Senate News

The state Education Department has partnered with a non-profit organization called Forward Arkansas to address a growing teacher shortage in Arkansas.

The legislature completed the 2022 fiscal session in 23 days, approving a budget for state government that calls for spending about $6 billion in general revenue next year.

Certified law enforcement officers will get a $5,000 salary stipend this year, thanks to a Senate bill approved by the Arkansas legislature.

The legislature approved a package of bills that allow greater oversight of two major health insurance plans that cover public school teachers and state employees.

The legislature completed the first week of the 2022 fiscal session, approving budgets for numerous state agencies and advancing reforms of public health insurance systems.

For decades prison overcrowding has sparked a financial tug-of-war between the state and Arkansas counties.

Arkansas motorists who wish to contact the State Police for non-emergency reasons can now call *ASP on their cell phones. Dialing *ASP is the same as dialing *277.

Last year Arkansas joined a rental assistance program to help people who have lost jobs or businesses from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

So far the state Department of Human Services (DHS) made 31,373 payments, totalling $64.6 million. The money helps people with rent and utility bills, so they do not have to move out of their home or have their lights turned off.

The state Division of Children and Family Services intends to try out a new method of intervention, by assigning cases to a team of workers instead of to an individual.

The legislature has begun budget hearings in preparation for the 2022 fiscal session, which begins on February 14. Legislators will consider the governor’s proposed balanced budget of about $6 billion for Fiscal Year 2023, which officially begins on July 1.