The regular session of the Arkansas General Assembly has ended, and the results were generally good for the state. The recent legislative session was a time of fighting back against the radical left, working to secure the safety of our citizens, and to start on the longtime Republican promise to provide parents real school choice. In several instances, conservative legislation that had no chance of passage under former Governor Asa Hutchinson was embraced by Governor Sarah Sanders and passed.
THE PROBLEM NO ONE IS WILLING TO TALK ABOUT. There is a problem with this year’s legislation nobody wants to talk about lest it detract from celebrating the many big accomplishments. The problem? Legislation passed this year has a big price tag and requires increases in future government spending.
Some good legislation from this legislative session has big price tags. We will just mention the LEARNS Act and the criminal justice package which includes more prison beds.
Conduit for Action continues to support the LEARNS Act because it begins the phase-in of real school choice for families. Providing choice necessarily means helping parents overcome financial barriers that have limited the ability of parents to exercise school choice and of course that means the expenditure of money through the state. But the LEARNS Act wasn’t just about school choice. Other parts also cost money, such as teacher raises and programs to improve the education of students. According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:
The LEARNS Act will cost the state $297.5 million in the first year, with $150 million of that coming in the form of new spending, according to a study by the Arkansas Department of Education.
In year two, the cost will increase to $343.3 million, including $250 million in new funding. Pay for teachers will cost the state $180 million. The law’s voucher program will cost $46.7 million in the first year and $97.5 in the second year, according to the Department of Education.
In the third year, the program will cost the state an estimated $175 million, said Robert Brech, deputy director of Budget at the Department of Finance and Administration.(1)
While many blue states seem to be intent on catching and releasing criminals or not bothering to catch them at all, Governor Sanders took a better stand, one that emphasizes the safety of our citizens. One part of the Governor’s criminal justice package deals with prison overcrowding and the backlog of state prisoners in local jails by constructing more beds to house state prisoners.
Legislation passed during the regular session authorizes up to $330 million for correctional facilities. Sanders has said the prison expansion would cost $470 million.
“The first part of the funding, that $330 million, is year one. The additional funding comes in year two,” she said during the news conference. “While I wish we could build a prison in a year, it’s certainly not possible.” The prison expansion and criminal justice bills are part of a broader ‘Safer, Stronger Arkansas’ public safety package advanced by Sanders.(2)
STATE SPENDING A PROBLEM? Arkansas’ spending is way out of line for a state of our size. While Conduit for Action recognizes that from time-to-time spending increases are needed in some areas, we advocate offsetting spending by cutting state programs with little importance or with little success. Arkansas has failed to do budgeting in a way to evaluate the need and success of state programs and instead rewards all programs just because they exist with across-the-board increases.
THERE IS A HOPEFUL NOTE. Although Governor Sarah Sanders’ 2023 priorities resulted in significant spending, there is cause for much hope in the future because Governor Sanders may be the first Governor to publicly acknowledge Arkansas has a spending problem and there is reason to think she will work to address the problem. Recently the Governor said:
“Arkansas should not have more state employees per capita than all our surrounding states.”
“It’s long past time to reduce the size and scope of government, identify efficiencies, and responsibly phase out the income tax.”
The high number of state employees cited is certainly an indicator of Arkansas’ excessive spending, but reducing state employee numbers alone will not solve Arkansas’ spending problem. To solve that takes the harder step of evaluating which state programs need to be continued and at what level, and which state programs need to be abolished or downsized. It is a matter of priorities.
We hope to see progress on reining in Arkansas’ spending as the Governor and Legislature prepare for the budget session set for next year.
- Governor signs LEARNS Act, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, March 09, 2023
- Sanders inks two crime bills, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 12, 2023
