Prison bill gains some traction in Arkansas Senate, but not enough to advance
An appropriation for a new 3,000-bed state prison failed to pass the Arkansas Senate for the fifth time on Tuesday, despite gaining support from earlier holdouts.
Senate Bill 354 aims to appropriate three-quarters of a billion dollars for the prison. But the $750 million measure has been stuck in the Senate for a week as the legislative session barrels to a projected close on April 16.
Sen. John Payton, who previously voted against the measure, joined 20 of his colleagues in supporting SB 354 Tuesday because he said the executive branch addressed some of his concerns, including potential staffing issues.
Prison appropriation bill remains stuck in Arkansas Senate
Noting the success of a steel mill in rural Mississippi County in attracting roughly 2,000 employees, Payton said state officials have demonstrated their ability to recruit workers from long distances. He also credited Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders for construction of a new state crime lab that he said is ahead of schedule and expected to come in under budget.
'I still can't promise you or guarantee you that it will be a success…but I can say that I'm willing to trust and give 'em a chance because they've proven to me that they have done their homework,' Payton said.
The Wilburn Republican said he voted present the last two times as he processed the new information he received and ultimately chose to cast an affirmative vote Tuesday because he doesn't want to be the deciding vote. Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Jonesboro Republican who has previously cast votes for, against and present, again cast an affirmative vote for SB 354 Tuesday, bringing the total to 21 votes for the bill.
While that's the most support SB 354 has received thus far, an appropriation bill requires a three-fourths majority or 27 votes to advance out of the Senate.
The proposal to construct a prison in rural Franklin County has caused controversy for months because local community members said they were blindsided by Sanders' announcement that the state spent about $3 million to purchase 815 acres near Charleston for the prison last fall.
Supporters of the project, including Sanders, say the prison is needed to address overcrowding in county jails, which house state inmates because of a shortage of beds in state facilities. Opponents have criticized a lack of transparency and the cost of the project, an estimated $825 million. They've also questioned the feasibility of the construction site and the ability to attract a sufficient workforce.
Sen. Bryan King, a Green Forest Republican who has adamantly opposed the prison from the start, on the Senate floor Tuesday argued the state 'embarrassingly' has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country because Arkansas has high crime rates. If crime isn't stopped on the front end, Arkansas will end up 'in a financial death spiral' because the state won't be able to build enough prisons to incarcerate sufficient people to escape it, King said.
'I'd still appreciate a no vote because we are not holistically taking care of the problem,' he said. 'This thing of building prisons and incarceration rates, if we don't take care of the crime rate first, it's like putting out the smoke instead of putting out the fire.'
Sen. Breanne Davis, a Russellville Republican who has consistently voted in favor of SB 354, challenged an assertion by King that incarceration should be more of a shared partnership between the state and counties. King has repeatedly said larger counties that contribute to the majority of the state's inmates need to do more.
The populations of jails and prisons are different, according to Davis who said the issue with overcrowding is that local law enforcement officials don't have a place to put people they need to arrest.
'I believe that would show that we need a facility to house prisoners so that people that are committing crimes that deserve to be in county jail, which again is different than prison, have a place to be in county jail; otherwise we just have criminals roaming the streets,' she said. 'I've got four kids. I mean I want to have a safe community, and we've got law enforcement officers, but we've got nowhere to put people who are committing crimes. So we're just turning them out, letting them go.'
King agreed there's a difference between county jails and prisons, but he still had problems with the Franklin County prison project, including its estimated cost and his concerns that it won't adequately address mental health issues.
King was one of nine senators who voted against SB 354 Tuesday, one fewer than Monday. Cabot Republican Sen. Ricky Hill, who has consistently voted against the bill, changed his vote to present Tuesday.
SB 354's lead sponsor, Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, told the Advocate Monday he intends to run his bill every day until lawmakers conclude their work on April 16.
If the measure fails to gain enough support by the end of the legislative session, Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, last week said he expects the governor to call a special session to secure the funding, according to the Saline Courier.
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Incarcerated people exercise in the maximum security yard of the Lansing Correctional Facility in April 2023 in Lansing, Kan. This year, several states have taken steps to install air conditioning and expand cooling measures to address sweltering heat inside prisons, but many across the country remain years away from significant upgrades. (Photo by) Summer heat is bearing down on U.S. prisons, where temperatures in uncooled cells can climb well into the triple digits. Facing growing pressure from advocacy groups, lawsuits and climate projections that show hotter days ahead, some state prison systems are moving to install air conditioning and expand cooling measures — though many facilities remain years away from significant upgrades. But in other states, such efforts have stalled or failed. That may lead to more lawsuits in the future, experts say, even as judges may raise the bar for such cases. 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President Donald Trump holds up the "big, beautiful bill" that was signed into law as during a Fourth of July military family picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Brandon - Pool/Getty Images) Within a year, Kansans will be voting to elect a new governor and fill a U.S. Senate seat, plus four congressional seats, among elections for other offices. Candidates are already announcing for office, and campaigns are getting underway. Most Republican candidates are fawning at the feet of President Donald Trump. The groveling of these sycophants may be misplaced as Kansas voters recall the toxic remains of Gov. Sam Brownback's infamous tax experiment, initiated in 2012 and abandoned in 2017 after five years of unfair taxes, deficit spending, and record debt. Trump's 'one big, beautiful bill' has followed a path that parallels Brownback's tax experiment and may experience the same result. After six months in office, available evidence suggests that Trump and the bill may become political liabilities for the grovelers. Take a look at the parallels. Both Brownback and Trump chose partisanship rather than seeking common ground, and as a result, political liability falls entirely on Republicans. Democrats were shut out of decisions. Both partisan plans had to be forced through with brazen arm-twisting. When Brownback's tax bill stalled over disagreements between the legislative chambers, the governor double-crossed state Senate leadership and signed a flawed bill intended for negotiation. Brownback later stood aside as the Kansas Chamber of Commerce PAC effectively purged state senators of the governor's party who opposed the policy. Trump issued multiple threats of primary challenges targeted at resistant Republicans to bring them into line on the 'big, beautiful bill.' One senator who balked fell victim to the pressure and announced he would not seek reelection. Both Brownback's tax experiment and Trump's bill were Koch inspired. Brownback sought the advice of Arthur Laffer, a Koch-sponsored tax-cut guru, and shortly thereafter embraced 'a real live experiment' to eliminate state income taxes. Koch and a handful of well-heeled donors underwrote a million-dollar campaign through the Chamber PAC to elect legislators willing to do their bidding. Their campaign succeeded. Americans for Prosperity, a Koch political network, called early for Trump to renew and deepen tax cuts and launched a multimillion-dollar campaign to 'turn up the heat' on Congress for quick passage. Both Brownback's tax experiment and Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' had common intent: Benefiting the wealthy while costing everyone else. Brownback's experiment tilted the tax burden from rich to poor; it further exempted 330,000 businesses from the income tax and promised the eventual elimination of the tax. Trump's law gives households with incomes in the top 10% a break of $12,000 per year while those in the bottom 10% pay an additional $1,600, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. The top 1% are the prime beneficiaries. Additionally, both Brownback and Trump coupled tax cuts for the rich with measures undermining aid to the needy. Brownback restricted eligibility for income support and food assistance and blocked the expansion of Medicaid. The budget office estimates the 'big, beautiful bill' will slash more than $1 trillion in spending from Medicaid and food assistance for the next 10 years, primarily by restricting eligibility for aid. Ten to 12 million will be cut from Medicaid, and those qualified for food assistance will fall as well. Brownback's experiment created red ink as far as the eye could see, and Trump's plan will do the same. The Kansas Legislative Research Department projected soaring deficits from Brownback's tax experiment, amounting to $2.5 billion in the first five years. Even after a sales tax increase, the depletion of state balances and the diversion of highway funds, the state faced a mid-year deficit of $300 million in 2017. The Congressional Budget Office estimates Trump's law will increase the deficit to $3.4 trillion over the next 10 years and add $4 trillion to the national debt when interest payments are taken into account. Even so, the rhetoric of both Brownback and Trump soared: Brownback claimed his experiment would provide 'a glide path to zero' for state income taxes. And further: 'Look out Texas, here comes Kansas!' Trump declares the 'big, beautiful bill' would 'make this country into a rocket ship. It's going to be really great. … We'll have growth in record numbers.' After five years of unbalanced budgeting, one-sided taxing, and unprecedented borrowing, Kansas voters had seen enough of Brownback's experiment. The governor's approval ratings steadily sank to the lowest in the nation among governors. In 2016, voters ousted Brownback's legislative allies and elected a bipartisan legislative coalition that expeditiously abandoned the experiment and restored sanity to state finances. In Trump's first six months, his disapproval ratings have bumped up by 10 percentage points, well above comparable figures for Biden, Obama, and George W. Bush. Recent polling indicates 55% disapproval of the 'big, beautiful bill,' compared with 29% approval. In the upcoming election contests, Kansans will have the opportunity to query incumbents about their choices: shoddy partisan tactics over bipartisanship. Sponsorship by Koch. Support for taxes that benefit the rich and ditch the poor. Votes that swamped the state and nation in a sea of red ink. We now what they did back in 2016. We'll see what they decide in 2026. H. Edward Flentje is a professor emeritus at Wichita State University and formerly was director and professor in the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs at the university. He has written and edited numerous publications, including most recently co-writing and co-editing 'Reform and Reaction: The Arc of Kansas Politics.' Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
