UPDATE III: Arkansas Governor Signs New Religious Freedom Bill Into Law

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, less than 30 hours after returning a religious freedom bill to the legislature, has signed a new one into law.

At 11:30 AM EST Wednesday morning, Arkansas GOP Governor Asa Hutchinson held a press conference to explain why he was refusing to sign a so-called religious freedom bill into law, after stating just 24 hours earlier that he likely would. 

Nodding to the crisis in Indiana over what had been called a “virtually similar” bill, he told reporters that “in ordinary times this bill would not be controversial, but these are not ordinary times.”

Gov. Hutchinson added the bill is “divisive,” has “divided families,” and said there is a “generational gap,” noting his own son signed a petition asking him to not sign the bill.

Minutes ago, Governor Hutchinson held another press conference, and with a great big smile announced he had just signed a revised Arkansas Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law, because, he explained, it now “mirrors” the federal law of the same name.

The federal law does not affix personhood status to corporations, organizations, or businesses, and does not directly support anti-LGBT discrimination.

The 64-year old Bentonville, Arkansas native was happy to tell reporters that he was able to fix this potential crisis because he respects the legislature and the balance of power, a shot at Indiana’s Mike Pence, who is still struggling to repair the damage to his state he cause one week ago by signing a dangerously discriminatory and divisive “religious freedom” bill into law.

NCRM has not examined the text of the new law.

We’ll return with reactions and responses.

This is a developing story – stay tuned. 

UPDATE I – 5:15 PM ET:

To be clear, while this new and revised law does not provide any LGBT protections, it also does not enable anti-LGBT discrimination, as the one Gov. Hutchinson returned to the legislature yesterday did.

Unless the language, when it become available, is a surprise, this should be seen as a win for supporters of equality.

UPDATE II – 5:20 PM ET:

“I think it’s sending the right signal, the way this has been resolved, to the world and the country that Arkansas understands the diversity of our culture and workforce but also the importance of balancing that with our sincerely held religious convictions,” Gov. Hutchinson said Thursday, per local ABC News affiliate.

UPDATE III – Final @ 5:52 PM ET:

Here’s a link to the official text of the bill.

 

This article has been revised with additional information. There will bee no more updates to this article.