FAYETTEVILLE -- Northwest Arkansas legislators gave bipartisan praise to the tax and health care proposals of newly elected Gov. Asa Hutchinson at a Friday afternoon forum hosted by the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.
"The governor, I think, has his act together," said Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville, a former budget director for then-Gov. Bill Clinton. Hutchinson's tax cut proposals are well thought out and realistic, Lindsey said.
Hutchinson, a Republican, also announced Thursday he supports a two-year renewal of the state's private option health care plan. That decision was realistic, Lindsey and others said.
"I'm very impressed with the way he handled that," said Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, about the private option announcement. The plan has Democratic support but there's opposition among Republicans, the majority party. Hutchinson's handling of what could have been a divisive issue in his own party has been first-rate, Collins said, with no angry breaches. "I'm in awe of how he handled that," Collins said.
Hutchinson proposed a $100 million cut in the state income tax, a cut modified down to an overall impact of $80 million on the state budget by a Senate amendment that would forego a planned $20 million cut in the capital gains tax approved in the last regular legislative session.
Collins, Lindsey, Rep. David Whitaker, D-Fayetteville and Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, attended Friday's forum at the chamber's downtown offices. Whitaker is minority whip for the Democrats and and Leding was minority leader in the last legislative session.
Some Democratic House members are dissatisfied with the tax cut plan, Whitaker said. They either oppose the cuts or believe more should have gone to lower-income Arkansans, he said. "I would say to them that elections have consequences," Whitaker said. Hutchinson was elected with 58 percent of the vote and the number of Democrats in the House went from 48 last session to 36 now.
Lindsey joked earlier at the forum he and other Democratic state senators "meet in a phone booth," with only 11 Democrats left in the 35-member chamber.
Hutchinson never revealed what position he would take on the private option plan until his announcement Thursday morning. "I'd say the reaction to that announcement was one of pleasant shock, with the shock more on the other side of the aisle," Leding said. He and other Democrats expected more conservative additions such as work training requirements, Leding said.
The private option takes about $900 million a year in federal taxpayer money that was intended to expand Medicaid, but uses it to help poorer Arkansans buy private health insurance.
In other issue, lawmakers said they saw little support for transferring state revenue to highways and no meaningful support for acting on a $100 million request from the Arkansas Department of Correction to build a prison.
"As much as I love highways and come from an area that needs all the highways we can get, I just don't see it," Lindsey said, not when an $80 million tax cut is in the works and sailing smoothly.
NW News on 01/24/2015