From the Arkansas Advocate:
Legislators converge at the Arkansas Capitol Wednesday, where they will hear the governor give her State of the State address. Then, the work of crafting a multibillion dollar state budget will begin.
Unlike regular sessions, this year lawmakers are focused primarily on bills related to fiscal matters, such as appropriations bills.
Here are the bills to watch:
Medicaid
Senate Bill 20 would authorize the Department of Human Services Division of Medical Services to spend $10.4 billion during the upcoming fiscal year, the vast majority of which would be for the Medicaid program for low-income families and disabled people.
The appropriation has sparked fights over the state’s Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, facing repeated votes after failing to garner the three-fourths vote needed to pass. There’s no indication of similar fights this session stalling the bill.
The appropriation comes as Arkansas is preparing to implement work requirements for some Medicaid beneficiaries under the “One Big Beautiful Bill” spending and tax measure signed by President Donald Trump.
Department of Corrections
Several bills would authorize $796.8 million for the agency that oversees state prisons and parole.
The Department of Corrections has been under intense scrutiny over the last several years due to litigation over who controls the state’s prison system, and the Franklin County prison project.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ proposed budget doesn’t include additional funds for the 3,000-bed prison, and so far an appropriations bill for it hasn’t been filed.
The Republican leaders of both chambers acknowledged they don’t have the votes to approve appropriations for the project and say they don’t expect it to come up. But they’ve stopped short of completely ruling out a vote on the project.
Most of the funds are for the two main divisions of the department. The Division of Correction appropriation provides $700.6 million, while the Division of Community Correction appropriation provides $93.2 million. The remaining appropriations are for the Post-Prison Transfer Board and the Arkansas Sentencing Commission.
Arkansas TV
Previously known as Arkansas PBS until last year, Senate Bill 59 would provide the Arkansas Department of Education’s Educational Television Division with $18.1 million in spending authority.
The public broadcaster decided to disaffiliate from PBS last year, after the station’s CEO said it could no longer afford the membership following the closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
However, the Arkansas Educational Television Commission recently hit pause on that decision amid public outcry.
State funding for the station has also faced hurdles in the Legislature in recent years. The station came under scrutiny following audits in 2022 that raised concerns it was sidestepping state procurement law.
Appropriations for the station required several votes before passing the House in 2024, and Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Jonesboro, pushed legislation last year that would have dissolved its board and transferred its powers and authority over the station to the education department.
Arkansas schools
The public school fund appropriation, House Bill 1007, is the sole appropriation that only requires a simple majority in both chambers of the Legislature to pass. The $3.4 billion includes the per-student funding schools receive based on the regular study by legislators on what it costs to provide an adequate education.
House Bill 1005, the appropriation for the Arkansas Department of Education would authorize $2.2 billion in spending — almost 60% of which comes from the federal government for entitlement grant programs.
Within that appropriation is the Educational Freedom Account program, also known as school vouchers, which allows state dollars to go toward private school tuition.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has expressed concerns over the increasing cost of the voucher program, which was created as part of the 2023 LEARNS Act. Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Bart Hester said he has no interest in capping voucher spending.
University of Arkansas Fayetteville
The appropriation for the state’s flagship university would give it $1.4 billion in spending authority if passed.
The university has been at the center of several academic freedom and speech debates over the last several months. It rescinded its offer to a University of South Carolina law professor to lead its law school in January, after it received pressure from lawmakers and others over Emily Suski’s legal positions on transgender rights.
Last month, it fired the director of the school’s Middle East studies center over social media posts she made last year discussing Israel and Iran.
Potential threats to the university’s funding were explicitly mentioned as a reason for Shirin Saeidi’s firing.
State library
The appropriations bill for the Arkansas State Library, House Bill 1060, would grant it $13.8 million in spending authority. About $6.5 million of the appropriation is for local libraries.
Libraries across Arkansas have faced hostility from conservatives in recent years who have objected to materials that included topics about sexual orientation or gender identity. Some counties have voted to cut library funding via tax decreases, while the Legislature passed a law intended to restrict access to library books that are deemed obscene or harmful to minors.
A federal judge struck down parts of the law in 2024, after pausing it before it went into effect. The state has appealed. Withholding funding from state libraries has been a frequent topic of discussion since 2024 for the Arkansas Library Board, whose entire membership was replaced under a law passed by the majority-Republican Legislature last year.
