Sarah Kellogg

A state Senate committee failed to pass a bill that would have granted nurse practitioners in Arkansas the authority to write prescriptions without the necessity of a collaborative practice agreement with a licensed physician.

Currently, nurse practitioners who want to operate independently, need a practice agreement to treat their patients at the same level as a physician, including the ability to prescribe medication. The bill would have removed this requirement. Some other states in the country have removed this demand. 

A bill that would expand the procedures optometrists in Arkansas could perform on a patient, including some surgery, failed in committee after a close vote. The legislation allows optometrists to use ophthalmic lasers for some surgical procedures, an action that is currently prohibited.

The House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor, did not pass the legislation on Tuesday, after hearing people speak for and against the bill. The committee limited testimony to 30 minutes to each side, with each side taking the entirety of that time.

While Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced a $300 million plan for the state’s highways, that total does not include the additional funding the plan will provide to cities and counties. It relies on both an increase in the existing tax rates for gasoline and diesel, as well as an extension of the existing half-cent sales tax. 

A bill that requires high school students go through bleeding control training as a part of their mandated health class curriculum, has passed a house committee.

Schools would work with the “Stop the Bleed” program, which trains individuals how to use a tourniquet to stop an individual from bleeding. The program is already an existing class and is used in some schools, but the expansion would require the program to go statewide.

A renewal of the existing half cent sales tax on fuel funds more than two thirds of a $300 million highway funding plan, the largest amount of increased annual revenue to state highways in the state’s history.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson says this proposed plan gives the most funding, he feels, the state can afford.

"This plan, achieves the right balance. It is affordable, it is prudent for our budget and it is reasonable," Hutchinson said.

A bill that would raise the Arkansas teacher salary schedule by roughly $1000 a year for four years passed the state House of Representatives on Thursday.

Sponsored by more than 90 House members, HB-1145 increases the minimum teacher pay rate from the current $31,400 to $36,000 by the 2022-2023 school year. 

A bill that lifts restrictions on free speech policies by universities has passed the Senate Education Committee.

The bill would, among other things, eliminate free speech zones on university campuses and instead designate most outdoor areas of a campus as a place for members of a campus community to express themselves. According to the bill, a "campus community" consists of students, faculty, administrators, staff and invited guests of the university such as speakers.

Some Arkansas teachers are a step closer to getting higher salaries. A house bill that would raise the teacher pay salary schedule passed Tuesday in the House Committee on Education.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, and over 90 other representatives, increases the minimum teacher salary each year for four years, eventually reaching a new minimum of $36,000. It also annually increases the pay minimum for each step of pay schedule for those with bachelor’s and master’s degrees for four years.