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Senate Passes Key Medicaid Appropriation, Alan Clark A Late 27th 'Aye'

State Sen. Alan Clark (R-Lonsdale) faces reporters after he cast the necessary 27th vote in support of Gov. Asa Hutchinson's proposed Arkansas Works appropriation.
Bobby Ampezzan
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ARKANSAS PUBLIC MEDIA
State Sen. Alan Clark (R-Lonsdale) faces reporters after he cast the necessary 27th vote in support of Gov. Asa Hutchinson's proposed Arkansas Works appropriation.

State Sen. Alan Clark (R-Lonsdale) cast the decisive 27th vote in favor of granting Gov. Asa Hutchinson's appropriation to the Department of Human Services funding the state's health care coverage for low-income Arkansans called Arkansas Works. 

The bill now heads to the House of Representatives for a vote, and then on to Hutchinson, who's expected to sign it.

Clark didn’t vote on the appropriation the first round. He didn't cast a vote at all; neither did Sens. Gary Stubblefield (R-Branch) or Scott Flippo (R-Mountain Home). Meanwhile, state Sens. Brian King (R-Green Forest) and Linda Collins-Smith (R-Pocahontas) voted against it. The normally 35-member Senate is missing three senators due to death and resignation and so 27 votes is necessary to pass an appropriation bill such as this. 

After the roll call only 26 senators had voted for the appropriation. Clark was again asked for a vote, and this time, he said 'aye.'

Sen. Linda Collins-Smith
Credit Bobby Ampezzan / ARKANSAS PUBLIC MEDIA
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ARKANSAS PUBLIC MEDIA
Sen. Linda Collins-Smith

Both Collins-Smith and King said Hutchinson's staff maligned and mischaracterized their position.

"Like Sen. King I, too, was attacked wrongly in my district by the governor, but tell me what's changed, because nothing's changed except an increase in the cost to the taxpayers of Arkansas," Collins-Smith said, holding back tears.

The state expanded federal Medicaid health care coverage years ago as a response to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare. There are nearly 300,000 Arkansans who get health care through the public-private partnership called Arkansas Works.

It continues to be funded by Republican majorities in both chambers, many of whom profess to oppose it. Clark himself has voted against appropriation at least five times.

This week, the state got the go-ahead to implement a work (or volunteer) requirement of 20 hours a week that would affect about 40,000 low-income, childless and non-disabled recipients between the ages of 19-49. It does not affect people on traditional Medicaid.

That, Clark said, influenced him greatly, but perhaps not more than his belief that the three special elections to fill the empty seats will produce the support the governor seeks.

"You know, looking forward, looking at the special elections … I have no doubt the vote is already out there if [this fell] one vote short.”

For his part, Hutchinson said in a press release he's "very grateful for the senators that were able to support Arkansas Works and the DHS appropriation," and on the first vote.

Clark himself said one reason for his change of heart is that he's sure, if the appropriation didn't pass, that the governor would call another session this year to get an appropriation, and "there's no sense in us coming back in June."

 

This story is produced by Arkansas Public Media. What's that? APM is a nonprofit journalism project for all of Arkansas and a collaboration among public media in the state. We're funded in part through a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with the support of partner stations KUAR,  KUAF,  KASU and KTXK. And, we hope, from you! You can learn more and support Arkansas Public Media's reporting at  arkansaspublicmedia.org . Arkansas Public Media is Natural State news with context.

Copyright 2020 Arkansas Public Media. To see more, visit Arkansas Public Media.

Bobby Ampezzan is a native of Detroit who holds degrees from Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA) and the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville). He's written for The Guardian newspaper and Oxford American magazine and was a longtime staff writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The best dimestore nugget he's lately discovered comes from James Altucher's Choose Yourself (actually, the Times' profile on Altucher, which quotes the book): "I lose at least 20 percent of my intelligence when I am resentful." Meanwhile, his faith in public radio and television stems from the unifying philosophy that not everything be serious, but curiosity should follow every thing, and that we be serious about curiosity.