Senator Bart Hester of Cave Springs represents Senate District 33, which includes the cities of Bentonville, Rogers, Centerton and Cave Springs in Benton County. He was elected to the Senate in 2012 and took the oath of office on the first day of the 2013 session.
Senator Hester was elected by his colleagues to two consecutive terms as the Senate President Pro Tempore. Only two other people have served two terms as President Pro Tempore in modern times.
Senator Hester believes in holding down the size of government and reducing government debt. He has been a consistent sponsor of legislation to lower taxes and reduce regulatory burdens on business. Also, his legislative priorities include bills to improve foster care and adoption services.
In 2025 Senator Hester sponsored legislation to create a recreational tramway in the state park systems, which economic developers had been working for in order to promote tourism.
In 2023, Senator Hester sponsored legislation to promote permanency and to strengthen kinship placements for children in foster care.
In 2021 he co-sponsored legislation that requires public schools to teach about the Holocaust.
In 2017 and 2019, Senator Hester was the Senate Majority Whip and Senate Majority Leader respectively. In 2017, he co-sponsored legislation to provide $50 million in income tax relief to lower-income families. In 2015, he co-sponsored legislation to provide $100 million in income tax relief to middle class Arkansas families.
A native of Green Forest, he is a 2001 graduate of the Sam Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. While working on his degree in Fayetteville, he lettered for three years for the Razorbacks’ varsity baseball team. His business interests are in real estate and construction.
