Representative Ann Clemmer has filed a constitutional amendment to require the Arkansas Lottery to allocate 35% of its revenue for college scholarships.
Right now Arkansas law does not require any kind of minimum percentage of lottery revenue be set aside for scholarships. As a result, the percentage allocated has been set incredibly low—approximately 22%, one of the lowest in the nation.
Senator Rapert (R-Bigelow) has filed a constitutional amendment that would require a ¾ vote from both houses of the legislature in order to raise any tax.
Last week we brought a lot of attention to SB113, sponsored by Senator Cecile Bledsoe. SB113 effectively says Under the federal healthcare law, Arkansas will not subsidize abortions with taxpayer money, except to save the life of the mother. This acts as “enabling legislation” for Amendment 68 to the Arkansas Constitution (which states that no public funds will be used for abortion—except to save the mother’s life) by applying it to the new federal healthcare law.