Democrats in Arkansas Legislature say governor’s policy priorities are out of touch

Arkansas Democrats said Wednesday that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ policy priorities outlined in her State of the State address are out of touch with the needs of everyday Arkansans.

The Republican governor, who is running for reelection this year, urged lawmakers to support her proposed funding increases for law enforcement and school vouchers, kicking off a legislative session focused primarily on the budget. Sanders also proposed income tax cuts that she’ll ask lawmakers to take up in a special session expected next month.

Sanders’ Democratic opponent, state Sen. Fred Love of Mabelvale, said Sanders’ address highlighted “a growing gap between what the governor says and what Arkansas families are actually experiencing.”

“When I look at what this administration is spending our money on and what it’s choosing not to, I must ask, whose side is the governor on?” Love said, in what was billed as the Democratic response to the governor’s address.

Democrats face an uphill battle in slowing Sanders’ proposals, however, with Republicans holding 79 of the 100 seats in the state House and 28 of the 35 seats in the Senate.

The legislative session is focused on Sanders’ proposed $6.7 billion budget which includes up to $379 million for the state’s school voucher program.

In Sanders’ address, she said Arkansas “cannot allow a child’s destiny to be determined by their ZIP code or the size of their parents’ bank account.”

House Minority Leader Andrew Collins, a Little Rock Democrat, disagreed with Sanders’ argument that directing public money to private schools is inherently fair. Rural areas have few private schools compared to urban areas, and vouchers often do not cover the entire cost of private school tuition, Collins said.

The concerns about Sanders’ signature education law have stretched across party lines at times.

“The kids need the education, but I’m concerned about the 440,000 other kids in the state, not just the 44,000 that are getting the vouchers,” said Rep. Jim Wooten, a Republican from Beebe and outspoken critic of the school voucher program. “It’s unfettered. We have no controls, no accountability.”

Sen. Brad Simon, a Republican from Paris who is serving in his first legislative session after winning a special election in March, said that while the state “cannot underfund education,” he expects EFAs to be highly debated during the fiscal session.

“We do need to have safeguards in place to make sure that those EFA funds especially are used as intended,” Simon said.

Still, several other House Republicans didn’t think LEARNS vouchers would be a major topic during the fiscal session.

“I really don’t look for us to see much [on vouchers],” Rep. DeAnn Vaught, a Republican from Horatio, said. She supported the LEARNS Act in 2023, saying at the time that she cried and worried over the legislation.

“I think probably during the [regular] session, there’ll probably be some stuff that they want to change on it,” she said.

Collins said he hopes the Legislature will put “reasonable restrictions” on school vouchers.

“Our preference [as a party] is to roll back vouchers altogether, but if we have to live with them, we’d rather them be more transparent and, ideally, capped or means-tested,” he said.

Public safety

Sanders’ speech didn’t mention a proposed 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County that met enough bipartisan resistance for a $750 million appropriation bill to fail five times in the Senate last year.

Republican House Speaker Brian Evans said he doesn’t expect the Legislature to resume debate over the prison during the fiscal session, but Love said Wednesday that the prison is likely still a high priority for Sanders.

Republican Sen. Ron Caldwell of Wynne said he also does not consider it a guarantee that the prison won’t be up for debate during the session. He opposes the prison project and fended off a Sanders-backed primary challenger last month.

Caldwell said he agrees with Sanders’ broader priorities of adding more beds to the prison system and making sure county jails have enough room and funding for their inmates.

Simon represents part of Franklin County and made his opposition to the prison project part of his campaign platform.

“I believe it’s lost momentum,” he said of funding the project. “The most important thing is to figure out the long-term solution to the problem, which is going to be cutting our recidivism rate.”

Tax cuts

Lawmakers have approved three rounds of income tax cuts since Sanders took office in 2023. Sanders has said the cuts make life more affordable for Arkansans, but Love said tax cuts do not help middle-class or working-class people.

“Every time we cut the top rate for millionaires and billionaires, it gets harder to fund schools, childcare, health care and services for our seniors,” Love said. “That’s the trade-off Republicans don’t want you to see.”

Love listed several affordability issues affecting Arkansans, such as the high prices of child care for parents and diesel fuel for farmers.

“Somehow, Republicans can find the money for tax cuts and benefits to the wealthiest, but they cannot find the money to keep a family farm open in the Delta,” he said.

Joint Budget Committee Co-Chair Sen. Jonathan Dismang, a Republican from Searcy, said he believes the proposed tax cuts are reasonable, especially since the state has a multimillion-dollar budget surplus.

“I think it’s prudent for the Arkansas taxpayers that we go ahead and do that now,” Dismang said, referencing the projected special session as soon as the fiscal session concludes.

Evans told reporters he believes there’s support for the tax cut proposal Sanders outlined.

However, Wooten and Caldwell both expressed trepidation about the drop in state revenue from a tax cut.

“When you’ve got a bucketful of money out there, no matter how big the bucket is, it can eventually run out,” Caldwell said.