If you are elected to a state public office, you will make hundreds of decisions about public policies impacting children and families – decisions that can either make life harder for families or ones that can improve their lives. This guide provides data, information, and policy options to candidates on some of the greatest challenges […]
In 1999, the Arkansas General Assembly passed Act 1005, legislation cutting the Arkansas capital gains tax. Since that time, recent events have dramatically altered the fiscal landscape at both the federal and state levels. In response to an Arkansas Supreme Court mandate, the Arkansas legislature enacted a large sales tax increase in 2004 to fund […]
The Check Cashers Act of 1999 classified the charge for borrowing from a payday lender as a “fee” rather than as interest. As a result of this legislation, Arkansas now has more payday lenders (281) than McDonald’s restaurants (127). These lenders make an estimated 880,413 payday loans per year at an effective interest rate of […]
Payday lenders are a major source of instant cash for Arkansas’ low-income working families and consumers with heavy debt burdens and poor credit histories. Instead of benefiting borrowers, payday loans trap them in high-cost debt. To qualify for a payday loan, borrowers only need a bank account and a steady income. They write a post-dated […]
The federal minimum wage was originally passed as a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act to ensure that low-income workers would earn a “decent living.” The idea that no one who works full-time should live in poverty is as true today as it was in 1938. The federal minimum wage has been in place […]
The federal Food Stamp Program (FSP), which was established as a pilot project in the early 1960s and was expanded nationwide in the early 1970s, helps low-income families and individuals purchase a nutritionally adequate diet. The Food Stamp Program is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive nutrition program. Nationally, more than 25 million people use […]
Does the title look a little bit like an encrypted message? No idea where to find the decoder? This brief guide will translate the acronyms into understandable language and provide you with key questions to ask your local decision-making bodies about the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) in your community and its impacts on […]
Historically, changes in Arkansas’ child welfare system have been closely tied to high profile incidents of severe abuse or deaths in cases involving child maltreatment and the resulting public and legislative responses to these events. It has been more than 10 years since the Arkansas child welfare system received widespread public attention for such abuses […]
This week the nation celebrates the 40th birthday of Medicaid. It was signed into law on July 30, 1965. And 40 years later it is providing 605,000 Arkansas residents with access to life-saving and life preserving health care. In Arkansas, Medicaid has kept many low income adults and children from becoming uninsured. The state’s Medicaid […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) took issue with comments made recently by Governor Huckabee concerning reform of the state and federal Medicaid system that provides health care for many of the state’s families. “We don’t agree with the Governor’s recommendations that states should be given broad discretion in establishing premiums and raising co-pays […]