Policy Research

(June 2013) Three decades before Congress voted to defund1 a welfare lobby founded in Arkansas, congressional auditors found the group disregarded federal guidelines by using trainees in a taxpayer-funded program for political activity. The episode illustrates...

Summary: Gov. Mike Beebe, state legislators and the Obama administration have not advanced a “private option” to expand Medicaid.  They have created an oligopoly, a market type characterized by a few suppliers able to capture above-average...

“Reduce the state's income tax…repeal the state's capital gains tax.” Murphy Commission, Policy Foundation project, 1998 “State revenues have exceeded forecasts: modest cuts in income … and capital gains rates can occur in 2013.” Policy Foundation,...

“Academic ratings and triggers for acclaim or sanctions should be issued for each K-12 public school district using a letter grade system (A, B, C, D, and F). Murphy Commission, Policy Foundation project, 1998  ...

(May 2013) Economists and medical professionals have understood for some time that shortages exist within Arkansas’ health care system.  But the bipartisan group of state lawmakers that expanded Arkansas’ Medicaid rolls by an estimated quarter-million recipients...

(April 2013) The state legislature has reduced the top Arkansas income tax rate from 7.0 to 6.9 percent on net income greater than $44,000 for “tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2015.”  The measure1 also...

“Reduce the state's income tax…repeal the state's capital gains tax.” Murphy Commission, Policy Foundation project, 1998   (April 2013) The capital gains tax cut1 approved by the first Republican-controlled state legislature since Reconstruction is a modest...

“The long-term liabilities of the ARKids First program should be identified.”  Policy Foundation research memos, 2006   (March 2013) The unfunded liabilities1 of the state’s ‘ARKids First2 program,’ a major part of Arkansas Medicaid are estimated to expand by more than...

  (February 2013) Beebe administration officials are asking the state General Assembly to approve a $125 million bond deal for a steel production facility at Osceola in east Arkansas that promises 525 new jobs.  But the...

(January 15, 2013) Policymakers across the Arkansas political spectrum agree that a proposed Medicaid expansion is the biggest issue in the legislative session that began this week.  Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe told the General Assembly today,...