NY State Senator Eric Adams spent his own money for his message.

On Wednesday, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe signed a bill that requires students to pull up their pants.  The new law bans styles that expose “underwear, buttocks or the breast of a female.”

“We feel the bill can improve the learning environment in schools,” said Donna Morey, president of the Arkansas Education Association.  Educators say that students are preparing for the workplace and should dress the way that is acceptable to enter the work force.

The Arkansas bill had little opposition, though some voted against it.

Arkansas Governor Beebee signed the bill that gets the school kids to pull up their pants. Better Gov. Beebee than some other kind of beebee.

“Individual expression is important to young people and dress is an especially strong statement of expression, and I don’t think legislators should meddle with that,” said Sue Madison, a Democratic state senator from Fayetteville, Ark.

Arkansas is the first state to enact this kind of law, although others are considering it.

In Florida, a school dress code law was passed two years ago, but without any ability for enforcement.

Florida Dem. Rep. Hazelle Rogers no-sag school dress code likely to pass.

A new bill, introduced by Democratic Rep. Hazelle Rogers,  unanimously passed the Florida House of Representatives’ K-20 Education Innovation Subcommittee last week.  The bill is designed to end “wearing clothing that exposes underwear or body parts in an indecent or vulgar manner.”

The “pro-education, pro-jobs, pro-family legislation is designed to teach our children how important appropriate attire is to future success,”  Rogers said in a press release.

Democratic Sen. Gary Siplin introduced companion legislation called the “Code of Student Conduct.”

“When you come to an interview with your pants sagging or your underwear showing, you may get an interview, but as soon as you leave, your application is going to get tossed in the garbage,” Siplin said.

Florida Dem. State Senator Gary Siplin intorduced companion bill to Rogers' no-sag school dress code.

The NAACP has condemned the legislation.  Since mostly blacks wear their pants below the buttocks, such a law unfairly targets blacks.

The Rogers bill must still pass the House and be signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

Also in Florida, voters in Rivera Beach approved a law in 2008 which carries a $150 fine for first time sagging.  Repeat offenders can be jailed.

New York state Senator Eric Adams of Brooklyn, New York has made what he calls “the degrading style statement” his main crusade.  He has even spent his own campaign money renting billboards to carry his message.

“My message is, let us not be the ones to make our communities seem foolish,” Adams said in an interview. “If we raise our pants, we raise our image.”

New York State Senator Eric Adams is a one-man crusade against sagging.

According to Senator Adams, in the African American community, pants-falling-off is a style from the jails, where it represents “part of prison culture where belts are confiscated.”

Regular citizens find the style so vulgar that there are dress codes for the malls to prevent customers from being offended.

In an upscale Dallas mall last week, security guards asked four young men to pull up their pants.  One of them, later identified as Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant, launched into a profanity-laced tirade aimed at the officers, who then escorted the four men out of the mall.

NBC Sports reported Friday that “One team source observed that Bryant has a “lack of life skills” at age 22. ”

Kenneth Bonds of Memphis shot a disrespectful teen in the butt for refusing to pull up his pants.

In Memphis last October, one citizen had enough and unfortunately took the law into his own hands.  Kenneth E. Bonds, 45, told two teens walking past his home to pull up their pants and to obey him because he is an adult.  The teens called Bonds a “fat ass” and told him to “shut up.”

On the way back, the two passed the home again. This time Bonds came out with a semi-automatic pistol and shot one of the teens in the buttocks.