State News

State News

Poll: Majority of Arkansans Want Stricter Term Limits

In a poll conducted by Remington Research and commissioned by U.S.

Term Limits, results showed that when voters hear the opposition’s arguments against term limits, they actually become more supportive of tightening term limits.

The poll found that voters, by a 69-18 margin, support changing Arkansas’ term limits law from the 16-year overall limit established in 2014 to a six-year House limit and eight-year Senate limit with a 10-year overall cap, the limit set by Ballot Issue 3 this November.

The stronger limits are supported by 73 percent of Republicans, 63 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of independent voters.

When voters are told that the new limits would be the strictest in America, which is the main argument politicians have made against Issue 3 — 55 percent become more supportive of the amendment than they already were. Only 26 percent become less supportive after hearing of the historic strictness.

“These poll numbers are consistent with how voters have felt for decades,” said Arkansas Term Limits spokesman Tim Jacob. “It shows how little regard our legislature had for the voters opinions in their 2014 deception to increase their own time in office.” ***

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

Suicide is the leading cause of violent death in Arkansas. In 2017, there were 626 suicide deaths, which is more than double the amount of homicides that year. More than 10 percent of those deaths were youth ages 10-24.

According to the CDC, Arkansas ranked 14th in the nation for deaths by suicide in 2016. There are a number of resources in the state to address this issue, including an in-state call center for the national suicide prevention lifeline, which was mandated by Act 811 of 2017 and opened in December 2017.

Last fall, Attorney General Rutledge launched Prescription for Life, an educational tool offered at no cost to all high school students in the State to help them understand the dangers of prescription drug misuse and how to prevent abuse. To date, it has been launched in 73 schools (including West Memphis), with an additional 17 schools committed to launch the program this school year.