Arkansas Senate approves hate crime bill advocates decry as "sham"

The Arkansas Senate on Wednesday approved a stripped-down hate crimes bill derided by longtime supporters of such legislation who claim the measure is too vague and would provide "insufficient" medicine for a state that's one of only three nationwide without such a law.

The Senate voted 22-7 in favor of the alternate measure, which its supporters have called a "class protection" bill. The bill, which now heads to the House, requires offenders to serve at least 80% of their sentence if they committed a serious violent felony against someone because of their "mental, physical, biological, cultural, political, or religious beliefs or characteristics." Unlike an earlier bill that was rejected by a committee, the new measure doesn't use the term hate crimes or refer to specific classes such as race, sexual orientation or gender identity.