Governor Asa Hutchinson's Weekly Address

July 1, 2022 Today I’d like to talk about the Fourth of July, or Independence Day, in Arkansas, the state with enough lakes, rivers, hiking trails, and outdoor festivals to accommodate 3 million Arkansans and visitors as we celebrate the 246 years of our Nation’s independence. And of particular importance, is our beautiful state parks. The Arkansas State Park System, which will turn 100 next year, is one of the best benefits of living in the Natural State. The system attracts families and companies that are considering a move to Arkansas. Petit Jean, Arkansas’s first state park, opened in 1923 when the Fort Smith Lumber Company decided that the area was too difficult for logging. Dr. T.W. Hardison, the Arkansas-born doctor who was the company’s physician, suggested preserving the area as a park. The National Park System declined because the area wasn’t large enough. But Arkansas’s General Assembly liked the idea, and legislators established Petit Jean State Park in 1923. In the 99 years since,  Dr. Hardis

June 24, 2022 Arkansas’s education system greatly depends on our ability to attract and retain teachers. We need to make sure the pay reflects the importance of their job and our respect for their role in shaping the lives of the next generation of leaders. When the pandemic impacted the world, our schools were heavily burdened. Education could not waiver even during a time when things felt so uncertain. Arkansas was one of the few states that kept schools open thanks to the amazing teachers in our state. In fact, Arkansas ranked #2 in the nation for days of in-classroom instruction during the pandemic. That puts us in front of Texas and Florida. And so, we must be able to provide for those who are willing to go on the frontlines for our children’s future.     Teacher pay has been one of my top priorities since running for Governor in 2014. Since then, we have increased the minimum teacher pay to align with many of our surrounding states. In 2019, I signed the Teacher Enhancement Act that took our minimu

June 17, 2022 I signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Israel Innovation Authority this week, and today I’d like to talk about what this means to Arkansas. On Tuesday, my economic development team gathered with Dr. Ami Appelbaum, Chairman of the Innovation Authority, and Livia Link, Consul General of Israel. We gathered at the Melrose Hotel in Washington for the signing ceremony. Dr. Appelbaum and I signed copies of the agreement in English and in Hebrew. This agreement affirms the mutual interest of Arkansas and Israel to share ideas and to work together to produce technology that will benefit our nations and the world. In the official language of the MOU, the purpose of this agreement is to promote activities to foster mutual cooperation in the innovation and development of technology. I met Dr. Appelbaum last year when I was in Israel for the Prime Minister’s Smart Mobility Summit. This MOU is a logical next step to strengthen our robust relationship with one of the United States’ most importa

Hundreds of high school students explored the halls of the Arkansas Capitol last week during the annual exercise in government known as Girls State and Boys State. The week-long programs, which are sponsored by the American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary, offer rising seniors the chance to form a government, run for office, and write and vote on legislation. At the end of the week, the students visit the Arkansas Capitol, where they conduct the business of state government in the place where it really happens. During Boys State and Girls State, the students ran intense campaigns for office, negotiated and passed laws, and held a press conference to announce an economic development project. On Thursday and Friday, in keeping with tradition, I vacated my office for the newly elected governors. This year, I lent my chair to Trinity Foster from Crossett as Girls State Governor and Pablo Velasco-Moya from Brinkley as Boys State Governor. Let me assure you, they represent their community and state very

As our nation mourns the death of nineteen students and two teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, the national conversation has turned again to the need to make our schools more secure. In Arkansas, educators and legislators have long recognized the need for vigilance to keep our children safe. Concern for the safety of our students didn’t suddenly become a priority last week because of the violence in Texas. Four years ago, after a young man killed seventeen students in Parkland, Florida, I created the Arkansas School Safety Commission to assess the state of school security. The commission submitted a 124-page report with thirty significant recommendations. The work of the Commission hasn't sat on a shelf. In fact, most of the recommendations have been adopted, or we are working toward implementing them. But we need to do more. The attack in Texas compels us to revisit the findings and to assess the effectiveness of any changes school districts have made. I have asked Dr. Cheryl May, director of th

Monday is Memorial Day, and this week, hundreds of volunteers are placing an American flag in front of every gravestone in each of Arkansas’s five military cemeteries. We observe Memorial Day, which began shortly after the end of the Civil War, to honor the memory of those who died in service to the United States. The flags honor everyone who served in one of the five branches of our military – the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines, and the Navy. The three national cemeteries are in Little Rock, Fort Smith, and Fayetteville. The state’s Veterans Cemeteries are in North Little Rock and Birdeye. On Wednesday, just five days before Memorial Day, the commander of all U.S. military special operations asked to visit the Fort Smith National Cemetery. It was General Richard Clarke, who is the 12th commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, and he wanted to visit the grave of General William O. Darby. General Darby is a native of Fort Smith, and a graduate of Fort Smith Senior High and West Point. In 1942,

The graduation season is upon us, so today I am congratulating the members of the Class of 2022 who overcame the expected difficulties of high school and college and then surmounted the totally unexpected challenges of a worldwide pandemic. COVID-19 forced you to do many things differently. You attended some classes virtually from time to time. You might have missed some extracurricular activities such as music programs, competitive sports, and clubs. For all that you missed, you also learned some lessons that you wouldn’t have otherwise. You watched leaders at all levels of health care and government assess the medical information and decide how to combat COVID-19 and how to keep Americans safe. We witnessed robust debate about the intersection of science, medicine, public opinion, and emotion. I imagine that these are lessons many of you will take into your careers, whether you are in public service or the private sector. In Arkansas, we went virtual in our schools for a short time. We knew the best outc

There is no question that many families suffered financial setbacks as the coronavirus swept across the nation two years ago. Today I’d like to discuss my vision to stabilize housing and to assist Arkansans with opportunities to move up the economic ladder. Arkansas’s unemployment rate rose to more than 10 percent in the early months of the pandemic. The federal government stepped in with Emergency Rental Assistance, which allowed many to remain in their homes and softened the financial blow for landlords. But our economy has returned, jobs are plentiful, and our unemployment rate is even better than before the pandemic. Many still are recovering, but as employment opportunities abound, we are returning to our pre-pandemic assistance programs. Our goal is to educate Arkansans so they can move into trades that will allow them to build a career that will support their family. We must do more than pay the rent. Arkansans want to work. We recognize the dignity that comes with earning a living rather than a li

The freedom of speech is one of the bedrock principles upon which our country was founded. The purchase of Twitter by the world’s richest man this week has reignited the discussion surrounding free speech, and I’d like to share my thoughts on the importance of this freedom.Social media censorship has been a concern of many Americans for years. While platforms like Facebook and Twitter are privately owned companies that set their own rules for the service they provide, the concern over the spread of misinformation and disinformation on these sites is one shared by millions of Americans.There is equal concern over how these private companies censor or ban certain speech, and the argument is that the platforms are, in essence, the public square where speech should not be limited.These worries have led some elected leaders to call for increased censorship, while others have called for a hands-off approach.Throughout our nation’s history, especially in times of war and turmoil, Americans have spilled a lot of ink

Thirty-seven years ago this week, I put on a bulletproof vest and entered a white-supremacist compound to try to convince the group they were outmanned and outgunned and should surrender.As I have reflected on that moment as well as the racial tension and civil unrest that have roiled our nation over the past two years, I have thought about the lessons we learn from our history.The people I confronted on April 21, 1985, were members of the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, known as the CSA, and one of their missions was to take down the United States government. Members of the CSA had sent out teams to assassinate several government officials, including me.On April 21, 1985, I was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, appointed three years earlier by President Ronald Reagan. For two years, my office had monitored the CSA in cooperation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri, as well as the FBI and the ATF.As we developed our strategy to flush

This week, I declared Washington County a disaster area in the wake of an EF3 tornado that damaged more than 350 homes and businesses and demolished the gym at George Elementary in Springdale.The process that led to the declaration officially began at 5:34 a.m. on March 30th when the director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management notified me a tornado had touched down about 4 a.m.In the weeks since then, leaders of local and state emergency agencies have joined investigators from FEMA to inspect homes and structures in order to estimate the dollar amount of damage.The tornado stayed on the ground for eight minutes and cut a strip through Washington County that was as wide as the length of nearly four football fields.Fewer than ten people were injured, and we were blessed that no one died in this storm.Within hours of the storm, volunteers from Springdale and nearby communities, members of church-based disaster-relief teams, and representatives from nonprofit agencies appeared to help the county d