Jack Fortner is an American politician who has served as a member of the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...

since 2017. He represents Arkansas' 3rd House district.

Electoral history

Fortner was first elected to the house in 2016 to the 99th district. He was reelected in 2018 and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. He was elected on November 8, 2022, in the 2022 Arkansas House of Representatives election to the 4th district. He assumed office on January 9, 2023. He announced he would not seek a fifth term in July 2023. Fortner's only political accomplishment is extending the state's antique vehicle registration system. Fortner introduced H.B. 1547 extending the requirements to vehicles 45 yrs and older rather than 25 yrs in the Arkansas state legislature in 2017,even as other states were lowering their respective requirements. In his testimony to the Arkansas legislature: "I don’t think anything good happened in the auto field after '72." He withdrew it three days later, citing opposition from Arkansas car collectors. "Regardless of my personal feelings, I must go with the will of the people," he said at the time. Not to be deterred Fortner introduced H.B. 1496, a bill with only minor revisions from H.B. 1547.a mere 2 yrs later in 2019. The new bill still pushed back the antique car registration cutoff to 45 years. While H.B. 1496 initially failed in the state senate the chamber later expunged that vote and passed the bill, paving the way for it to be signed into law -- as Act 368. Proving Fortner's personal feelings were always paramount to the will of the people.

Biography

Fortner served in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. He is a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

. He attended the

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded ...

References

Living people 21st-century Baptists Baptists from Arkansas Military personnel from Arkansas Republican Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly United States Navy personnel of the Vietnam War University of Nevada alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{Arkansas-politician-stub