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Sanders highlights prison expansions, trooper pay raises and new public-safety proposals including deportation penalties
Summary
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced plans to expand prison capacity, raise state trooper starting pay, require evidence-based prison programming, and pursue new laws to impose enhanced penalties on violent undocumented immigrants and divest state resources from certain Chinese entities.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders described a package of public-safety and criminal-justice measures that the administration will seek this legislative session, including expanding prison capacity, raising state trooper pay and enacting laws targeting violent undocumented immigrants and certain Chinese-linked entities.
“That's why I'm glad that we've worked to open almost 1,500 prison beds at existing facilities, easing the burden on our county jails,” Sanders said. “And for the first time since my dad was in office, we have worked with this legislature to expand our prison system with plans for a new 3,000 bed prison in Franklin County.” She also said the state will require and expand evidence-based programming in prisons and expand programs such as Pathway to Freedom.
On law enforcement, Sanders said the state now has “more state troopers than we've had in a generation” and that her administration will raise their starting pay by 20% through the state pay plan the administration supports.
On immigration and national-security–oriented measures, Sanders said the legislature will consider a Defense Against Criminal Illegals Act to impose enhanced penalties on violent undocumented immigrants and a "Communist China Defense Act" to divest state resources from certain Chinese entities and to ban them from state military bases and electric substations.
The governor also recognized Dallas County Sheriff Mike Knedel (transcript spelling varies) and announced the creation of an "Arkansas Medal of Freedom" to honor Arkansans who have distinguished themselves in service; she named Sheriff Knedel as an exemplar and invited him to the podium.
All measures were presented as administration legislative priorities; the transcript records the governor’s announcements but does not show votes or enacted statutory changes.
Provenance: governor’s public-safety and prison expansion remarks appear in the joint-session address.
