The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission remains in limbo after the General Assembly failed to pass an appropriations bill for the agency last week. This means that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will have no spending power at the start of the fiscal year on July 1st, unless the Governor and general assembly take action before then by calling a special session.
The disagreement hinged on a salary increase for its director. Senator Bart Hester told KATV that they have not reached any decisions yet, but did say “There is no reason to panic. We are going to fund game and fish.” Randy Zellers, Assistant Chief of Communications for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said, “Last year, we had a new pay plan approved and line-item maximums moved up for every position except the director. The director voluntarily removed his line-item maximum to make sure that his employees would get their line-item maximum moved up last year.” Zellers says that the salary for the director position hasn’t seen an increase since 2018.
If a conclusion isn’t met, Zellers says projects may have to be suspended if they don’t receive funding, including many important research projects with universities.
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