkansas municipal fuel-source ordinance.

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