The Arkansas House on Tuesday advanced a proposed constitutional amendment intended to allow state lottery proceeds to fund or provide scholarships or grants to Arkansans enrolled in vocational-technical schools and technical institutes.
House Joint Resolution 1006 by Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs, passed in a vote of 97-0. The measure moves to the Senate for further action.
Lundstrum has said the amendment is needed to help students access training for vocations including licensed practical nursing, trucking, refrigeration, industrial maintenance and plumbing. During a meeting of the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, she pointed to vocational schools around the state that allow students to enter jobs paying starting salaries upwards of $40,000 after completing six to eight months of training.
Amendment 87 to the Arkansas Constitution, approved by voters in 2008, limits lottery scholarships and grants to citizens of the state enrolled in "public and private non-profit two-year and four-year colleges and universities located within the state that are certified according to criteria established by the General Assembly."
Shane Broadway, former state senator and former speaker of the Arkansas House, told the House committee the lottery amendment was passed as an initiated act.
"The drafters for whatever reason did not include [vocational-technical schools]," he said. "As we worked on developing the scholarship program, we were told by our attorneys we could not include state-owned vocational-technical schools because they were not included in the definition in the constitutional amendment."
If the amendment is approved by voters, Broadway said lawmakers would be responsible for passing an implementing law setting the parameters of the expanded lottery scholarship program.
Representatives filed 13 proposed amendments, but three are shells lacking details. Senators have filed 20 proposed amendments, but 11 are shells lacking details.
In every regular legislative session, lawmakers may but are not required to refer up to three proposed constitutional amendments to voters.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.