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<title>Senate Newsroom : Senate Weekly Session Updates</title>
<description>News Releases from the Senate Newsroom</description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/files/weeklyreview.xml</link>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>2012 Information Network of Arkansas</copyright>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Governor Presents Balanced Budget for Legislators to Consider in Fiscal Session]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  When the governor presented his requests for supplemental appropriations,  the legislature got a clear picture of its agenda for the fiscal session that begins on February 13.
As mandated by the constitution,  the fiscal session will focus almost entirely on budget issues.  A few legislators have said they hope to introduce a couple of non-budget bills, but under the constitution...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=329</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Report Shows That Arkansas High School Graduates Are Better Prepared for College]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Last year Arkansas high school graduates were better prepared academically for college than they have been in the recent past, according to a recent survey based on remediation rates of freshmen.
Every year the state Department of Higher Education counts the number of entering freshmen who must take remedial classes their first year in a four-year university or a two-year college...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=328</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Governor Submits Balanced Budget in Preparation for Fiscal Session]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  In preparation for the fiscal session of the legislature that begins on February 13, the governor presented a balanced budget for state government for next year.
It would not provide cost-of-living increases for state employee salaries.  It would increase funding of public schools from kindergarten through grade 12, in order to comply with constitutional mandates that the state p...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=327</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[STEM Schools Get Grants to Improve Technical Education]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Fifteen Arkansas school districts and one technical center will receive money to expand and innovate course offerings in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
The grants were awarded under a program called STEM Works. The long range goal is to better prepare students in the fields that are most likely to provide well paid and secure jobs, now and in the future.  STEM ...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=326</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[2012 Begins With Good News in Revenue Report]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  The new year began with good financial news for state government, although budget officials were careful to temper their statements with sober caution about potential long-term problems.
First, the governor and the director of the Human Services Department reported that the state Medicaid program appears to have enough money to get through the next fiscal year without a major sho...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=325</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[ADFA Receives Grant to Promote Small Business Growth]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  The Arkansas Development Finance Authority is a relatively small state agency in terms of staff and office space.  However, the agency is rather large if you measure its economic effect on the Arkansas business community and the state's housing market.
ADFA has received a new federal grant of $13.1 million that it will use to help small business obtain financing. The agency has a...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=324</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Supreme Court Strikes Punitive Damage Limits in Arkansas Tort Reform Law]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Provisions in the Arkansas tort reform law limiting punitive damages that can be awarded in a civil suit were ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.
The ruling came in a lawsuit out of Lonoke County filed by rice farmers against a German multi-national corporation.  The farmers claimed that their rice was contaminated by genetically altered strains that had not been a...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=323</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Senator Baker Slams Supreme Court Ruling in Tort Reform Case]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[December 8, 2011

For information call Senator Gilbert Baker - 501-472-0304

This statement is in response to the Thursday ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court in Bayer Crop Science vs. Schafer Case No. 10-1246 (2011), which upheld a lower court ruling that punitive damage provisions in Act 649 of 2003, the Civil Justice Reform Act,  the state's tort reform law, are unconstitutional.

"I'm ...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=322</link>
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<pubDate>Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Funding Restored for Meth Lab Cleanup]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Local law enforcement agencies in Arkansas and all across the United States got some good news recently when the federal Department of Justice announced that funding for cleanup of meth labs had been partially restored.
The grant program was cut earlier this year, leaving state and local governments with the bill for cleanup.
When the police shut down a meth lab,  officers cann...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=321</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA["One Time" Money to Pay Court Employees Through December]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[November 25, 2011
LITTLE ROCK -  The governor has authorized a transfer of money from an emergency fund so that trial court assistants will be paid through December.
However, the funding problem of the trial courts likely will continue unless there is a sudden turnaround in  collections of filing fees and court costs.  They have gone down dramatically since the summer.  The salaries of the tri...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=320</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Board of Education Denies Charter School Applications]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  The state Board of Education denied applications from organizations seeking to open charter schools for at risk youths in Texarkana, West Memphis and Jonesboro.  The Board also denied a request to open a bilingual charter school in Little Rock for Spanish speaking students learning English as a second language.
The Board postponed making a final decision on a fifth application, f...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=319</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Arkansas Voters Approve Renewal of Interstate Highway Bonds]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Arkansas voters overwhelmingly voted to renew a bond program that will pay for improvements to more than 400 miles of interstate highways.
The bonds must be issued by December, 2015 but most will be issued in 2012 and 2013, a Highway and Transportation Department spokesman said.  Issuing bonds is a way of borrowing money.  The statewide vote authorized the Highway Department to i...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=318</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[November 9 Will Be First National Test of Emergency Alert System]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  The first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System will take place at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, November 9.  The test will be transmitted over radio and television stations, satellite TV and satellite radio networks, cable TV and wireline video services.
For years state and local emergency management agencies have tested similar alert systems on a monthly basis, which warn the pu...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=317</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[WAGE Centers Specialize Classes to Meet Needs of Local Business]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Arkansas has 19 WAGE centers and the Department of Career Education is working to add three more by the end of the year.
WAGE is a job training program run by the department with help from local employers. It's for students with skills below the ninth month of the 12th grade.  They study at a local adult education center or community college and if they pass they receive one of t...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=316</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Arkansas Joins List of States Seeking Waivers From Federal "No Child Left Behind" Act]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Arkansas is joining a growing list of states seeking a waiver from the testing requirements in federal education standards known as the "No Child Left Behind" law.
No Child Left Behind is the main law that sets out the federal government's role in public education.  A version of the law has been on the books since the 1960s, but it was a major overhaul enacted by Congress 10 year...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=315</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Senator Hutchinson Seeks to Limit "Double Dipping" by Elected Judges]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[October 18, 2011

For information call Senator Jeremy Hutchinson: 501-773-3760

ARKADELPHIA - Senator Jeremy Hutchinson will carry a proposal designed to limit double dipping by elected judges at today's meeting of the legislature's retirement committee.

The Joint Committee on Public Retirement and Social Security Systems meets in the Ross Room of the Garrison Center on the Henderson State ...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=314</link>
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<pubDate>Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Enrollment Up in Arkansas Colleges; Fewer Youths Being Committed]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK - Legislators got a double dose of good news last week - enrollment is on the increase in Arkansas colleges and universities while the number of juveniles getting in trouble and being sent to lockups has gone down.
To top it off, state government revenue for September was up slightly from last year.  Budget officials remain cautious, but an increase in revenue indicates economic gro...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=313</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Two-Year Colleges Get Grant to Improve Graduation Rates]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas two-year colleges have received a federal grant of $14.7 million to help students complete degree programs in fields in which they are more likely to find good jobs.
The grant will help pay for several changes at Arkansas colleges.  The change that is most noticeable to students is that colleges will realign class schedules so students with jobs have more opportunities to...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=312</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Legislators Seek Audit of Unemployment Benefit Payments]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -Legislative leaders have asked for an audit of questionable unemployment checks being sent from the state Workforce Services Department.
According to a federal report issued by the U.S. Labor Department, the state agency has mistakenly paid out more than $161 million in unemployment insurance since July of 2008.
The problem of overpayments took center stage at the most recent m...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=311</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Legislators Question No-Bid Contracts at State Universities]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  University officials reported to a legislative committee that it's a common practice for institutions of higher education in Arkansas to award long-term contracts to vendors without seeking competitive bids.
It's also common for the vendors to provide gifts to colleges and universities, such as renovations to existing buildings or donations to scholarship funds.  One university p...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=310</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Senator Key's Statement on the Resignation of Ernie Passailaigue]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Statement from Senator Johnny Key of Mountain Home on the resignation of Ernie Passailaigue as director of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery.
"I wish him the best in all his future endeavors," Key said.  "I commend the members of the Lottery Commission for their selection of Julie Baldridge as interim director.  The breadth and depth of her knowledge of government will serve her well," Key said.
...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=309</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Number of Juvenile Commitments Down From Last Year]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Last year 481 juveniles were committed to state custody in a secure detention facility.  That is down from the previous year, when 531 youths were committed to a detention facility and significantly lower than the year before, when 636 youths were committed.
The youths who were committed to a juvenile lockup stayed fewer days before being released.  In Fiscal Year 2011, which e...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=308</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Special Election November 8 on Bonds for Interstate Highway Repairs]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  The governor has set November 8 as the date of a special election on whether to renew $575 million in bonds to repair about  300 miles of interstate highways.
Voters approved the original interstate bond program in 1999 by an overwhelming majority.  Those bond issues have paid for repairs to about 350 miles of interstates.  Arkansas has a total of about 650 miles of interstate.  ...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=307</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Drug Courts Seek Permanent Source of Funding]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Funding of the 41 drug courts in Arkansas will be near the top of the agenda when the legislature convenes in fiscal session next February.
Judges and staff who operate drug courts are seeking a permanent place in the state's budget, as opposed to the current system under which legislators must find funding from available sources every budget cycle.  Legislative supporters of dru...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=306</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Arkansas Elementary Schools Bring In National Curriculum Standards]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  With the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, Arkansas has begun the transition toward teaching national mathematics and English curricula known as Common Core State Standards.
The first step toward bringing Arkansas schools in line with Common Core is to introduce the national standards in kindergarten through second grade classes, beginning this school year.  Next year the c...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=305</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Board of Education Considers New, Tougher Rules for Schools in Academic Distress ]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Several members of the state Board of Education suggested newer and tougher standards for determining whether an Arkansas school district should be classified as being in academic distress.
At a recent Board meeting, members debated whether the current legal definition of academic stress is so diluted that it is meaningless.  That would explain why some school districts never get...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=304</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[State Hospital Agrees to Far-Reaching Improvement Plan to Maintain Federal Funds]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  The State Hospital has agreed to a far-reaching improvement plan that will keep federal funding of the facility intact for the next year.
The hospital is a psychiatric facility in Little Rock with 236 beds for people with mental illnesses so severe that they need to be placed in an institution.  It is operated by the state Department of Human Services, which also operates 13 comm...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=303</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Hundreds of New State Laws Go Into Effect]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Hundreds of new state laws approved earlier this year by the Arkansas legislature have now taken effect.
Under the state Constitution, bills without an emergency clause go into effect after 90 days have passed from the date the legislature adjourns sine die.  This year sine die was on April 27 and the effective date for newly enacted laws was July 27.
The major new ethics law t...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=302</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Arkansas Tourism Grows Slightly, In Spite of Tough Economy]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Tourism's contribution to the Arkansas economy increased about 1.4 percent last year, from $5.38 billion to $5.45 billion.
The number of visitors to the state actually went down slightly, but their spending was up.
Industries that cater to travelers employed more than 58,000 Arkansans and paid $1 billion in salaries.
Based on surveys and information collected at welcome cen...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=301</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
</item>			<item>
<title><![CDATA[Back to School Sales Tax Holiday To Be August 6 and 7]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[	LITTLE ROCK -  Arkansas shoppers can enjoy the state's first sales tax holiday the weekend of August 6 and 7, when retail stores will not charge sales taxes on purchases of school supplies and articles of clothing costing less than $100.
Accessories under $50 also will be exempt from the sales tax.  Shoes, boots and sandals will also be exempt if they cost less than $100.
The sales tax holida...<br />]]></description>
<link>http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&amp;news_id=300</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<category>Senate Weekly Session Updates</category>
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