Sen. Clarke Tucker asks a question during a meeting of the Arkansas Senate on March 7, 2025. At right are Sens. Breanne Davis and Ben Gilmore. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
By Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate
Between crafting state policies and introducing new bills during the legislative session, Arkansas lawmakers also present resolutions, typically feel-good proclamations that range from celebrating a high school sports team winning a state championship to honoring a centenarian on her 107th birthday.
The eighth week of the 95th General Assembly featured some well-known Arkansans receiving recognition — former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen and former Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge hugs former Chicago Bulls player Scottie Pippen following the presentation of a resolution in his honor on March 6, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
A resolution supporting the nomination of Huckabee as the U.S. ambassador to Israel was read in both chambers Wednesday. Huckabee told the Senate he was “deeply honored” by the recognition and said the ambassadorship was the only opportunity he would have said yes to because he was not looking for a job in the federal government.
“This really has been like a calling, not just from the president, but from above, and I’m grateful to God for the extraordinary privilege to serve my country, the president and frankly all of you in being a representative of the United States to the state of Israel,” he said.
Huckabee was joined Wednesday by his family, including his daughter and current Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who celebrated a milestone of her own this week — the introduction of legislation that, if approved, would follow through on her promise to eliminate the state grocery tax.
This week also saw the debut of Senate Bill 392, the governor’s revamp of the state employee pay plan. The 222-page bill, filed Wednesday, should be discussed in committee Tuesday, and lawmakers will have a week to consider it before an expected vote on March 18.
Lead sponsor Sen. Breanne Davis told the Advocate the main thing SB 392 does is offer “job families” for state employees.
“With these job families there’ll be a career path for you to advance and continue to gain skills and knowledge, and move up and actually have a career and be compensated correctly for it,” Davis said. “So that really is what this entire bill centers around. There’s a lot of things that changed to help adjust to that, but that really is the biggest picture.”
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (third from left) poses for a photo with his family after being honored with a resolution in the Arkansas Senate on March 5, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
The governor’s higher education bill, Arkansas ACCESS, is also expected to be heard in committee Monday after being amended this week. House Speaker Brian Evans, R-Cabot, told reporters Thursday that several stakeholders provided suggestions during the drafting of the bill.
“The governor’s office and the committees and the bill sponsors, they have taken those under consideration,” Evans said. “They’ve made some amendments just to make sure that everyone’s being taken care of, concerns that they had. I don’t expect much pushback on that at all.”
Arkansas ACCESS is scheduled to be heard by the Joint Education Committee at 9 a.m. Monday.
1) Energy generation
Monday morning is the deadline for the Arkansas Public Service Commission to provide an analysis of Senate Bill 307. Lead sponsor Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, said the 62-page bill aims to mitigate an anticipated increase in rates likely to occur when Arkansas generates or purchases energy to meet the demand that will be created when some of the state’s coal-fired plants go offline in a few years.
Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, requested the PSC make recommendations to improve the language of the bill Thursday, a day after the legislation failed to garner enough votes to advance out of the Senate.
2) Prison appropriation
Plans to build a prison in Franklin County continue to make waves in Little Rock. On Monday, four days after lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee balked at approving an appropriation for the construction project when there were no total cost estimates, state officials released a letter with a preliminary cost estimate of $825 million.
Also Monday, Dismang filed an appropriation bill for $750 million to go along with $75 million that was set aside for prison expansion by former Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Lawmakers had been expected to continue their prison debate during Thursday’s JBC meeting, but traffic delayed Dismang, and the chair said the bill would be considered next week instead.
3) Commission changes
There are several boards and commissions in Arkansas that oversee a variety of topics, and throughout the legislative session, lawmakers have been debating who should be members of these groups and whether they should exist at all.
A House committee on Monday gave initial approval to House Bill 1365, which would remove race and gender quotas and qualifications from a variety of state boards, councils and commissions, altering 22 sections of state law. The full House on Wednesday advanced the bill, which will next be heard by a Senate committee.
Meanwhile, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, is sponsoring Senate Bill 184, which would abolish the Arkansas Educational Television Commission and the Arkansas State Library Board. Although SB 184 was approved by the Senate, it’s not likely to advance further, after the Arkansas PBS Commission chairman said he came to “an understanding” with Sullivan Thursday.
4) New bills
Arkansas lawmakers filed more than 125 bills this week, including:
HB1646 by Rep. Richard McGrew, R-Hot Springs, would require a kindergarten through fifth grade media center to store “any material that concerns an individual’s sexuality” in a locked room within a designated area.
HB1655 by Rep. Wayne Long, R-Bradford, would create the offense of human smuggling and harboring illegal immigrants, both of which would be felonies.
HB1668 by Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, would create civil liability for any person who “contributes to the social transitioning of a minor or the castration, sterilization, or mutilation of a minor” that results in personal injuries or harm.
HB1669, also by Bentley, would prevent state government from requiring any private child placement agency to participate in any placement of a child for foster care or adoption when the proposed placement would violate the agency’s “sincerely held religious or moral beliefs.”
Lawmakers are still refraining from meeting on Fridays, but that could change as work picks up as the end of the session draws near. The General Assembly will reconvene for the ninth week of the session on Monday. Meeting schedules, agendas and livestream videos are available on the Arkansas Legislature’s website.
The Arkansas Advocate is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to tough, fair daily reporting and investigative journalism that holds public officials accountable and focuses on the relationship between the lives of Arkansans and public policy.
Have a news tip or event to promote? Email White River Now at news@whiterivernow.com. Be sure to like and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. And don’t forget to download the White River Now mobile app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
Get up-to-date local and regional news/weather from the First Community Bank Newsroom on Arkansas 103.3 KWOZ every weekday morning and afternoon. White River Now updates are also aired on weekday mornings on 93 KZLE, Outlaw 106.5, and Your FM 99.5. Catch CBS News around the top of every hour on 1340 KBTA.
