Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has called for a special session in August to discuss possible tax cuts.

The previously estimated Arkansas budget surplus for the 2022 fiscal year of $1.4 billion grew to a record $1.6 billion.

The special session will be held the week of August 8.

This affects lobbyist reporting.

Lobbyists who are registered to lobby the General Assembly are required to file a monthly report for any month the General Assembly is in session.

The report will be due August 10, which is 10 days after the month of the session.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson will call the Legislature back into a special session beginning December 7 to take up a tax cut plan.

The primary focus of the special session will be on the tax cut package that calls for reducing the state’s top income tax rate from 5.9% to 4.9%.

The package, which also includes corporate tax cuts and a low-income tax credit, would cost the state $135 million in the current fiscal year and grow to nearly $498 million when fully implemented in 2026.

While the session’s agenda will include several other items, Hutchinson said he does not plan to include a proposal to enact neighboring Texas’ unique law banning abortions six weeks into pregnancy.

Lawmakers, however, could vote to extend the session to take up abortion or any other items with a two-thirds vote of both chambers after the items on the agenda are considered.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson set a February 8 special election date to replace Sen. Lance Eads of Springdale.

Eads resigned to take a lobbying job. Former state Rep. Jim Bob Duggar is the only announced candidate so far.

The governor’s proclamation also sets December 14 for party primaries.

A special runoff primary, if needed, is set for January 11.

Candidate filing begins at noon November 15 and ends at noon one week later.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson reinstated the states’ general health emergency July 29 and called for a special legislative session to convene in the first week of August.

Hutchinson cited staffing shortages at hospitals along with the rising number of COVID cases.

His emergency directs the state to seek help from other states and to ease licensure rules for health care professionals. Huthcinson also contacted the White House for possible assistance.

The special session will amend Act 1002, which prohibits the state government from requiring face masks for most entities, including schools.

The Arkansas Legislature is currently in extended recess and is still considered to be in session for purposes of lobbyist activity reports. Lobbyists who are registered to lobby the General Assembly are required to file a monthly report for any month the General Assembly is in session.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson will call a special session of the Arkansas Legislature on Thursday, March 26.

The session will fill budget holes caused by the economic fallout from COVID-19.

Gov. Hutchinson announced the special session would grant him the authority to use the state’s $173 million unallocated budget surplus.

He plans to fill budget needs after his administration cut the state’s general revenue by $353 million to $5.38 billion.

The governor made the budget cuts in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019.

The special session triggers a lobbyist activity report (monthly) due April 10 for the reporting period of March 1 through March 31.

The special session is expected to span three calendar days.

The House of Representatives will meet at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Jack Stephens Center rather than the Capitol to limit close contact of legislators.

On May 23, the Third Extraordinary Session of the 90th General Assembly adjourned sine die.

The primary focus of the special session was Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s $50 million highway funding plan. After three days, the plan was given final approval by the Legislature.

The Legislature finished the fiscal session on May 5, 2016, with the formal sine die adjournment scheduled for Monday, May 9, 2016.

Legislators will return on May 19 for a special legislative session to address Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s highway funding plan.

Lawmakers have passed a bill authorizing the Ethics Commission to oversee new ethics laws contained in a constitutional amendment passed by voters on November 4, 2014. The amendment prohibited lobbyist gifts and corporate contributions, but did not provide the Ethics Commission authority to administer the constitutional changes.

House Bill 1002 allows the Ethics Commission to interpret the changes by issuing advisory opinions and guidelines. The bill will be effective immediately if signed by Governor Asa Hutchinson.

Photo of the Arkansas State Capitol by Stuart Seeger on Wikimedia Commons.