From one funding issue to the next

Our View

From one funding issue to the next

Now that all the drama is over and the arguing has subsided as to whether or not Arkansas will continue supplying free or subsidized health care to the well over 260,000 so-called “poor” Arkansans, it appears these bickering lawmakers in Little Rock will be preparing to deal with some of the proposals regarding highway funding, as well as a few new bills that have already been filed.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he plans to call another special session following the regular fiscal session to deal specifically with his multi-pronged plan to boost highway funding to match federal highway dollars.

The good news for Arkansas taxpayers is the Republican governor’s plan won’t raise any taxes, including the state’s gas and diesel taxes, but it would, for the first time, use state general revenue to pay for highways.

What Hutchinson wants lawmakers to approve will include phasing in a reallocation of sales taxes from new and used cars up to $23 million a year over a five-year period, reallocating $2.7 million a year from the state’s diesel tax and no longer deducting $5.4 million a year for state central services from the state’s half-percent sales tax devoted to highways.

Unlike the feuding that went on over Hutchinson’s “Arkansas Works” health care plan that finally made it through the House and Senate, it is generally expected that lawmakers will endorse the highway funding recommendations.

We say this because none of the governor’s proposals call for raising taxes, a move that would certainly generate opposition, especially from any lawmaker facing re-election.

The governor has made it clear there is a greater urgent need for the immediate infusion of state funds into highway development than ever before because Congress has already passed the federal highway bill that “put on the table at least $200 million a year for new funding in Arkansas roads, but it requires a match that the state makes.

The state needs $46.1 million in additional matching funds by Sept. 30 and an average of about $50 million a year thereafter. He projected his plan would raise about $750 million in state funds for highways over a 10-year period and this means the state is putting on the table $2 billion in federal funds over the same 10-year period.

While we expect little resistance from lawmakers, there is grumbling going on from state bureaucrats already complaining that the governor’s plan will shortchange their state agencies and the services they provide.

For instance, Richard Huddleston, executive director of the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Family, has come out and said that “while the governor assures us the lost general revenue will be offset, there is no guarantee that funding for programs serving children and families will be protected.”

Huddleston went on to say awhile back that it must also be remembered its not just about stopping cuts in programs, such as pre-k, child welfare, juvenile justice, and after-school programs, its’ about meeting unmet needs in these and other programs both now and in the future.

Such talk, in our opinion, is simply fear mongering especially when taken into account that the governor is proposing a total Human Services budge for 2017 of $1,445,193,167, which is up from the 2016 budget of $1,333,248,875. That includes budgets for children and family services, DHS grants and behavioral health services.

We predict the governor will have little trouble getting what he wants on this issue and hopefully we’ll see some much needed improvements in our state highways.