VAN BUREN (KFSM) — Arkansas Rep. Charlene Fite (Rep.) announced that she would seek a third term in a press release on Saturday (Aug. 22).
Since 2012, Fite has represented District 80, which includes parts of both Crawford and Washington Counties. She is the vice chairman of the Aging, Children, Youth and Military Affairs Committee, and is a member of Public Health, Welfare and Labor, Teacher Retirement and Insurance Task Force, and the Rural Fire Department Committee. She is also on Joint Performance Review and is the first alternate on the Legislative Council.
During the most recent legislative session, Fite was lead sponsor of 12 bills that passed the House and Senate. Bills sponsored by Fite include one focusing the law regarding confidentiality of records of child abuse or neglect; an act concerning the procedures of sex offenders registration and verification; an act concerning victim impact statement during an inmate’s parole determination; an act to allow school district enrollment by foster children; an act to establish the child death and near death fatality multidisciplinary review committee; an act adding human trafficking to the list of what constitutes a sex offense in the sex offender registration act; and an act requiring that dispensers of abortion inducing drugs follow FDA guidelines.
For her work in the 90th General Assembly, Fite has been honored with the Family Council Action Committee’s Power of Courage award and has been recognized by the Hearing Instrument Dispensers. She has also received awards from the AR Coalition Against Domestic Violence, AR Association for the Deaf, AR Prosecuting Attorneys Association and AR Interpreters for the Deaf.
She retired from Ft. Smith Schools after serving as a special education teacher and school psychology specialist. She was previously education director for Arkansas Easter Seals and was a missionary in Taiwan for eight years. She received her Master’s degree from the University of Arkansas and did post graduate study at Northeastern Oklahoma State University, U of A and University of Central Arkansas. She is also a graduate of Taipei Language Institute in Taipei, Taiwan.
Fite and her husband, Tom, are members of First Baptist Church in Alma. She is on the board of Crawford County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). She and her husband have six children and six grandchildren.
