Arkansas Legislature Will Convene Budget Session On Valentine’s Day

Legislature

The Arkansas Legislature will convene its 2022 fiscal session on Valentine’s Day — in less than two weeks.

In 2008 voters approved Amendment 86 to the Arkansas Constitution authorizing the General Assembly to convene in even-numbered years to approve the state’s annual budget.

During odd-numbered years, lawmakers approve the state’s annual budget, but they also propose legislation amending Arkansas’ laws.

During a budget session like the one coming up on February 14, 2022, Amendment 86 lets lawmakers take up regular legislation if 2/3 of the Arkansas House and Arkansas Senate first approve a resolution authorizing introduction of a non-budget measure.

That means introducing pro-life legislation or other non-appropriation measures during a budget session first requires 67 out of 100 votes in the Arkansas House of Representatives and 24 out of 35 votes in the Arkansas Senate.

Our team is not aware of any successful effort to introduce a non-appropriation measure during a budget session since the Arkansas Legislature convened its first budget session in 2010.

Lawmakers can introduce and pass budget proposals spending taxpayer funds with a simple majority vote.

This year we really want to see lawmakers approve a state budget that will provide taxpayer funding to pregnancy resource centers.

This is something that our team has worked toward since 2018.

Many states earmark money in their budgets to provide alternatives to abortion. Oftentimes this funding comes directly from the federal government. The money can go to pregnancy resource centers that provide resources to women with unplanned pregnancies.

Pregnancy resource centers are on the front lines in the fight to provide women with options besides abortion. Many offer everything from adoption referrals to maternity clothes and diapers to ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, and counseling services—all free of charge.

Funding from the state can help them provide even more services to women and families in their communities.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Marijuana Use May Impair Memory and Learning: New Study

Marijuana

Marijuana use can impair cognitive function — especially for youth — according to a new study published in the journal Addiction.

CNN interviewed one of the study’s authors, writing,

“Our study enabled us to highlight several areas of cognition impaired by cannabis use, including problems concentrating and difficulties remembering and learning, which may have considerable impact on users’ daily lives,” said coauthor Dr. Alexandre Dumais, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Montreal.

“Cannabis use in youth may consequently lead to reduced educational attainment, and, in adults, to poor work performance and dangerous driving. These consequences may be worse in regular and heavy users,” Dumais said.

This latest research underscores the toll that marijuana use can take on the brain — especially for teenagers and young adults.

Researchers have found time and again that marijuana is dangerous.

Last spring a study out of California found infants were 35% more likely to die within a year of birth if their mother used marijuana heavily; the study also found that infants were more likely to be born preterm, have a low birth weight, and be small for their gestational age.

Researchers have linked marijuana use with psychosis, schizophrenia, depression and suicide.

A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal last year found adults under age 45 who frequently used marijuana were roughly twice as likely to suffer heart attack as adults who did not use marijuana.

A report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that states that legalized commercial marijuana sales saw self-harm rates rise by 46% among men ages 21 to 39.

All of this comes as groups work to legalize recreational marijuana in Arkansas and pro-marijuana political action committees work to elect candidates who support marijuana.

As we have said time and again, marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

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