Members of the Arkansas Legislature heard spirited debate on several topics on Tuesday, the second-to-last day of the 2026 fiscal session. Lawmakers are expected to return to the State Capitol next week for a special session focused on cutting the state’s income tax.
The RSA
The annual Revenue Stabilization Act narrowly passed the state House of Representatives Tuesday. The RSA, as it’s known, sorts priorities within the state’s $6.7 billion budget based on urgency, also setting spending limits for each state department.
Before the session, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders asked lawmakers for minimal spending increases. But, the 2026 RSA gives over $2 billion to education – the largest chunk of money set aside in the bill. Education spending has become more controversial in large part due to the Education Freedom Account program, also known as school vouchers. About $310 million will go toward the taxpayer-funded stipends for private, religious or homeschool students.
Rep. Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, called the budget “not right,” saying the state has the cash to fund other priorities.
“We have the power to address Medicaid in this budget. Reimbursement rates need to be revised upward, and fast. That would improve access to care for hundreds of thousands of Arkansans, put pressure on private insurers to raise their reimbursement rates, and go a long way to keep hospitals from closing,” Collins said.
Rep. Lee Johnson, R-Greenwood, said other tranches of money will fund Medicaid.
“We have another almost $300 million in set-aside that’s been sitting there for almost four years in the Medicaid trust fund. While factually the budget’s held flat, there is absolutely money available to fund [the Department of Human Services] and to fund Medicaid and to take care of our healthcare needs of our state”
The RSA passed the House by a vote of 64 to 30, with five members voting present or not voting.
Public television
Arkansas lawmakers have voted down a proposal to grant more spending authority to the state’s public television network.
Members of the House failed to pass Senate Bill 77 on Tuesday. The bill would grant $550 million in spending authority to the fundraising foundation for Arkansas TV, formerly known as Arkansas PBS, to be used to match private donations.
Rep. R.J. Hawk, R-Bryant, said the bill would go against the plan spearheaded by the network’s director, former state Rep. Carlton Wing, to disaffiliate from PBS and produce only local programming.
“[Wing’s] got a plan to where programming’s only going to cost $500,000, instead of the $2.5 million of what it’s going to cost to stay with PBS. And so while this would be great additional funding for PBS, or Arkansas TV… it’s not anything that they’ve requested,” Hawk said.
The bill gained Senate approval on Monday, and could be heard by the House again Wednesday. Members of the House advanced the broadcaster’s regular appropriation bill later in Tuesday’s meeting.
Though the broadcaster’s board has said they intend on delaying their decision to disaffiliate with PBS, Rep. Wayne Long, R-Bradford, said he welcomed the network’s new direction moving away from “biased” content.
“Their new focus is a return to the roots of being an educational television network,” Long said. “Since I failed to get rid of government television, the next best thing is to totally reform it.”
UA Little Rock
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is planning to eliminate its gender studies program. State lawmakers ultimately passed the university’s appropriations bill Tuesday after three failed attempts, sending it to the Senate for a vote Wednesday.
Speaking on the House floor, Rep. Ryan Rose, R-Van Buren, urged colleagues to pass the bill.
“After numerous conversations with leadership from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, they issued a statement today that they were committing to initiating the process of eliminating academic minor programs that are not viable due to low enrollment, including gender studies amongst others,” Rose said.
A spokesperson for UA Little Rock thanked lawmakers for passing the appropriation and for their “continued investment in higher education.” The school offers gender studies as a minor, with curriculum across several different disciplines including sociology, history and English.
A list of other minor programs slated for elimination was not immediately available. The final decision on eliminating the minor programs rests with the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees.
Little Rock Public Radio is housed on the campus of UA Little Rock, and is licensed to the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas System.
University of Arkansas
A funding bill for the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville narrowly passed its final legislative hurdle Tuesday. Lawmakers had contested the bill over concerns about a plan to divert $3.4 million to the school’s athletics program.
Rep. Brit McKenzie, R-Bentonville, said it would shift the burden of paying for athletics unfairly onto students.
“We work in a government. Our definitions should mean something. Our institutions should hold themselves to account. When you say you’re self-sustaining, you mean you’re self-sustaining – especially for an organization that generates over $200 million of revenue,” McKenzie said.
Others argued the university wasn’t seeking tuition or fee increases to help pay for the extra athletics funding. Rep. Les Eaves, R-Searcy, said failing to pass the bill would deny funding to every aspect of the university’s operations.
“And here’s the reality we all know, but may not want to say aloud: if this body fails to pass this appropriation, we will be right back here in a special session to clean it up. The only difference is the damage we will have done in the meantime, and the added cost of that special session.”
Other lawmakers said the athletics funding issue would be better addressed in the legislature’s upcoming regular session next January. The bill passed with the bare-minimum 75 votes in favor of it, and now heads to the governor for a signature.
