Two timely submitted proposals for Rules Changes were improperly excluded (again) from the official call for the Republican Party of Arkansas’s Winter State Committee meeting happening on December 6, 2025. Despite having broad support, these proposals were not recommended by the Rules Committee. Importantly, under RPA Rules, the committee’s role is only to recommend or not recommend timely submitted changes — not to decide whether they appear in the call and can be heard by the full body.
Under RPA Rules (and consistent with long-standing practice until June 2024), all timely submitted Rules Change Proposals must be published in the call. Yet what occurred at the 2024 State Convention — and was repeated at the 2025 Summer State Committee meeting — was an effort by top RPA officers to prevent a fair vote on all timely submitted Rules and Platform changes.
This new “no hearing/no vote” approach was first taken during the 2024 State Convention under State Party Chair Joseph Wood. Just before the Convention, Wood asserted — for the first time — that it would require a 9/10ths vote to suspend the rules before any non-recommended proposals could even be heard. That unprecedented position was then escalated by former Rules Chair Bilenda Harris-Ritter, who declared that nothing “not recommended” by the Rules or Platform Committees would receive a hearing at all. Her stance rested on a poorly reasoned, surprise email ruling that the Convention should be treated as a “special meeting” rather than a “convention” under Robert’s Rules.*
Most RPA State Committee members — well acquainted with long-standing parliamentary procedure, whether under Robert’s Rules or the RPA Rules — understand that all timely submitted proposals to amend the Party’s foundational documents must be included in the call and may be voted on by the body.
This recent pattern of top-down control appears all too easily exercised by those currently leading the RPA. With the Primary season approaching, it is hoped — for the good of the Party — that this overreach will soon be checked.
If you are a member attending the 2025 Winter State Committee meeting, you must arrive informed, prepared, and ready to vote in accordance with the will of your committee, your electors, and the affirmation of beliefs you signed when you joined.
Here are the two proposals included in the call:
Below are the two timely-submitted proposals improperly excluded by the RPA.
This is the second time Senator Joshua Bryant (R – Rogers) has submitted this proposed rules change — both times now improperly excluded.
