SESSION SNAPSHOT: Arkansas lawmakers propose amendments as passage of fiscal 2025 budget nears

Arkansas’ 2024 fiscal session, which was initially projected to end this week, is now expected to end May 2 or possibly the following week, House Speaker Matthew Shepherd said Thursday.

During the final days of the session, the Legislature will pass the fiscal year 2025 budget, also known as the Revenue Stabilization Act. The Joint Budget Committee started considering the legislation Thursday morning.

The documents on lawmakers’ desks are similar to what Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders proposed in March for the $6.3 billion general revenue budget, with a projected surplus of nearly $377 million. The proposed 1.76% increase of $109 million compared to the current fiscal year would be a significantly smaller increase than previous years’ budgets.

As of Friday afternoon, Sanders has signed 116 appropriations bills, giving state-funded institutions the authority to spend the money they will receive in the budget.

1) A range of proposed amendments

Lawmakers tried to tack amendments onto several appropriations bills that came before the Joint Budget Committee this week. Some passed and others failed; some generated debate regardless of the outcome.

On April 18, the Joint Budget Committee rejected a proposal to divert $500,000 from the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement to start a midwifery education program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

The committee took up the amendment to UAMS’ appropriation bill again Tuesday. This time, it passed despite bipartisan opposition; Republican Sen. Jimmy Hickey of Texarkana joined Democratic lawmakers in voting no.

Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, proposed the amendment and said adding certified nurse midwives to Arkansas’ healthcare workforce could help improve the state’s maternal health outcomes.

State agencies and the Bureau of Legislative Research rely on ACHI as a data hub. The organization’s data collection has shown that Arkansas has the nation’s highest maternal and infant mortality rates.

Lawmakers who opposed the amendment said they supported midwifery education and other maternal healthcare initiatives but believed cutting 7% of ACHI’s $7 million budget wasn’t the right way to achieve this goal.

27 Arkansas pregnancy resource centers will receive shares of $1M grant

Rep. Denise Garner, a Fayetteville Democrat and retired nurse, pointed out that the Joint Budget Committee approved another appropriations bill Tuesday that would grant up to $2 million to “non-healthcare entities”: pregnancy resource centers, which are often religiously affiliated and discourage abortion while encouraging birth.

Garner voted against the bill in committee and again Thursday on the House floor. The bill, which doubles an existing grant fund, is now on Sanders’ desk.

Bentley insisted the amendment was not retaliatory against ACHI after she and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, both said the state Department of Health disputed the organization’s research that led it to recommend protective measures against COVID-19.

Sullivan has also been critical of Arkansas PBS, and he presented an amendment Thursday that would have cut the public television network’s spending authority for its private funds by 20%. The amendment failed after a bipartisan group of lawmakers voted against it.

Sullivan claimed the appropriations cut was warranted after a 2022 audit found questionable spending practices at Arkansas PBS. Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, said she did not expect the Legislature to ever consider the same approach to other agencies in light of negative audit findings.

Chesterfield mentioned that state officials have been debating lately which government entities count as agencies. Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office declared earlier this month that certain state purchasing laws do not consider the governor’s office a state agency.

Arkansas AG claims purchasing laws do not apply to governor, days before release of lectern audit

Griffin’s opinion came days before the April 15 release of an audit report that found potential violations of several laws in the $19,000 purchase of a lectern by Sanders’ office last year. The report asserted the governor’s office is in fact a state agency.

Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, proposed adding language to a Department of Transformation and Shared Services appropriation bill to clarify the issue. The measure failed in committee after no one made a motion to approve it.

Hickey, who requested the audit of the lectern purchase, said he initially supported Mayberry’s amendment but had changed his mind.

Mayberry said she hopes the Legislature will take up the issue in the 2025 regular session.

2) Crypto regulations and state employee compensation

Proposed regulations on cryptocurrency mines — the most talked-about non-budgetary topic of the fiscal session — passed the Senate on Wednesday and will be considered by a House committee Tuesday.

Act 851 of 2023, or the Arkansas Data Centers Act, limited local governments’ ability to regulate crypto mines. Sen. Joshua Bryant, R-Rogers, sponsored Act 851 and is now sponsoring a bill that would place noise limits on crypto mines, prohibit them from being owned by certain foreign entities and allow local governments to pass ordinances regulating the mines.

Crypto mines now operate in Arkansas and Faulkner counties. Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, represents part of Faulkner County and is sponsoring another crypto regulations bill that passed with no dissent.

Irvin’s bill would require crypto mines to be licensed by the state Oil and Gas Commission. Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, said he had qualms about the bill but supported creating government oversight of crypto mines.

King voted against Bryant’s bill, along with Democratic Sens. Greg Leding of Fayetteville and Stephanie Flowers of Pine Bluff.

Both King and Flowers said the growth of the crypto industry in Arkansas doesn’t “smell right” and advocated for a special session this year to consider more crypto regulations.

Flowers represents part of Arkansas County and said her constituents have expressed concerns about the local crypto mine. An out-of-state entity has tried to start another mine near Harrison, which is in King’s district.

Besides the crypto bills, the only other piece of non-budgetary legislation in the fiscal session is a proposal to increase all state employees’ pay by up to 3% and increase the maximum salary of all current pay grades by 10%.

The amended bill would also create special compensation awards for those who complete special projects beyond the scope of their typical responsibilities. It passed the Joint Budget Committee on Tuesday and will be considered by the Senate.

3) Refugees in Arkansas

On Thursday, Joint Budget Committee members started and promised to continue discussing the state’s involvement in a federal refugee resettlement program.

Arkansas lawmakers question implementation of federal refugee resettlement program

Canopy Northwest Arkansas is set to receive a $272,846 appropriation within the Department of Human Services’ Division of County Operations. Lawmakers didn’t amend the appropriation, but Rep. Ryan Rose, R-Van Buren, said the Legislature should not send more money to Canopy NWA after its contract with DHS ends.

Rose told the Advocate that Canopy NWA’s work to resettle hundreds of refugees “has raised questions about potential strains on resources, infrastructure and social services in our state.” 

“Additionally, there are concerns about the ideological alignment of organizations like Canopy NWA with the values and priorities of our communities,” he said.

Division of County Operations Director Mary Franklin said 169 refugees resettled in Arkansas in federal fiscal year 2023. For fiscal year 2024, which began in October, that number is currently 130.