Ark. Code Ann. » Title 19 Chapter 10
Arkansas Code Annotated

Ark. Code Ann. § 19-10-201 (2026)

Creation of commission — Members — Salary and expense reimbursement

✓ current as of May 2026
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      1. There is created a commission to be known as the “Arkansas State Claims Commission”.
      2. The commission shall consist of five (5) members to be known as “commissioners”.
      3. All commissioners shall be public-spirited persons of recognized standing, and at least two (2) commissioners shall be attorneys licensed to practice law in the State of Arkansas.
        1. The commissioners shall be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate.
        2. The commissioners shall serve for terms of five (5) years and thereafter until a successor has been appointed and qualified.
        3. A vacancy in the office of commissioner shall be filled by the Governor, and that appointee shall hold office during the unexpired portion of the term in which the vacancy occurred.
      2. Commissioners may be appointed to and may serve successive terms.
  2. Before entering upon the duties of his or her office, each commissioner shall take the constitutional oath of office.
    1. A commissioner shall not hear or participate in the consideration of a claim in which he or she is interested personally, either directly or indirectly.
    2. If for reason of conflict of interest a commissioner disqualifies himself or herself or is absent for any reason from hearing a particular claim and if there are no other commissioners available to hear the claim or action, the interested parties may request that a special commissioner be appointed by the Governor to hear the specific claim or action.
  4. The commission shall elect from its membership a chair or two (2) cochairs.
      1. Each commissioner shall receive a salary as may be prescribed by law and appropriated by the General Assembly.
      2. The salary shall be paid in the manner as are salaries of other state officials and employees.
    2. In addition to salary, each commissioner may receive expense reimbursement in accordance with § 25-16-901 et seq.
  6. The commission is considered an adjudicatory body when the commission applies or interprets:
    1. A substantive procedural rule; or
    2. Case law from an appellate court with jurisdiction to a pending claim or action.

History. Acts 1955, No. 276, § 2; 1983, No. 470, § 1; 1985, No. 861, § 7; A.S.A. 1947, § 13-1401, 13-1401.2; Acts 1997, No. 250, § 175; 2019, No. 785, § 2.

A.C.R.C. Notes. Acts 1985, No. 861, § 7, provided that the terms of office of the members of the Arkansas State Claims Commission serving on March 1, 1985, shall expire on July 1, 1985. As of July 1, 1985, the Arkansas State Claims Commission created by this section shall be composed of five persons. The five persons appointed by the Governor under this section shall be appointed for the following terms: Two shall serve until January 15, 1989, two shall serve until January 15, 1991, and the other shall serve until January 15, 1992, and they shall serve until their successors are appointed and qualified. Subsequent appointees shall serve five-year terms. Acts 1985, No. 861, § 7, does not abolish the Arkansas State Claims Commission created by this section except the provisions establishing the number of commissioners and their terms of office.

Acts 1955, No. 276, § 3, provided that the Arkansas State Claims Commission should have all the powers, etc., of the commission that it replaced and that all claims, etc., and records, etc., pending or belonging to the former commission were to be transferred to the new commission.

Amendments. The 2019 amendment rewrote (a) and (c); added “or two (2) cochairs” to (d); redesignated (e)(1) as (e)(1)(A) and (e)(1)(B); substituted “a salary” for “such salary” in (e)(1)(A); substituted “commissioner” for “member” in (e)(2); and added (f).

Case Notes

Jurisdiction.

Landowners who brought action against Arkansas Highway Commission and the director of the Department of Transportation to recover for inverse condemnation and to obtain an injunction, and alleged that they had been deprived of due process because of the unlawful taking of their property, did not need to resort to federal court when the remedies of the county chancery court and the State Claims Commission were available to them. Mak Co. v. Smith, 763 F. Supp. 1003 (W.D. Ark. 1991).

Presumption of Regularity.

Circuit court properly dismissed a contractor's due process challenge to the method by which breach of contract claims against the State are resolved because the Arkansas Constitution makes clear that it is the duty of the General Assembly and its review subcommittees (which decide appeals from the Arkansas State Claims Commission) to make the very determinations challenged by the contractor and the contractor failed to establish a conflict of interest sufficient to overcome the presumption of impartiality to which the State Claims Commission and the General Assembly are clearly entitled. Thus, the contractor did not demonstrate an unconstitutional act that excepted its due-process claim from the State's sovereign immunity. Duit Constr. Co. v. Ark. State Claims Comm'n, 2015 Ark. 462, 476 S.W.3d 791 (2015), cert. denied, 137 S. Ct. 42, 196 L. Ed. 2d 28 (2016).

Cited: Parish v. Pitts, 244 Ark. 1239, 429 S.W.2d 45 (1968); Boshears v. Ark. Racing Comm'n, 258 Ark. 741, 528 S.W.2d 646 (1975); Fireman's Ins. Co. v. Ark. State Claims Comm'n, 301 Ark. 451, 784 S.W.2d 771; Office of Child Support Enforcement v. Mitchell, 330 Ark. 338, 954 S.W.2d 907 (1997).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases, 1995–2019 · leading case: 184 Windsor Avenue, LLC. v. State, 875 A.2d 498 (Conn. 2005).
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184 Windsor Avenue, LLC. v. State, 875 A.2d 498 (Conn. 2005). “14 We note that, pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 19-10-201 (Michie 2005), the state of Arkansas does have a claims commission whose sole function is the payment of all just and legal debts of the state.”
Austin v. Arkansas State High. Comm'n, 895 S.W.2d 941 (Ark. 1995). · cites it 2× “1968) [now Ark. Code Ann. §§ 19-10-201 -210 (Repl. 1994)].”
Duit Constr. Co v. Arkansas State Claims Comm'n, 2015 Ark. 462 (Ark. 2015). · cites it 6× “” Ark. Code Ann. § 19-10-201 (Repl. 2007). Moreover, this court has always presumed that public officials, such as the members of the General Assembly, will act lawfully and sincerely in good faith in carrying out their duties and that they will not engage in subterfuge to…”
State v. Mitchell, 954 S.W.2d 907 (Ark. 1997). · cites it 2× “Ark. Code Ann. §§ 19-10-201 to -210 (Repl.”
Vicki L. Mobley v. State of Arkansas (Tenn. Ct. App. 2019). “The trial judge raised concerns about the implications of her decision for the State of Tennessee in future cases involving 2 See Ark. Code Ann. § 19-10-201 (creating the “Arkansas State Claims Commission”).”
— Ark. Code Ann. § 19-10-201(c)(1) — 1 case
Duit Constr. Co v. Arkansas State Claims Comm'n, 2015 Ark. 462 (Ark. 2015). “” Ark. Code Ann. § 19-10-201 (Repl. 2007). Moreover, this court has always presumed that public officials, such as the members of the General Assembly, will act lawfully and sincerely in good faith in carrying out their duties and that they will not engage in subterfuge to…”
— Ark. Code Ann. § 19-10-201(c)(l) — 1 case
Duit Constr. Co v. Arkansas State Claims Comm'n, 2015 Ark. 462 (Ark. 2015). “” Ark. Code Ann. § 19-10-201 (Repl. 2007). Moreover, this court has always presumed that public officials, such as the members of the General Assembly, will act lawfully and sincerely in good faith in carrying out their duties and that they will not engage in subterfuge to…”
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