Arkansas governor outlines proposed $6 billion state budget
By Daniel Breen
KUAR
Arkansas’ Republican governor has proposed a new state budget that includes funding for higher education, workforce development and services for people with disabilities.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson introduced his roughly $6 billion budget for fiscal year 2023 to lawmakers in a meeting of the Joint Budget Committee on Tuesday. He said the proposal reflects an increase of 3.3% over the previous year’s spending.
“This is higher than I prefer, but the needs of our state and our healthy financial position support this increase. The budget also allows for $175 million of built-in surplus, which gives us a cushion that is needed in this time of economic fluctuations,” Hutchinson said.
