From The Capitol To District 4

Correction officials are implementing Act 570 of 2011 and paying close attention to its effect on the inmate population.  The 167-page act changes sentencing laws and puts more emphasis on parole, in part because inmates released on parole are under supervision when they return to the free world and inmates discharged after serving out a complete sentence are not supervised.

Although the overall trends over a ten-year period have been fairly consistent, there have been a few fluctuations in the percentages from year to year that don't seem to follow the pattern.  Prison officials attribute those aberrations to differences in the kinds of inmates released within a certain period.

During one year many inmates who become eligible for parole may change their behavior because they are determined to stay out of trouble, but in another year there may be fewer who are willing to make those changes.

Correction officials are keenly aware of how policy changes affect recidivism rates. For instance, they attribute a jump in the rate from 2007 to 2008 in large part to a policy change -- a new limit on the number of times a parole violator could be housed in the Omega Technical Violator Center near Malvern.

They are housed in the Omega center for 60 days if they violate the terms of their parole, such as failing to report to a parole officer or failing a drug test.  After three violations in one year, a hearing officer can place them back in prison and they are counted in recidivism surveys.

Also in 2011 the legislature added 49 additional parole officers to the Department of Community Correction, which has a staff of 1,182 who supervised an active caseload of 36,705 offenders last year.  Those offenders were on probation or parole, or going through drug courts or boot camp.

The department housed 1,230 offenders in residential facilities last year.  They had been sentenced mostly for drug crimes, theft of property or burglary.

The University of Arkansas dedicated its new $15 million Center for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences, which will house almost 50,000 square feet of laboratory space.  Partners in the venture include 12
other universities, private businesses, federal agencies and national research facilities.

The UALR nanotechnology research staff had been using a 7,200 square foot lab in which they were cramped, a university spokesman said.

The number of state prison inmates who are released on parole is steadily going up while the number who are discharged after serving out their entire sentence is going down, according to a report compiled by prison officials for the state Board of Correction.

In the decade from 1999 to 2008, the number of Arkansas inmates released on parole went up from 4,677 to 6,160.  Over the same ten-year period the number of inmates discharged after serving their maximum sentence went down from 643 in 1999 to 145 in 2008.

The report is a recidivism study, which means it is an analysis of the percentage of inmates who are released and then break the law and return to prison.

Correction officials reported that from 1999 to 2008, the three-year recidivism rate went down from 54.6 percent to 45.6 percent.  In 1999 the Correction Department released 4,677 inmates on parole and within three years 54.6 percent of them were back in prison.  In 2008 the department released 6,160 inmates on parole and within three years 45.6 percent of them were back in prison.

The recidivism rate is quite a bit lower for prisoners who are discharged after serving out their full sentences.  The three-year rate for those discharged in 1999 was 28.6 percent.  The rate for those discharged in 2008 was 15.9 percent.  One factor may be age.  The survey found that middle-aged and older offenders, after being released, are less likely to end up back in prison.

The University of Arkansas will increase tuition at its four-year universities next year.  The increases range from 3.21 percent to 5.28 percent at campuses in Fayetteville, Little Rock, Fort Smith, Pine Bluff and Monticello.  Five two-year community colleges in the system will increase tuition by 1.94 percent to 3.67 percent.

In all, Arkansas has 22 two-year colleges and 11 four-year universities that are supported by tax dollars, as well as by tuition, fees,
donations and licensing arrangements.  The Higher Education Department distributes about $170 million a year in financial aid programs to help students afford the cost of higher education.  Last year about $94 million of that came from lottery ticket sales.

According to a study presented to legislators, 41.6 percent of the students who got a lottery scholarship in 2010 failed to get them renewed in 2011.  Among the requirements for maintaining eligibility are to earn 15 hours in the fall and 15 hours in the spring, to successfully complete 30 hours during the year, with a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5.

The renewal requirements are slightly lower for first-time recipients. They have to enroll in 12 hours in their first fall semester and complete 27 hours in their first year.

In following years they must complete 30 hours.  Whether or not they are first-time recipients, they must all maintain a 2.5 cumulative grade point average.

If students have fallen behind in the current school year, they can take summer courses to complete their requirements.  A transcript of their summer courses must be turned in to the Higher Education Department by October 1, 2012.

Legislators voiced concerns that there are still high school students who are unaware of the availability of lottery scholarships.  The Lottery Commission and the Department of Higher Education are fine tuning their marketing to better reach young people.  The director of the Higher Education Department said that marketing emphasizes to young people the importance of knowing what grades they must maintain to keep the scholarships.

High school counselors are an important source of information about all types of financial aid.

About 8,000 graduating high school seniors will be eligible for the Academic Challenge Scholarship when they attend an Arkansas college or university next fall.

The Department of Higher Education has notified the seniors and several thousand have officially accepted the awards.  The deadline for all financial aid packages is June 1 for students who plan to attend an Arkansas college or university in the fall semester of 2012 and the spring semester of 2013.

Last year about 31,100 students received Academic Challenge scholarships, which are funded from the state lottery.  Students enrolled at a four-year university receive $4,500 a year if they maintain their eligibility and students at two-year colleges receive $2,250 a year.  Those amounts have been lowered since the 2010 school year, when they were $5,000 and $2,500.  A decline in lottery sales is responsible for the drop off in scholarship amounts.

Students who got $5,000 and $2,500 in 2010 will continue to receive those amounts as long as they maintain their eligibility.  Similarly, students who get $4,500 and $2,250 this year will continue to receive those amounts throughout their college career, as long as they keep up their grades.

A major issue before the federal judge is whether the state should continue to help pay for magnet schools in Pulaski County and for "majority to minority" transfers, known in shorthand as "M to M" transfers.  The transfers allow a black student to attend school in a district that is majority white, or a white student to attend in a district that is majority black.

Magnet schools in Little Rock are 50 to 55 percent black and are an important component in the efforts of Pulaski County schools to desegregate.

Another looming issue is the number of charter schools in Pulaski County that have been approved by the state Board of Education.  The Little Rock School District argues that the state has violated the desegregation settlement because the state Board of Education has approved so many open enrollment charters.

The Little Rock district contends that charter schools attract students who otherwise might attend magnet schools or who might participate in  majority  to minority transfers.

There are 11 open enrollment charters in Pulaski County with more than 4,500 students.  Charters are publicly-funded schools that are allowed flexibility in their curriculum and other education standards.  The goal is to encourage innovative teaching strategies and to enable charters to better teach gifted students as well as disadvantaged students.

Little Rock's attorneys claim that the charters in Pulaski County hamper the efforts of magnet schools, which have 3,500 students, and the "M to M" transfer program, in which 1,800 students participate.  Little Rock's attorneys have asked the federal courts to put a stop to any new charters in Pulaski County.

 
The state has paid more than $1 billion to the three districts since 1989, when the federal court accepted a settlement among the Pulaski County districts and state government.

The amounts paid every year by the state to the three districts mean that every other school district in Arkansas has a financial stake in the outcome of the lawsuit.  So do institutions of higher education and state government agencies that are funded with general revenue, such as the Medicaid program and prisons.

That is because payments in the desegregation settlement are made "off the top" of the state budget, in the same way that income tax refunds are taken from state revenue and sent to taxpayers.  Desegregation payments, like income tax refunds, are not counted as part of the state's net revenue available for  distribution to pay for state services.

The attorney general's office, which represents the state in lawsuits, argued before the federal court that the state should be allowed to end payments because the Little Rock and North Little Rock districts have officially been declared desegregated.

The third school district that receives state payments under the settlement, the Pulaski County Special School District, has been ruled partially desegregated by a federal court.  The attorney general says that all the districts in Pulaski County have been released from their obligations to racially balance their schools, and therefore the state should be released from its obligation to pay for efforts to racially balance the three school districts.

At a meeting of the Senate Committee on Children and Youth, a national advocacy group praised the improvements made in the Arkansas juvenile justice system over the past four years.

A report on the Arkansas juvenile justice system was written by two experts - a former attorney for the National Center for Youth Law and a senior researcher at the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.  The Public Welfare Foundation and other philanthropic organizations provided financial support.  It is called "Arkansas Youth Justice; The Architecture of Reform."

In a cover letter, the governor pledged his "commitment to developing strategies to reduce our state's over-reliance on confinement of young people by  reinvesting the money saved through less incarceration into more effective community-based support systems and services for youth."

One reason judges were sentencing young offenders to state custody in a detention facility was the lack of community programs.  The legislature, at the governor's request, has expanded access to treatment and counseling programs.

A result is that judges, public defenders, probation officers and DYS staff are working better  together on risk assessments that more accurately gauge the danger to society of an individual offender.  Those who are not truly dangerous are less likely to be confined in state custody in a lockup.

At a meeting of the Senate Committee on Children and Youth, a national advocacy group praised the improvements made in the Arkansas juvenile justice system over the past four years.

Incarceration rates in juvenile lockups are down because more young offenders are being placed in neighborhood programs.  Less reliance on institutionalization of young offenders has saved the state money, which has helped pay for treatment and counseling programs.

Other states as well as Arkansas have reformed their juvenile justice systems because studies showed that placing so many young people in a lockup was expensive and did little to change their behavior.  Youth crime is down, as indicated by a decline in arrests of minors, so the shift to placing youths in community-based programs has not had a negative effect on public safety, according to the report.

Also, for the past four years there has been stability in management at the Division of Youth Services.

The facilities were dangerous for many of the young people who committed a misdemeanor and were locked up with serious offenders who have emotional and psychological problems.  In a six month period in 2001, two young men committed suicide at the state's main facility at Alexander.  In 2005 a young woman died while under confinement at Alexander and serious concerns were raised about her medical care.

Advocacy groups and the families of adolescents who had gone through the system threatened lawsuits.  Federal agencies found fault with the
state's Youth Services Division when  they investigated complaints about treatment.

In 2007 the Arkansas Senate adopted a resolution to initiate far-reaching changes in the system and lessen our use of large juvenile correctional facilities.  The governor named Ron Angel as the new director of the Youth Services Division and he has remained there since. In contrast, before his appointment the division had nine different directors in only 12 years.

Since 2008 the number of commitments has been reduced 20 percent.  The average length of stay in a residential facility has dropped by 19
percent.  The number of beds in use at Alexander has gone down by 30 percent.

The Arkansas Lottery Commission Legislative Oversight Committee is made up of 12 members of the General Assembly - six senators and six House members.

The Oversight Committee reviews financial reports from the lottery and recommends scholarship amounts.  The committee also indirectly determines how many students qualify for scholarships by setting eligibility requirements.

Currently, a qualifying student at a four-year university receives $4,500 a year.  A student at a two-year college receives $2,250.  High school graduates must complete the Smart Core curriculum. They must either earn a grade point average of 2.5 on a scale of 4 or score a 19 on the ACT standardized college entrance exam.

Students who graduate before the 2013-2014 school year and do not complete the Smart Core curriculum must have a 2.5 GPA and either score a 19 on the ACT or score proficiently on end-of-course assessments. Home schooled students must score a composite of at least 19 on the ACT.

To renew the scholarship, college students must maintain a 2.5 GPA and complete 27 hours their first year and 30 hours in following years. There is a way for part-time students to renew scholarships, even if they enroll for as few as six hours.  Their scholarship award is reduced proportionately.

When the school year began last fall, more than 31,000 students received an Academic Challenge scholarship.  Since Arkansas voters approved the lottery scholarship program, more than 64,000 students have received an award. They attend publicly supported institutions as well as private colleges and nursing schools.

The new director of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery will get a salary of $165,000 a year, compared to the $326,000 the previous director was paid.

The Lottery Commission Legislative Oversight Committee approved the new salary last week for the new director, Bishop Woosley, who had been chief legal counsel for the lottery. He replaced Ernie Passailaigue, who was the first director of the Arkansas lottery and was instrumental in setting it up after voters approved a lottery scholarship program in 2008.

The lottery director's salary in Arkansas is now 11th highest of the 44 state lotteries in the United States.  It had been third highest.

Members of the legislative oversight committee questioned the new director about plans to allow people to buy lottery tickets with bank debit cards.  Now, you can only buy them with cash.  The director said he would probably present the idea of allowing debit cards to the Lottery Commission.

If the Lottery Commission approves the idea, it would then come before the legislative oversight committee before being considered by the entire legislature in a future session.  Of the 44 states that have a lottery, 34 states allow people to buy tickets with debit cards, the director said. Senators on the oversight committee expressed reservations about the idea and said they would study the issue very closely before agreeing to it.

Last year the lottery raised $94.2 million for Academic Challenge scholarships, which help qualifying students at four-year universities and two-year colleges pay tuition.

Arkansas performed better than the national average in 2010 in terms of growth in exports to foreign markets, according to a national report released by the Brookings Institution.

Nationwide, exports were up 11.4 percent and in Arkansas they were up 13.2 percent.  The value of Arkansas exports was $11.3 billion, ranking us 35th nationally.  The United States as a whole exported almost $1.6 trillion in goods and services.

Unlike many other reports, the Brookings study accounted for services as well as commodities.  That meant it included in Arkansas exports such things as royalties earned from patents and trademarks.  It also included in its definition of exports the amounts spent in Arkansas by tourists from overseas.

Exports can be directly attributed for about 39,700 jobs in Arkansas. They indirectly support 83,600 jobs.

An indication of the importance of agriculture in Arkansas is that almost 46 percent of our state's exports are from non-metropolitan areas. That contrasts with national trends, which indicate that 61 percent of total American exports are manufactured products.  The report, titled "Export Nation," emphasizes the fact that recent growth in American exports has occurred mainly in metropolitan areas.

The authors pointed out that many American industries do not traditionally consider foreign markets when they plan their business models, and they urge business and civic leaders to promote a "culture shift" to make companies aware of overseas markets.

Only 1 percent of American companies export.  That percentage has not gone up in recent years, in spite of the fact that exporting was one of the few growth sectors in an otherwise sluggish economy, enjoying two-and-a-half years of continuous growth.

Many Arkansas taxpayers can take advantage of a free tax preparation service when they file their federal income taxes.

If your 2011 adjusted gross income was less than $57,000, visit www.IRS.gov/freefile <http://www.irs.gov/freefile>  to prepare and complete your federal tax return at no cost.  You can also e-file your return at the same web site.

This free preparation service is possible through a partnership between the Internal Revenue Service and the Free File Alliance, which is a coalition of tax software companies.

According to IRS promotions of the IRS Free File program, everyone who made $57,000 or less last year can use it for free.  If you choose to receive your refund through direct deposit into your bank account, the federal refund may arrive as quickly as within 10 days.

When you click on the IRS Free File website - www.irs.gov/freefile <http://www.irs.gov/freefile>  you will find a list of companies. Choose the one that fits your needs or use the "help me find a company" tool. After selecting a tax software company, you will be transferred to that company's website, where you can then prepare, complete and electronically file your federal income tax returns.

According to a spokesman for the Free File, 33 million Americans have used the tax preparation program.  A 2009 survey commissioned by the IRS found that 96 percent of users felt that Free File was easy to use, and 98 percent of filers said they would recommend the program to others.

Legislative leaders and the governor's office made progress toward a balanced budget agreement.

By the end of the second week of the fiscal session, opposing sides were no longer disputing a difference of how to spend $21 million within an overall budget of $4.7 billion. They had narrowed their differences and were working for compromise on a dispute over a few million dollars in state agency spending.

One factor that made the negotiations difficult were differences of opinion over a basic premise of budgeting, a premise that is observed not only by government agencies but also by private sector businesses. That is the philosophy that it is unwise to use "one time" money to pay for ongoing operating expenses.

In the 2012 fiscal session, the issue came up when it was time to adopt the Medicaid budget for next year.  Medicaid officials, who work for the Department of Human Services, predict a budget shortfall of more than $200 million in coming years.  Medicaid's long term financial problems is a specter looming over this week's budget negotiations between the governor and the legislature.

There is a group of legislators in favor of putting as much as $40 million of this year's state surplus into Medicaid.  It may not be enough to prevent a budget shortfall within the next couple of years,  but it would be a strong step toward solving the problem.

On the other hand,  there are elected officials who say that approach is only a band-aid because it allocates "one time" money from the surplus to pay continuing expenses in the Medicaid program.

Another thing to keep in mind, the issue of how to allocate "one time" money is not as clearly defined as it appears on the surface.  In spite of the troubled economy, and unlike many other states that are in financial trouble, Arkansas state government has had a surplus at the end of past fiscal years.  That is because of our tradition of conservative budgeting and because state agencies must cut spending proportionately if revenue declines because of a slowdown in the
economy.

It raises the question: if the state consistently enjoys a surplus, should we consider the surplus "one time" money?  There are some legislators who believe consistent surpluses are proof that taxes are too high.  Others believe that surpluses should be set aside as a financial cushion to ensure that essential services are not cut during tough times.  Still others believe that surpluses should be spent to shore up Medicaid, prisons and education.

An historical division within the legislature has been over funding of small schools, as balanced against the need to financially support larger school districts.

Some news reports have been confusing because of the complexity of getting bills introduced and passed during a fiscal session.  The constitutional amendment that created fiscal sessions in Arkansas is written so as to limit the legislature to considering only budget bills, but there is a mechanism for considering non-budget bills.  To file a non-budget bill, a lawmaker has to win adoption of a resolution, which then must be approved by a two-thirds majority of each chamber, the House and the Senate.

As odd as it sounds, the Revenue Stabilization Act, our balanced budget law, is not a budget bill because it does not appropriate funding for a specific agency.  It prioritizes state spending in the event revenue fluctuates next year.  Because it is not a budget bill, it cannot be  introduced until each chamber adopts a resolution to do so, by a two-thirds vote.

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have a solid two-thirds majority.  In the 100-member House there are 46 Republicans and 54 Democrats.  In the 35-member Senate there are 20 Democrats and 15 Republicans.  Therefore, any budget agreement will require each party to compromise.

In the first week of the fiscal session an alternative budget was presented by Republican lawmakers that would trim about $21 million in spending from the governor's proposed $4.7 billion budget.  Both Republicans and Democrats expressed confidence that a compromise is very workable, and that the fiscal session should not bog down in a partisan gridlock as so often happens at the federal level in Washington.

Even though the Democratic Party dominated legislative politics throughout the 20th century, there have always been political factions that consistently opposed each other.  For example, lawmakers from small towns and isolated districts would join forces to get highway construction projects completed in rural areas.

The Arkansas legislature finished the first week of the 2012 fiscal session with clear political lines drawn in the sand.  On one side are lawmakers who support a conservative budget for state government and on the other are those who favor an even more conservative budget.

The back-and-forth between Democrats and Republicans this year is the first time in memory that the two major political parties have contested budget issues so closely.  In that respect, the 2012 fiscal session represents a first in Arkansas political history.

Unlike the federal government, the state of Arkansas operates under a balanced budget law.  Whatever the outcome of the political wrangling at the state Capitol, state government will not spend more than it takes in next year.

The governor has proposed a balanced budget and the legislature's Joint Budget Committee is going over it line by line.  It would authorize about $4.7 billion in spending from the general revenue fund next year.


If the economy slows and tax revenue declines, state agencies will impose spending cuts.  Under the Arkansas balanced budget law, known as the Revenue Stabilization Act, state government will live within its means.

K-12 education stands to receive an additional $56.6 million when the fiscal year begins on July 1.  That would bring the state's Public School Fund to about $2 billion. Under the governor's budget, state aid to colleges and universities would increase only slightly - about $3.6 million next year.

State government provides more than $800 million to the 22 two-year colleges in Arkansas, where more than 45,000 students are enrolled, and to the state's 10 four-year universities, where almost 75,000 students are enrolled.

The Department of Human Services is the state's largest agency, with more than 8,300 budgeted positions and a yearly budget of more than $6 billion in combined state and federal funds.  The Medicaid program accounts for about $4.3 billion in spending.  It provides some form of health coverage to more than a fourth of all Arkansas residents.  The governor's budget would increase Medicaid spending next year by $114.3
million.

The State Hospital would receive an additional $2.9 million.  It has 226 beds for psychiatric inpatient treatment.

The governor has recommended adding about $7 million to the Correction Department Budget for inmate care and custody, bringing the total in that category to $338 million a year.

Funding of drug courts is one area of dispute in the upcoming legislative session.  The 41 drug courts throughout Arkansas have never had a stable and permanent source of funding.  Every year or two, legislators find one-time sources of money to keep them operating.

On the second day of budget hearings this year, legislative supporters of drug courts were successful in getting a committee to approve the  transfer of $3 million from the Tobacco Settlement Commission to the Department of Community Correction, which administers drug courts.  The committee also voted to add two more drug courts to jurisdictions in eastern Arkansas.  The governor's administration was against the transfer.

The dispute resulted in a delay in writing a budget for the Community Correction Department.  It is one of several budget issues that will be resolved before the conclusion of the fiscal session.