State Capitol Week in Review

LITTLE ROCK – The Senate has approved a property tax cut that will save Arkansas homeowners $56 million every year.
The tax reduction is in Senate Bill 263, which will take effect in 2026. It raises the homestead property tax credit by $100 to $600 a year. The credit is currently $500. About 708,000 homeowners will benefit from the lower real property taxes.
The governor and legislative leaders announced that they will push for another tax reduction, House Bill 1685 to exempt food and groceries from the one-eighth cent state sales tax approved by voters in 1996 to benefit conservation efforts.
HB 1685 will lower taxes by about $10.9 million a year. The bill does not repeal any local option city and county sales taxes on groceries.
In a statewide election in 1996 Arkansas voters approved an eighth-cent sales tax, with 45 percent of the revenue dedicated to the Game and Fish Commission and 45 percent to the what was then known as the Parks and Tourism Department. The Heritage Department receives nine percent and Keep Arkansas Beautiful receives one percent.
At a press conference announcing the proposal to repeal the grocery tax, the governor said she was confident the affected agencies would still have healthy budgets in spite of the loss of revenue.
The February revenue report from the state Department of Finance and Administration indicated that the Arkansas economy remains healthy. Revenue came in at five percent above forecast.
The House of Representatives approved HB 1489 to authorize the use of nitrogen gas for executing inmates sentenced to the death penalty. After its passage by the House it was sent to the Senate, where it will be heard next by the Judiciary Committee.

Arkansas is holding 25 men on death row.
Supporters of HB 1489 say it is humane, and the ingredients are more readily available than the chemicals currently used when executions are carried out by lethal injection. Opponents dispute the claim that nitrogen gas is humane.
Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma allow nitrogen gas for executions.
Both chambers have approved legislation to criminalize unlawful squatting. It is Act 238. Squatting is defined as taking up residence on property that one does not own. The act makes it a Class B misdemeanor.
It will be simpler for law enforcement to evict squatters because it is now a crime and doesn’t require a civil lawsuit that can be cumbersome.
The Senate approved a lengthy bill to change the way juvenile justice statutes are found in law books. The juvenile code has long been difficult to navigate because of overlap in jurisdictions among various courts. That makes it difficult for a juvenile’s family to know their rights, and for social services workers to keep track of their duties when protecting vulnerable children.
People within the juvenile justice system have spent hundreds of hours dividing juvenile laws into separate “sensible” sections. According to section one of the bill, SB 320, it only makes technical corrections, not substance changes to the juvenile code.