Category Archives: State government

Higher taxes for highways?

Politics, State government
Good Roads Foundation
Gov. Asa Hutchinson discusses his plans for highways before the Good Roads Foundation Nov. 13.

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

In two years, you’ll probably be asked to vote for higher taxes for Arkansas’ highways, for three reasons.

One reason is that highways are clearly underfunded. The Arkansas Department of Transportation has identified $9.3 billion in needs but only $4.5 billion in expected revenues over the next 10 years – numbers confirmed by a legislative audit. That extra $4.8 billion would maintain and improve the nation’s 12th largest highway system, but it would not fund the long-desired I-49 in western Arkansas and I-69 in south Arkansas.

Why the big shortfall? Highways are funded primarily through fuel taxes, which haven’t changed at the federal level since 1993 and in Arkansas since 1999. Neither were indexed to inflation, so as construction costs have risen, revenues have not. Meanwhile, vehicles have become more fuel efficient. Some – maybe someday many – don’t use fuel at all.

This has been the reality for a long time. Scott Bennett, ARDOT’s director, told me he’s made basically the same speech for 15 years.

What’s changed are the second and third reasons you’ll be asked to vote for higher taxes for highways. Continue reading Higher taxes for highways? →

Not much suspense at Republican victory party

Elections, Politics, State government, U.S. Congress

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

The Republican Party of Arkansas’ victory party Tuesday had a crowd, food and beverages, and a rock-and-roll band. One thing it lacked that would have made it a lot more fun: suspense.

The most important statewide race, the one for governor, was never in doubt. The Associated Press declared Gov. Asa Hutchinson the winner almost immediately after the polls closed. He soon gave a brief victory speech, but the cheers were the kind that comes from people who expected to win. He was followed intermittently by other winning statewide candidates greeted by smaller crowds.

Because I had left to cover the Little Rock mayor’s race, I wasn’t present for the victory speech by the only major Republican candidate who might could have lost.

That would be U.S. Rep. French Hill, who represents the state’s 2nd Congressional District, where a lot of Democrats live in Little Rock. He won, 52-46 percent. His opponent, Rep. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, was actually leading early in the evening when Pulaski County’s early vote totals were announced. But the polls leading up to the election had shown Hill had a comfortable lead, and the district’s heavily Republican outlying counties came in strong for him. He won Saline County with 68 percent of the vote and Faulkner County with 62 percent.

“Inevitable” would be the word to describe most of the election results. Whether candidates won or lost depended not on how they campaigned but on where they lived. For state and national races, Republicans won just about everywhere, except where Democrats usually win. In House District 22, Rep. Mickey Gates, R-Hot Springs, won almost twice as many votes as his Democratic opponent despite Gates being arrested for – and admitting to – not paying state taxes. In fact, he didn’t file a tax return from 2004-2017. It didn’t matter. He had an “R” beside his name. Continue reading Not much suspense at Republican victory party →

How I’m voting, and how I could be wrong

Elections, State government

Alabama, blue wave, school boards, Hixson, Breanne, red tide, judicial electionsBy Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Your ballot probably will list five statewide issues, but votes will be counted on only three of them. I’m voting against all three, and I could be wrong on all three.

We’re down to three after the Arkansas Supreme Court last week pulled from the ballot Issue 1, which would have limited lawsuit awards and attorney’s fees, and Issue 3, which would have tightened the state’s legislative term limits.

That leaves Issue 2, an amendment requiring voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box; Issue 4, an amendment issuing four casino licenses; and Issue 5, an initiated act increasing the minimum wage.

Continue reading How I’m voting, and how I could be wrong →

Bring your IDs to vote on IDs

Elections, Politics, State government

vote, Mark Moore, 16-year-olds, Arkansas primaries, Goodson, photo IDBy Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

One of the issues on which you’ll be voting this election will be the act of voting itself.

Issue 2, referred by the Arkansas Legislature in 2017, would enshrine in the Constitution a requirement for voters to show a photo ID at the ballot box.

Yes, you already did that during the May primary elections. Legislators that year also passed a law that does the same thing and has already gone into effect.

Why both a law and a constitutional amendment? A previous photo ID law unanimously was declared unconstitutional in 2014 by the Arkansas Supreme Court. The majority opinion said it illegally added a new qualification to voters. Another three justices said the Legislature didn’t pass the law by the required two-thirds majority. Justice Courtney Goodson wrote that second, concurring opinion. Opponents have used that against her in her re-election campaign this year.

In response, the Legislature covered its bases.  Continue reading Bring your IDs to vote on IDs →