Good morning Arkansas! We're here at the Joint Budget Committee, where Gov. Sanders is presenting her supposedly balanced budget ahead of the '25 general session. #arpx #arleg We've seen a number of red flags over the course of the budget hearings, which we'll get into in a later post, but suffice it to say, we're expecting severe cuts to some essential programs, early hints for future targets (higher ed, for instance), and more.

Good morning folks! We're posted up today in the Arkansas Legislative Council. A number of things were delayed till today's meeting; there's some outstanding reports from various Dept. of Education subdivisions/entities, for example. #arleg #arpx First up: BLR's Dr. Silva for the revenue report.

One interesting note here: high income groups are apparently starting to pull their spending, according to his report.

Afternoon, folks. We're tuned into the Admin Rules Subcommittee, where a rule governing animal waste has implications for the Buffalo River Watershed. #arleg #arpx Most rules aren't that controversial, so we're not going to live tweet the whole meeting and focus on the Buffalo rule (unless something else comes up)

Good morning folks! We are tuned into the budget meeting for the morning.

One thing we're watching for: a number of items regarding children and adult special education.

#arpx #arleg First up will Dept. of Human Services.

Shared Services has no changes on appropriation services.

Div. of Aging, Adult and Behavioral Health Services. Slight overall increase, but otherwise nothing wild.

Some reclassification of community crisis services.

Afternoon folks! We’re posted up in the Governor’s conference room. She’s expected to be making an announcement at 2pm. The logical money is on an appointment for Sec of State and/or Supreme Court, but we don’t know for sure! #arpx #arleg A few cabinet members, outgoing Speaker Matt Shepherd, and a few other legislators have filed in.

Gmorning folks! Returning to our efforts to cover some pre session budget meetings. We’re also planning on a live thread for Gov. Sanders’ announcement this afternoon at 2. Stay tuned! #arpx #arleg First up, a bit out of agenda order: AETN, who runs Arkansas PBS. It's survived multiple attempts to reduce its funding over the last few fiscal and general sessions. We're expected a similar fight to occur in the upcoming session, so interested to see if that makes itself known

Good morning Arkansas!

Last night, a packed house of community members in Charleston made their extreme displeasure with Governor Sanders known. She secretly decided to stick a 3k bed prison right outside the town (Charleston's population is listed at ~2600). #arpx Here's our thread covering the events of last night.
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1854670…

Good evening! We're about to roll in to Franklin Co to cover tonight's town hall re: the Governor's plans to build a 3,000 bed prison in the small town of Charleston. Residents circulated a petition, which now has more than 2,300 signatures, to oppose the prison. Follow along with us on this thread. #arpx The context: in October, state employees dodged Qs from #arleg members about where the prison would go. Then, the Governor blindsided residents last week when she announced the location on a radio program. No elected officials from the town/county had been notified or were part of the discussions.

Good morning Arkansas! Back with day 2 of the pre-session budget meetings.

#arleg is meeting in advance of the spring general legislative session to set budget priorities for next year.

If you missed yesterday's discussion, here's our thread:



#ARpxthreadreaderapp.com/thread/1843652… A few items we're interested in today agenda posted on the ARleg website:

1) Chris Madison will report on operating costs of the Board of Election Commissioners. We'd love to hear how much the lawsuit defending the rule banning electronic voter registration is costing us.

Good morning Arkansas!

Today is Day 1 of three days of budget meetings in advance of the spring's General Session.

These are similar to the meetings held before this year's Fiscal Session. You can read about those meetings, as well as a brief primer on how budget meetings work, here: forarpeople.org/2024-fiscal-se… It's not quite the same, but it's worth paying attention to which executive branches are here looking for money. Today should be relatively straightforward; only the Depts. of Labor/Licensing and Health are listed on the agenda.

In just a few minutes, the Game and Fish/State Police Subcommittee will meet to continue discussing changes to the state's firearm laws.

The proposals have been widely criticized; among other things, the new legislation would allow concealed carry at bus stops and certain government entity meetings.

You can find the full list of proposed changes here: arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocume… This would manifestly make the state less safe, but the legislators don't answer to us; they answer to lobbyists. Gun laws are already permissive enough, and in the midst of a national conversation about the prevalence of gun violence (now the leading cause of death for minors!), increasing the number of guns around kids is obviously unwise.

Good morning Arkansas!

We are posted up in the Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Joint Subcommittee. Lots on the agenda, but one we're particularly interested in: Rep. Pilkington is presenting a number of proposals, some of which are targeted at reducing maternal mortality. The biggest and most effective would be extending Medicaid coverage to new moms for 12 months after they give birth. This is a slam dunk, the data are pretty conclusive that it's a huge boon to mothers.

Naturally, then, Gov. Sanders has been... reluctant to support this.

Good morning! Follow along here for a live thread of today's Arkansas Legislative Council meeting.

#arleg #arpx Well, maybe. We can't be there in person today but the stream is yet to start. This one might be a dud!

ArLeg recently installed new tech in the rooms, so that could be the issue.

The ALC Game and Fish/State Police Subcommittee is set to convene today at 1:30 PM. Follow this thread to see what comes out of this meeting. 🧵 Representative Miller starts off by thanking the staff and the Bureau's office for all their hard work during this process.

Good morning, ARkansas. We're in Garland County this morning, where in about 10 minutes residents will be discussing the proposal to cut funding to the Garland County Library. Looking like it's going to be standing room only. The proposal would cut the millage rate from 1.6 to 1.0, which would reduce the funds the library receives by around $1 million. Library employees don't believe the library will be able to properly function with that kind of reduction.

Hello friends, we are at today's State Board of Election Commissioners meeting. We'll keep you up to speed on this thread. #arpx First observation: Secretary of State John Thurston is absent. Legal counsel for SoS sitting in for him. #arpx

Good morning Arkansas! The final ALC meeting is set to begin in just a moment. Follow along here! Lawmakers have mentioned several topics they want to focus on today. Among others, we expect to hear about teacher pay + health insurance, the never-ending fight over prisons, and more!

Good morning folks! We are tuned into the ALC Admin Rules today, where among other things, legislators are considering the controversial (ehem, bad) rule against electronic voter registration. The rule prohibits @GetLoudArkansas from using e-signatures to register voters. Here's more background on the rule:
forarpeople.org/fight-against-…

G'morning, #arpx. We're tuning in to Joint Ed at 10am to hear reports on LEARNS merit pay, teacher retention, and more. Follow along with us or stream here.👇#arleg sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00284/Harmony/… Some context: The LEARNS Act replaced previous pay schedules for teachers based on experience. Now, educators must vie for bonuses from a limited pot of $ based on certain criteria established under LEARNS. Today should be enlightening. #arpx #arleg

Today in #arleg: in about 30 minutes, the Administrative Rules subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council is scheduled to meet.

On the agenda - lots and lots and lots of Education department rules. Tune in here for a live thread! Sen. Hammer has called the meeting to order. Surprisingly full crowd for a rules subcommittee.

While we are technically part of the *media*, let's talk about the interesting ways news outlets have framed the fight over direct democracy and the Arkansas Abortion Amendment. 🧵

Here's a headline from KUAR from Thursday, the day before we got the SC order asking for briefing. Technically, this headline is "accurate." AFLG doesn't have enough volunteer signatures to get on the ballot! No one is disputing that.

BUT.

That's not AT ALL what's at issue. And indeed, the misdirection continues: here's the first line of the story.