Representative-elect Jessie McGruder, D-Marion (center), explains Arkansas House Democrats’ plans to support legislation in the 2025 legislative session that would make it easier for people to vote, get constitutional amendments on the ballot and access government records during a press conference on Tuesday, November 19, 2024 at the Arkansas Capitol. At right is House Minority Leader Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, who led the press conference discussing a range of legislative priorities. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)
Arkansas House Democrats outlined a four-pronged policy agenda for the 2025 legislative session in a press conference Tuesday, led by the chamber’s new minority leader and joined by most of the caucus, including some new members.
House Minority Leader Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, said he will file a range of bills Wednesday addressing the needs of maternal health care, mental health care, public education and access to voting and direct democracy.
“We recognize we are currently in the minority. That doesn’t mean we tuck our tails and go home,” said Collins, who succeeded fellow Little Rock Rep. Tippi McCullough as minority leader. “We’re coming out with a bold agenda that would make a huge difference for Arkansas families… We want to make it clear what we stand for and who we stand for — you — and how we’ll lead once you give us the chance again.”
Republicans won majorities in the House and Senate in 2014 that have increased every election cycle since then. Two weeks ago, Representative-elect Diana Gonzales Worthen flipped a Springdale House seat and marked Democrats’ first net gain of legislative seats since 2004.
The GOP will maintain its House supermajority with 81 seats to the Democrats’ 19 in January, and the Senate’s supermajority of 29 Republicans to six Democrats will remain the same.
Fourteen House members and members-elect were present at the press conference, including Gonzales Worthen.
Collins acknowledged the need for GOP help to pass Democrat-led legislation but said he is confident some of the proposed “Better Arkansas” policies will get enough Republican support.
Arkansas has consistently high rates of maternal and infant mortality and is also the only state that has taken no action to adopt the federal option of extending postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months after birth. Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, sponsored a bill in 2023 that would have created this policy but did not advance, and he posted on X Thursday that he will advocate for the same legislation in 2025.
Rep. Ashley Hudson, D-Little Rock, said this coverage extension will be a high priority for Democrats next year and is “one of the most effective and least expensive ways we can protect moms and babies in this state.”
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said this policy would be “redundant,” since the state has other insurance coverage options for postpartum low-income Arkansans. She created a strategic committee in March with the purpose of developing a plan to improve the state’s maternal health infrastructure and outcomes, but Hudson noted that the committee’s list of policy recommendations did not include the 12-month coverage extension.
“It was made clear from the very beginning that certain ideas weren’t on the table,” Hudson said.
She also said Democrats’ 2025 goals will include restoring the child tax credit and creating policies to start pregnant Arkansans’ insurance coverage earlier in pregnancy.
Hudson was one of three House Democrats, along with Fayetteville Reps. Denise Garner and Nicole Clowney, who proposed exceptions to the state’s abortion ban last year. Republicans voted down all three bills in committee.
Arkansas bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy and in all circumstances except for endangerment of the pregnant person’s life. The “trigger ban” went into effect upon the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and leave abortion up to the states.
Collins said he will introduce the Restore Roe Act, which would roll back the state’s abortion restrictions and “restore what the standard was in the 1980s,” when abortion was legal before fetal viability and had exceptions for cases of incest and threats to the life and health of the mother after fetal viability.
More legislative goals
Democrats in both chambers sponsored legislation last year to raise teachers’ starting annual salaries from $36,000 to $50,000 per year. The bill did not advance, but Sanders and legislative Republicans put this mandate in the LEARNS Act of 2023, a wide-ranging omnibus education law that also created a new school voucher program.
LEARNS was “one of those classic examples” of “poison pills” introduced by Republicans to further their agenda alongside policies that both parties support, Collins said Tuesday, and he expects Republicans to employ the same strategy with other policies in the future.
All 24 legislative Democrats voted against the LEARNS Act due to the party’s opposition to diverting public funds away from public schools.
“We reject the voucher model,” said Rep. Tara Shephard, D-Little Rock. “Our focus is to make sure that public schools, [which] serve 95% of Arkansas’ children, are excellent.”
Democrats’ education policy priorities of 2025 will include expanding access to preschool, bolstering the early childhood education workforce, fully funding the literacy coaching program created by the LEARNS Act, making college and vocational-technical schools more affordable and implementing “wraparound services in high-needs areas,” Shephard said.
She also said Democrats want to “ban book bans,” referring to conservative efforts to limit children’s books about topics some find controversial, such as LGBTQ+ issues.
“Because public schools serve every community, they reflect the state: wealth and privilege in some areas and poverty in other areas,” Shephard said. “In thriving areas, public schools deliver great results. In struggling areas, the challenges presented at the schoolhouse door can overwhelm the school’s capacity to serve despite the tireless efforts of teachers and staff.”
Clowney said many societal problems, such as crime and poverty, can be traced to mental health issues and substance abuse.
Lawmakers could address these issues by increasing the number of counselors and social workers in schools as well as behavioral health providers in the community, Clowney said.
Another proposed remedy would be a “red flag” law that would prevent the sale of firearms to someone who poses a threat to people’s safety, she said.
She also proposed building a new state psychiatric hospital in Northwest Arkansas in addition to the existing one in Little Rock. This would alleviate “the pre-trial evaluation backlog causing people to languish in our county jails” waiting for psychiatric assessments after being arrested, she said.
“When it comes to our [state] budget, if it’s not tax cuts for the wealthy, vouchers or a new prison, it hasn’t been a top priority,” Clowney said. “As a result, there never seems to be enough money for real investment in things like mental health. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Representative-elect Jessie McGruder, D-Marion, presented the party’s final priority, “defense of our democracy.”
McGruder will represent part of Crittenden County, which saw a legal battle in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 5 elections over two proposed early voting sites in West Memphis. The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in October that the county must provide the two sites after a 2-1 majority of the election commissioners had initially opposed this.
“You should be able to register to vote online at any time, including on Election Day,” McGruder said. “You should also be able to vote on an absentee ballot without needing an excuse up until Election Day.”
Arkansas does not currently allow people to register to vote on Election Day or during early voting for the same election.
State officials put forth a rule earlier this year requiring an ink-on-paper signature on voter registration forms in most cases. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in September issued an administrative stay that allowed state officials to implement the “wet signature” rule while parties in a lawsuit over the regulation prepared court filings.
McGruder said Democrats support government transparency, which includes efforts to enshrine access to government meetings and records in the state Constitution. A citizen-led effort to do so did not garner enough support to make this year’s statewide ballot.
McGruder also said the state has “seen the consequences of when politicians try to change rules to benefit themselves.” An effort to make abortion a limited constitutional right also did not make the statewide ballot, and supporters have alleged unlawful interference from the Secretary of State and the Arkansas Supreme Court.
