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Arkansas Senate passes SB77 and a slate of budget bills, approves $550,000 for public broadcasting match
Summary
The Arkansas Senate on April 27 adopted a series of budget measures, including Senate Bill 77 — a $550,000 appropriation for the Educational Television Division to match grants and donations to public broadcasting — and passed multiple appropriation bills in batches, advancing them to the House.
The Arkansas State Senate moved through its budget calendar on April 27, adopting a string of amendments and passage votes that advanced several appropriations to the House.
Most notably, senators passed Senate Bill 77, an appropriation for the Education Television Division that provides $550,000 “for the matching portion of any grants received or donations received into PBS,” Senator Bryant said while presenting the measure. After a roll-call vote, the secretary announced the tally as 31 yeas, 2 nays and 1 present; the Senate also adopted the bill’s emergency clause and agreed to transmit the measure to the House.
The chamber also approved two Senate appropriation bills in a batch — Senate Bill 29 (lieutenant governor office appropriation) and Senate Bill 51 (auditor, state operations and unclaimed property program appropriation) — by a vote of 33 yeas, 0 nays, 1 not voting; corresponding emergency clauses were adopted.
A larger batch of House appropriation bills covering multiple agencies — including the Department of Public Safety, Department of Corrections divisions, Department of Transportation, Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, Secretary of State, the Office of Early Childhood, Department of Human Services county operations, and State Parks reappropriation — was presented as a block and passed 33–0 with one not voting. The Senate ordered those bills returned to the House with emergency clauses adopted.
Senator Bryant asked senators whether they wished to pull any measures from the batches; none were pulled. “If you want them pulled from the batch, just signal to us,” he said prior to calling the roll.
The secretary also read a letter reporting that Governor Sarah Sanders had signed earlier fiscal-session measures (dated 04/27/2026), filing a set of acts that had been enrolled and delivered to the governor.
The chamber scheduled follow-up committee work: Joint Budget will meet at 5:15 p.m. (or upon adjournment of both chambers) in Mac A, and Revenue and Tax announced a 3:35 p.m. meeting in the Old Supreme Court Building room.
What’s next: The Senate adjourned subject to clearing the desk and will reconvene at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28; bills approved today will be transmitted back to the House for further action.
