Arkansas Lawmakers Filing Budget Measures Ahead of April 10 Fiscal Session

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This week Arkansas Legislators have filed several appropriation measures ahead of the April 10 fiscal session.

The legislature will convene next week to set the state’s budget for the 2025 Fiscal Year.

To date, lawmakers have filed about 90 bills appropriating state funds for various government agencies.

One of our goals for the 2024 budget session is to secure an appropriation that will provide funding for pro-life pregnancy resource centers in the state.

 In 2022 we worked with the legislature and the governor to secure $1 million in funding for pregnancy centers. We did the same thing last year as well.

This funding has gone to good organizations across the state that give women and families real assistance when faced with an unplanned pregnancy.

Since the 2022 Dobbs decision reversing Roe v. Wade, state legislatures around the country have ramped up state funding for pregnancy help organizations, and Arkansas risks lagging behind other states if we don’t provide adequate funding for these organizations.

More than 50 pregnancy help organizations serve thousands of women in Arkansas. Providing them with assistance from state-funded grants enables them to do even more in our state.

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

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Arkansas Department of Education Accepting Public Comments on Rules Protecting Student Privacy

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The Arkansas Department of Education is accepting public comments on newly proposed rules protecting the physical privacy of public school students.

Last year Gov. Sanders signed Act 317 by Rep. Mary Bentley (R – Perryville) and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R – Jonesboro) protecting privacy in public school locker rooms, showers, restrooms, changing areas, and similar facilities.

The law requires public schools to designate these facilities for “male” or “female” use.

It also addresses sleeping accommodations for students on overnight school trips — something that has been a serious problem for students in other states.

The Department of Education’s new rules would act as executive policies to help ensure Arkansas’ public schools are properly following Act 317.

Every student has a right to physical privacy and safety at school and on school-sponsored trips.

Public school students’ school records are protected by law, because we value student privacy. A student’s physical privacy should be just as important.

Act 317 helps protect the physical privacy of public school students in school showers, locker rooms, restrooms, and similar facilities on campus, and it helps protect physical privacy and safety on overnight trips.

Family Council was pleased to support Act 317. We are grateful to the General Assembly for passing Act 317 and to the Arkansas Department of Education for promulgating rules to implement it.

Family Council’s team is reviewing the proposed rules, and we intend to offer public comments on them later this month.

You Can Read a Copy of the Proposed Rules Here.

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Updated: Arkansas Risks Lagging Behind Other States on Pregnancy Center Funding

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Above: On April 4, 2023, lawmakers passed a measure authorizing $1 million in funding for grants to pregnancy help organizations in the state.

Last year, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Act 622 of 2023 renewing the state’s annual funding for pregnancy help organizations.

Under Act 622, the Department of Finance and Administration will distribute $1 million in state-funded grants for crisis pregnancy centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and social services agencies that provide material support to women with unplanned pregnancies between now and June 30, 2024.

This grant funding provides women and families with alternatives to abortion.

To date, the State of Arkansas has successfully distributed nearly half of this funding to pregnancy help organizations.

While this funding is good, Arkansas actually runs the risk of lagging behind other states when it comes to funding alternatives to abortion.

Since the 2022 Dobbs decision reversing Roe v. Wade, state legislatures around the country have ramped up state funding for pregnancy help organizations. For example:

In Tennessee, legislators have appropriated $20 million for pro-life organizations that provide alternatives to abortion.

Florida’s state budget allocates at least $25 million for pregnancy help organizations.

The Texas Legislature now budgets $70 million per year for its abortion alternatives program.

And Kansas—where some 405 women from Arkansas had abortions in 2022—provides $2 million to pregnancy centers.

In terms of per capita spending, Arkansas would need to budget approximately $2.1 million for alternatives to abortion to be on par with Kansas and $7.1 million to be equivalent with Texas.

Now that Roe v. Wade has been reversed and abortion is generally prohibited in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother, the state needs to take steps to make abortion unthinkable and unnecessary. Public grant funding for pregnancy help organizations does that.

That is why Family Council intends to be back at the state capitol when lawmakers convene next week to work for an even larger appropriation that will provide funding for Arkansas’ pregnancy centers in the coming fiscal year.

This grant funding literally is an investment in Arkansas’ future generations.

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

This article has been updated to better reflect the per capita amounts Arkansas would need to allocate to provide funding comparable to Texas and Kansas.

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