MonticelloLive

“When the voters of southeast Arkansas re-elected me in 2004, it was a humbling experience,” Jeffress said. “This year I’m making the same pledge as I did then. I’ll work hard to make sure our taxes are spent wisely and efficiently.”

“There is no substitute for legislative experience when it comes to helping constituents and making sure that local schools, colleges, libraries, fire departments, health clinics and highways are adequately funded,” Jeffress said.

Last year the legislature enacted the largest tax cuts in Arkansas history. Also, the state was released from Supreme Court jurisdiction in the long-running Lake View school funding case.

“We’re in a position to build on our success,” Jeffress said. “It’s exciting to talk about issues with other lawmakers because none of us want to rest on our laurels. There is an enthusiasm in the legislature that’s contagious. We realize that in the next legislative session we’ll have unprecedented opportunities to make far-reaching improvements in education, technology and economic development.”

District 24 comprises all of Ashley, Bradley, Chicot and Drew Counties and parts of Desha County, including McGehee.

Jeffress is 10th in seniority in the 35-member Senate. If re-elected this year, he would move up to sixth in his Senate ranking in 2009 and fifth in 2011. Under the term limits amendment to the state Constitution, it would be his final four-year term in the Senate.

Jeffress is chairman of the Joint Retirement Committee. He is a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development and the Senate Education Committee.

He also serves on the Joint Budget Committee, which is one of the most influential in the legislature because it reviews in detail all state agencies’ spending requests before they are considered by the entire Senate.

Jeffress also serves on the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee and the Senate Rules Committee.

Jeffress, a retired teacher, has become the Senate’s leader on retirement issues not just for teachers and other certified personnel but also for local police and firemen, judges and highway department employees.

“The volatility of the stock market has forced the state Teacher Retirement System to be fairly frugal in recent years, but I’m cautiously optimistic the system is now financially able to consider benefit increases. It’s too soon to say for certain, but at least we can start talking about an increase again. Unfortunately, in the past few years any increase above and beyond a standard cost-of-living increase has been off the table,” Jeffress said.

Jeffress was first elected to the Senate in 2000.

Previously he served in the House of Representatives from 1997 through 2000. He was on the Crossett City Council from 1987 to 1993 and the Ashley County Quorum Court in 1995 and 1996.

Jeffress said that improving public schools, expanding access to medical care and developing the economy of rural areas will continue to be his legislative priorities.

Jeffress served on the Educational Adequacy Committee, which determined the amount of additional funding necessary to bring public school financing up to constitutional standards.

In the 2007 regular session, the legislature allocated the bulk of the state’s budget surplus to school facilities. That helped convince the state Supreme Court that the formula for distributing state aid to school districts is constitutionally equitable and adequate.

“While it’s good news that the state is no longer under a court order to correct school funding, it is also clear that we must not go backward. If we do, we’ll end up right back in court,” Jeffress said. “More importantly, no matter what the legal status of school funding may be, the children of Arkansas deserve the best educational opportunities we can provide.”

Jeffress, 60, is married to Candace Jeffress and they have four daughters. He is a Baptist.