The Arkansas Project — Arkansas Legislature

Legislators to Convene With Saline Co. TEA Party Tonight

May 9, 2013 Nic Horton 8 Comments

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Tonight, the Saline County Tea Party has scheduled a forum -- at Brown's Restaurant at 6:45 in Benton -- inviting their state legislators to discuss the Medicaid expansion / "private option" that many of them supported. The original invitation to legislators, from Ed Hairston of the Saline County Tea Party, read We have many members concerned about your vote on this bill, they have asked me to invite you to our next meeting on May 9th to convince us to continue to support you. After that, Ed … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Arkansas Legislature Tagged With: Arkansas, legislature, Medicaid expansion, obamacare, private option, Saline County, taxes, tea party

Rep. Bell: “Powder, Lead, Walnut, Brass & Steel”

May 7, 2013 The Arkansas Project 2 Comments

The following is a guest op-ed by State Representative Nate Bell, a second term legislator from Mena. It was a spring night in the quiet Birmingham, AL suburb of Pleasant Grove. The year was 1981. I was about 12 years old. It was one of those nights where the air was perfect and most everyone was sleeping with their windows open. Pleasant Grove was one of those towns where everyone knew each other. Our neighborhood was quiet and peaceful. Our house had those old crank-out style casement … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Arkansas Legislature, Arkansas Republicans, Gun Rights Tagged With: Arkansas, guns, nate bell, NRA, Policy, Politics, second amendment

The Health Care Boondoggle: Medicaid Doesn’t Improve Health Outcomes

May 2, 2013 Nic Horton 4 Comments

Any government program is, by definition, a failure -- unless it improves peoples’ lives. Some conservatives think that improving people’s lives through government is difficult at best (and sometimes impossible), and that the burden of proof is on the advocates of social programs to demonstrate that they truly help people. I tend to agree. So I watched in disbelief as many Arkansas Republican legislators recently went along with Governor Beebe’s plan to expand the Medicaid program -- … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Arkansas Legislature, Health Care Reform, Medicaid, Obamacare Tagged With: Arkansas, Avik Roy, economy, Forbes, Government, Greg Leding, health care, legislature, medicaid, obamacare, Reform, spending, stimulus, taxes

Talking Constitutional Carry with Paul Harrell

April 26, 2013 Nic Horton Leave a Comment

Yesterday I did my weekly segment with The Paul Harrell Program. The hot topic, as it has been for much of the week here at The Arkansas Project, was constitutional carry. We discuss the governor's input, comments from the director of the state police, and much more. The segment begins around the 1:06:00 mark: Video streaming by Ustream … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2013 General Assembly, Arkansas Legislature, Gun Rights Tagged With: 2nd Amendment, Arkansas, Arkansas Carry, constitutional right, guns, legislature, NRA, the arkansas project, The Paul Harrell Program

Constitutional Carry: Governor’s Impression or Legislative Intent?

April 25, 2013 Nic Horton 14 Comments

Our post earlier in the week about Act 746 -- and the possibility that it brought constitutional carry to Arkansas -- has created a bit of a stir. In fact, that story has gotten more pageviews than any story in the history of The Arkansas Project, even including the fabled Kinkade Era. This is no small accomplishment. Our story has been referenced by a multitude of websites and newspapers; it was even a brief topic of discussion on KARK-4 this morning. That discussion has often invoked the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2013 General Assembly, 2nd Amendment, Arkansas Legislature, Gallery, Gun Rights Tagged With: 2nd Amendment, Act 746, Arkansas, Arkansas Carry, constitutional carry, denny altes, Dustin McDaniel, firearms, guns, jake files, KARK, Law, legislative intent, Mike Beebe, NRA, open carry, Stan Witt, state police, the arkansas project

Legislature Expands Medicaid, Spurs Arkansas Project Response

April 20, 2013 Nic Horton 11 Comments

Today, I have issued the following statement: On behalf of The Arkansas Project, the Advance Arkansas Institute, and the advocates of limited government everywhere, I want to extend my deepest apologies to citizens and taxpayers in both Arkansas and in America for the inappropriate and insensitive expansion of Obamacare engineered by (among others) our state's Speaker of the House Davy Carter last week. Speaker Carter’s expansion of government will stifle job growth, implement Obamacare, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2013 General Assembly, Arkansas Legislature, Medicaid, Obamacare Tagged With: Arkansas, davy carter, Government, Healthcare, legislature, medicaid, obamacare, Republicans, tea party

Et Tu, Republicans? No Meaningful Tax Cuts For Arkansans

April 18, 2013 Nic Horton 7 Comments

For many weeks, the people of Arkansas have been led to believe that once the legislature passed Medicaid expansion, it would then produce significant tax relief. We have documented these assurances in our previous coverage -- and repeatedly emphasized that the cuts were in no way linked to Medicaid expansion as a matter of policy, but perhaps only as a matter of politics. Boy, were we right. As you probably know, the Senate signed off on funding for Medicaid expansion yesterday, signaling … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2013 General Assembly, Arkansas Legislature, Arkansas Republicans, Economic Policy, Gallery, Tax Reform Tagged With: Arkansas, Bart Hester, charlie collins, davy carter, GIF, health care, house, legislature, medicaid, Mike Beebe, obamacare, Republicans, senate, tea party

Five Arguments Against State Obamacare Exchanges

April 18, 2013 Nic Horton 3 Comments

Yesterday, the state Senate completed a deal to fund Medicaid expansion in Arkansas. Today, they're considering a bill, HB1508, to setup state-run health insurance exchanges. Under Obamacare, states must either setup insurance exchanges or allow the federal government to do so. Two-thirds of states have declined to set one up themselves, thus leaving exchange creation to the feds. The latest paper from the Advance Arkansas Institute outlines five reasons why this is the wrong path for the state … [Read more...]