An effort to allow a privately funded Ten Commandments monument to be built on the Arkansas state Capitol grounds has failed before a legislative panel.
A proposal to require the secretary of state to allow a private group to build a monument to commandments failed before the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee on Monday on a 3-3 vote. The measure needed at least five votes to advance to the full Senate.
Republican Sen. Jason Rapert of Conway said the monument would commemorate the role the commandments have had in the nation's legal system. Opponents of the bill said it would amount to an unconstitutional establishment of religion by the state.
Rapert said he'll try his proposal again before the committee.
