By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Things get crazy when 135 legislators gather at the Capitol to consider thousands of bills in three months’ time. Sometimes something happens that makes things crazier.

This upcoming legislative session, it could be the same issue that’s caused much of the craziness the past almost six years: Arkansas Works. This time, there’s a special reason why. 

But first, a necessary history lesson. Legislators and Gov. Mike Beebe’s administration created the program in 2013 after the Supreme Court ruled states could choose whether or not to expand their Medicaid populations under Obamacare. Instead of simply making Medicaid bigger, Arkansas used mostly federal dollars to buy private insurance for lower-income individuals. At the time, it was known as the “private option.”

The program now insures about 250,000 people, but it’s been controversial from the beginning. It’s still Obamacare, and some say the state can’t afford it.

The program split the Republicans in the Legislature, while Democrats were happy to vote yes.  Opponents have not had the votes to defeat it, but they’ve nearly had the votes to block funding for the Department of Human Services division that administers it (and administers other services too). Those appropriations bills require a three-fourths majority, so it only takes 26 representatives or nine senators to block them.

As a result, several years have been marked by much drama. In the end, supporters have always found the votes. Sometimes barely.

When Gov. Asa Hutchinson became governor, he embraced the program while appreciating its political challenges. His administration began amending the program to encourage recipients to work and at the same time placate the fence-sitters in the Legislature. Thus, the “private option” became “Arkansas Works.”

Earlier this year, the Trump administration gave Arkansas a waiver allowing the state to require beneficiaries to work 80 hours a month, go to school, get training, or volunteer. Many are exempt for various reasons, but 69,041 are subject to it, with more being added next year. Recipients must report their activities monthly online, but administrators try to contact them if they don’t. If they fail to report qualifying activities three months in a year’s time, they lose their insurance until the next year.

Hutchinson said during his re-election campaign that he needed the work requirement to get Arkansas Works passed. He might could have found the votes anyway, but it certainly helped ease some legislators’ concerns.

As a result of the work requirement, 12,277 Arkansans have been purged from the program so far. In some cases, the state is having trouble getting answers from the recipients, who could be living out of state or getting insurance through a spouse. But some people have legitimately lost needed coverage.

Nine of them are suing, and there’s a good chance they’ll win. A federal judge has already blocked Kentucky’s work requirement saying it doesn’t meet Medicaid’s objective of providing health care to citizens. That same federal judge is hearing the Arkansas case. One of the attorneys in this current lawsuit, Kevin De Liban with Legal Aid of Arkansas, told me he hopes the judge rules by March 31, but it might come earlier.

That’s how things could get crazier at the Capitol. What happens if the judge invalidates the work requirement about the time legislators are deciding on Arkansas Works’ funding? Remember, that’s the work requirement the governor said he had to have politically.

There would be a lot of sound and fury in the Legislature. And then what? Most likely, the governor eventually would find the votes he needed – after a lot more drama than he or most anyone else wants. What he wants is for the Legislature to pass his priorities, including a tax cut and government reorganization plan, and then go home.

One option for him and other Arkansas Works supporters would be to speed up the process and get it funded ASAP.

Incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, told me that won’t happen. Legislators won’t shift their timetable based on what some judge may or may not do.

Legislative sessions are crazy enough to begin with, right?