Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders kicked off the fiscal session with the moment she’s been waiting for since last year. The Governor gave her first State of the State address at the Capitol on Wednesday, April 10 in front of the Arkansas General Assembly, the Arkansas Supreme Court, her family, and her staff. Sanders took the opportunity to brag about her accomplishments over the past year with plenty of onlookers from the gallery.
Governor Sanders began her address by talking about the tornado that hit Central Arkansas and Wynne last year on March 31st, calling it “one of the most difficult days since [she] took office.” She recalled seeing the damage when she visited two days later and meeting with students and families.
Additionally, she bragged about her administration cutting taxes by over $300 million. The Governor noted that she is committed to “responsibly phasing out” our state’s income tax.
Governor Sanders also made sure to talk about the controversial LEARNS Act. She emphasized teacher raises and “education freedom” along with noting that LEARNS deployed 120 literacy coaches to public schools across the state. She also added that LEARNS extended education freedom to over 5,000 students, 50% of which have learning disabilities.
Now all of this sounds great, but there are some things that were notably missing from the Governor’s address.
Unsurprisingly, she did not mention what happened to the infamous $20,000 podium that her and her team purchased last year. She also didn’t mention her attempt to gut our FOIA laws at last year’s special session. Lastly, she made no mention of the eclipse flop and the false hysteria she put out there. However, she did say that Arkansas was “smashing tourism records.” I also would’ve loved to hear more about the maternal mortality rate and healthcare desserts that currently exist in a good portion of Arkansas counties.
Well, let’s see what the Governor does with her time this upcoming year. Follow along with us on X (Twitter) to see our live tweets from the rest of the fiscal session.
