Today, the illustrious and magnificent 89th General Assembly convened for the first time. New legislators were sworn in. Tears were shed. Hearts were touched. Taxes raised. Sorry, I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
Okay, but seriously, there’s hopefully some good stuff around the corner. Who knows, maybe tax reform, maybe school choice; maybe some actual solutions our state’s Medicaid crisis? A guy can dream.
In addition to the swearings in, Speaker of the House Davy Carter announced the following committee chairmanships have been awarded:
Revenue and Tax — Rep. Charlie Collins (R)
Education — Rep. James McLean (D)
Insurance and Commerce — Rep. Tommy Wren (D)
Judiciary — Rep. Marshall Wright (D)
Public Health — Rep. John Burris (R)
Agriculture and Economic Development — Rep. Matthew Shepherd (R)
State Agencies — Rep. Andrea Lea (R)
City, County and Local — Rep. David Fielding (D)
Transportation — Rep. Jonathan Barnett (R)
Rules — Rep. Stephanie Malone (R)
Aging, Legislative, Youth — Rep. David Meeks (R)
Joint Retirement — Rep. Allen Kerr (R)
Joint Energy — Rep. David Branscum (R)
So, congrats to all the new chairmen and chairwomen. You’ve got your work cut out for you.
And of course if you haven’t heard, we’ll be doing a lot of on-ground coverage throughout the session here at The Arkansas Project. So keep your eyes peeled and your browsers set to www.TheArkansasProject.com.