By The Arkansas Black Vitality Staff

March 7, 2025 – During the seventh week of the 95th Arkansas General Assembly, Gov. Sarah Sanders introduced her proposal to repeal the state’s grocery tax while legislation that would overhaul the regulatory process to build new utility plants across the state stalled on the Senate floor.

On Tuesday, Sanders announced the Grocery Tax Relief Act and the Good Neighbor Act. The Grocery Tax Relief Act, sponsored by Sen. Bart Hester and Rep. Kendon Underwood, both Republicans from Cave Springs, will repeal the state grocery tax, which now stands at 1/18^th cent.
The legislation repeals the state grocery tax on food ingredients, beginning in 2026, and will return nearly $10.9 million to the taxpayer annually. This bill will not impact county and municipal grocery taxes. 

The Grocery Tax Relief Act ends our state’s most regressive tax, the state grocery tax, and eases the burden on families just trying to put food on their tables,” said Sanders.

The Good Neighbor Act, sponsored by Sen. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville, expands liability protections to food bank donors including retail grocers, wholesalers, hotels, motels, restaurants, caterers, farmers, nonprofit food distributors, schools, churches, religious organizations, and hospitals. It also provides protection to food banks who then distribute those food donations to the community.

Another key bill supported by Sanders is Senate Bill 307, which is sponsored by Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, and a mix of bipartisan co-sponsors, including two Democrats, Sens. Reginald Murdock, D-Marianna, and Stephanie Flowers, D-Pine Bluff.

Senate Bill 307, or the Generating Arkansas Jobs Act of 2025, would allow utilities and electric cooperatives to file annual riders with the state Public Service Commission (PSC) to increase rates annually before a new plant is fully capitalized or built. Currently, the PSC considers a rate increase near the end rather than the beginning of the construction process.

During the debate in the Senate chamber on Wednesday, Dismang called his bill a “job creator” for the state of Arkansas. “I believe SB307 … is the next step that we have to take to acquire and do what we need to do to be ultimately successful as a job creator.”

Specifically, the Grant County senator noted that Entergy Arkansas will shutter its aging White Bluff and Independence coal-fired plants by the end of 2030 under a federally-approved settlement agreement.  

“The reality is that we not only need to create more potential jobs coming into the state, but for our people currently calling Arkansas home,” Dismang argued. “We have 3.2 gigawatts of power that is set to come offline in the future, which means we need to do what we can to put that power back in the play.”

Other key legislation winding through committees in the House and Senate chambers would dramatically change how citizen-led ballot initiatives are supported in Arkansas, transfer oversight of the state’s public television network, and removes racial and gender quotas from specific state boards and commissions.

In the Senate, lawmakers in the upper chamber approved a package of bills that will make it more challenging for citizen-led ballot initiatives to get beyond the signature-gathering process to put a referendum before Arkansas voters.

The Senate approved SB184 by Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, to transfer the powers of the state Library Board to the Education Department. The same bill also transfers the authority of the Arkansas Educational Television Commission to the Education Department.

It passed in the Senate by a 23-to-8 vote on Feb. 17 and is now in the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs.

On Wednesday, the House passed HB1365 in the lower chamber, which removes racial and gender quotas and membership qualifications for certain boards, committees, councils, and commissions. The bill was approved by a vote of 61-27 and was sent to the Senate for consideration.

Other legislation that reached Gov. Sanders’ desk and signed into law includes Act 140 and Act 238. Act 140, called the “Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act,” was one of Gov. Sanders’ key proposals heading in the legislative session in January.

Gov. Sanders also signed SB59 into law on Feb. 20, which passed the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. Act 123 now provides public school students with free breakfast regardless of income level.

Squatting will soon be illegal in Arkansas, as HB1049, was signed into effect, making it Act 238. Breaking this law is initially a Class A misdemeanor, but by the third offense, it becomes a Class D felony. It also allows property owners to sue squatters for damages.

The House also adopted a resolution supporting the nomination of Former Governor Mike Huckabee as United States Ambassador to Israel. Another bill, HB1417, that would designate the mallard has the “official duck of Arkansas,” is now Act 215