Editorial from Democrat-Gazette

Should the legislature be allowed to meet every 

year?  

Government in Arkansas should be small 

BY DAN GREENBERG SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE  

 

   Less than fifty years ago, congressmen had part-time jobs in Washington: they were often 

able to finish their federal work in June and come home for the balance of the year. They were 

tied to the communities they represented through work, home, family, school and 

neighborhood. Today, our fulltime Congress makes Congressmen tied primarily to Washington, 

although federal legislators are able to make secondary, brief campaign appearances back 

home. These days, it’s much too easy for legislators to become disconnected from their 

constituents and get overly comfortable working with D.C. lobbyists and government 

bureaucrats.  

   Do you want our state legislature—the chief policymaking body for nearly three million 

Arkansans—to look more like Congress? Then have I got a deal for you! If you think Congress is 

doing a great job and you want our state legislature to follow suit, then you should vote for 

Proposed Constitutional Amendment 2. Right now, our state legislature meets for a few months 

every two years. This proposed constitutional amendment will allow the legislature to go into 

session every year—twice as often as it has.  

   Amendment 2 isn’t getting discussed much, but it is without a doubt the biggest and most 

consequential change in Arkansas government in my lifetime. Let me tell you why making this 

change is a terrible idea.  

   Government in Arkansas should be small and non-intrusive, and our state’s legislators should 

work hard to limit their own taxing and spending. The time our legislature spends in session 

needs to be limited, so that legislative attention is concentrated on matters of only the greatest 

importance. But having annual legislative sessions will accomplish just the reverse of these 

conservative Arkansas values.  

   Annual sessions will make it harder for our representatives to be citizens of their districts. 

Annual sessions will create tremendous pressure for pay increases and higher travel allowances 

for legislators, who will find it harder and harder to have real jobs that, every year, allow four 

months time off. Annual sessions will weaken the connections between the people and those 

who are supposed to represent them. Annual sessions will attract candidates who seek 

government sinecures, not private-sector successes. And annual sessions will also give more 

publicity to incumbent politicians and drain the last vestiges of competitiveness out of our 

current political campaigns, which are already heavily biased toward incumbent re-election.  

   Annual sessions will also lead to big government in Arkansas. Political scientists have 

demonstrated what everybody knows: the longer legislatures are in session, the more 

legislation they produce—which generally leads to bigger, more expensive and more complex 

government. States with full-time legislatures generally rank near the top of the list of biggest 

per-person taxers and spenders. In contrast, our neighborhood state of Texas—which, like 

Arkansas, has a legislature that only meets every other year—is consistently near the bottom of 

the list when ranked by per-person taxing and spending.  

   Anyone who genuinely advocates government that is smaller, cheaper and closer to the 

people must oppose this change to our state Constitution. I’m reminded of the experience of 

former South Dakota Senator George McGovern. After almost 20 years as a full-time federal 

legislator, McGovern tried (and failed) to run a small business. When discussing his time in both 

government and business, he famously said: “I wish I had known a little more about the 

problems of the private sector. I have to pay taxes, meet a payroll: I wish I had a better sense 

of what it took to do that when I was in Washington.”  

   More than 200 years ago, George Washington famously compared government to fire, calling 

it “a dangerous servant and a terrible master.” Our system of part-time sessions is a firebreak

to big government, but moving to annual sessions will be an accelerant.  

   Permitting our legislature to spend twice as much time in session will be a gateway drug to 

big government—and a recipe for even more uncompetitive elections and unresponsive 

politicians. A vote for Amendment 2 runs the risk of producing state legislators as disconnected 

as McGovern admitted he became. I hope Arkansas votes against this Amendment and for our 

current system of biennial sessions, which gives as much time as possible to lawmakers to be 

representatives of their districts—not just representatives of that huge marble dome in the 

center of Little Rock.  

Dan Greenberg is a lawyer and state Representative in District 31.  

Editorial from Democrat-Gazette

Arkansas needs to operate with an annual budget  

BY ERIC HARRIS SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE 

 

 

   Rewind to 1874 when the main mode of transportation was a horse, there wasn’t indoor 

plumbing and written communication took weeks to disperse. The Constitution of Arkansas was 

formed setting biennial budgets for our state government. Back in a time when our state relied 

on agriculture and life moved at a much slower pace there wasn’t much need to adjust the 

State’s budget on an annual basis.  

   Fast forward to 2008 where you drive your car everywhere, text message or email your 

friends to see where they are and check on the stock market with the click of a mouse. Today 

trillions of dollars circle the globe on a daily basis and our markets swing several hundreds of 

points up or down. Life and our economy have changed in the last 134 years.  

   With the rapid pace of our markets it has become extremely difficult to predict what is going 

to happen next. Even former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan admitted recently that 

if we can predict what is going to happen with our economy 60 percent of the time we are doing 

well. But doesn’t that mean we miss it around 40 percent of the time?  

   Understanding budgets isn’t easy and often you have to constantly monitor what is happening 

with your money. People do this at home by looking at their bank accounts online daily, weekly 

or balancing their checkbooks with their statements. Imagine setting your household budget for 

two years without any idea that there might be a drop in your income or that unpredicted 

medical bill or household repair would occur. If it doesn’t work for your household do you think 

it works any better for state government?  

   My experience as a legislator for six years serving District 94, a business owner and 

accounting professional led me to the conclusion that legislative oversight of our state budget 

has become extremely complex. My legislative career began with budget constraints and cuts in 

2003. Only four years later during my last legislative session in 2007 the legislature was dealing 

with nearly a one billion dollar budget surplus. We can do better.  

   In fact in today’s fast-paced economy your 135 members of the General Assembly are 

expected to understand a $10 billion biennial budget and its intricate complexities in 90 days 

every two years and expect that a 30 month forecast will be accurate. Oh sure, the executive 

branch can handle it while legislators are back in their districts. Who needs that old notion of 

separation of powers between the branches of government or better legislative oversight?  

   As a newly elected legislator you have to be prepared. Under the current era of term limits in 

Arkansas, which I support, you have to work hard to quickly gain the knowledge necessary to 

operate under the parameters of state government. With nearly a third of the membership of 

the House turning over each session many new members are trying to get up to speed on how 

government budgeting works. By having an annual budget, your legislators will have much 

more exposure to the budget process so they can understand it better in order to ask the 

difficult questions that sometimes go unasked.  

   Some say our current budgeting process is just fine. In fact change is always a difficult thing 

to deal with especially when it affects you and you are a state agency director or receive money 

from state government. Right now the legislators set a two year budget and go home with 

hopes that the forecasts are right. And if by some chance there is a major issue with our budget 

and revenues are down then the governor has the authority to call us into session to deal with 

the issue.  

   The governor’s authority doesn’t need to change. In fact, I think that the authority of a 

governor to call special sessions is still an important mechanism for our state government to 

run properly. That is why the current amendment does not change that authority. However, the 

current system does leave the decision making about budget priorities for nearly 20-21 months 

in the hands of one individual regardless of party or administration. Once again we turn to the 

concept of balance of power. Inequality of branches doesn’t allow for proper checks and 

balances and annual budget sessions would move us more in the direction of proper oversight.  

   Recently the Farm Bureau and the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce joined the Municipal 

League and the Arkansas Association of Counties in their opposition. These organizations set an 

annual budget and many of their members do as well. Cities and counties are required by 

Arkansas law to have annual budgets. If other forms of local government operate on annual 

budgets shouldn’t your state government? In fact, Arkansas is only one of five states that don’t 

meet on an annual basis.  

   Annual budget sessions are necessary and we need to bring Arkansas up to speed with our 

current economic environment. One of the benefits to taxpayers in this proposal is it requires a 

75 percent super-majority to extend a regular session beyond 75 days. This will virtually 

eliminate the old 90 day plus regular sessions that have been common in our past.  

   Practically no family can budget at home on a two year basis. I’ve yet to hear of a business or 

farm that budgets on a two year basis. Why do some think state government can work any 

differently? Eric Harris is an accountant and a state Representative in District 94.