SESSION SNAPSHOT: Arkansas lawmakers approve higher ed, energy bills ahead of spring break

by Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate
March 21, 2025

Arkansas lawmakers spent long hours at the state Capitol during the tenth week of the legislative session as they worked to clear agendas ahead of their weeklong spring break. 

On Monday, legislators sent Arkansas ACCESS, two identical higher education overhaul bills, to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who signed them into law Tuesday.

The General Assembly also advanced the governor’s new state employee pay plan and approved legislation that sponsors said will help mitigate a sharp increase in energy bills for Arkansans as the state generates new power to meet expected demand. Sanders signed the latter into law Thursday. 

The governor this week also unveiled legislation that would impose harsher penalties on undocumented immigrants who commit crimes in the state. An amended version of Senate Bill 426 will be considered after legislators return to Little Rock on Mar. 31 and make a final push to conclude their business by Apr. 16. 

1) Stumbling blocks

Some legislation faced challenges this week. A bill mandating citizen-led ballot measures be written at an 8th-grade or lower reading level cleared the House of Representatives Wednesday, but it took three tries to garner enough votes to support an emergency clause that will allow the law to go into effect immediately upon the governor’s signature. 

The House on Thursday rejected legislation that would have placed restrictions on noncitizens attempting to vote or register to vote, just one day after the bill narrowly passed out of committee. Noncitizen voting is already illegal on the federal level.

Another bill that would create a civil liability for adults who assist transgender minors’ transitions didn’t make it out of the starting blocks after the attorney general’s office said it couldn’t defend House Bill 1668 because it wasn’t legally sound. Lead sponsor Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, said she would amend her bill.  

2) Prison funding 

State lawmakers approved a $750 million appropriation bill Thursday for the construction of a 3,000-bed prison in western Arkansas. 

Funds won’t be disbursed until formal requests are approved by the Legislature, but that didn’t stop members of the Joint Budget Committee from venting about plans to place the prison in rural Franklin County in an effort to alleviate overcrowding in county jails. 

Several lawmakers who’ve been critical of the project argued that local residents don’t want the prison in their community, costs will be higher than estimated and staffing the facility will be difficult. 

The debate is expected to continue throughout the project, which one of Sanders’ advisers said could take until 2029 to complete. 

3) Library board

After a subcommittee on Tuesday rejected his proposed ban on the Arkansas State Library funding public libraries affiliated with the Arkansas Library Association, Jonesboro Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan filed legislation Thursday to abolish the State Library and its board. 

Sullivan has vowed to eliminate the State Library Board, which refused last month and again last week to disavow the ALA. Sullivan has repeatedly criticized a portion of the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights that states access to libraries should not be restricted based on a person’s age. 

Far-right conservatives who object to the availability of certain content have said this is proof the ALA is forcing content about sexual activity and LGBTQ+ topics onto children.

4) New Bills

Lawmakers filed more than 180 bills by Friday afternoon, including:

SB520 by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, would prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion offices, officers, policies or practices in local government. 

HB1836 by Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs, would require all public entities to post video recordings of public meetings, and require that all public meetings be recorded in video format. 

HB1866 by Rep. Keith Brooks, R-Little Rock, would require each public school to install an audio recording device in each locker room and dressing room on a public school campus.  

HB1881 by Rep. Denise Ennett, D-Little Rock, would add menstrual discharge collection devices to the list of items exempt from sales and use tax during the state’s sales tax holiday. A proposed ballot measure to create a sales tax exemption for these items failed to qualify for the 2024 general election. 

Meeting schedules, agendas and livestreams are available on the Arkansas Legislature’s website.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

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Addressing student misbehaviors: Educators need training to be proactive

by Lydia Lucien Collins, Guest Commentary, Arkansas Advocate
March 21, 2025

Jackson starts the day in my 2nd grade class sitting criss-cross applesauce during carpet time and solving  math story problems. He frequently ends the day by shoving chairs and screaming at his classmates.

It was while taking large balloon breaths to control his feelings that Jackson blurted out, “I’m angry!” He told me it was because his mom was in prison and he couldn’t see her. Until then, I hadn’t fully realized how much of Jackson’s outside life was finding its way into our classroom, affecting him and our entire learning community.

Student behavior problems are on the rise and are getting more serious. According to America’s Health Rankings, 52 percent of children in Arkansas have experienced one or more adverse childhood experiences (stressful or traumatic childhood events), higher than the national average of 39 percent. Jackson working through his mother’s incarceration is just one  example.

To support Jackson, I researched strategies to help him regulate his emotions. When he became angry, we practiced “throwing fireballs,” acting like we were tossing things into the air very quickly. We found ways to name his feelings, and he became more and more comfortable asking me for a break when he needed time to reset.

He is feeling and learning better, but growth isn’t a linear process. There are still days when  Jackson has emotional or behavioral outbursts, when I need to ask him, “What is another way you could’ve handled this?”

I’m not the only teacher in Arkansas who needs to help students manage their emotions and learn how to process their trauma in healthy ways. Educators in our state need training in trauma-informed care and practices.

If I had better preparation in topics such as deescalation of behaviors and self-regulation, I would have been able to help Jackson much sooner. If I had a toolkit of coping strategies for him to self-regulate and reset, I would’ve also been able to help him identify his emotional triggers.

Such training for educators should include student scenarios so that teachers can practice identifying root causes of behaviors like pushing furniture around the classroom. When I first saw this behavior in my classroom, I was unsure what led to it and how to handle it. I didn’t understand why Jackson was behaving the way he did; I was not proactively helping him to adjust to my classroom. It took me a while to understand that Jackson needed consistent expectations and clear boundaries, in addition to a calm, safe place to take a break.

The Arkansas LEARNS Act underscores  the “importance of prioritizing school safety by focusing on physical security, additional resource officers, and mental health and training to implement best practices.” Who better than teachers — often the first touchpoint for a student — to receive this training?

The next step is to allocate funding to make this vital professional learning possible. The Arkansas Department of Education, for example, could offer grants, encouraging schools to apply for staff trauma-informed training specific to the needs of their students. The application could take into account the school safety report, which provides more insight into the school’s demographics.

Eligible criteria to receive funding could be based on the demonstrated percentage of students in the school impacted by adverse childhood experiences. In my school, students would particularly benefit from having teachers who were better trained in coping strategies. Behavioral outbursts frequently occur when students get upset and have difficulty calming down.

Jackson ended the year taking deep breaths and calmly asking me: “Mrs. Collins, is it okay if I take a break? I’m frustrated.” Self-regulation and naming his emotions are the skills that will help him succeed beyond my classroom. Let’s make sure that educators have the tools they need to give Arkansas students like Jackson the support they need to deal with any and all experiences life might throw at them.

Note: The student’s name has been changed to protect their privacy.

This article has been updated to show the correct author.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

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Youth gun deaths in the US have surged 50% since 2019

by Amanda Hernández, Stateline, Arkansas Advocate
March 20, 2025

Firearm-related deaths among children and teenagers in the United States have risen sharply in recent years, increasing by 50% since 2019.

In 2023, firearms remained the leading cause of death among American youth for the third year in a row, followed by motor vehicle accidents, according to the latest mortality data released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The data shows 2,581 children aged 17 and under died from firearm-related incidents in 2023, including accidents, homicides and suicides, with a national rate of nearly four gun deaths per 100,000 children.

Young people in the United States were killed by firearms at a rate nearly three times higher than by drowning. This means that for every child who died from drowning in 2023, nearly three died from gun violence.

“Every single number is a life lost — is a kid that won’t go back home,” said Silvia Villarreal, the director of research translation at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Gun Violence Solutions.

Children, she added, are an inherently vulnerable population, and this vulnerability is even more pronounced among children of color.

Black children and teens in 2023 were more than eight times as likely to die from firearm homicide than their white peers. Since 2015, firearms have been the leading cause of death for Black youth, according to CDC data.

Since 2018, firearm suicide rates have been highest among American Indian or Alaska Native and white children and teens. In 2023, American Indian and Alaska Native youth had the highest firearm suicide rate of any racial group.

Youth gun deaths don’t just affect family members, close loved ones and friends; they ripple through entire communities, making it difficult for people to heal, Villarreal told Stateline.

“Communities that have suffered really high-impact losses are never the same, and I don’t know if it’s possible to be ever the same as it was before,” Villarreal said.

One of the major policies championed by gun control and safety groups to address youth gun violence is safe storage laws, which establish guidelines for how firearms should be stored in homes, vehicles and other properties. In recent years, some states also have proposed and adopted measures to create tax credits for purchasing gun safes.

Twenty-six states have child access prevention and secure storage laws on the books, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control research and advocacy group.

A report released in July by RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, found that laws designed to limit children’s access to stored firearms may help reduce firearm suicides, unintentional shootings and firearm homicides among youth.

This year, lawmakers in states across the country — including in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin — have considered gun storage policies.

Stateline reporter Amanda Hernández can be reached at ahernandez@stateline.org.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

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