Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to the Arkansas
Constitution.
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State of Arkansas 1
95th General Assembly 2
Regular Session, 2025 SJR 17 3
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By: Senator J. Dotson 5
By: Representative Long 6
7
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 8
AN AMENDMENT TO THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION TO CREATE 9
THE "ARKANSAS TAXPAYER BILL OF RIGHTS"; AND TO AMEND 10
THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION CONCERNING THE COLLECTION 11
AND EXPENDITURE OF STATE REVENUE. 12
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14
Subtitle 15
AN AMENDMENT TO THE ARKANSAS 16
CONSTITUTION TO CREATE THE "ARKANSAS 17
TAXPAYER BILL OF RIGHTS". 18
19
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY -FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE 20
STATE OF ARKANSAS, AND BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, A MAJORITY OF ALL 21
MEMBERS ELECTED TO EACH HOUSE AGREEING THERETO: 22
23
THAT the following is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of 24
the State of Arkansas, and upon being submitted to the electors of the state 25
for approval or rejection at the next general election for Representatives 26
and Senators, if a majority of the electors voting thereon at the election 27
adopt the amendment, the amendment shall become a part of the Constitution of 28
the State of Arkansas, to wit: 29
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SECTION 1. The Arkansas Constitution is amended to add an additional 31
amendment to read as follows: 32
§ 1. Title. 33
This amendment shall be known and may be cited as the "Arkansas 34
Taxpayer Bill of Rights". 35
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§ 2. Budgeting. 1
(a) When enacting a budget for the state's fiscal year, the General 2
Assembly shall utilize a process that prohibits deficit spending of general 3
revenues by ensuring that the expenditure of general revenues in a fiscal 4
year does not exceed the amount of general revenues collected by the State of 5
Arkansas. 6
(b) Subsection (a) of this section does not prohibit the General 7
Assembly from budgeting for a fiscal year based on the state's expected 8
collection of general revenues and subsequently adjusting budgeting 9
priorities based upon actual collections of general revenue to ensure that 10
deficit spending does not occur. 11
12
§ 3. Increase of state taxes and fees. 13
(a) For any fiscal year that commences on or after July 1, 2027, a 14
three-fourths (3/4) vote of each house of the General Assembly shall be 15
required for legislation that is: 16
(1) Establishing a new tax or a new fee; 17
(2) Increasing the rate of a tax or fee; 18
(3) Extending an expiring tax or fee; or 19
(4) An amendment to the law directly causing a gain to the state 20
in net tax revenue or net fee revenue. 21
(b)(1) The General Assembly may submit a proposal under subdivisions 22
(a)(1)-(4) for the approval of qualified electors voting upon the matter at a 23
general election. 24
(2) A proposal submitted under subdivision (b)(1) of this 25
section shall become law if approved by three -fourths (3/4) of the qualified 26
electors voting upon the matter. 27
28
§ 4. Increase in general revenue expenditures. 29
(a) A budget prepared by the General Assembly for the state's fiscal 30
year shall provide that the increase in expenditures of net general revenue 31
available for distribution is no greater than two percent (2%) as compared to 32
the expenditures of net general revenue available for distribution in the 33
preceding fiscal year. 34
(b) The limitation under subsection (a) of this section does not apply 35
to one-time expenditures for the settlement of claims against the state or a 36 SJR17
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state entity. 1
2
§ 5. Transfer to Catastrophic Reserve Fund. 3
(a) As used in this section, "emergency" means an extraordinary event 4
or occurrence that: 5
(1) Could not have been reasonably foreseen or prevented; and 6
(2) Requires immediate expenditure to preserve the health, 7
safety, and general welfare of the people of Arkansas. 8
(b)(1) For any state fiscal year that commences on or after July 1, 9
2027, before making any transfers to the Budget Stabilization Trust Fund or 10
any refunds as required by § 6 of this amendment, the Treasurer of State 11
shall transfer revenues in excess of the limitation on the increase in 12
expenditures of net general revenue available for distribution under § 4 of 13
this amendment to the Catastrophic Reserve Fund or its successor fund to the 14
extent necessary to ensure that the balance of the Catastrophic Reserve Fund 15
at the end of the fiscal year is an amount equal to twenty percent (20%) of 16
the previous fiscal year’s expenditures of net general revenue. 17
(2) The Treasurer of State shall not be required to transfer any 18
moneys to the Catastrophic Reserve Fund other than the moneys required under 19
subdivision (b)(1) of this section. 20
(3) The Catastrophic Reserve Fund shall be in addition to, and 21
shall not be used to meet, any other reserve requirement of this constitution 22
or Arkansas law. 23
(c)(1) Moneys in the Catastrophic Reserve Fund may be expended only 24
for an emergency. 25
(2)(A) An expenditure from the Catastrophic Reserve Fund may 26
occur upon a three-fourths (3/4) vote of a quorum present of each house of 27
the General Assembly in a regular, fiscal, or extraordinary session. 28
(B) Approval of an expenditure under subdivision (c)(2)(A) 29
of this section may include an appropriation for the expenditure of funds. 30
(3) Interest or other income earned on the Catastrophic Reserve 31
Fund shall accrue to the Catastrophic Reserve Fund. 32
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§ 6. Transfer to Budget Stabilization Trust Fund. 34
(a) For any state fiscal year that commences on or after July 1, 2027, 35
if net general revenue of the state exceeds the limitation on the increase in 36 SJR17
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expenditures of net general revenue available for distribution under § 4 of 1
this amendment, for that fiscal year the excess shall be utilized or refunded 2
as provided in this section. 3
(b) The Treasurer of State shall first transfer the excess to the 4
Catastrophic Reserve Fund as necessary under § 5 of this amendment. 5
(c)(1) The Treasurer of State shall transfer all additional excess 6
revenues to the Budget Stabilization Trust Fund or its successor fund to the 7
extent necessary to ensure that the balance of the Budget Stabilization Trust 8
Fund at the end of the fiscal year is an amount equal to twenty percent (20%) 9
of the previous fiscal year’s expenditures of net general revenue. 10
(2) The Budget Stabilization Trust Fund may exceed the balance 11
under subdivision (c)(1) of this section but shall not fall below that 12
balance. 13
(3) Interest or other income earned on the Budget Stabilization 14
Trust Fund shall accrue to the Budget Stabilization Trust Fund. 15
(d) For any state fiscal year that commences on or after July 1, 2027, 16
if the amount of net general revenue is less than the amount of net general 17
revenue for the prior fiscal year, the Treasurer of State shall transfer 18
money from the Budget Stabilization Trust Fund to the General Revenue Fund 19
Account of the State Apportionment Fund in an amount equal to the difference 20
between the amount of net general revenues for the prior fiscal year and the 21
amount of net general revenues for the fiscal year. 22
(e)(1) The Budget Stabilization Trust Fund may consist of other funds 23
as provided by law. 24
(2) The General Assembly may provide by law for additional uses 25
of the Budget Stabilization Trust Fund. 26
(f) Any moneys that remain after the Treasurer of State has made the 27
transfers required by this section or by law shall be reserved in the current 28
fiscal year and refunded during the next fiscal year through temporary 29
reductions of income tax rates and sales and use tax rates. 30
31
§ 7. Laws necessary to implement amendment. 32
The General Assembly may enact laws necessary to implement this 33
amendment, including without limitation laws concerning temporary reductions 34
of income tax rates and sales and use tax rates authorized under § 6 of this 35
amendment. 36 SJR17
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1
SECTION 2. Arkansas Constitution, Article 5, § 38, is repealed. 2
§ 38. Taxes — Increase — Approval by electors. 3
§ 2. None of the rates for property, excise, privilege or personal 4
taxes, now levied shall be increased by the General Assembly except after the 5
approval of the qualified electors voting thereon at an election, or in case 6
of emergency, by the votes of three -fourths of the members elected to each 7
House of the General Assembly. 8
9
SECTION 3. The subsection of Arkansas Constitution, Article 5, § 1, 10
titled "Majority", is amended to read as follows: 11
Majority. Any measure submitted to the people as herein provided shall 12
take effect and become a law when approved by a majority of the votes cast 13
upon such measure, and not otherwise, and shall not be required to receive a 14
majority of the electors voting at such election. Such measures shall be 15
operative on and after the thirtieth day after the election at which it is 16
approved, unless otherwise specified in the Act. 17
This section shall not be construed to deprive any member of the 18
General Assembly of the right to introduce any measure ,. but Except as 19
otherwise provided in this constitution, no measure shall be submitted to the 20
people by the General Assembly , except a proposed constitutional amendment or 21
amendments as provided for in this Constitution . 22
23
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This amendment is effective on and after 24
January 1, 2027. 25
26
SECTION 5. BALLOT TITLE AND POPULAR NAME. When this proposed 27
amendment is submitted to the electors of this state on the general election 28
ballot: 29
(1) The title of this Joint Resolution shall be the ballot 30
title; and 31
(2) The popular name shall be "A Constitutional Amendment to 32
Create the "Arkansas Taxpayer Bill of Rights"; and to Amend the Arkansas 33
Constitution Concerning the Collection and Expenditure of State Revenue.". 34
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