Arkansas lawmakers are gathering for the second day of a legislative session focused on the state's budget, with questions remaining about the future of a compromise Medicaid expansion approved last year.
The House and Senate were scheduled to convene Tuesday afternoon as lawmakers faced a light schedule for the start of the fiscal session. This is the third fiscal session under a constitutional amendment approved in 2008 requiring the Legislature to meet and budget annually.
The House Rules Committee was scheduled to meet and look at several non-budget measures that lawmakers hoped to introduce during this year's session.
Most of this year's session is expected to focus on the fight to reauthorize the "private option" plan to use federal Medicaid money to purchase private insurance for low-income workers.
