Bill Filed to Make Abortions Illegal

Abortion, ,

Senator Jason Rapert (R – Conway) has filed a bill to make abortion illegal except in cases of medical emergency, such as when the mother’s life is at stake. 

If passed, the bill would not take effect immediately.  This is what is commonly called a “trigger law,” because it stipulates that the law will take effect if the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision is reversed or changed by the courts.  Until federal law or the courts give states more leeway, it will lie dormant. 

This bill is in preparation for the day when states can once again make their own abortion laws. 

We are pleased to partner with Senator Rapert and our friends in the legislature to work for the passage of this good law.

Please call your state senator and your state representative and encourage them to vote for S.B. 149.

The number for the Arkansas Senate switchboard is 501-682-2902. 

The number for the Arkansas House switchboard is 501-682-6211.

You can reach an operator to leave a message only during business hours.  

Announce this in your church, and ask your friends to call as well.  We will keep you posted as other good pro-life legislation is filed. 

You can read S.B. 149 by clicking here.

You can reach Senator Rapert to thank him at Jason.Rapert@Senate.AR.gov or 501-336-0918.

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Budget Proposal Would Supplement Lottery Scholarships With $25M in State Taxpayer Dollars

Arkansas Lottery

Last week the Joint Budget Committee at the Arkansas Legislature filed S.B. 93 appropriating public funds for the Department of Higher Education.

The bill is a fairly standard budget measure providing funds for the state Department of Higher Education’s staff, scholarships, and grants. However, the measure allocates $25 million to help pay for a scholarship the Arkansas Lottery is supposed to fund.

Many Arkansans do not realize that since the Arkansas Lottery passed in 2008, the Arkansas Legislature has been forced to make up for the lottery’s shortcomings by continuing to budget millions in taxpayer funding to supplement the Academic Challenge Scholarship each year.

When the Arkansas Lottery was established, the state was assured lottery proceeds would provide $100 million per year in scholarship funding. Instead, the Arkansas Lottery has consistently fallen millions of dollars short of that goal.

As a result, the Arkansas Legislature has supplemented Academic Challenge with funding from the state.

S.B. 93 gives the Academic Challenge Scholarship $25 million in state funding for Fiscal Year 2020 — the same amount as budgets from previous years.

The Arkansas Lottery rolled out more gambling more quickly than any other lottery we know of in America. Its administrative costs have routinely been high, and it has consistently budgeted a smaller percentage of its revenue for students than other state lotteries do.

The fact that the Arkansas Legislature has to spend million of dollars in taxpayer money making up for these deficiencies year after year is a reminder of what a disappointment the State Lottery has turned out to be for Arkansas.

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