92nd Arkansas General Assembly

• The Regular Session of the 92nd General Assembly opened on January 14, 2019. It adjourned sine die on April 24, 2019.^[2]
• Governor Asa Hutchinson called for a special session to begin March 26, 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3] Due to social distancing recommendations, the 35 senators met in the 100-seat House chamber, and the House met in the Jack Stephens Center basketball arena on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus.^[1]
• The Fiscal Session began April 8, 2020 and concluded April 24.

• Representative John Walker (D-34th) died on October 28, 2019.^[4] The Democratic primary to fill the seat was held January 14, resulting in a runoff between Joy Springer and Ryan Davis. The runoff appeared to end in a tie until a ballot arrived from Sweden, giving Springer the one-vote win.^[5] She defeated independent candidate Roderick Talley on March 3 and was sworn March 18, 2020 to fill the seat for the remainder of the term.^[6]
• Representative Mickey Gates (R-22nd) made national news in 2018 for failing to pay taxes for 15 years, but had resisted calls for his resignation.^[7] The House voted to expel Gates in October 2019, leaving his seat vacant until a special election.^[8] Richard McGrew (R) won a special election on March 3 to fill the seat for remainder of the term. He was sworn in on March 18, 2020.^[6]

The legislature was prolific during the regular session, considering 684 Senate bills and 986 House bills. A total of 1,091 bills become law; Governor Asa Hutchinson did not veto any bills.

• The governor's priority, state government reorganization, merged state agencies from 42 to 15 under the Transformation and Efficiency Act of 2019.
• Act 182 cuts Arkansas's top individual income tax rate from 6.9 percent to 5.9 percent over two years.

In the special session, both chambers unanimously sent identical COVID-19 relief-related bills enabling the creation of a $173 million COVID-19 Rainy Day Fund from previously unallocated reserves.^[9] By the start of the fiscal session, three lawmakers had tested positive for COVID-19.^[10] A short fiscal session met to pass an annual budget, revised lower due to lower revenue forecasts, and reauthorized Arkansas Works, Arkansas's Medicaid expansion.^[11] Lawmakers and staff were provided with cloth masks sewed by friends and family of Rep. Robin Lundstrum (R-87th).^[12]

Lawmakers produced a $5.89 billion general revenue budget in the fiscal session by votes of 35-0 and 98-0 and sent it to the governor on April 16.^[13]

Source: Arkansas Senate^[14]