MonticelloLive

The legislative Joint Energy Committee voted to support a new project to mine for lignite in south Arkansas.

A tug of war quickly developed among branches of state government when the Game and Fish Commission announced last week that it had leased mineral rights to a gas drilling company.

Lawmakers have been working on numerous issues in preparation for the regular session that begins in January of 2009.As always, the major issues are public education, the rising costs of getting a college degree, criminal justice and prisons, transportation, health care and economic development.

Arkansas, Kentucky and South Dakota are the only three states without a statewide emergency trauma system.

The state has begun a long-term care insurance program designed to allow people to protect their assets if failing health requires them to move into a nursing home.

The new State Hospital, for people who need the most intensive mental health care, will open in Little Rock very near the site of the current 44-year-old building.

When the state fiscal year begins on July 1, state government agencies will reduce their planned budgets by $106.8 million in anticipation of an expected slowdown in revenue collections.

To ensure compliance with federal court orders, Arkansas officials are changing lethal injection procedures for executing inmates.

Many school districts can expect to get additional state funding for transportation costs, which have gone up because of rising gasoline and diesel prices.

All indications are that the long-running legal battle between the state’s major health insurance companies and medical providers will continue to drag out in court, in spite of legislative approval of a law intended to clear up the matter.

The state Agriculture Department has received more than 60 applications for grants to develop alternative fuels, such as ethanol and biofuels. The department has approved seven.

In the next 12 years the population of Arkansas will become more urban and more ethnically diverse.

The state Board of Finance will lend $80 million to the Arkansas Student Loan Authority to make sure college loans are available next school year.
The loan is a temporary measure to support the agency through the national credit crisis.

Rates for workers’ compensation insurance paid by Arkansas employers will go down as of July 1, in large part owing to reforms passed by the legislature.

A Pulaski County circuit judge ruled in favor of truth in advertising last week, when he ordered a Kentucky company to pay fines and restitution for deceiving Arkansas customers.

Personnel at the Arkansas State Police will take training courses to learn how to spot fraudulent identity documents presented by people from foreign countries.

In a three-day special session, the legislature enacted the governor’s plan to raise severance taxes on natural gas production and dedicate the revenue to highway programs.