Five takeaways from the third week of the Arkansas 95th General Assembly
Five of the larger issues for the week were a counter to the governor's prison plan, a planned Medicaid work requirement, no cell phones in school legislation, an end to DEI in Arkansas and watershed protections.
Prison plan:
Sen. Bryan King (R-Green Forest) introduced a public safety plan to renew the focus on the safety of Arkansans. King cited what he called the 'three-headed monster' facing the state as a high incarceration rate, a high crime rate and high prison overcrowding.
He proposed working with the Arkansas State Police and county sheriff's offices to add public-safety-focused hires, additional beds in county detention centers, and ramped-up assistance for probation and patrol officers.
Funding would come from medical marijuana and casino revenue, King said, adding that unlike the 3,000-bed prison proposal, his plan is funded.
Medicaid work requirement:
Gov. Sarah Huckabee announced her plan to create a work requirement for anyone receiving Medicaid in the state. The update to the ARHOME program would require what she called 'able-bodied individuals' to either work, go to school or stay home and take care of their children to continue receiving Medicaid.
Clients will receive support in meeting work requirement goals, including education and coaching, Deputy Secretary for Programs and State Medicaid Director Janet Mann said. Those who refuse to comply will have their Medicaid suspended, which will be restored when they comply with the requirements.
This is a slight retweaking of the state's previous effort at a Medicaid work requirement. If the Center for Medicare and Medicaid accepts it, Arkansas will be the first state in the nation with a work requirement.
No cell phones in schools:
On Wednesday, the governor made a second announcement about the Bell to Bell, No Cell Act. This would end student's using cell phones while school is in session.
Sanders said the bill was a necessity in light of a growing mental health need among young people with 'unrestricted access to smartphones and social media.'
The plan had been tested in some schools during the previous school year where it was judged a success.
End to DEI in Arkansas:
A bill has cleared the Senate and is now before the House that would 'prohibit discrimination by public entities on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin,' according to the legislation's language.
It would drop the requirement to state higher education from maintaining programs to encourage minority student, faculty and staff participation, as well as any hiring programs by state entities aiming to increase the number of minority employees.
Several people spoke against the bill in its Senate committee hearing. It is now scheduled to be heard in the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Watershed protection:
A bill was introduced in the Senate to end the moratorium on issuing permits to confined animal feeding operations along any Arkansas waterway, including the Buffalo River.
The state currently maintains a temporary moratorium on issuing new permits for medium and large CAFOs along the Buffalo. The Department of Environmental Quality initiated the moratorium in 2014 after environmental concerns about the waste generated by a large-scale hog farm near the river. The farm closed in late 2019 when the state purchased its assets.
The bill was due for a Senate Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development committee hearing, but that meeting was canceled and, as of Friday, had not been rescheduled.
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