In their state Senate race, Democrat Steven McNeely of Jacksonville and Republican Ricky Hill of Cabot disagree over Gov. Asa Hutchinson's plan to cut the state's top individual income tax rate and over the Legislature's proposed constitutional amendment that would limit certain awards for damages in civil suits.
The Senate District 29 candidates face off in a May 22 special election that will be held on the same day as the regular elections. The seat is vacant because Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, resigned in November to accept an appointment as President Donald Trump's representative to the Southern States Energy Board.
In a Feb. 13 special primary election, Hill defeated Cabot Republican Jim Coy. McNeely was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Coy said Friday that he was "undecided at this point" about whom he plans to vote for May 22.
The victor will serve until January 2021. Senate District 29 includes parts of Faulkner, Lonoke, Pulaski and White counties.
McNeely, 53, a workers' compensation attorney, said in mid-December that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones' defeat of Republican Roy Moore in Alabama helped persuade him to run for the Arkansas Senate.
In a recent interview in his Jacksonville office, McNeely said people should vote for him because "I am going to stand as hard as I can and be moderate in the middle" rather than represent the extremists on either the political right or left.
Hill, an executive vice president of Bank of the Ozarks, said voters should elect him because "I feel like I can bring a lot to this position as far as my educational skills that I have from being educated at Arkansas State University."
In a recent interview at a Cabot restaurant, Hill said he also learned how state government operates from his stint on the Cabot School Board.
Hill, 50, received his bachelor's and master's degrees in agricultural business and economics from Arkansas State University, Jonesboro. He served on the Cabot School Board from 2012-17 and has worked at Bank of the Ozarks since 2011. He and his wife, Cynthia, have two children.
McNeely received his bachelor's degree in history from Henderson State University and his law degree from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He has been a workers' compensation attorney for about 20 years and worked for the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission from 2001-03. He and his wife, Suzi, have a daughter.
McNeely lost to North Little Rock Republican Doug House for the House District 40 seat in 2012, the year Republicans gained majority control of the Arkansas Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction.
The Senate is now composed of 23 Republicans and nine Democrats with three vacant seats. The House includes 75 Republicans, 24 Democrats and a vacant seat.
McNeely said he would be a voice for working families and consumers.
He said he wants to strengthen the employment rights of the National Guard and the reserves, and "just make sure our part-time soldiers are taken care of."
Hill said he wants to work on taking care of veterans.
He also said, "We can encourage the federal government to utilize our local sources [of health care] to save some money."
He said he wants to improve highways but "I have got to be able to get in there before I know what the options actually are."
But he added, "The only way I would be open to a tax increase for highways is if the people of the state of Arkansas voted to do that."
McNeely said he would support proposed constitutional amendments to authorize casinos to raise more money for highways because Arkansans are spending money in casinos in surrounding states, such as Oklahoma. Those proposals have been made by two private groups.
"I am not going to be raising anybody's taxes as a representative," McNeely said.
INCOME TAX CUT
McNeely said he opposes Hutchinson's proposal to cut the state's top individual income tax rate from 6.9 percent to 6 percent.
The Republican governor projects the cut, which he hopes to get through the Legislature in 2019, would reduce state tax revenue by about $180 million a year.
In 2015 and 2017, the Legislature enacted the governor's plans to cut individual income tax rates for Arkansans with up to $75,000 a year in taxable income. The two tax cuts have been projected by the state to reduce revenue by about $150 million a year. The proposed cut would be for those who make more than $75,000 a year.
McNeely said he opposes Hutchinson's proposal to cut the top tax rate because it also applies to higher-income earners, such as those who make $150,000 a year and $1 million a year.
"I am sure there is some middle ground in there with someone at $75,000 to $100,000. That almost sounds like a job. But to me when you make over a quarter of a million dollars, I'm not sure that's a job," he said in stressing his working-class roots. "Most people are not lucky enough to have a job making over a quarter of a million dollars."
Hill said he supports the governor's income tax cut proposal.
"I am always for a tax cut at any level because that is going to be the higher income people that can come and stimulate employment. If they get a tax break, they can take that money and put it back into our economy or create new jobs," he said.
TORT REFORM
McNeely said he opposes Issue 1 on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.
Issue 1 is a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit noneconomic damages and punitive damages in civil lawsuits with certain exceptions, and allow the Legislature to amend and repeal state Supreme Court rules of pleading, practice or procedure as well as adopt new rules with a three-fifths votes. Lawmakers now do not have a role in these court rules.
"I think we need three branches of government," McNeely said. "I don't think the Supreme Court ought to be writing the legislative rules. I don't think the Legislature ought to be writing the judicial rules."
Hill said he supports the proposal because "I feel like it will lower health care costs. It will increase jobs and pay in the state and will encourage companies to come to Arkansas."
MEDICAID EXPANSION
McNeely said he favors the state's version of Medicaid expansion that then-Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, and the Republican-controlled Legislature authorized in 2013 to provide private health insurance for low-income Arkansans who make up to 138 percent of the poverty level. McNeely said he supports the federal Affordable Care Act signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, but he believes the federal law can be vastly improved. It's an option under the federal law for states to expand Medicaid.
Last month, President Donald Trump's administration approved Hutchinson's request for a waiver to impose a work requirement on some of the 285,000 people enrolled in the program now called Arkansas Works.
The state pays 6 percent of the cost of the program this year, 7 percent next year and then 10 percent in 2020 under existing federal law, and the federal government covers the rest. The state's cost for the program is projected to be about $135 million in fiscal 2019 that starts July 1, while the federal government's share is forecast to be about $1.95 billion.
Hill said he supports what Hutchinson has done to try to mitigate the effect of the Affordable Care Act, which Hill said he opposes.
"We have to continue to reform it and make it better for the state of Arkansas," Hill said.
ABORTION LAWS
McNeely said he opposes abortion, "but I am going to defend the constitutional privacy right of a female to make a decision. I would like the conversation to start evolving as to why people are having an abortion and can we do anything for them not to have an abortion."
Hill said he opposes abortion except to save the life of a mother or in cases of rape or incest.
Metro on 04/15/2018