About Alan
Senator Alan Clark proudly represents his neighbors and fellow Arkansans living in Garland, Grant, Hot Spring, and Saline Counties serving in District 7’s seat in the Arkansas Senate.
Alan is a small-business owner and serves as CEO of Clark’s Building and Decorating Center. He has held leadership roles in several industry organizations, including serving on the board of directors for the National Lumber Building Materials Dealers Association and as past president of the Mid-America Lumberman’s Association. He has also been chairman of the POS Pace Committee for Ace Hardware and president of the Central Arkansas Ace Team. Additionally, Alan served on the board of the Hot Springs Home Builders Association.
He currently chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and in 2023 he cosponsored the PROTECT Act—ensuring the state’s most violent offenders are not released early and in some cases, must serve 100% of their sentence. Alan has sponsored and cosponsored numerous criminal justice laws as a senator, including ones cracking down on human trafficking and protecting first responders and property from rioters.
Alan is also a member of the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, the Joint Energy Committee, the Senate Interim Committee on Children and Youth Committee, Joint Budget Committee, Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC), andLegislative Joint Auditing Committee. He is the Vice-Chair of the ALC subcommittee over charitable, penal, and correctional institutions.
Previously, Alan was chair of the Water Provider Legislative Task Force, which assessed the fiscal and infrastructure needs of water systems across Arkansas.
Alan previously served on the Garland County Quorum Court from 1992 through 1996 and is a past member of theGarland County Planning Commission. Alan and his wife, Jana, have a son and a daughter, and just welcomed their first grandchild. He has served as a pastor for 40 years.
PROTECTING AND EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN
Alan’s top priority has always been the safety, well-being, and education of what he considers Arkansas’s most valuable resource—our children.
Starting with his first term in the Senate, Alan has been a leader in protecting the unborn and helping to make our state the most pro-life in the country. His efforts also include sponsoring Arkansas’s first-in-the-nation law protecting our children from experimental gender-transition procedures.
He has also passed legislation to keep children safe from predators and abusers. In 2021, he sponsored the law thatmakes courts consider the best interest of the child in custody cases and sponsored the 2019 law on visitation rights for grandparents.
Alan has consistently championed efforts to enhance education and expand opportunities for Arkansas’s children. In his first term he was involved in every major education reform bill passed, including the Public School Choice Act. In thatsession he sponsored the law making it easier for charter schools to be created in Arkansas.
In 2021, Alan helped pass the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, preventing biological males from playing in women’ssports at Arkansas schools. He also cosponsored the 2023 LEARNS Act to improve literacy, increase teacher salaries, further expand school choice options, and enhance career readiness for Arkansas students.
He has also worked in a bipartisan way to improve reading scores in Arkansas. In 2021, he sponsored legislationrequiring school districts to develop literacy plans for its students and increased state funding for districts scoring below certain reading levels. Additionally, he sponsored the law promoting the Science of Reading which promotes phonics and comprehension for all students learning to read.
He is also an advocate of reform in the child welfare system, chairing the Child Maltreatment Investigations OversightCommittee, which was created by legislation he sponsored in 2019.
FIGHTING FOR OUR FREEDOMS
Alan has been a steadfast defender of personal liberty and religious freedom for all Arkansans. Most recently he sponsored the law allowing over-the-counter sales of Ivermectin. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, he cosponsored laws preventing the state government from mandating COVID vaccines on Arkansans or penalizing businesses if customers did not wear a mask.
He has worked to expand the Second Amendment rights of Arkansans, including sponsoring the 2021 law allowing concealed carry in municipal parks and the 2013 law preventing the government from stopping the sale or transportation of a firearm by emergency declaration. In his first term, Alan sponsored the law guaranteeing churches the ability to allow concealed carry if they so choose.
He cosponsored the Ten Commandments Monument display on the State Capitol grounds and most recently he sponsored the new law ensuring faith-based adoption and foster care providers can continue to serve children in Arkansas.
REFORMING GOVERNMENT
In the Senate, Alan has helped pass many government reforms improving transparency, benefiting hardworking taxpayers, and protecting local independent pharmacists.
He passed legislation that requires a custodian of public records to respond to a Freedom of Information request within a certain time if records do not exist or if the records fall under an exemption. In the past a custodian did not have to respond to a FOI request if the records did not exist or the records fell under an exemption.
During his first term, Alan cosponsored the law preventing taxpayer dollars from being used by public servants to lobby for or against ballot measures. In the most recent session, he sponsored legislation to grant newly formed municipalities the ability to receive the same government turnback funds other cities receive without waiting for the next census.
Alan also sponsored a new law to help protect property owners from title theft by requiring valid photo identification. He also passed legislation to protect first responders involved in child custody cases, requiring courts to consider their service to maximize their time with their children.
CUTTING TAXES
Since 2015, Alan has helped pass income and corporate tax cuts totaling more than $800 million, including the mostrecent reduction of the top rate by 0.5% and adjusting the tax table to allow more Arkansans to be eligible for lower rates on their taxes. He also helped pass legislation to increase the Homestead Property Tax Credit to $600.