95th General Assembly

This bill would create a new population of eligible persons for Medicaid coverage not otherwise eligible based solely on income (no work requirements or other criteria to be eligible are included) of 200% of the federal poverty level to receive taxpayer funded “family planning services”. Family Planning Services are not defined but have long been used as code for “Abortion Services” – see Planned Parenthood. The bill would also force the state Department of Human Services to seek additional taxpayer funding at the federal level for additional support of this new government program within Medicaid.

This bill would create “presumptive eligiblity” for Medicaid for any pregnant woman in Arkansas and immedilatey enroll them in Medicaid and cover services for prenatal care. This would increase the Medicaid rolls without prior proper screening to ensure the Medicaid program is limited to those who are truly needy and not based on a specific class of people (pregnant women). Medicaid would potentially foot the initial bills of any and all medical services provided to any pregnant woman in Arkansas.

We are not supportive of increasing this child credit to $300 under the terms as written. This bill would cause the credit to be refundable, meaning it would give cash directly to persons who do not pay taxes. We are supportive of this tax credit if this bill is amended to remove the refundability aspect to ensure the credit only goes towards offsetting taxes owed by those who actually pay taxes in at least that amount. Also as written, the credit would be limited to single persons making up to $100K, or couples making up to $200K.

We generally support all tax cuts and therefore support this tax cut. However, we are not a fan of carve outs, and this bill would create a new sales tax exemption (state sales tax only) for products including: tampons, diapers, breastfeeding equipment and products, certain grooming and hygience products, baby bottles, certain over the counter drugs. This would save some taxpayers money, but is highly targeted to a specific subset of items rather than a across the board sales tax cut.

This bill would increase government spending by expanding paid 12-weeks off for women who have a child, adopt a child under one, or became a foster parent of a child under one. This would be for ANY school employee, not just education personnel, as is currently the standard. It would cover 100% of that persons paid leave through the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education.

This bill would repeal the current ban on collective bargaining for taxpayer funded government employees. Collective bargaining is basically legalized unionization protections to allow them to negotiate contracts or other terms of employment between an employer and employee. This is generally accepted in the private sector. However, many states have banned this for taxpayer funded government employees to avoid collusion between elected officials, government workers, and taxpayer funded unions to result in the taxpayers paying inflated wages or benefits outside what the market may otherwise provide through forced collective bargaining protections for the government employees.This repeal would lead to higher costs to taxpayers without any recognizable benefits in return.

This bill would allow the sale of raw goat, sheet, and whole milk at places other than just the farm where the milk is produced, allowing greather access to consumers who wish to buy this product and increasing markets to producers.

This bill would further protect private property rights against unlawful squatters by making such sqautting a criminal offense – a class B misdeameanor. Specifically if a person enteres onto the premises of another person, resides there for any time period, and does so unlawfully, and cannot produce evidence of having a deed to the property, a lease agreement, or evidence of payment of rent, they can be charged with a crime.