Legislation

Welcome to the 2011 AACF Legislation Center. Below you'll find our primary agenda and our weekly analysis published each Friday on bills impacting Arkansas Children and Families.

Keep an eye on the ARVoices Blog for the latest news on policy and budget work affecting kids.

Please join us for Kids Count Day at the Capitol on Feb. 8.

2011 Legislative Policy Agenda

Improve Children's Health by Expanding Access to ARKids First and Substance Abuse Treatment

Implement ARKids First child health insurance expansion passed in 2009 from 200 percent to 250 percent of the federal poverty level, which will cost $11 million annually at full implementation.
Enroll more eligible children in ARKids First and keep them enrolled by improving enrollment and re-enrollment procedures (e.g. automatic renewals, Express Lane eligibility), dedicated resources to DHS for community-based outreach, and requiring DHS to develop an outreach plan to enroll all eligible children and keep them enrolled with stakeholder input. Click here for more information on this issue.
Redistribute or reallocate existing state funds to pay for quality substance abuse treatment and recovery services with focus on systems most affected by substance abuse: corrections, juvenile justice, and the judicial system.

Close the Educational Achievement Gap for Low Income and Minority Students

Spend funds on vulnerable kids today: Place limitations on school districts' ability to carry over large sums of state general revenue dedicated to low-income students (i.e. "poverty" or "NSLA" funding) from year-to-year and ensure funds are spent on proven strategies that improve educational outcomes for low-income and minority students.
Better coordinate afterschool- and summer programs: Create an entity within the existing state structure to administer a state-sponsored afterschool and summer program initiative. This agency would codify quality standards, evaluation and monitoring mechanisms, and set up procedures for the application and distribution of funds to improve program sustainability across the state.
Expand access to quality early childhood education through the Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) program (3-4 year olds), including those for infants and toddlers (0-3) through vouchers or ABC program.
Support equal higher education opportunities for undocumented immigrants through the Dream Act.

Provide Economic Supports for Low Income Working Families

Improve access to subsidized child care for low-income working families (currently about 13,000 children on the waiting list) by redirecting up to $10 million of the state's federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds to the child care voucher program. An additional $10 million transferred would cover 3,040 more children. $5 million would cover 1,520 children.(This would be in addition to $9 million the state already transfers to the ABC program).
Exempt all families with children with incomes below the poverty line from state income taxes by raising the income threshold at which families begin paying the tax. This threshold should be indexed to future changes in the poverty line. Most of this was done during the 2007 session except for a small group of single-parent families with two or more children. Fixing the error would cost $3.6 million annually. (HB 1378 during 2009 Session). Click here for more information on this issue.
Establish a refundable state earned income tax credit (EITC). A state EITC equal to 5 percent of the federal EITC would cost about $31 million.

Ensure Adequate Revenue for Critical Programs for Vulnerable Children and Families through Taxes That Ensure Shared Economic Prosperity

Close corporate income tax loopholes through Combined Reporting, which would to limit the ability of Arkansas corporations to shift taxable income to other states with lower or no state corporate income tax. The estimated revenue yield would be $45 million to $95 million.
Reduce or eliminate the 30 percent capital gains exemption on state income taxes. This would raise $33 million.
Promote greater collection of sales taxes due on in-state purchases over the internet by out of state remote sellers through strategies such as New York's "Amazon law" that requires remote sellers with in-state web-based affiliates to collect sales taxes on internet purchases. The revenue impact is still to be determined.

Implement Health Reform that Supports Vulnerable Children and Families

Ensure design of a health insurance marketplace, or Exchange, that is seamless and easy to use for families and fully integrates benefits under ARKids First and Medicaid.

These are just our primary agenda items. We also support other legislation that has the potential to improve the well-being of children and families and, in some instances, we may oppose other legislation that could have negative impacts on children and families. We make these decisions after carefully considering the merits of each proposed bill.

Other issues we're watching

Child Health, Nutrition, and Safety: access to health services, oral health, childhood obesity prevention, food assistance for low-income families, safer roadways.
Serving Vulnerable Children in State Care: adequate funding in the state budget for child welfare and juvenile justice, federal Fostering Connections requirements for funded guardianship.
Education: professional development for classroom teachers, school health initiatives.
Tax and Budget: eliminating taxes that unfairly burden low-income families, payday lending alternatives.

What We're Against

Budget cuts impacting children and families, especially DHS and Medicaid.
Corporate tax breaks that research suggests are unlikely to promote economic development and that will reduce revenue for programs serving children and families.
Services restrictions/bans for immigrants that will harm children.
Efforts to cut back on accountability or standards in the K-12 education system.