Senate Bill 16 Summary

• Adds definition of "agency procedure" to the Child Maltreatment Act as compliance or non-compliance by the Department of Human Services, Department of Arkansas State Police, or other authorized entities with chapter requirements and rules.

• Authorizes individual U.S. and Arkansas senators and representatives and their authorized staff to request information about child maltreatment investigations from relevant agencies to conduct reviews of agency procedure, with mandatory agency compliance.

• Allows legislators and staff to request information concerning unlawful activity or procedure violations by agency employees related to child maltreatment investigations.

• Requires that reviews of agency procedure be conducted in non-public settings but may be disclosed to legislative bodies, with prohibition on redisclosure of confidential information after the review concludes.

• Amends multiple sections of the Child Maltreatment Act to permit disclosure of investigation information to legislators and staff (with redisclosure restrictions) while clarifying these provisions do not prohibit agency procedure reviews under the new authorization.