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Sanders proposes ending grocery tax, expanding summer EBT and using medical-marijuana funds to sustain school meals
Summary
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders urged elimination of the state grocery tax, expansion of Summer EBT, and use of medical-marijuana revenue to make Summer EBT and free school breakfast sustainable, and proposed a Good Neighbor Act and Buy Local Act to encourage food donations and in-state procurement.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced a set of proposals aimed at reducing food insecurity and supporting Arkansas farmers: ending the state grocery tax, expanding Summer EBT, and using medical-marijuana revenue to sustain those programs and make school breakfast free for participating students.
“Last year, I signed Arkansas up for summer EBT,” Sanders said, noting the program provided about $100 per eligible child and that the state served roughly a quarter-million students last summer through the program. She said the administration will work with the legislature to “end our most regressive tax, the state grocery tax,” and that she will “use medical marijuana money to make both this program and our free lunch and breakfast programs financially sustainable for years to come.”
Sanders also proposed the Good Neighbor Act to provide liability protection for restaurants and others who donate food to food banks, and the Buy Local Act to encourage schools to purchase food from Arkansas farmers.
The proposals were presented as legislative priorities in the governor’s address and were not enacted on the floor during the proceedings captured in the transcript.
Provenance: remarks appear in the governor’s joint-session address.
