Arkansas closer to a primary seatbelt law

The Senate Bill to elevate the seatbelt law to a primary offense passed the House by a vote of 60 for, 31 against, and 4 voting present (click for the roll call). It now goes to the governor, who is expected to sign it. The emergency clause narrowly failed, but Rep. Grenberg gave notice that he was on the prevailing side and will ask that the emergency clause be reconsidered. Without an emergency clause, the law won't go into effect until 90 days after sine die adjournment.

Update (4:20 p.m.): Thanks to Rep. Bruce Maloch for noting that in order for Arkansas to be eligible to receive $9.5 million in federal funds for the passage of this act, it must go into effect by June 30th. Therefore, the emergency clause must be reconsidered and adopted in order to make the effective date of the act upon the governor's signature June 30 and to take advantage of these federal funds. We're only talking about moving the effective date up one month in order to receive these funds.

Scroll down for other results from today's floor votes in the House.