Issues

As a State Legislator, I will get right to work to review our state budget and ask every agency director to eliminate any programs that are not essential services to Arkansans.

I know as a former state and federal agency director that tough cuts can be made, if required.  This does not have to mean cuts to essential services to our people.  We can reduce our spending and curtail agency growth where necessary.

Arkansans want and need more of their earnings to stay in their pockets and savings.  We can do this through careful budgeting and spending in state government.  I will lead the way in asking for a review of all state budgets.  I will ask agency staff to work with us to help the people of our state have more take-home pay in their pockets.  It's the right thing to do.

Arkansas will only achieve its potential as its citizens are well-educated.  In recent years, our state has seen progress in many aspects of K-12 education, in higher education and improved access to it, including community and technical colleges, and in opportunities for workers to learn job skills.  But we still have a long way to go.

As former Executive Director of the Governor’s Commission on Adult Literacy, Carolyn knows about the risks to our state and our families when young people drop out of high school.  The impact is felt on their ability to earn a living, on the educational achievement of their children, and on their participation in our civic society.  Adults without a high school credential often are unable to read to their children or help their children with homework and don’t attend parent-teacher conferences and school activities that would benefit their children.   They are insecure about asking questions of their doctor, and they don’t always understand medical instructions and prescription information. As workers, they often wind up in dead-end jobs and are unable to move up the ladder.

We must encourage every Arkansan to get a high school credential if they don’t have one.  We also must encourage every Arkansan to go on to college, community college, or technical school, and become a productive and active citizen.  Our programs of Workforce Education, and apprenticeship opportunities for education and job training are models for the nation.  I am also a strong advocate of preschool education, and family literacy programs.

Support for our institutions of higher education is essential.  Our excellent state university system provides access to both traditional and non-traditional students.  We must understand that higher education is essential for our citizens to secure well-paying jobs, and for our state to attract good, clean industry by having a skilled pool of trained, well-educated workers.  

Our health/hospital industry is a chief economic and education engine in Arkansas, and provides high-quality health care to our people.  The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is among the best in the world and attracts physicians, researchers, and patients through its superior reputation. As a member of the State Legislature, I will work to provide needed support to help UAMS continue its world-class standing.  We can be proud too, that Arkansas Children's Hospital is one of the 10 largest pediatric hospitals in the US that boasts an international reputation for forward-thinking research, as well as treatment and procedures. Baptist Medical Center, St. Vincent Infirmary and other health centers around our state provide excellent education and training opportunities for health professionals, while providing top-flight health care to our citizens. 

Through educational improvements, Arkansas will naturally excel in job creation and economic development.  Companies looking to relocate want to know they will have a supply of skilled workers ready to be employed.

Much remains to be done.   Governor Beebe’s Task Force for Best Practices in After-School and Summer Programs has made specific recommendations for educational policy. As a member of the State Legislature, I will help to enact those recommendations.  I will work hard to make Arkansas a state where all its citizens are skilled and well-educated, so that we may fulfill our potential.

Arkansas is indeed a land of natural and scenic beauty. We must make sure it remains that way.  I endorse the recommendations of the Arkansas Governor’s Commission on Global Warming, co-chaired by Representative Kathy Webb. The recommendations should be acted upon in future legislative sessions. Under the recommendations, Arkansas’ natural and scenic beauty will be protected, and our citizens will be given incentives to weatherize their homes, helping reduce their home heating and cooling costs, and also stopping polluting emissions. I am concerned about protecting our water and keeping it clean.

Protecting our environment need not be a burden to any sector of business and industry, but rather must be viewed and understood as both a short-term benefit and a profitable undertaking as well, and in our best interest for the long-term. 

Energy Efficiency:  Energy efficiency is essential for our state and global community.  I will work to encourage more Arkansas business/industry and homeowners to become informed and involved in energy saving.

A remarkable example of how government and business can and must work together is the HEAL (Home Energy Assistance Loan) project. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 provided Department of Energy funding through the Arkansas Energy Office to the William J. Clinton Foundation Climate Initiative in Arkansas for the establishment of the State’s first employer-assisted energy benefit program. The Home Energy Affordability Loan (HEAL) pilot program targets energy affordability, job creation and greenhouse gas reductions by helping participating businesses reduce their utility expenditures and assisting their employees to perform similar energy saving measures in their homes.

The HEAL pilot program does this by providing four Arkansas businesses (one in each Congressional District) with facility audits and zero interest retrofit financing of energy efficiency improvements for their facilities. Following commitment of these commercial retrofit measures, HEAL will provide home audit and retrofit opportunities for up to 100 employees of each participating business. The businesses agree to use a portion of their facility energy savings to develop a zero interest employee loan fund to finance the identified residential improvements for their employees.

This energy efficiency pilot program is designed to:

• Increase the competitiveness of Arkansas business by lowering facility energy costs;
• Increase access to, and deployment of, home energy efficiency retrofits thereby reducing utility burden and increasing disposable income for working families;
• Demonstrate a new benefit program for businesses that is particularly well-suited for low to moderate income working families;
• Include a simple retrofit financing tool in the form of an employee loan fund that can be repaid through payroll deductions.

The Clinton Climate Initiative in Arkansas (CCI AR) is developing and administering all aspects of the pilot program, including candidate selection in each of the four Congressional Districts. http://www.clintonfoundation.org/aeo/index.php

Water:  The complex issues surrounding the 28 watersheds in Arkansas demand knowledgeable and active involvement. A fair balance between the rights of property owners as well as a clean water supply must be achieved. The key goals are to do no harm to property owners, do not compromise the watershed and the clean water supply, make decisions based on science, and take a measured approach that helps keep emotions at bay. I will work for fairness for all concerned.

Arkansas must continue to place a strong emphasis on industry retention while helping to expand the businesses already here and attracting new ones. As a member of the State Legislature, I will help to provide our citizens good-paying jobs that will help improve the quality of life for our people. Our state must continue to make economic development a priority, and must continue to attract good, clean jobs and industries that will improve our 21^st century living.

Arkansas must be a place where industry and business wants to locate.  Our quality of life is excellent, our natural beauty magnificent, and our people work hard. We have skilled workers ready for employment, and apprenticeship programs for worker training. Arkansas should be on the short list of any business seeking to begin or relocate.  I will work to strengthen our economic development and to attract good, clean jobs for our workers and families.

Every Arkansan deserves to feel safe and secure in their homes and communities.  Our current corrections system is overcrowded and unable to respond to the increasing needs for taking criminals off our streets.  We must first seek every resource and solution possible to deter crime.  We must find new approaches to keep those who are charged with criminal conduct securely in our corrections facilities.  I will be an active partner in improving our corrections programs.

As Executive Director of the Governor’s Commission on Adult Literacy, I became aware of the direct link between low educational attainment and crime.  I worked to make it a requirement that any incarcerated individual eligible for parole who did not have a high school credential be required to attend Adult Literacy and GED classes.    I spoke to many graduation ceremonies in prisons for GED students. 

I want to make sure our young people stay in school, complete their basic education, go on to college, and live successful, good lives.  There is a clear link between education and incarceration.  I’ll work toward effective and successful approaches to ending crime, reducing recidivism, and improving our corrections systems