LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas ended its fiscal year with a record $1.6 billion budget surplus, state finance officials announced Tuesday as Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he planned to call lawmakers back into session to take up tax relief proposals.
The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration said the state’s net available revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30 totaled more than $7.4 billion. The state’s individual income, corporate income and sales tax collections came in above forecast and above the previous year’s numbers.
The last record for a budget surplus in Arkansas was $945.7 million, which the state set at the end of the previous fiscal year.
Hutchinson, a Republican, said he hopes to release later this week dates for a special session. Hutchinson said there’s enough “broad consensus” on tax relief for him to set a date.
Hutchinson said he does not plan on including abortion on the agenda for the session. A state ban on abortion took effect hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month. The ban does not include exemptions for rape or incest, and Hutchinson has said he does not plan on asking lawmakers to add those exceptions.
