(The Center Square) – The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has funding for fiscal year 2025. The question is will they have the authority to spend it after the House of Representatives failed to pass the commission’s appropriation bill.
The commission receives none of its $175 million allocation from general fund revenues but needs lawmakers to approve its spending authority.
The funding includes $26 million in federal dollars, $42 million from the conservation fund and $30 million from special revenue, which includes licenses, according to Rep. Lane Jean, R-Magnolia. Another $75 million is in the department’s fund balance.
Some House members were unhappy with a plan that would have boosted Director Austin Booth’s salary to $190,000 a year, a $40,000 increase.
Rep. Frances Cavenaugh, R-Walnut Ridge, said the salary change amendment was added at the last minute.
Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs, agreed.
“All the other directors and agencies, they managed to get their stuff done and in a timely fashion,” Lundstrum said. “To ask a member to push this through is inappropriate and I think it needs to stop.’
Rep. Jon S. Eubanks, R-Paris, said the blame for keeping the bill until the last day of the session is on him and other lawmakers.
“The agency didn’t have anything to do with the timing of how that worked,” he said.
The bill failed to get the 75 votes needed to pass, even after Jean read a letter stating Booth’s salary would be set at $170,000 annually. The vote was 62-21, with 11 members voting “present.”
That could mean lawmakers would have to return for a special session.
“What are we going to do in the special session that is any better than what we are doing right here at a cost of $100,000?” Jean said, referring to how much it could cost the state if lawmakers had to return to Little Rock.
The bill received Senate approval.
Lawmakers approved a $6.3 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2025. The bill is 1.76$ higher than last year’s budget.
The largest increase is $2.4 billion for education, with an additional $65.7 million going to Education Freedom Accounts.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced in April that the accounts would expand to children of veterans, military reserve members, first responders, law enforcement officers, and students who previously attended D-rated schools for the 2024-2025 school year.
Previously, the program was open only to first-time kindergarteners, students from F schools or Level 5 districts, students from the Succeed Scholarship Program, homeless students, current or former foster care students, students with disabilities, and children of active-duty military members.
