The Arkansas General Assembly’s Fiscal Session is currently underway, and the Arkansas Kids Count Coalition spoke with state Rep. Tippi McCullough, who explained what the Fiscal Session is and gave recommendations on how to engage with your legislators during the session. You can watch the recording here. In the event, Maricella Garcia, Race Equity Director for Advocacy at Arkansas Advocates, also provided an update on the federal Build Back Better package.

The Fiscal Session happens every other year, in even years. During this type of session, the General Assembly can typically only consider appropriation bills related to funding the state government. But with a 2/3rds majority vote on a resolution the first day of the session, other bills could have been considered. 

You can follow along with the session on the Arkansas Legislature’s website. It is a great resource where you can search bills, see the meeting schedule, watch live streams and recordings of meetings, find out who serves on which committee, review current laws, and find the contact information of your legislators. If any major legislation is proposed that would impact kids and families in the state, Arkansas Advocates will send out action alerts. You can sign up here, if you aren’t already.

Arkansas Kids Count Coalition’s monthly advocacy action in February is to watch the fiscal session.