Senate News

  • ARConnect has been working on major broadband expansion and upgrades for Arkansas

    Download DOC LITTLE ROCK –The Arkansas Broadband Office known as ARConnect has been working on major broadband expansion and upgrades for Arkansas.  The Federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program approved a new $1 billion initiative in funding to overhaul the Arkansas broadband expansion plan.  Currently, the state is in the final stages of […]

    22 Oct 2025 Weekly Updates
  • Most Congested Highways in the State

    Download DOC LITTLE ROCK – In 2019 the legislature passed Act 789, directing the Arkansas Department of Transportation to collect information on the most congested highways in the state, as well as the stretches of road with the highest frequency of crashes. The purpose is to provide legislators with the data they need to make […]

    15 Oct 2025 Weekly Updates
  • Arkansas Biosciences Institute Surpasses Research Funding Milestone

    Download DOC LITTLE ROCK – The Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI) has secured more than a billion dollars in research funding since it was created about 25 years ago, its directors announced at a recent meeting. They emphasized that the billion dollars did not come from a government appropriation or a large grant that designated a […]

    09 Oct 2025 Weekly Updates
  • Arkansas Schools Receive Letter Grades

    Download DOC LITTLE ROCK – The state Department of Education has released letter grades for all public schools in Arkansas. They can be found on the Department’s web site. The Internet address for the school report cards is quite lengthy. Perhaps the simplest way to access them is to conduct a search for “Arkansas school […]

    01 Oct 2025 Weekly Updates
  • Letter to U.S. Senators Regarding Government Shutdown

    PDF of Letter On Friday, September 26, 2025, Senate Majority Leader, Senator Blake Johnson with President Pro Tempore, Senator Bart Hester, with 24 other state senators sent a letter to U.S. Senators urging them to extend funding to prevent a government shutdown.      

    29 Sep 2025 News Releases
  • Legislators Explore Methods of Helping Caregivers

    Download DOC LITTLE ROCK – Last year about 173,000 Arkansans spent more than 265 million hours taking care of family members or friends who were suffering from Alzheimer’s. They were not paid for those hours. Measured another way, that amount of care would have cost $5.4 billion if government or private insurance had paid for […]

    25 Sep 2025 Weekly Updates
  • Arkansas Seeing Progress in Efforts to Improve Maternal Health Care

    Download DOC LITTLE ROCK – Earlier this year the legislature enacted broad measures to improve maternal health care in Arkansas, and progress is already being made. Act 140 of 2025, also known as the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act, makes maternal care more available for women of all ages and socio-economic categories. Act 140 has […]

    17 Sep 2025 Weekly Updates
  • Schools Focus on Third Grade Literacy Skills

    Download DOC LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas education officials are promoting more “acceleration’ in schools because they believe students can handle more rigorous content, the Secretary of Education told legislators. Acceleration means teaching middle schoolers more subjects that used to be strictly limited to high schools. It means encouraging high school students to take concurrent college […]

    10 Sep 2025 Weekly Updates
  • Arkansas Schools Begin Year in New Insurance System

    Download DOC LITTLE ROCK – Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, superintendents and school boards will learn to adjust to a new system of property and casualty insurance. It’s called SCIP for short. That stands for the State Captive Insurance Program that was created by legislation enacted earlier this year in Act 779 to create […]

    03 Sep 2025 Weekly Updates
  • President Pro Tempore Bart Hester’s Statement on the Passing of Senator Gary Stubblefield

    I am saddened to learn of the passing of Senator Stubblefield this morning. He was a man of deep faith in his Lord and savior Jesus Christ. He was a man of integrity and was committed to the protecting rights of the unborn and the protection of the Second Amendment.  My thoughts and prayers are with […]

    02 Sep 2025 News Releases