By STEVE BRAWNER | Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.
The 2024 fiscal session went about as expected, and that’s probably not a bad thing.
Legislators came and went. In between they passed a budget as required by the Constitution. They also enacted the governor’s temporary state employee pay plan and crypto mining legislation as allowed under the Constitution.
The budget is the primary reason for the fiscal session. Lawmakers passed one that included $6.31 billion in spending, which was about $109 million more than the previous budget, or about a 1.76% increase. Going into the session, forecasters had projected a $376.6 million surplus coming from $6.69 billion in revenues.
The governor’s budget is prepared by full-time staff members at the Department of Finance and Administration and other agencies. Legislators are consulted, but the governor sets the agenda – especially for the 30-day fiscal session, and especially when she is at the height of her powers, newly elected and somewhat of a national celebrity. At this point, she’s going to get most of what she wants.
Lawmakers also can debate nonbudgetary issues if two-thirds support a resolution authorizing it, and they did regarding two matters.
One was the governor’s temporary plan to increase state employee salaries one time by up to 3% while increasing the minimum salary to $32,405 a year. As with the budget, this is something the governor wanted, and legislators didn’t seem to disagree. Salaries have been increasing in the private sector, and state government must be able to compete for talent.
The one issue that was unsettled going into the session was what to do about crypto mining facilities popping up across the landscape. Lawmakers hastily passed a law last year that made it very easy for these noisy, energy-sucking, often-partially-foreign-owned data mining locations to open. They’ve gotten an earful from constituents who themselves are getting earfuls from the mines. So going into the session, it was expected that crypto mining would be issue.
What wasn’t clear was whether lawmakers would be able to coalesce around legislation to do something about it. There were so many proposed bills that it seemed possible lawmakers would have to punt until next year’s regular session.
But soon it became obvious what would happen. Legislators were going to let the primary sponsors of last year’s bad legislation offer the primary remedy. Act 173, sponsored by Sen. Josh Bryant, R-Rogers, and Rep. Rick McClure, R-Malvern, requires the mines to reduce noise while allowing more local regulation and prohibiting ownership by certain foreign entities.
In addition, lawmakers also passed Act 174 by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, requiring crypto mines to be permitted by the Oil and Gas Commission.
Six resolutions by Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, along with Rep. Josh Miller, R-Heber Springs, that would have gone farther did not advance. That also was not a huge surprise. King is a bit of a maverick, and this time the Legislature was going to go a different, more cautious direction.
What was mildly surprising was that Democrats did not wholeheartedly join him and Miller in their efforts. Democrats had a chance to make some allies while painting themselves as the defenders of the little guy in rural Arkansas. But many Democrats did not support the efforts. One, Rep. Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, tweeted that he did not want fiscal sessions to grow beyond budgetary matters. That’s understandable, but his party may have missed a political opportunity.
The session’s other major event thus far was the re-election of Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, as Senate president pro tempore. Again, that was no surprise. Hester is likable. He fits in well ideologically with today’s Republican Party. He is close to the governor and helped her pass her agenda in last year’s regular session.
Moving forward, expect the House Republicans to elect Rep. Bryan Evans, R-Cabot, as House speaker-designate Thursday. Expect the governor to call a special session later this year to cut state income taxes. Expect lawmakers to pass whatever she proposes. In November, don’t expect the election to produce many surprise winners in state legislative races.
Then in January, lawmakers will return to the Capitol for their regular session, when they can debate just about anything.
Then, expect the unexpected.
Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 17 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com. Follow him on X at @stevebrawner.