By Caleb Taylor How can Faulkner County officials improve transparency? ACRE Policy Analyst Mavuto Kalulu discussed solutions to this question and steps officials have already taken in an op-ed published in the Log Cabin Democrat on April 16. Kalulu mentioned Faulkner County Circuit Clerk Crystal Taylor (no relation to the author) as an example of […]
Better Health By Empowering Nurse Practitioners
By Caleb Taylor Could Arkansans get better healthcare and save money with a simple regulatory change? Dr. David Mitchell, an associate professor of economics at UCA and director of the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics, told the legislature that the answer is yes — and all Arkansans would have to do is let nurse […]
ACRE Scholar Quoted on State Tax Code Changes
By Aaron Newell Comprehensive reforms – not special tax incentives – are key to making Arkansas a more economically competitive state says Jeremy Horpedahl, ACRE Scholar and UCA Assistant Professor of Economics, who recently discussed Act 822 with Paul Williams at Law360. This act, sponsored by Sen Bart Hester (R-Cave Springs) and signed by the […]
Arkansas’s Tax Code Gets an Update
By Caleb Taylor What were the major tax reforms passed by Arkansas legislators during the 2019 session? ACRE Scholar and UCA Assistant Professor of Economics Jeremy Horpedahl and the Tax Foundation’s Vice President of Federal and Special Projects Nicole Kaeding outlined the recent “series of tax reforms to improve the competitiveness of the state’s tax […]
Investing More in Student Instruction? Students Improve
By Caleb Taylor How should public schools allocate funding to get better student outcomes? Morgan Burke, an ACRE Fellow and UCA biology student, recently wrote an op-ed for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette titled “Rethink spending: Focus school funds on instruction,” arguing that Arkansas is misallocating its spending on administrative funding when the money could be better […]
Misallocated Incentives: How Arkansas Could Be Better
By Aaron Newell Where should state governments’ target economic incentives? Should they attempt to boost already thriving counties, or should they focus on developing poorer counties? Dango Kumwenda, an ACRE Fellow and UCA MBA student, recently wrote an op-ed for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette titled “Bad incentives: Rich counties benefit most,” arguing that Arkansas is misallocating […]
Arkansans’ Occupational Licensing Burdens May Lighten
By Caleb Taylor Arkansas’s lower income workers face some of the heaviest licensing burdens in the country. That hurts job seekers, entrepreneurs, and consumers. These regulations also disproportionately harm military spouses, ex-offenders, minorities and immigrants. But new legislation could lead to better rules and more opportunities for Arkansans. House Bill 1527, or the Red […]
New Protections for Property Rights in Arkansas: Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform
By Aaron Newell Civil asset forfeiture reform has been on the minds of Arkansas legislators, as well as policymakers around the country. The US Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion in Timbs v Indiana, ruled that the excessive fines clause of the US Constitution applied to state laws, and in particular civil asset forfeiture laws. […]
Civil Asset Forfeiture in Arkansas May Change after US Supreme Court Ruling, But the State Could Do More to Protect Arkansans
Most people don’t realize that police officers can seize and keep the property of individuals even if that person is never convicted of a crime. It’s called “civil asset forfeiture,” and a new US Supreme Court decision is putting stricter limits on it. ACRE’s database of seizures was started as Maleka Momand’s ACRE Research Fellow […]
The Costs of Special Elections
By Aaron Newell On February 13th, Rep. Justin Gonzales, R-Okolona, presented House Bill 1402 in front the House State Agencies Committee, which would limit special elections to just two dates a year – either at a primary or general election, or their corresponding dates in off years. Dr. Jeremy Horpedahl was invited to testify to […]