LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Arkansas lawmakers are convening Monday for this year’s session to craft the state’s $6 billion budget for the coming year, but could face renewed fights over abortion and other culture war issues.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson kicked off the fiscal session with his final state of the state address before members of the House and Senate. This will likely be the last legislative session for Hutchinson, a Republican who is barred by term limits from seeking reelection, unless he calls a special session later this year.
Hutchinson has proposed a budget that calls for increasing spending by 3.3%, with proposals to boost pay for state troopers and to set aside money to cut the waiting list for services for the developmentally disabled.
Hutchinson last week also proposed tapping into up to $100 million in surplus funds to pay for a nearly 500-bed expansion of the state’s prison system.
Hutchinson and legislative leaders say they hope to keep the focus primarily on the state’s budget during the fiscal session. But with a two-thirds vote of lawmakers in both chambers of the Legislature, bills not related to the budget can be brought up.
One likely to come up will be a renewed attempt to enact an abortion ban modeled after Texas’ law, which leaves enforcement up to private citizens. Supporters of such a ban pushed unsuccessfully for it to be taken up in December, when lawmakers met and approved a massive tax cut package.
Hutchinson, who has signed several major abortion restrictions since taking office, said he believes lawmakers should wait to see what happens with a case before the U.S. Supreme Court over a Mississippi abortion ban. The court has signaled it could weaken or overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
Other non-budget items that have been floated by some lawmakers include a renewed attempt to restrict how race is taught in schools, part of a nationwide effort by Republicans. Lawmakers are also expected to take up proposals aimed at curbing costs in the state employee insurance programs.
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