Legislative Session Review: Arkansas

Arkansas adjourned its 2018 fiscal session sine die on Monday, March 12, 2018, and Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) finished acting on the bills sent to his desk on April 2. During this abbreviated, 29-day fiscal session, the Republican-controlled legislature easily passed a FY19 $5.6 billion budget package. Additionally, Arkansas held a short special session directly after adjournment to take up a handful of non-fiscal bills.

Fiscal Session Highlights

• The state’s general-revenue budget will increase by $172.8 million in FY19.
• The most contentious of the budget proposals was legislation allocating funds to the state’s Medicaid expansion program (Arkansas Works). This legislation was signed into law after the federal government approved the state’s request to establish work, volunteer, and job training requirements for certain Arkansas Works participants.

Special Session

As the fiscal session wound down, Governor Hutchinson called for a special session to start Tuesday, March 13 to address “a number of matters that include highway funding and pharmacy reimbursement legislation.” Over three days, the House and Senate approved several bills, including Pharmacy Benefit Manager regulation, which allows 529 college savings funds to be withdrawn for K-12 tuition, as well as changing the state’s open container laws to protect some highway funding.

Election Preview

Arkansas voters go to the voting booths on November 6 to choose all seven of the state’s constitutional offices. Eighteen of the 35 state senate positions will be on the ballot, as well as all 100 state house positions. Governor Hutchinson is up for re-election this year, but first must fend off a challenge from conservative former newscaster Jan Morgan in the May 22 gubernatorial primary. Two Democrats and one Libertarian candidate have also thrown their hats into the ring for governor, but would face long odds against the incumbent, who enjoys strong job approval ratings among Arkansas voters.