LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Latest on the start of Arkansas’ 2019 legislative session (all times local):
4:40 p.m.
An Arkansas lawmaker has proposed adding 40 more conditions that would qualify patients to use medical marijuana in the state.
Republican Rep. Douglas House’s legislation filed Monday would add asthma, attention deficit disorder, autism, bipolar disorder, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury and several others to the qualifying conditions for medical marijuana. Arkansas voters in 2016 legalized medical marijuana.
A state panel last week announced the 32 companies it plans to license as dispensaries, and last year licensed five cultivation facilities to grow medical marijuana. Two of the cultivation facilities have said they expect to have it available for dispensaries by April.
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4:25 p.m.
A Republican lawmaker has proposed replacing Arkansas’ statues at the U.S. Capitol with ones featuring civil rights leader Daisy Bates and singer-songwriter Johnny Cash.
Sen. David Wallace on Monday proposed replacing the state’s current statues featuring James P. Clarke, a former governor and U.S. senator in the late 1800s and 1900s and Uriah Rose, a 19th century attorney.
Bates was an activist and writer who mentored the nine black children who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Cash was born in Kingsland.
A Republican lawmaker last year said he’d push for legislation to replace the two statues, which were placed at the U.S. Capitol nearly a century ago.
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Noon
Arkansas lawmakers have kicked off a legislative session that’s expected to focus on the governor’s tax cut plan and an effort to increase funding for state highways.
The House and Senate on Monday convened the 92nd General Assembly. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson will be sworn in to his second term as the state’s 46th governor on Tuesday.
Hutchinson has said he wants lawmakers to move quickly on his proposal to reorganize state agencies. Lawmakers are also expected to take up his plan to cut individual income taxes.
Hutchinson and legislative leaders say they also hope to find consensus on highway funding, though no plan has emerged yet.
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6 a.m.
Arkansas lawmakers are kicking off a legislative session that’s expected to focus on the governor’s proposed income tax cut and an effort to find more funding for highways.
The House and Senate are set to convene at noon on Monday for the 2019 regular legislative session. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson will be sworn in to his second term on Tuesday.
The session is expected to focus on Hutchinson’s income tax cut plan, and on Hutchinson’s proposal to reorganize state agencies.
Hutchinson and legislative leaders have also said a priority is closing the funding gap for Arkansas highways, though no plan has emerged yet. Lawmakers are also expected to take up ethics proposals in response to ongoing corruption probes involving former legislators.
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