2016 Fiscal Session underway

2016 Fiscal Session underway

Just minutes after our final vote on Friday, Governor Hutchinson signed into law the bills that establish the guidelines for Arkansas Works.

As we have mentioned previously, Arkansas Works replaces the program currently referred to as the Private Option which uses federal Medicaid funding to provide private insurance plans for the state’s lowest income residents. Arkansas Works makes changes to the program such as directing the unemployed to work training programs, requiring wellness exams, and payment of premiums for individuals making above 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.

HB1001 passed the House with a vote of 70-30. The Senate version of the bill passed with a vote of 68-27 and 1 member voting present.

This law will now be presented to the U.S. Health and Human Services Agency for federal approval to begin implementing the changes.

The Extraordinary Session is now adjourned. We are now back to the Capitol for the Fiscal Session, which began Wednesday.

Going into this Fiscal Session, we are anticipating balancing a budget with a 2 percent growth from the previous year.

Unemployment in the state is now at 4.2 percent. This is the lowest it has been in 15 years.

The outlook for our budget is always more optimistic when we know more Arkansans are in the workforce.

We anticipate voting on proposals to increase funding to education and Children and Family Services which oversees all foster care cases in the state.

Fiscal Sessions were approved by Arkansas voters through a ballot measure in 2008. This will be the state’s 4th Fiscal Session. The intention of Fiscal Sessions is to limit debate during this time to the budget. It takes a vote of 2/3 from both chambers to introduce anything other than an appropriation bill.

Over 200 appropriations been have been filed so far.

Whether it is funding for the classroom or a veteran’s home, every single Arkansan is impacted in one way or another by our state budget.

We invite you to be a part of this process. You can read the bills and watch our House proceedings live at www.arkansashouse.org.

From State Representative Milton Nicks