Red Wing Daily: April 4, 2025
So much is going on in the Arkansas Legislature so this RWDaily is mostly that:
State
All state primaries now in March: “Arkansas' primary election in nonpresidential election years will be moved from May to March” as SB353 from Senate Pro Tem Bart Hester became Act 405 last week. All Arkansas primary elections will be in March (leaving seven to eight months between each primary and general election date), and all legislative fiscal sessions will now begin in April.
Ranked 1st for a change, but … The initial GDP / personal income report for the fourth quarter of 2024 shows Arkansas first among the states for GDP growth at 5.1% but 47th in personal income. Arkansas ranked first in the third-quarter report with 6.9% growth, too. Also, “the number of unemployed in Arkansas rose almost 9% in February at 3.6% compared with February 2024 at 3.4%, with net year-over-year job gains up 1.3%.”
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, down to the wire: The 95th General Assembly is hurtling toward a planned April 16 recess, so on Monday [March 31], Sen. Bart Hester moved to suspend the rules to remove “wait days” (intervening days) on amended bills; motion passed, of course. Suspending the rules deliberately cuts out citizen oversight because there’s no way to know about moving parts/changes ongoing for the remaining legislation. Watch these last 2 weeks or so: “It’s going to be very, very difficult” for any Senate bills that don’t pass Senate committees this week to move forward, Hester said.
For me, not for thee: Within the next few remaining days, the Arkansas Legislature will select up to 3 constitutional amendments for the people’s approval on our 2026 ballot out of the 40 proposals that lawmakers have filed. That’s by law; all they must do is agree on the three (or fewer or none) they want to put on the ballot. It’s something we’ve opposed for quite some time (the state Constitution should not be automatically embroidered upon every election cycle) and especially distasteful after the Republican-majority Legislature’s strenuous successful efforts to hamstring both the citizen referendum/initiative process and our once-gold-standard FOI law this general session. (Wonder how the casino lawsuit will turn out — the one seeking to overturn that citizen-initiated vote that canceled the Pope County casino license?)
On the ballot in ‘26? And now the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee just recommended a proposed constitutional amendment for the 2026 ballot: HJR 1018 by Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, the Citizens Only Voting Amendment, states that “only a citizen of the United States meeting the qualifications of an elector under this section may vote in an election in this state.” The full House and then the Senate must also pass it for it to be included on the 2026 ballot for voters to consider.
Probably not available OTC anyway: SB189 is now law and “allows ivermectin suitable for human consumption to be sold over-the-counter in Arkansas, making it accessible to individuals without the need for a prescription or consultation with a healthcare professional.” However, as we predicted, “several pharmacists have said current federal law still bars them from selling the drug as an over-the-counter medication. John Vinson, CEO of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association, said March 13 that individual pharmacies would have to decide for themselves whether they want to sell the drug, adding that
only time will tell if pharmacists, wholesalers and distributors actually will dispense it or sell it for that purpose.”
She’s gonna get it: Governor Sanders is now posting on X video statements from Arkansas Sheriffs lobbying for that Franklin County prison. Sure, Arkansas counties have an overcrowding problem because they must hold state folks because our state prisons are not doing the job — but there’s got to be a better way than a secret land deal leading to the Governor’s insistence on a totally unsuitable site in an area of the state with poor infrastructure and a low employment pool at an inestimable cost. (Recent bad weather is now also highlighting the flooding problems that are normal for that part of Franklin County.) She’s ignoring the Chickamauga tribe who says that land is a sacred archaeological site. Why? Governor says
This is an absurd claim based on a group that is not recognized by the state or federal government, and this claim’s only purpose is to try and derail the Franklin County prison.
“The state prisons board on Thursday approved sending out a request for general contractors to submit proposals” for building the prison.
Just say “NO”: The Senate voted a third time this week on the $750 million appropriation for the Franklin County prison project, which again failed with only 19 voting in favor (it takes 27 to pass an appropriation bill). With several more days left in the 95th General Assembly, expect serial voting on this measure as the Governor and proponents are whipping state Senate votes with who-knows-what “carrots and sticks.” (There’s no limit on how many times votes can be called for an appropriation bill.) And, typical for the last days of a legislative session, even the press did not know the bill would be run again on Thursday after it failed the second time on Wednesday:
HB1745, driven by industry lobbyists the Arkansas Trucking Association (“ATA”), passed the Senate 33-0 on Thursday, and — per the ArkLeg website — now goes back as amended to the House Public Transportation Committee on Tuesday, April 8. (That is, unless somehow the Transportation Committee gets switched to the Judiciary Committee at the last minute like what happened in the Senate.) Yes, the ATA wants to keep the ability to hire cheap drivers at the expense of YOUR safety! This bad bill does not protect Arkansans from foreign, non-domiciled, non-English-speaking drivers of 80,000-lb weapons (semi trucks) on our highways: it doesn’t put drivers out of service when stopped and it’s determined they can’t speak or read English, and the Highway Police/Arkansas State Police have no ability to verify the driver’s identity. No teeth! It’s a sham!
