by Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate
May 5, 2025

After a nearly three-week recess, Arkansas lawmakers return to the Capitol Monday to officially adjourn the 2025 legislative session, which brand new legislators described as a busy and humbling experience. 

Rep. Brad Hall, a first-term Republican lawmaker and cattle rancher in Rudy, said House Speaker Brian Evans, R-Cabot, mentored and prepared new legislators, but it was “mindblowing” to see how much work was involved once the session got underway. 

“It was really daunting, kind of overwhelming at first … it’s like drinking from a firehose,” Hall said. “The truth is you cannot really be effective as a freshman because you don’t know what you’re doing until it’s almost over.” 

Hall was one of thirteen non-incumbents elected in November to a two-year term in the Arkansas House. Twelve were brand new state legislators while Rep. Tracy Steele, D-North Little Rock, previously served in the Arkansas Legislature from 1999 to 2013.

Steele filled the House District 72 seat left vacant by Sen. Jamie Scott, D-North Little Rock, who was elected to the Senate and was the only new member of the upper chamber. 

Hall and other members of the House’s freshman class agreed there was a big learning curve and said they were shocked by the sheer volume of legislation considered over the course of three months.

Freshman class of Arkansas lawmakers includes educators and ranchers

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed more than 1,000 bills into law and vetoed four others. Lawmakers can vote to override the governor’s vetoes with a simple majority in both chambers before the sine die adjournment of a legislative session. 

Once first-term legislators got a handle on the bill-making process, they learned the importance of relationships both inside and outside of the statehouse. 

“The biggest takeaway was just really the amount of running that you do,” Siloam Springs Republican Rep. Randy Torres said. “You must learn the what, the how and the who simultaneously and very quickly, especially if you want to be effective and run bills and do the full legislative responsibility in your first year.”

Torres said he learns by doing, so he filed his first bill a few days after being sworn into office in January. Presenting to a committee the first time was “brutal” because of tough questions from his colleagues. His proposal had to be amended, but Torres, who works in banking, said he was grateful for the experience because it helped him better understand the process. 

The legislation that Torres said he’s “very honored” and proud to have sponsored and that he feels will be most impactful is Act 147, which will allow a person’s blood type to be placed on their driver’s license or identification card. Every member of the House’s freshman class signed on as cosponsors of Torres’ bill.

After introducing his legislation, Torres said he was contacted by blood banks around the country excited about his proposal because they said it would encourage people to donate blood so they could learn their blood type.

“Then also in the rural areas of our state, blood supply is very limited and so really knowing that you’re not going to have to use your universal O negative all the time will be very helpful,” Torres said. 

Rep. Jessie McGruder, D-Marion, said he was proud to be the lead sponsor of a new law that will require an early voting location in cities that have more than 15,000 residents. The West Memphis teacher and football coach said he filed the legislation in response to a legal battle over early voting in his district last fall.

“It was embarrassing what happened in my district that the election commission couldn’t come to a resolution on the fact that they needed to have an early voting location in West Memphis, which is the biggest municipality in Crittenden County, and we had to go before the [Arkansas] Supreme Court,” McGruder said. “So I wanted to make sure that everybody has the access to early voting within my area.”

Fighting for constituents back home was very important to freshman lawmakers in the House, including Rep. Diana Gonzales Worthen, D-Springdale. The longtime educator represents the state’s first Hispanic-majority district and is the first Latina elected to the Arkansas Legislature. 

“It was a very humbling experience to be the voice of 30,000 people, so they were carried in my heart as I was reading new bills and [considering] how this would impact my community,” she said. 

House District 9 is one of the most diverse districts in the state, so Gonzales Worthen said she was especially proud of her ability to bring awareness to the benefits and consequences of immigrant-related bills.  

“Our diversity, that’s our strength, but a lot of times individuals do not see that as our strength,” she said. 

Although the Republican Party has a supermajority in the Arkansas Legislature, Gonzales Worthen said it was still important to speak against bills she didn’t agree with so people could gain a better understanding of legislation. The Springdale Democrat spoke in opposition to a number of bills, including one that would “prohibit discrimination or public entities.”

Gonzales Worthen said she was disappointed in the passage of Act 116 of 2025, which eliminates required minority recruitment and retention plans and reports from public school districts and higher education institutions. The law also repeals language in state procurement proposals that encouraged minority participation or required bidders to adopt an equal opportunity hiring program designed to increase the percentage of minority employees.

McGruder, a member of the Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus, said he cried and hugged his 10-month-old granddaughter following the law’s passage because he’s “worried about the future when people don’t have adequate representation.”

“It hurts me, because it wasn’t that minorities are not comfortable or adequate or qualified for positions, it’s that the implementation of that [law] will not allow us to even be in the room anymore,” he said. “All we need is to be in the room. Most of the time we’re overqualified for the position we’re applying for, but that bill is going to hurt minorities in the future.”

For Arkansans who are considering a run for the Arkansas Legislature, this year’s freshman class recommended reaching out to retired lawmakers for advice and visiting the Capitol when lawmakers are in session to get a better understanding of the process. They also suggested speaking with family and coworkers who would also be impacted by a decision to seek office.

Additionally, they emphasized the importance of listening to and being available to the constituents they represent and who helped them get elected.

“The lobbyists down there, they’re going to be there whether you get elected or not, so you need to listen to the people that sent you there … just pay attention to what’s going on back home, and if you make them people happy, then you’ll be OK,” Hall said. “You can’t make everybody happy all the time, but you do the best you can.”

Despite the pace of the legislative session, Hall said he’ll be back because he wants “to fight for people that can’t fight for themselves.” Torres, Gonzales Worthen and McGruder said they also intend to seek reelection for the 2026 election cycle. The filing period for candidates for the Arkansas Legislature is Nov. 3-12. 

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

The post Freshman class of Arkansas lawmakers reflects on lessons learned during legislative session appeared first on arkansasadvocate.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Left-Leaning

The content presents a perspective that highlights concerns of minority representation and immigrant-related issues, with emphasis on the experiences of Democratic lawmakers opposing legislation perceived as limiting minority rights and opportunities. The narrative focuses on diverse lawmakers advocating for minority and community interests, often critiquing Republican-led legislation. While it provides balanced coverage of both parties’ experiences in the legislature, the framing of minority rights and social justice issues, coupled with inclusion of personal emotional responses against certain bills, reflects a left-leaning bias.

SUMMARY: Firefighters from across the region and nation gathered in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, to honor fallen firefighters in a unique event called “Bells Across America for Fallen Firefighters.” Held at Memorial Park, the ceremony featured a 104-year-old bell from Siloam Springs’ first motorized fire apparatus, symbolizing legacy and remembrance. Organized by retired firefighter-paramedic Andy Ingram, who founded the local Fire Department Honor Guard, the event paid tribute to those who died in the line of duty and supported the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. The ceremony gained significance following the recent death of a Kansas City firefighter. Organizers aim to make it an annual tradition.

Memorial Park hosts ‘Bells Across America for Fallen Firefighters’

Subscribe to 40/29 on YouTube now for more: http://bit.ly/PTElbK

Get more Northwest Arkansas news: http://www.4029tv.com
Like us: http://facebook.com/4029news
Follow us: http://twitter.com/4029news
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/4029news/

Source

by Sam Whitehead, KFF Health News, Phil Galewitz, KFF Health News and Katheryn Houghton, KFF Health News, Arkansas Advocate
May 2, 2025

For many years, Eric Wunderlin’s health issues made it hard to find stable employment.

Struggling to manage depression and diabetes, Wunderlin worked part-time, minimum-wage retail jobs around Dayton, Ohio, making so little he said he sometimes had to choose between paying rent and buying food.

But in 2018, his CareSource Medicaid health plan offered him help getting a job. It connected him to a life coach, who helped him find full-time work with health benefits. Now, he works for a nonprofit social service agency, a job he said has given him enough financial stability to plan a European vacation next year.

“I feel like a real person and I can go do things,” said Wunderlin, 42. “I feel like I pulled myself out of that slump.”

Republicans in Congress and several states, including Ohio, Iowa, and Montana, are pushing to implement work requirements for nondisabled adults, arguing a mandate would encourage enrollees to find jobs. And for Republicans pushing to require Medicaid enrollees to work, Wunderlin’s story could be held up as evidence that government health coverage can help people find employment and, ultimately, reduce their need for public assistance.

Yet his experience is rare. Medicaid typically does not offer such help, and when states do try to help, such efforts are limited.

And opponents point out that most Medicaid recipients already have jobs and say such a mandate would only kick eligible people off Medicaid, rather than improve their economic prospects. Nearly two-thirds of Medicaid enrollees work, with most of the rest acting as caregivers, going to school, or unable to hold a job due to disability or illness, according to KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

Existing efforts to help Medicaid recipients get a job have seen limited success because there’s not a lot of “room to move the needle,” said Ben Sommers, a professor of health care economics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Most Medicaid enrollees already work — just not in jobs with health benefits, he said.

“The ongoing argument that some folks make is that there are a lot of people freeloading in Medicaid,” he said. “That’s just not supported by the evidence.”

Using Health Programs To Encourage Work

The GOP-controlled Congress could allow or require states to implement a Medicaid work requirement as part of revamping and downsizing Medicaid. The first Trump administration encouraged those work mandates, but many were struck down by federal judges who said they were illegal under federal law.

Policy experts and state officials say more attention should be paid to investments that have helped people find better jobs — from personalized life coaching to, in some cases, health plans’ directly hiring enrollees.

They argue work requirements alone are not enough. “The move to economic mobility requires a ladder, not a stick,” said Farah Khan, a fellow with the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank.

While Medicaid work requirements have been debated for decades, the issue has become more heated as 40 states and Washington, D.C., have expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act to the vast majority of low-income adults. More than 20 million adults have gained coverage as a result — but Republicans are now considering eliminating the billions in extra federal funding that helped states extend eligibility beyond groups including many children, pregnant women, and disabled people.

Only Georgia and Arkansas have implemented mandates that some Medicaid enrollees work, volunteer, go to school, or enroll in job training. But a study Sommers co-authored showed no evidence work requirements in Arkansas’ program led to more people working, in part because most of those who could work already were.

In Arkansas, more than 18,000 people lost coverage under the state’s requirement before the policy was suspended by a federal judge in 2019 after less than a year. Those who lost their Medicaid health care reported being unaware or confused about how to report work hours. Since 2023, Arkansas has been giving Medicaid health plans financial incentives to help enrollees train for jobs, but so far few have taken advantage.

Some plans, including Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s, offer members $25 to $65 to complete a “career readiness” certificate. In 2024, some Arkansas health plans offered enrollees educational videos about topics including taxes and cryptocurrency.

Health plans don’t have an incentive to help someone find a better-paying job, because that could mean losing a customer if they then make too much to qualify for Medicaid, said Karin VanZant, a vice president at Clearlink Partners, a health care consulting company.

Rather than offering incentives for providing job training, some states, such as California and Ohio, require the insurance companies that run Medicaid to help enrollees find work.

In Montana, where some lawmakers are pushing to implement work requirements, a promising optional program nearly collapsed after state lawmakers required it be outsourced to private contractors.

Within the program’s first three years, the state paired 32,000 Medicaid enrollees with existing federally funded job training programs. Most had higher wages a year after starting training, the state found.

But enrollment has plummeted to just 11 people, according to the latest data provided by the state’s labor department.

Sarah Swanson, who heads the department, said several of the nonprofit contractors that ran the program shuttered. “There was no real part in this for us to deliver direct services to the folks that walked through our door,” she said. The state hopes to revive job training by allowing the department to work alongside contractors to reach more people.

The Hunt for Results

State officials say they don’t have much data to track the effectiveness of existing job programs offered by Medicaid plans.

Stephanie O’Grady, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Medicaid, said the state does not track outcomes because “the health plans are not employment agencies.”

Officials with CareSource, which operates Medicaid plans in multiple states, say it has about 2,300 Medicaid and ACA marketplace enrollees in its JobConnect program — about 1,400 in Ohio, 500 in Georgia, and 400 in Indiana.

The program connects job seekers with a life coach who counsels them on skills such as “showing up on time, dressing the part for interviews, and selling yourself during the interview,” said Jesse Reed, CareSource’s director of life services in Ohio.

Since 2023, about 800 people have found jobs through the program, according to Josh Boynton, a senior vice president at CareSource. The health plan itself has hired 29 Medicaid enrollees into customer service, pharmacy, and other positions — nearly all full-time with benefits, he said.

In 2022, California started offering nontraditional health benefits through Medicaid — including help finding jobs — for enrollees experiencing homelessness or serious mental illness, or who are otherwise at risk of avoidable emergency room care. As of September, it had served nearly 280,000 enrollees, but the state doesn’t have data on how many became employed.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which is among the largest private employers in Pennsylvania, running both a sprawling hospital system and a Medicaid plan, has hired over 10,000 of its Medicaid enrollees since 2021 through its training and support services. Among other jobs, they took positions as warehouse workers, customer service representatives, and medical assistants.

The vast majority left low-paying jobs for full-time positions with health benefits, said Dan LaVallee, a senior director of UPMC Health Plan’s Center for Social Impact. “Our Pathways to Work program is a model for the nation,” he said.

Josh Archambault, a senior fellow with the conservative Cicero Institute, said Medicaid should focus on improving the financial health of those enrolled.

While the first Trump administration approved Medicaid work requirements in 13 states, the Biden administration or federal judges blocked all except Georgia’s.

“I don’t think states have been given ample chance to experiment and try to figure out what works,” Archambault said.

KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart contributed to this report.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.

This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

The post States Push Medicaid Work Rules, but Few Programs Help Enrollees Find Jobs appeared first on arkansasadvocate.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

The article presents a balanced report on the debate surrounding Medicaid work requirements, offering perspectives from both supporters and opponents. It discusses the experiences of individuals like Eric Wunderlin, whose story supports the potential benefits of work assistance through Medicaid, but it also highlights the limitations and challenges of such programs. The article includes multiple viewpoints, notably from critics who argue that work mandates would harm Medicaid recipients rather than help them. Furthermore, the piece acknowledges the lack of success in existing efforts, which is presented in a neutral, factual manner. While the article touches on political dynamics, it refrains from a strong ideological stance, instead focusing on data and expert opinions, contributing to a more nuanced and impartial exploration of the issue. The framing does lean slightly in favor of critiques of the work requirements, but the overall tone remains balanced without a clear ideological agenda.