92nd_Arkansas_General_Assembly

92nd Arkansas General Assembly

92nd Arkansas General Assembly

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The Ninety-Second Arkansas General Assembly is the legislative body of the state of Arkansas in 2019 and 2020. In this General Assembly, the Arkansas Senate and Arkansas House of Representatives were both controlled by the Republicans. In the Senate, 26 senators were Republicans and 9 were Democrats. In the House, 76 representatives were Republicans, 24 were Democrats. A special session was called in March 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Sessions

Major events

Vacancies

  • Representative John Walker (D-34th) died on October 28, 2019.[4] The Democratic primary to fill the seat was held January 14, resulting in a runoff between Joy Springer and Ryan Davis. The runoff appeared to end in a tie until a ballot arrived from Sweden, giving Springer the one-vote win.[5] She defeated independent candidate Roderick Talley on March 3 and was sworn March 18, 2020 to fill the seat for the remainder of the term.[6]
  • Representative Mickey Gates (R-22nd) made national news in 2018 for failing to pay taxes for 15 years, but had resisted calls for his resignation.[7] The House voted to expel Gates in October 2019, leaving his seat vacant until a special election.[8] Richard McGrew (R) won a special election on March 3 to fill the seat for remainder of the term. He was sworn in on March 18, 2020.[6]

Legislative summary

The legislature was prolific during the regular session, considering 684 Senate bills and 986 House bills. A total of 1,091 bills become law; Governor Asa Hutchinson did not veto any bills.

  • The governor's priority, state government reorganization, merged state agencies from 42 to 15 under the Transformation and Efficiency Act of 2019.
  • Act 182 cuts Arkansas's top individual income tax rate from 6.9 percent to 5.9 percent over two years.

In the special session, both chambers unanimously sent identical COVID-19 relief-related bills enabling the creation of a $173 million COVID-19 Rainy Day Fund from previously unallocated reserves.[9] By the start of the fiscal session, three lawmakers had tested positive for COVID-19.[10] A short fiscal session met to pass an annual budget, revised lower due to lower revenue forecasts, and reauthorized Arkansas Works, Arkansas's Medicaid expansion.[11] Lawmakers and staff were provided with cloth masks sewed by friends and family of Rep. Robin Lundstrum (R-87th).[12]

Lawmakers produced a $5.89 billion general revenue budget in the fiscal session by votes of 35-0 and 98-0 and sent it to the governor on April 16.[13]

Senate

Leadership

Officers

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Floor Leaders

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Source: Arkansas Senate[14]

Senators

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House of Representatives

Leadership

Officers

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Floor Leaders

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Source: Arkansas House of Representatives[16]

Representatives

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  1. [N 1]
    Expelled from office October 11, 2019.[8] Richard McGrew (R) sworn March 18, 2020.[6]
  2. [N 2]
    Died in office October 28, 2019.[4] Joy Springer (D) sworn March 18, 2020.[6]

References

  1. [1]
    Moritz, John; Wickline, Michael R. (March 27, 2020). "State lawmakers meet — Senate in its chambers, House in basketball arena — to weigh covid-19 fund". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. ISSN 1060-4332. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  2. [2]
    Wickline, Michael R. (April 22, 2019). "Capitol session wraps up this week". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock, AR. ISSN 1060-4332. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  3. [3]
    Wickline, Michael R. (March 24, 2020). "Arkansas governor says he plans to call special session on Thursday". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. ISSN 1060-4332. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  4. [4]
    Wickline, Michael R.; Kruse, Nyssa. "State legislator, civil-rights attorney John Walker dies at 82". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. ISSN 1060-4332. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  5. [5]
    Moritz, John (February 22, 2020). "Ballot from Sweden breaks House-race tie". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. pp. 1B, 3B. ISSN 1060-4332. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  6. [6]
    Wickline, Michael R. (March 18, 2020). "Two state lawmakers sworn into office - Filling vacancies in the House, both will face challengers in November". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. ISSN 1060-4332. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  7. [7]
    Dedaj, Paulina (June 28, 2018). "Arkansas lawmaker accused of filing no taxes for 15 years arrested". Fox News. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  8. [8]
    Glisovic, Marine (October 11, 2019). "Rep. Mickey Gates expelled from Arkansas House in historic vote". KATV. ABC7.
  9. [9]
    Moritz, John; Wickline, Michael R. (March 28, 2020). "Lawmakers pass 'rainy-day' funding - $173M put on tap for budget holes". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. ISSN 1060-4332. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  10. [10]
    Moritz, John (April 7, 2020). "3rd state House member tests positive for covid-19". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. pp. 9, 11. ISSN 1060-4332. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  11. [11]
    "Arkansas lawmakers OK budget, ending session amid pandemic". Little Rock: Associated Press. April 16, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2020 – via Newsbank.
  12. [12]
    Rice, Maylon T. (April 22, 2020). "Volunteers Create Masks For State Legislators, Staff". Washington County Enterprise-Leader. Farmington: Northwest Arkansas Newspapers, LLC. p. 8A.
  13. [13]
    Wickline, Michael R. (April 16, 2020). "Arkansas House, Senate OK budget bills, wrap up fiscal session". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. ISSN 1060-4332. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  14. [14]
    Staff of the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research (2019). "Leadership". Little Rock: Arkansas Senate. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  15. [15]
    Staff of the Arkansas General Assembly (2020). "Legislators List". Arkansas General Assembly. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  16. [16]
    Staff of the Arkansas House of Representatives (2019). "Leadership". Little Rock: Arkansas House of Representatives. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
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