Gov. Mike Beebe has given some hope to county jails overcrowded with state prisoners.

The governor's office announced this week it has found $6.3 million in the state budget to fund up to 600 additional prison beds.

State legislators would have to appropriate the funds, but that could be taken care of in a special session that will apparently be called soon on other matters.

Matt DeCample, Beebe's spokesman, says the $6.5 million would open 330 state beds and at least 250 beds in Pulaski County's jail.

That won't take care of all the state inmates backed up in the jails, but it would relieve the situation the state's counties find themselves in.

The situation is bad enough that the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association recently asked the governor for a special session of the Legislature to address a familiar problem.

State prisoners are backed up in the county jails, awaiting beds in the state prisons, and the sheriffs say they're running out of room.

The backup in Pulaski County has been particularly bad. For a time, the sheriff there even closed the jail to many low-level offenders, who were being released after arrest. He has since reopened the jail to all offenders.

Other counties are reporting similar problems and taking steps to control their jail populations. In Independence County, for example, the sheriff began using electronic monitoring bracelets for some low-level offenders. Again, the purpose is to free up space in an overcrowded jail.

Several other counties have passed tax increases and have built or are building new jails with added capacity.

As Ronnie Baldwin, president of the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association, explained, counties found themselves letting prisoners go because they can't afford to keep them.

"It's a major problem. People are finally starting to understand, and they're building new jails. But ... we can't keeping going on like this."

Jail overcrowding has been a perennial problem for counties, but it has worsened recently because of stricter probation and parole policies.

The state reimburses counties for holding state inmates and that funding helps support jail operations, but that doesn't help when the jails are packed past capacity.

According to the association's count, more than 2,700 state inmates were being held in county jails. The sheriffs are proposing that the number be capped at 1,600.

Obviously, the 600 additional prison beds Beebe's office says it could fund will fall short of that objective; but it is better than nothing.

More importantly, the governor is willing to add the necessary budget items to the call for a special session if passage in the House and Senate is assured.

The question then is whether members of the Legislature can reach consensus on this subject or other issues being considered for the call. Most likely, they will.

The primary reason for a special session is still the need to address health insurance for thousands of teachers and public school employees.

Without legislative action, they will see major premium hikes when the next school year starts in August.

Lawmakers, who count the 47,000 public school workers among their constituents, won't let that happen without trying to find some way to soften the blow.

Legislative proponents are already circulating draft bills among lawmakers and hope to have a sense of support for them this week or next.

The fix would drop part-time employees from the insurance plans and exclude spouses from coverage if they can get insurance from their work places.

A couple of other issues could also make the call, again if there is consensus to pass them quickly.

Gov. Beebe has voiced support for expanding broadband access for schools, citing a study that shows network infrastructure for K-12 schools to be inefficient and inadequate.

The Arkansas Research Education Optical Network now serves higher education institutions but K-12 schools are barred from access.

Less likely to be included in the call, but one that has some backing, is a proposal to block the state lottery from adding monitor games like Keno to its offerings.

The list should shake out soon.

Lawmakers, like Beebe, won't want a prolonged special session. Some of them are engaged in political races and don't need new controversy for their campaigns.

Beebe doesn't have any such concern this time around, but he has said he doesn't want to spend any more taxpayer money than necessary for a session.

So, don't expect the governor to include anything that can't be considered and approved quickly. Nor will lawmakers assure passage of anything that could stall a session.

BRENDA BLAGG IS A FREELANCE COLUMNIST AND LONGTIME JOURNALIST IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS.