TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS FRANCHISE PRACTICES ACT; AND TO CLARIFY THE APPLICABILITY OF THE ARKANSAS FRANCHISE PRACTICES ACT.

HB 1177 amends the Arkansas Franchise Practices Act to clarify its applicability. The bill explicitly states that the Act does not apply to the business relationship between an insurance company and its agents who sell insurance on its behalf. This change means that the rules governing franchise relationships will not apply to how insurance companies interact with their agents. The bill also applies these clarifications retroactively to earlier effective dates of the Act.