Lawmakers agree on budget, not crypto
Lawmakers gathering in Little Rock for this year’s fiscal session will pass Gov. Sarah Sanders’ budget and state employee pay plan with few changes. But as of Thursday morning, it was unclear what they will do about those noisy crypto mines popping up across Arkansas because of a law they passed last year.
Sanders opened the session Wednesday with her first State of the State address. She didn’t make any major policy proposals, instead telling lawmakers that if they send her a budget funding critical services and slowing government’s growth, she will sign it.
The half-hour speech focused on the past year’s accomplishments more than the session itself, which is understandable. Last year’s regular session was a big one with the LEARNS Act and the Protect
Arkansas Act – the first making major changes to education and the second to criminal justice. The state is still implementing those changes.
Moreover, fiscal sessions, which occur every other year, are supposed to focus on the budget. Lawmakers can tackle everything else when they meet in their longer regular session next year.
Sanders’ proposed general revenue budget this upcoming fiscal year includes $6.31 billion in spending, which is about $109 million more than the previous year’s budget. That’s a 1.76% increase, which is less than the rate of inflation. Forecasters project a $376.6 million surplus coming from $6.69 billion in revenues.
Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester, R-cave Springs, said lawmakers won’t make many changes.
“Budget basically is what it is,” he said. “Leadership in House and Senate and other members had a lot of say and input on this budget. We feel good where we’re at.”
Lawmakers have cut taxes more than $300 million under Sanders, but there are no plans for a tax cut this session. They instead will wait to see the final numbers when the fiscal year ends June 30. Then Sanders will call the Legislature into special session to cut taxes further. In her State of the State address, she repeated her campaign pledge to phase out the state income tax.
Lawmakers can debate nonbudgetary issues if twothirds support a resolution authorizing it. That will happen with Sanders’ plan to increase state employee salaries one time by 3% while increasing the state employee minimum wage to $15 an hour.
While the budget and pay increase will sail through the process, the crypto mine situation remains unresolved.
Crypto mines are big data processing facilities with many computers that produce a lot of heat and use a lot of energy. Their fans’ ear-splitting noise lessens nearby residents’ quality of life and makes their homes hard to sell. Twenty-three Faulkner County residents have sued one of the companies.
Some mines are at least partially owned by foreigners. The mines employ almost no one locally except security guards.
They’re popping up because the Legislature last year hastily passed Act 851, which limited local governments’ ability to regulate them. It passed with almost no debate or opposition at the session’s end, when lawmakers were ready to go home.
There’s general agreement that Act 851, as written, was a mistake. However, the Senate, which is where the action is, is “fragmented,” said Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-searcy.
Act 851’s lead Senate sponsor, Sen. Josh Bryant, R-rogers, has introduced a resolution meant to correct some of the law’s flaws. It would require the mines to reduce noise while giving more authority to local governments and prohibiting ownership by certain foreign entities. Lawmakers would tend to want to give him and Act 851’s lead House sponsor, Rep. Rick Mcclure, R-malvern, first dibs at correcting last session’s mistake. McClure is sponsoring Bryant’s resolution in the House.
But there are other resolutions out there, including one by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-mountain View, and six by Sen. Bryan King, R-green Forest.
Hester said he suspects a narrow bill will pass. He doesn’t expect a broad one to make it through, but he said he could be surprised.
The fragmentation could derail anything from happening this session. Fiscal sessions are limited to 30 days with one 15-day extension if three-fourths of both chambers agree. They may run out of time. On the other hand, Act 851 passed in nine days almost unanimously.
Human nature being what it is, it probably would increase the urgency if a crypto mine popped up next to the Capitol. That not being the case, we’ll see what happens.
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