OKLAHOMA CITY – Voters in Arkansas on November 3 approved a permanent extension of a half-cent sales tax for highway construction and maintenance, plus a proposal to relax term limits for legislators. But Arkansas voters rejected new restrictions on ballot initiatives by a margin of 55% to 45%.
The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration estimated the half-penny sales tax will generate $293 million per year, 70% of which will be dedicated for state highways, 15% for county transportation, and 15% for city transportation projects.
The Arkansas Department of Transportation is responsible for the maintenance of 16,418 miles of state and federal highways and approximately 13,000 highway and pedestrian bridges, according to the agency's website.
(In comparison, Oklahoma has 30,000 highway lane miles, including 673 miles of non-toll interstate highways and nearly 6,800 highway bridges.)
Supporters of the Arkansas highway tax measure said the levy, which was initially approved in 2012, would create 3,600 jobs per year, according to Arkansas Business.
Food purchases and food ingredients are exempt from the tax.
The highway tax was backed by Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the state's top lobbying groups, including the Arkansas Trucking Association. Other groups, including the Sierra Club and Americans for Prosperity, opposed it.
TERM LIMITS FORLEGISLATORS LOOSENED
The term-limits measure removes the existing 16-year service cap for Arkansas legislators and instead requires politicians who have served for 12 consecutive years to leave the Legislature for four years before seeking office again. A little over 55% of the voters endorsed the proposal, which was supported by the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce and the Farm Bureau.
Until now, Arkansas was one of six states that impose lifetime term limits on legislators. Oklahoma has a 12-year constitutional limit on legislative service
Arkansas retains its two4-year term limits for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Land Commissioner, Auditor, and Treasurer.
VOTERS REJECT BALLOT INITIATIVE
The spurned ballot measure would have imposed several new limits, such as tripling the number of counties where sponsors would have to collect a minimum number of signatures to place an initiative on the ballot.
The Republican-controlled Arkansas Legislature proposed the ballot restrictions after voters in recent years legalized medical marijuana, expanded casino gambling, and raised the minimum wage.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. In Arkansas, the rate went up $2 in 2019 to $9.25/hour, to $10/hour this year, and will increase again on January 1, 2021, to $11/hour.
The minimum wage in Oklahoma has been $7.25 per hour, or $290 for a 40-hour workweek, since 2008.