Democrat Greg Leding talks about education, abortion, taxes ahead of General Assembly
joining us now in 40 29. News on the record is Senator Gregg letting *** Fayetteville *** democrat, senator, thank you so much for joining us and happy holidays. I see your christmas tree is up at home in Fayetteville now you have been *** little rock already for the next general assembly session. That’s about to start january. What have you and the other senators been discussing and what committees do you believe you’ll be serving on next year? Yeah, good morning to you too. Happy to be here. Yeah, lawmakers have been meeting since early october getting ready for *** lot for the upcoming session, primarily so far dealing with the budget, the state budget. But we did have our organizational meeting in the Senate right after the election. So our committee assignments set and as of last week the Arkansas house met and held their organizational meetings. All of their committee assignments are met. So we know who’s going to be aware on what committees, I will be back on the Senate Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development and and looking forward to it. Senator letting let’s start with education. Education seems to be *** big topic and *** big focus for governor elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders from the democratic perspective, how do you see everything playing out the governor, current Governor, Asa Hutchinson also recommended that *** lot of money, I think $550 million be spent on education for teachers salaries. So just kind of walk us through everything that your committee will be talking about and going through. I imagine there are all kinds of things that I can’t anticipate. But education is probably going to dominate this session. Governor Alexander’s clearly has some big plans for public education and and every our cancer, regardless of their political affiliation, should care about public education. About 44 cents of every dollar goes to public education in this state, it’s more, it’s our biggest expense. Um, and so there’s *** lot to do there. We, and unfortunately, uh, you know, there’s *** lot of things we can do to improve public education in Arkansas, but *** solid public school system is essential to our state success. One of the things I know we’re going to see is an increase for teacher salaries. It just seems to be *** question of how much, and when those salaries will kick in, you know, *** lot of us tried to mostly democrats, but some republicans last summer trying to get um teachers some significant salary increase after Governor Hutchinson proposed salary increases. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get that done, but I am confident we’ll see teacher raises in the upcoming session. It also sounds, you know, I’m not privy to any of governor, like Sanders, uh, plans, detailed plans when it comes to public education, but she does seem to be on record as saying she would like money to follow the child, which essentially means the best of my understanding is that the state would help cover the cost of parents wanted to see their Children to take them out of public schools and put them into private schools or homeschool them have *** lot of concerns there. I am *** strong public school supporter have always been, but I also know that I don’t know enough to know that that’s the only way to go right. I’m open minded enough to believe that public schools might not be the right answer for every single child. So I am open to alternatives, but those alternatives should never come at the expense of public education. Unfortunately, that seems to be where we, we find ourselves. So I imagine *** lot of our committee discussion will center on potentially *** significant reshaping of public education in Arkansas, Senator, I know earlier this year, lawmakers did go back for *** special fiscal session. *** lot of talk about teacher pay, why what was the conflict? Why did teacher’s salary increases not pass? Why do you maybe feel that things might be different the next General Assembly? Well, we’ve done uh not *** great job raising teacher salaries in recent years, but the legislature has been sort of regularly raising teacher salaries in recent years. So I think the plan was always to address it this session. I think Governor Hutchinson caught *** lot of people by surprise last june, I think it was when he announced that he would love to see raises up to $10,000. Um, so I think part of the issue last summer was just internal politics. It wasn’t that anybody was supposed to giving raises. It was *** feeling of maybe having been caught off guard, maybe blanching *** little bit at *** salary increase that large. Um, and from there, just the legislature decided that they weren’t gonna be uh made to raise salaries in the middle of summer. They were going to wait until *** legislative session, which seemed to have been the original plan. So I would have loved to have seen those races kick in earlier. But again, I’m confident that we’ll see it happen this session now. We have heard some lawmakers say that some Republican lawmakers say that, you know, the school district and education already gets enough of our money. It’s just that the school districts are maybe not using it the way that they should. Do you agree with that? I agree with the second part. Um, it’s doesn’t matter how much money you invest in something if you’re not spending it in the appropriate way, and I’m certainly willing to admit that like, the money we’re putting into public education maybe isn’t always being invested in the right way. I do not agree that we’re spending too much. I think we should spend more. Again, I don’t think there’s any problem in the state that can’t be addressed by *** solid public education system. One of the problems, especially politically, is that it’s such *** long term process To build up *** strong public education system, but it’s something that’s absolutely important. And so I think it’s worth the investment. I think we should spend more money. But *** lot of my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats alike, I think are right when they say we need to be better about making sure where this money and how this money spent. All right, well, this whole block, we talked about education, which is *** big part of our budget more than 40%. So next block, we’re going to talk *** little bit more about other issues that you talking about. Next General Assembly. We’ll be back in two minutes. We’re back here in 40 20 nineties on the record with Senator Gregg letting *** democrat from Fayetteville and senator yield in just *** couple of weeks be headed to Little Rock. We talked about education being one of the hot topics this upcoming legislative session, but also prisons and income tax. So let’s start with taxes first. What is *** talk in Little Rock right now about taxes and cutting taxes? The Arkansas General Assembly has never met *** tax cut it didn’t like. So I’m in an effort to further cut taxes. Um *** lot of democrats and republicans think that maybe we are urging *** point where we need to be very careful about how much further we cut. We don’t want to see *** collapse in state services, but I do think we’re gonna expect some, some tax cuts in this legislative session? I will say now that the House committee assignments have, have been set. Either the House Revenue and Tax Committee or the Senate Revenue and Tax Committee have *** single Democratic lawmaker on them. And I believe that is the first time in history. So whatever we see come out of those two committees, it will be all of my republican colleagues doing so we’ll see what happens. Yeah, Republicans certainly have *** super majority in the Arkansas legislature. So, as *** democrat, how do you get anything done? But most of the issues we work on down there aren’t partisan. It tends to be the partisan issues that get most of the headline and discussion because the more controversial, but the overwhelming amount of work isn’t partisan in nature. It’s um, you know, just good practical policy. I’ve done *** lot of work in recent years addressing cancer as an example. And that’s certainly not *** political issue. I’ve had *** lot of success advancing legislation. You just kind of pick your spots and you do what you can to build relationships across the aisle and within your own caucuses and try to do the job that you were elected to do. So, prison is another hot topic that is being thrown around and some lawmakers saying that we need to add more bets to our prison system. Some even going to say we need to build *** new prison. I don’t know where yet, but we need *** new facility. So what are your thoughts on that and what is *** discussion surrounding prison reform? There are certainly some crowding issues in our state’s prison system. So we probably do need to expand capacity. I personally, at least at this point opposed to building an entirely new prison. And I have *** lot of concerns about some of the plans for expansion. I think it is way too large of an investment for what we get back. I think we need to think more long term and instead of just building more housing to house people that we arrest, I think more about traditional reforms and things to keep people from going to prison in the first place. Um, and that’s again, it isn’t entirely *** partisan issue we saw here in Benton County and Washington County this last election cycle, voters voted down efforts to pay for prison expansions. So I think this, there are republicans and democrats alike who are wary about investing this much money in new facilities, even though that doesn’t mean that they don’t have concerns about crime or don’t see the need for additional capacity. But we want to be very careful and we also want to think more long term about other solutions to this issue. What about some social issues like abortion, LGBTQ plus rights and trans rights as well. And those have been hot topics in Arkansas and nationwide right now. So, any idea from your democratic colleagues and what proposals and bills may come out of those social issues? Well speaking, just again on behalf of democrats, I do think we and hopefully some republicans are going to try to add exceptions for uh law when it comes to abortion. You know, the trigger law that kicked into place last summer with the dogs decision. There is now no exception for abortion. With the exception of the life of the mother. We would love to see exceptions for rape, incest, fetal anomaly and the health of the mother. We think these are essential. We would obviously love to see people just be able to get the access to the health care that they and their doctor feels right, but at the very least we feel that these exceptions are critical and will certainly try to add them. I have no real feel on whether or not we’ll be able to get the vote, but I know that there are republican colleagues who agree with us that the exceptions are needed. I know we’re waiting to see what the U. S. Supreme Court justices are going to do with the L. G. B. T. Q. Rights and small businesses freedom of speech that issue are all Arkansas lawmakers having *** plan in place just in case they make *** decision one way or other. I don’t know, we haven’t talked about it much in our caucus. I’m sure we will see additional legislation, unfortunately, similar to what we saw in 2021 that continues to attack these vulnerable groups. Um, certainly oppose all of these attempts. I would love to see our state be welcoming and inclusive to everybody. You know, everybody who lives here has *** stake in our state’s future. And when we’re trying to to attract people to move to our state, whether it’s it’s workers, companies, employers, we want the state to be as welcoming as possible. We don’t want to risk losing out on an opportunity simply because we put policies in place that discriminate. So I will certainly oppose any further attacks on vulnerable populations. But we’ll see what happens. All right, Senator Gregg leading. Thank you so much for joining us today here in 40 29 news on the record? We’re just counting down the weeks until you’ll head back to little Rock and enjoy the holidays. Thanks you too.
Democrat Greg Leding talks about education, abortion, taxes ahead of General Assembly
Updated: 10:40 AM CST Dec 12, 2022
Arkansas State Sen. Greg Leding is hopeful his Republican colleagues will work with him on some of the major issues facing the state.Leding, a Democrat, talked with 40/29’s Yuna Lee on 40/29 News On The Record.There are 18 Democrats in the incoming State Senate, compared to 82 Republicans. This is the most lopsided the body has been since the 1990s when Democrats held 87 seats to 13 held by Republicans.Leding said most of what the state senate does isn’t political. He pointed to the November votes in Benton and Washington counties that rejected expanding jails.Education”Education is probably going to dominate this session,” Leding said.He is confident the General Assembly will approve teacher raises this session. Republican leaders said the same on 40/29 On The Record in a previous interview.”Every Arkansan, regardless of their political affiliation, should care about public education,” Leding said.Leding said is he concerned lawmakers may send public funds to private schools or homeschooling efforts. He said he is open to hearing ideas but that nothing should come at the expense of public education.He said the state should ensure that any money spent on education should be spent well.TaxesIncoming governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders campaigned on eventually eliminating the income tax.”The Arkansas General Assembly has never met a tax cut it didn’t like,” Leding said.He is worried that cutting taxes too much could lead to a collapse in state services.With only one Democrat on the tax committee in the Senate and one in the House, whatever comes out of the committees will be entirely Republican, Leding said.AbortionLeding said he wants to change Arkansas’ abortion ban to add exceptions for rape, incest, fetal anomalies and threats to the mother’s health.He doesn’t know what will come out of the General Assembly but knows many Republicans agree with him.
Arkansas State Sen. Greg Leding is hopeful his Republican colleagues will work with him on some of the major issues facing the state.
Leding, a Democrat, talked with 40/29’s Yuna Lee on 40/29 News On The Record.
There are 18 Democrats in the incoming State Senate, compared to 82 Republicans. This is the most lopsided the body has been since the 1990s when Democrats held 87 seats to 13 held by Republicans.
Leding said most of what the state senate does isn’t political. He pointed to the November votes in Benton and Washington counties that rejected expanding jails.
Education
“Education is probably going to dominate this session,” Leding said.
He is confident the General Assembly will approve teacher raises this session. Republican leaders said the same on 40/29 On The Record in a previous interview.
“Every Arkansan, regardless of their political affiliation, should care about public education,” Leding said.
Leding said is he concerned lawmakers may send public funds to private schools or homeschooling efforts. He said he is open to hearing ideas but that nothing should come at the expense of public education.
He said the state should ensure that any money spent on education should be spent well.
Taxes
Incoming governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders campaigned on eventually eliminating the income tax.
“The Arkansas General Assembly has never met a tax cut it didn’t like,” Leding said.
He is worried that cutting taxes too much could lead to a collapse in state services.
With only one Democrat on the tax committee in the Senate and one in the House, whatever comes out of the committees will be entirely Republican, Leding said.
Abortion
Leding said he wants to change Arkansas’ abortion ban to add exceptions for rape, incest, fetal anomalies and threats to the mother’s health.
He doesn’t know what will come out of the General Assembly but knows many Republicans agree with him.
