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National Rice Month

Rice is grown in over 40 Arkansas counties. The crop contributes billions to the state’s economy and accounts for approximately 25,000 jobs, crucial to rural communities.September is National Rice Month, a month-long celebration of all things rice. In Arkansas, we have a great deal to celebrate.Our state is home to 2,300 rice farms, and 96% […]
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Labor Day 2021

The State of Arkansas will observe Labor Day as an official state holiday on Monday, September 6th, 2021.  State Capitol offices and state buildings will be closed.  The State Capitol will be open to the public from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. A legal holiday by authority of Act 304 of 2001 and amended by […]
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Reimagine Arkansas Workforce Project

This week, the Arkansas Legislative Council Higher Education Subcommittee reviewed details of a new program designed to benefit Arkansans who have been economically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Reimagine Arkansas Workforce Project provides funding for qualifying individuals to complete online training at no cost in order to meet workforce needs across the state. The […]
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Flashing Red, Kids Ahead

Everyone has a responsibility to ensure students arrive at and from school safely. This includes being mindful of student safety when approaching school buses. We want to take this week to remind Arkansans to obey all traffic laws whenever they are near a school bus. It is illegal to pass a stopped school bus whenever […]
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JOINT STATEMENT FROM SENATE PRO TEMPORE HICKEY AND HOUSE SPEAKER SHEPHERD

NEWS RELEASE    JOINT STATEMENT FROM SENATE PRO TEMPORE HICKEY AND HOUSE SPEAKER SHEPHERD   Little Rock, Arkansas (August 13, 2021) – Arkansas Senate Pro Tempore Jimmy Hickey and Arkansas House Speaker Matthew Shepherd released the following statement Friday afternoon regarding McClane, et al v. State of Arkansas, et al : “Today we jointly retained […]
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State Agencies Committee discusses Redistricting

The House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee met on Monday to begin the discussion on the redistricting process for Congressional districts in Arkansas.Redistricting is the periodic redrawing of district boundaries that elected representatives who serve specific geographic areas.The periodic updating of districts must be done because, in a series of 1960’s cases, the U.S. […]
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93rd General Assembly convenes for Extraordinary Session

This week, House members convened in the House Chamber for two orders of business. In accordance with ACT 403 of the Regular Session, the House convened as a committee of the whole on Tuesday, August 4, to consider whether to terminate the Governor’s July 29, 2021 declaration of a statewide public health emergency. When it […]
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2021 First Call to Extraordinary Session

The House will convene on Wednesday, August 4th at 10 am for an Extraordinary Session. You can read the Governor’s proclamation below: Governor Asa Hutchinson 2021 First Call to Extraordinary Session
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House to Convene on August 3rd, at 10 AM

Members are scheduled to return to the House Chamber next week. On Tuesday, August 3, we will convene as a Committee of the Whole to address the Governor’s recent state of emergency proclamation. Citing an increase in infections and hospitalizations due to the Delta Variant of COVID-19, the Governor declared a statewide public health emergency […]
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Committee hears report on Aggressive Driving in AR

This week, a subcommittee of Arkansas Legislative Council that provides oversight for Arkansas Game and Fish and Arkansas State Police heard from Arkansas State Police Director Col. Bill Bryant regarding recent successes and challenges facing state troopers. His testimony alerted us to some startling statistics regarding an increase in aggressive driving and fatal accidents in […]
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Sales Tax Holiday

This week, we want to remind you about the upcoming Arkansas Sales Tax holiday. This year, the event will begin at 12:01 am on Saturday, August 7, and end at 11:59 pm on Sunday, August 8.This is now the 10th year that Arkansans can take advantage of this break from state and local sales tax […]