Latest news with #95th
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arkansas League of Women Voters files federal suit, calls changes to voter referendum process ‘Unconstitutional'
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A lawsuit filed in federal court calls the changes made to the Arkansas voter referendum process during the 95th General Assembly 'Unconstitutional.' The suit by the Arkansas League of Women Voters was filed against Arkansas Secretary of State Cole Jester. According to the suit, the six bills signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders violate the Arkansas and federal constitution by restricting citizens' rights. Attorney general rejects latest ballot proposal to change Arkansas initiative process The six acts came after Jester gave the referendum process a D grade for security. They require signature canvassers to check ID, read the ballot title out loud, warn signatories about fraud, live in Arkansas, file an affidavit and not collect additional signatures after they have filed collected signatures. The lawsuit states that, according to the Heritage Foundation, there have been 'just five criminal convictions related to election fraud in Arkansas over the last 20 years.' The Constitutional violations are of Arkansas Article 5, Section 1, where Arkansans are allowed the same power to propose legislative measures, laws and amendments as the General Assembly, with a specific call to allow petitions. House Republicans pass bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote The U.S. Constitution's First and 14th Amendments are the federal codes being violated, the suit states. It continues that by limiting free speech, the acts violate a 'core right.' President of the League of Women Voters of Arkansas Bonnie Miller said the lawsuit was to correct a fundamental wrong. 'Let's be clear: these laws spell the death of direct democracy in Arkansas,' she said. 'For decades, Arkansans of all political persuasions have utilized the ballot initiative process to pass popular reforms in our state. Now, the legislature wants to kill the process.' Attorney General Tim Griffin's office stated about the suit: 'We are reviewing the lawsuit and stand ready to defend the State.' An additional statement came from the Secretary of State's office: 'From day one, I have promised to protect Arkansas's electoral processes,' Jester said. 'The petition system has been filled with fraud and bad actors for too long. These laws are basic, commonsense protections, and we look forward to fighting for them.' League of Women Voters submits Arkansas ballot question to roll back initiative changes The Arkansas League of Women Voters has also submitted a referendum for voters to roll back the referendum process changes on the 2026 ballot. The organization made a second submission in March after Griffin's office rejected its initial submission. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arkansas lawmakers grant most of governor's wishes in 2025 session
Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, speaks against Senate Bill 354, the $750 million Franklin County prison appropriation, on the Senate floor on Monday, April 7, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) With one major exception, Arkansas lawmakers gave Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders almost everything she asked for in the 95th General Assembly, and even then it wasn't a total loss. The Legislature's Republican supermajority passed bills addressing Sanders' priorities: maternal health, a higher-education overhaul, concerns about the effects of social media platforms on children and restrictions on the influence of China in Arkansas. The big exception: funding for a planned 3,000-bed prison in rural Franklin County on the western side of the state. Senate Minority Leader Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, told the Advocate Wednesday that he's experienced longer and more challenging sessions since being elected to the state Legislature in 2010, but the 2025 session saw 'quite a lot of conflict.' Much of the controversy arose over efforts by one legislator to dissolve the State Library and its board and another lawmaker's efforts to police the use of public restrooms. Then there was a conflict about funding a new state prison. 'The biggest story is probably the defeat of the appropriation for the prison in Franklin County, especially considering that was one of the governor's top priorities,' Leding said. A $750 million appropriation bill to support the prison's construction died after five failed votes in the Senate this month. Sanders has pushed for the new penitentiary to alleviate overcrowding in county jails. State officials and residents have fought against the project, citing concerns about transparency, infrastructure and staffing. State lawmakers this week also challenged a separate bill that would have added $250 million to a correctional facilities set-aside fund into which the Legislature placed $330 million during the 2023 legislative session. An additional $75 million appropriated in 2022 for prison expansion has already been allocated to the Arkansas Department of Corrections, which can use the funding to move the project forward. Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, said Wednesday that money will support the hiring of architects and engineers who can help officials get a better understanding of the project's overall cost. Initial estimates set the prison's price tag at $825 million. The state Board of Corrections has already sought proposals from architects and general contractors. 'I would have liked to have funded the entire prison, but the members saw fit to just fund a portion of it, and that's great,' Hester said. 'We're moving in the direction we want to go, just not as fast as we wanted to go.' Putting a more positive spin on the rejection of the $750 million appropriation bill, its primary sponsor, Searcy Republican Sen. Jonathan Dismang, told the Joint Budget Committee Monday that the corrections department isn't likely to use all $75 million allocated to the agency before next year's fiscal session — when lawmakers can again explore options for funding prison expansion in April. If officials need more money before then, they can request lawmakers' approval for a temporary appropriation increase, he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Sanders' effort to address the state's poor maternal health outcomes found bipartisan support this session and culminated with her signing Act 124 into law just two weeks after announcing the policy. The Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act changes the state's Medicaid program by establishing presumptive Medicaid eligibility for pregnant Arkansans, offering reimbursements for doulas and community health workers and establishing pregnancy-related Medicaid coverage for specific treatments. Arkansas has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation, and the third-highest infant mortality rate, according to the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. Sanders last year convened a Strategic Committee for Maternal Health to develop recommendations for addressing the state's maternal health crisis. Sanders' efforts have not included support for expanding Medicaid coverage for postpartum mothers from 60 days to 12 months after birth because she said it would be 'duplicative.' Arkansas is the only state that has not taken advantage of this federal option. Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, and Sen. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville, presented legislation this session that would have provided the extended coverage to qualifying pregnant Arkansans. House Bill 1004 advanced through the House before failing in a Senate committee earlier this month. Arkansas' Medicaid expansion program, called ARHOME, covers people up to 138% of the federal poverty level. ARHOME covered 237,327 Arkansans as of the end of February, the latest figures available from the Department of Human Services. Regular Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program covered another 230,058 adults and 421,192 children, for a total 888,577 Medicaid beneficiaries. Since Jan. 1, 2023, Medicaid covers pregnant Arkansans with incomes of up to 214% of the federal poverty level, or about $45,200 for a family of two or $68,700 for a family of four. This coverage expires two months after birth, leaving many postpartum Arkansans to 'fall through the cracks,' Davis told the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on April 9. 'We have got to address this holistically, and I think there's been a lot of really good work done, but it has not included this group of women,' who do not qualify for Medicaid expansion, she said. The proposal to expand coverage had supporters from both political parties. House Minority Leader Rep. Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, proposed a similar bill that was never heard in committee. Sanders signed two bills Wednesday that she said in January's State of the State address she hoped would reach her desk during the session. The two bills cleared the Legislature on the last two days of business. One new law allows parents to file civil lawsuits against social media platforms if content on those platforms harms their children, and the other amends the state's blocked social media age verification law. The Social Media Safety Act of 2023 was the first of its kind in the nation and required social media platforms to verify the age of new account holders in Arkansas. Those under 18 could only access sites with parental permission. A federal judge temporarily blocked the law before it went into effect and permanently blocked it in March. The amendments to the Social Media Safety Act will go into effect in August. They more clearly define social media and apply the definition to more platforms, lower the age of minor users from under 18 to under 16 years old, prohibit social media algorithms from targeting minors, and add a penalty for noncompliance. The other bill Sanders signed would hold social media companies accountable for showing and promoting content to a child without that child's consent if viewing the content leads to 'significant bodily or cognitive harm.' Sanders has yet to take action on a third social media regulation bill on her desk, the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act. That bill would ban technology companies from collecting data from Arkansas minors except under specific circumstances, such as for financial transactions. Companies would also be barred from retaining that data and disclosing it to third parties that use the information in advertising targeted to children, and they would be required to provide notice and obtain consent if they are collecting data under permissible circumstances. Sanders signed a slew of bills that place new restrictions on direct democracy, the process by which Arkansans can propose new laws or constitutional amendments and put them to a statewide vote. Many were sponsored by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, who in 2026 will run for Secretary of State, the office that oversees elections. Hammer and other Republican lawmakers said adding regulations to the process of soliciting and gathering signatures on petitions will protect the integrity of direct democracy and discourage fraudulent behavior. New requirements include but are not limited to: Signature gatherers, known as canvassers, must inform potential signers that petition fraud is a criminal offense Canvassers must request a photo ID from potential signers Potential signers must read a petition's ballot title or have it read to them Ballot titles must be at an eighth-grade reading level or lower Petition sponsors cannot submit more than one conflicting petition at the same time Democratic lawmakers and members of the public said the restrictions will have a chilling effect on the people's right to initiate new laws and constitutional amendments. In February, a committee rejected a proposed enforcement agency within the Secretary of State's office to investigate the validity of submitted ballot initiative documents. On Wednesday, the final day of the session, the House voted down a bill that would have given the Legislature the authority to overturn voter-approved constitutional amendments. The Legislature also took up multiple 'foreign adversary' bills. While the bills technically targeted several nations — such as Iran, Russia and North Korea — China has been repeatedly mentioned by lawmakers intent on rooting out the Communist country's perceived influence within Arkansas. Sanders promoted the legislation, saying in press conferences and on social media that Arkansas is the first state to 'kick China off of our farmland and out of our state.' The session's efforts built off of legislation passed in 2023 and 2024 that limited Chinese businesses from owning land in Arkansas and prohibited them from operating cryptocurrency mining facilities. Many of the bills passed in the last days of the session, such as House Bill 1680, which built on Act 636 of 2023's prohibition against land ownership by foreign adversary-controlled businesses. HB1680 added more prohibitions on such businesses, banning them from holding leases on land or having an interest in agricultural land within 10 miles of 'critical infrastructure' such as dams or power generation facilities. Other foreign adversary bills targeted higher education. Act 473 of 2025 requires extensive screening of individuals being considered for employment by a university or college if the person is from a covered foreign adversary such as China, depending on the role they are being considered for. It also creates a high bar for higher education institutions to enter into research agreements or cultural exchanges with groups from foreign adversary nations, requiring they be rejected unless a strong state interest is identified. Another bill, House Bill 1352, prohibits funding for institutions of higher education that have a Chinese cultural center or a Confucius Institute. A federal government report in October 2023 noted there are fewer than five Confucius Institutes left in the U.S. since Congress restricted federal funding to schools with institutes. Under House Bill 1604, government agencies would be prohibited from buying promotional items such as stickers and mugs from Chinese businesses, while House Bill 1683 would bar government agencies from buying electric vehicles or their components if the vendor could not certify that it was not made using forced labor. HB1683 took particular aim at alleged forced-labor practices in China — specifically mentioning alleged human rights abuses committed against the Uyghur people — although the importation of goods made with forced labor has been illegal in the U.S. since 1930 with the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021 established that there is a presumption that all goods imported from China's Xinjiang region, where allegations of forced labor are concentrated, are produced using forced labor. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Sanders vetoes two bills on last day of legislative session
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — On the final day of the legislative session, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued two vetoes on bills that went to her desk for her signature. The two vetoes were the first of the 95th General Assembly. The first veto was for HB1889, which would authorize a dispensary to deliver orders or operate a drive-thru window. Sanders said in a statement that the reason why she vetoed the bill was that it 'would expand access to usable marijuana.' HB1889 was sponsored by Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R-Knoxville) and Sen. Joshua Bryant (R-Rogers). CVS shares statement after Arkansas bill restricting PBMs from owning pharmacies is signed into law The bill passed the House by 20 votes on April 2 and the Senate by four votes a week later. It was sent to the governor's desk on April 10. The Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association (ACIA) expressed disappointment in a statement released on Wednesday night after it was announced the bill had been vetoed. The Governor's veto message incorrectly asserts that this legislation 'would expand access to usable marijuana.' That is not supported by the text of the bill or the intent of its sponsors and supporters. HB1889 did not expand access to medical marijuana. The bill made no changes to patient eligibility, qualifying conditions or who may obtain a medical marijuana card under Arkansas law. Instead, it put patients first and proposed a set of measured operational improvements to better serve those already authorized to participate in the state's program. Not long after HB1889 was vetoed, Sanders issued a line-item veto for a part of HB1265, which would appropriate funds for the University of Arkansas – Little Rock. The line item vetoed by Sanders mentioned a position called the 'Dir. of Institute on Race & Ethnicity' with a maximum salary of $191,605. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders touts legislative accomplishments on final working day of 95th General Assembly Sanders issued the following statement regarding the line-item veto: 'This session, I championed Arkansas ACCESS, my plan to make college more accessible for all and get indoctrination out of college classrooms. Arkansas will not waste nearly $200,000 in taxpayer dollars on DEI administrators who promote woke nonsense.' HB1265 was sponsored by the Joint Budget Committee and was introduced on Jan. 27. It convincingly passed the House and Senate and was sent to the governor's desk on April 10. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Four takeaways from the final full week of the Arkansas 95th General Assembly
Video: Review for April 10 at the Arkansas capitol LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A flurry of activity in what is expected to be the last full week of the 95th General Assembly as legislators worked to get their bills across the finish line prior to adjournment next Wednesday. This week's activity included the passage of a bill affecting Pharmacy Benefit Managers and pharmacies, the suspension of funding allocation for a new prison, the signing of 55 new laws on Thursday and an expected change to the way gas royalties are paid. Arkansas high school sports eligibility law aimed at limiting transfers PHARMACY BENEFIT MANAGERS After being hotly debated in the Senate, passed and was sent on to the governor's office to be signed into law following a 26-9 vote. The bill would mandate that Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) could not own a pharmacy. Bill supporters cited a 2024 study by the Federal Trade Commission that stated PBMs were inflating drug costs and harming non-chain pharmacies. The bill's opponents included CVS Pharmacies, a PBM, which lobbied to have it voted down. CVS said in a statement that its 23 pharmacies in the state would close if this bill became law. Shortly after the bill's passage, a CVS spokesperson issued a statement calling for Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to veto the legislation. Unvaccinated child contracts first Arkansas measles case since 2018 PRISON ALLOCATION A bill for a 3,000-bed prison in rural Franklin County has been removed by consideration in the Senate. The bill was parked after facing five defeats in the Senate as opponents cited a lack of planning in the site selection and ancillary construction costs for supporting infrastructure. The afternoon after Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester (R-Cave City) said he did not plan on reintroducing the bill, Attorney General Tim Griffin spoke about the need for a new prison in the state to defeat county jail overcrowding due to state inmates being held in them. NEW LAWS Gov. Sanders signed on Thursday. The bills included those impacting the Freedom of Information Act, asking for federal money to support nuclear waste research and protecting religious freedom for faith-based adoption and foster agencies. With this latest round of signatures, the governor has signed 552 bills into law since the start of the 95th General Assembly. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs 55 bills into law on Thursday GAS ROYALTIES is being returned to the House on Monday after passing the Senate with an amendment on Thursday. If the bill becomes law, it will clarify the current law that allows well operators to charge leaseholders for handling and transporting a well's output. Arkansas has approximately 40,000 gas leaseholders. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Legislation to halt foreign funding in ballot measures filed in Arkansas legislature
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Legislation supported by the Arkansas secretary of state intends to stop foreign money from funding ballot initiatives. Secretary of State Cole Jester said House Bill 1837 would correct an existing problem. 'Federal law prohibits foreign nationals from donating money to the political elections of candidates, whether it be federal or state, but exploiting the loophole, foreign billionaires have been donating tens of hundreds of billions of dollars to statewide ballot initiatives across this country, including Arkansas,' Jester said. U.S. judge aims for April in decision on Pope County casino's future The Arkansas bill was filed before President Donald Trump signed an executive order to tackle the issue, but it goes hand in hand, Jester said. 'President Trump has taken action on this. In his recent executive order on election integrity, he said that the foreign funding of ballot initiatives is a serious problem that states need to address,' he said. Jester says there was Swiss foreign influence in the initiated act increasing the minimum wage in Arkansas in 2018. 'In the future, foreign billionaires will be prohibited from donating to our ballot initiatives, so the voice of the Arkansas people can be heard,' Jester said. Additional Arkansas constitutional amendments filed in legislature Rep. Mindy McAlindon (R-Centerton) is sponsoring the legislation. She said the bill would run this week. The legislation has some restrictions in its language, such as disclosure requirements to certify groups aren't accepting money from a foreign donor of over $10,000. New laws going into effect in Arkansas from the 95th General Assembly Secretary Jester said other states have experienced foreign influence in their ballot measures and expect more to come. 'In Arkansas, if you are a wealthy foreign national, we welcome your tourism, we welcome your friendship, but our constitution is not for sale,' Jester said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
