Senate News

  • Arkansas Lottery – Academic Challenge Scholarship

    Download DOC When the jackpot approaches a billion dollars a lot of people go out and buy lottery tickets, even though normally they hardly pay any attention to the lottery. Those occasions are good news for Arkansas college students, because the state will collect more money than usual for lottery scholarships. For example, ticket sales […]

    27 Nov 2023 Weekly Updates
  • Crime Information Center (ACIC)

    Download DOC Law enforcement is predominately a duty of local governments, and the overwhelming majority of police officers in Arkansas work for cities and counties. However, state government does have 1,299 employees in the Department of Public Safety. There are 897 people working for the State Police. The Division of Emergency Management has 88 employees. […]

    22 Nov 2023 Weekly Updates
  • Arkansas Legislature Passes Comprehensive School Safety Laws

    Download DOC The Arkansas legislature has tried to apply lessons learned by other states when it enacted school safety laws over the past several years. The legislature also applied the best practices recommended by the School Safety Commission in 2018 and 2022. The Senate and House Committees on Education heard an update from the chair […]

    15 Nov 2023 Weekly Updates
  • AEDC Setting Records for Economic Development

    Download DOC The Arkansas Economic Development Commission broke records for job creation and investment last year. Thirty companies invested close to $6 billion and announced the creation of 5,359 jobs. The average salary of those new jobs is $29 an hour. Last year got off to a good start, with the announcement of the largest […]

    09 Nov 2023 Weekly Updates
  • State Still Accepting Applications for Education Freedom Accounts

    The state will continue to accept applications from families who want to fund their children’s tuition with Education Freedom Accounts, and perhaps as early as February the state will begin accepting applications for next school year.

    01 Nov 2023 Weekly Updates
  • DHS Returning Medicaid Rolls to Pre-Pandemic Levels

    Download DOC One of the ongoing developments in state government over the past six months has been the efforts of the Human Services Department to reduce the number of people on Medicaid. The goal is to return the health coverage program to levels more closely resembling those prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic […]

    25 Oct 2023 Weekly Updates
  • Most Arkansas Colleges Report Enrollment Growth

    Download DOC Since last year enrollment has gone up at most of the publicly supported institutions of higher education in Arkansas. The academic year began about a month ago and headcounts for this year are based on enrollment as of the 11th day of class. The largest campus in the state is the University of […]

    18 Oct 2023 Weekly Updates
  • State Education Department Releases School Report Cards

    The state Department of Education has released its annual school report cards, which allow parents to evaluate how well their children are being taught and whether they are learning at grade level. The school report cards provide a wealth of data and create an effective system of accountability for public education.

    11 Oct 2023 Weekly Updates
  • Press Release from Senator Missy Irvin on Attorney General’s Opinion (2023-059)

    This week the Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin submitted an Opinion (2023-059) to clarify the laws concerning Arkansas School Board Association’s policies concerning previous legislation I had written.

    The laws the legislature created were very clear in their purpose and intent.  It was brought to my attention that a school board had a policy mirroring a federal model that would violate those laws.  Therefore, I sought the Attorney General’s opinion.

    06 Oct 2023 News Releases
  • Transportation Department Gets $87 Million in Federal Funding to Reduce Air Pollution

    Download DOC LITTLE ROCK – The state Transportation Department has written a plan to reduce carbon emissions by improving traffic flow and connecting highways more efficiently with railroad terminals and ports. The department is due to receive $87 million from the federal government, between now and 2026, for projects that reduce carbon emissions. According to […]

    04 Oct 2023 Weekly Updates