Arkansas General Assembly - Winding Down?

The legislative session is rapidly winding down. Maybe quicker than anyone imagined. More than a few people suggested that the General Assembly would adjourn on April 5, which leaves just two weeks to either consider the nearly 2,000 bills that remain on the table or disappoint a lot of legislators who didn't have a chance to have their bill heard. Of course the General Assembly won't consider them all, but they do typically pass around fifty or sixty percent of introduced bills so that would mean they would need to consider and approve more than 900 bills before adjourning. No way that happens by April 5.

One of the big stories for the past week was HB1418, which would have phased-in a transfer of sales taxes from vehicle-related sources (batteries, tires, car sales) from the state's general revenue to the Highway Department. As originally conceived the bill would have phased-in a gradual transfer of this revenue so that in ten years the Highway Department would have had nearly $400 million per year in additional funding to pay for maintenance and construction. The Highway Department's main funding source - the federal trust fund and state gas taxes - have been flat while the cost of maintaining and building new highways has skyrocketed. This disparity prompted the proposal to shift sales taxes to the Highway Department

Governor Mike Beebe and the state's institutions of higher education led a very spirited opposition to HB1418 because of their fears that any transfer of general revenue to the highway department would result in cuts to universities and community colleges. A number of other advocacy groups joined in the opposition and were able to strip away co-sponsors from the bill. The bill's sponsor amended the legislation a number of times to reduce the potential impact to higher education, but an acceptable compromise could not be reached. The Transportation Committee heard the legislation on Thursday and the normally quiet committee was transformed into standing room only as supporters and opponents took over an hour to argue the merits and drawbacks of the bill.

The bill required 11 votes to pass out of committee and on to full consideration by the House. After a roll call, the bill garnered ten yes votes - one short and HB1418 failed to advance.

Also this week, the legislature received a consultant's report on the viability of the proposed Big River Steel project. The House and Senate Agri/Economic Development committees meet on Monday to discuss the report and make recommendations on incentives. The state is being asked to issue $125 million in bonds to fund a $50 million loan to Big River Steel and use the remaining $75 million for site preparation and issuance costs. The state is also offering various sales tax exemptions and income tax credits estimated at more than $200 million.

In return, Big River Steel will build a $1.1 billion steel facility in Osceola that will employ 525 people at an average wage of $75,000. The success of the facility depends in large part upon the global demand for steel. The report projects steel demand will increase by 8.7 million short tons a year and the new plant has a capacity for more than 3 million short tons or approximately 1/3 of projected increase in demand.

So how does the state benefit from this investment? The state will collect additional income taxes from the 525 jobs created, collect sales tax from purchases made by the plant both during construction and operation and corporate income taxes from the company itself. The report projects that by investing $125 million in bonds the state will likely recover their investment plus earn a return of more than $50 million in sales, corporate and income taxes.

If this "modest level of economic benefits," as the report describes it, is enough to prompt the state to issue the bonds we shall likely see next week.

This week could also see an announced agreement on tax cuts. Media reports say that legislative leadership and the Governor's office are hinting that an agreement is close on up to $100 million in total tax cuts. With so many tax cut proposals introduced (in the billions if all were approved) there appear to be a few that have the most support. The leaders seem to be cuts to grocery, income and manufacturing-related taxes.

There is so much to be decided between now and the end of the session. They have to make a decision on Medicaid/insurance expansion for Arkansans earning 138% or less of federal poverty limits, cobble together a budget and consider up to three potential constitutional amendments. I can't imagine a more frenzied finish to a legislative session than what the 89th is going to experience.

If you want to see a list of committees, their members and pending legislation you can find that information HERE.