There have been 196 bills filed as of the end of the first week of the Arkansas Legislature. Just under half (44%) of these were appropriation bills – just funding state agencies and programs. So we have slightly more than 100 bills that make or change laws that impact at least some Arkansans.

Of these 100+, there are far more good bills than bad.

Today, we want to focus on 16 of these good bills that we think make Arkansans’ lives better. Tomorrow, we’ll look at some bills we think could make Arkansans’ lives worse.

We have to add the caveat that none of these have been debated in committees yet. Information could emerge that changes our thoughts on these bills.