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The enacted amendment does not give every agreement the same treatment
Act 847 of 2023 removes the old reference that could exclude a franchise merely because it was covered by the federal Franchise Rule. Preparing a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) therefore does not establish exclusion from Arkansas relationship protections.
The enacted applicability wording concerns franchises entered into, renewed or transferred after March 4, 1977 whose performance contemplates or requires an Arkansas place of business. It retains stated exclusions and adds an exclusion where both the initial franchise fee does not exceed $20,000 and the initial term does not exceed one year. The specified wholesaler–beverage-supplier relationships are covered regardless of those fee or term amounts.
This article explains the actual 2023 amendment. The complete current consolidated chapter and later merits decisions have not been verified from readable current primary bodies; this is not complete current coverage or termination advice.
Use the date rule for the actual provision
The Act’s findings and applicability amendment apply retroactively to the effective date of Act 411 of 1991. Its added franchise-owner definition, transfer amendments and new venue, material-cause and survivor provisions apply only to agreements or contracts entered into or renewed on and after Act 847’s effective date. The new franchise-owner definition includes someone with a financial interest or someone who guarantees the franchise entity’s obligations.
The legislature’s 2023 session explanation identifies August 1, 2023 as the effective date for Acts without an emergency clause or a specified effective date; Act 847 has neither. The constitutional limits stated in the applicability amendment remain relevant. Approval on April 13, 2023 is not itself the starting date for every new provision.
A transfer request is different from a qualified family transfer
For transfers to which the amended section applies, the written notice identifies the proposed buyer, address, financial qualifications and the preceding five years of business experience. Within 30 days after receipt, the franchisor must approve in writing or give written notice identifying a material deficiency in character, financial ability or experience under its existing standards, consistently applied to similarly situated franchisees. No reply within the stated 30 days means approval is deemed granted.
The buyer must agree in writing to the reasonable and legal franchise requirements then in effect. A spouse, child or heir who is operationally and financially qualified follows a separate branch: franchisor approval is not required, and the franchisor and specified related parties cannot exercise a right of first refusal over that transfer.
Outside that family branch, the amendment preserves the stated contractual right to buy the franchise or substantially all its assets on precisely the terms of a genuine third-party offer. A right of first refusal means the franchisor can match the proposed deal; it is not the same as an unrestricted veto.
The new contract protections have their own agreement-date limit
The added provisions void an outside-Arkansas venue restriction for the stated claims involving a franchise operating or doing business in Arkansas. They require the stated good faith and fair dealing, permit termination only for material cause under objective standards, and give an immediate family member or designated heir the stated good-faith opportunity to become an owner.
Those additions share the post-effective-date agreement/renewal condition above. They do not establish that every older contract automatically receives every new provision. HB 1177 of 2025 died in committee; its proposed insurance wording did not become law through that bill.
The contract’s choice of law is a different question
Governing law means the rules used to decide the dispute; venue is where the case is heard. They are separate contract terms.
The enacted 2019 text says a condition requiring another state’s law in place of this subchapter is void. That is narrower than saying every contract selecting another state is void. The current consolidated text and application to an actual clause still need verification.
Scope
- Explains the actual 2019 choice-of-law wording and the 2023 amendments’ stated agreement-date conditions. Complete current consolidated provisions, other exclusions and later merits decisions remain unresolved. Coverage, the actual contract and arbitration questions remain separate.
Next step
Identify the exact amendment and agreement/renewal date; for a transfer under the amended section, distinguish the ordinary written-notice/30-day-response route from the qualified family-transfer branch. Read the governing-law clause separately from the venue clause.
Sources & review notes
Arkansas General Assembly
Passage, dates and research notes
primary · Sections 3, 5 and 7; approval notation
APPROVED: 4/13/23
Enacted Act text read, including strikethrough/underline inspection on page 3. Not a complete current code or case-law review. Sections 1 and 3 retroactive; sections 2, 4, 5 prospective by agreement/renewal date. Exact general effective-date calculation remains unasserted.
Arkansas General Assembly
Passage, dates and research notes
primary · Bill status
House -- Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment.
Proposal did not become law. It is not used as operative authority.
Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research
Passage, dates and research notes
primary · Printed pages 21 and 155, effective-date explanation
the effective date for acts of the 94th General Assembly
Read printed page 155 session-wide date rule and page 21 Act 847 summary. Actual Act independently read and has no emergency clause or specified effective date. No unrelated Act summary or later consolidation inferred. The actual publication identifies May 2023; no publication day is inferred.
Arkansas General Assembly
Passage, dates and research notes
primary · Section 1, adding section 4-72-206(b); page 2, lines 15–16
the law of another state
Read both pages; visually checked underlined addition and approval dated April 9, 2019. No commencement date or later consolidation inferred.
Detailed rule records (4)
Enacted 2023 Act 847 amended state relationship-law applicability and removed the prior textual reference to federal Franchise Rule coverage as an exclusion. It also added agreement protections with temporal conditions. Classify the actual Arkansas place-of-business relationship and agreement date rather than treating an FDD as a relationship-law exemption.
Arkansas Act 847 of 2023The official legislative record states that HB 1177 died in House committee at sine-die adjournment. Do not apply that proposal as an amendment to the operating law.
Arkansas HB 1177: official legislative statusActual 2023 Act removes the federal-coverage exclusion, restates Arkansas place/agreement scope, adds the inclusive $20,000-and-one-year exclusion and beverage qualification, and replaces the transfer response period with 30 days. Qualified spouse/child/heir transfers have separate approval/right-of-first-refusal treatment. Sections 1 and 3 are retroactive to the effective date of 1991 Act 411; sections 2, 4 and 5 apply only to agreements/contracts entered or renewed on/after the Act 847 effective date, identified through the official session date explanation as August 1, 2023. Other current provisions and later merits remain unverified.
Arkansas Act 847 of 2023 Arkansas HB 1177: official legislative status Arkansas 2023 summary of general legislation — effective date of ActsAct 835 adds section 4-72-206(b), voiding a condition requiring another state’s law in place of the franchise subchapter. This concerns replacing those protections; it does not determine every contract’s validity or arbitration treatment.
Arkansas Act 835 of 2019: choice-of-law amendmentKeep this reading in your learning library.
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