Sanders’ State of the State shows what will pass

By STEVE BRAWNER

One big difference between a president’s typical State of the Union address and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ State of the State address April 8 is this: What the governor proposed will actually happen.

While the State of the Union often features a laundry list of policy proposals applauded only by the president’s party, Sanders’ State of the State at the beginning of this year’s fiscal session didn’t offer many policy specifics. And while there were standing ovations and opposition sit-downs, it didn’t have a partisan vibe.

In fact, don’t expect a lot of fireworks during the fiscal session, for three reasons. First, fiscal sessions, which happen every even-numbered year, are designed to last 30 days and focus on relatively boring budget matters. Lawmakers can get into other topics, but most don’t want to. Second, Sanders is in her first term and still likely to pass most of her priorities through a supportive Legislature. Third, Sanders has taken the most contentious item, her proposed 3,000-bed Franklin County prison, off the table for now. It just doesn’t have the votes, and may never have them.

We can be fairly certain, then, that lawmakers will agree to Sanders’ request for full support of the educational freedom accounts in her 2003 LEARNS Act. Those accounts provide families of any income level about $7,000 per child annually for private and homeschooling expenses. 

The program is now serving roughly 44,000 students. She is asking for more than $309 million for it this upcoming year, which is what the program spent this past year after legislators twice increased funding. She’s also asking for $70 million in reserve funding.

Sanders said the program has succeeded in its aims. She recognized a Tillar student in the audience who had struggled in public school but is thriving at Cornerstone Christian Academy. She also referenced a homeschooling mother of two children with learning differences, and an EasterSeals student who had found a place to belong.

Critics, however, have questioned how some families are spending the money. There’s been some back and forth at the Department of Education regarding sports expenses. Most LEARNS beneficiaries were already in private and homeschooling arrangements before the program went into effect. Wealthy families who were sending their children to expensive schools are now receiving a government subsidy.

Those arguments aside, if there’s ever going to be a big fight about LEARNS, it won’t happen this year.

Meanwhile, Sanders also asked legislators not to pass any new Medicaid coverage mandates or additional long-term ongoing expenses. An unmentioned example would be expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage from the current 60 days to 12 months. Arkansas is the only state that hasn’t gone to 12 months. Sanders has said there are other options. 

She said if lawmakers hold the line on Medicaid expenses, she’ll call a special session to cut top-rate income taxes from 3.9% to 3.7% for the state’s highest-earning taxpayers. It would be the fourth income tax cut in four years. 

Sanders’ mom, former first lady Janet Huckabee, was in the audience, while her dad was tending to his duties as ambassador to Israel. 

Early in her speech, given three days after Easter, Sanders said, “If you hear nothing else I say today, hear this: Jesus is our living hope – for each of us, for our state, for our country. America was founded 250 years ago as one nation under God. We have our differences, but our shared faith, our shared values, and our shared love of the people of Arkansas is stronger and more important than any difference.”

She closed by retelling a story she’s told many times about a trip she made to Iraq as President Trump’s press secretary on Christmas Day 2018. A young soldier, Dustin Singer, gave her a patch off his shoulder and told her they were in this together. She said the encounter changed her life.

This time, she updated it. After she became governor, Singer reached out from Virginia, and she asked if he had considered moving to Arkansas. When he retired from the Army last year, he moved his wife, children and grandmother to the state. He works for the Department of Veterans Affairs helping veterans from Arkansas and elsewhere find meaningful employment here. One, Mason Bennett, works for the Department of Corrections. His parents are moving here next year. 

“And when asked why, he said, ‘Because the American dream is alive, and it’s in Arkansas,’” she said.

As long as that’s true, the state of the state is pretty good.

Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 24 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.