Gov. Asa Hutchinson got what he wanted last week, both in terms of what the Arkansas Legislature did in special session and in the way it happened.
Lawmakers were in and out of Little Rock quickly as the Republican majority wouldn't allow this particular session to last any longer than it had to.
Even some Democrats joined them to approve both of the measures Hutchinson asked them to pass, delivering for his signature what he expects to be the last bills he'll sign as governor.
Key tax-cutting bills in both houses of the Legislature cleared the respective chambers by the second day of the session.
The vote in the House on the House measure was 81-14. The Senate similarly gave its version a whopping 29-5.
All of the "no" votes in both chambers were by Democrats.
One Democrat and one independent senator joined 27 Republicans for the Senate vote.
In the House, 77 Republicans voted for the House bill. Four Democrats voted for it while 14 Democrats voted against it. Four more House Democrats and one Republican didn't vote.
When the bills each reached the other side of the Capitol for consideration the next day, the Senate voted 27-5 to send the House bill to the governor and the House voted 79-14 to send the Senate version to him.
The identical bills were quickly dispatched to the governor and both houses promptly voted to adjourn on Thursday.
What was their hurry?
Since well before the governor's call for the special session, lawmakers heard from teachers and their supporters wanting to see some of the state's tax surplus devoted to raises for teachers and other school employees, not just to tax cuts.
Most, if not all of the Democrats, who are in the clear minority in the Legislature, backed the teachers, but their efforts failed.
The last blow was the adjournment voted by Republican majorities in both chambers before any Democrat in either house could seek a two-thirds vote to extend the special session.
The Republican majority packed for home without even having to vote on an extension just to consider teacher pay or any other matters.
Credit Gov. Hutchinson for calling the session only after securing the needed votes for his latest tax cuts.
Clearly, Republican lawmakers liked what he proposed. Independents and some Democrats did, too.
The truth is, it is hard for a legislator of any partisan stripe to vote against a tax cut, particularly one that will put even a little money in the pockets of an estimated 1.6 million Arkansans.
The notion is even stronger for those facing an election challenge.
The tax cuts approved in the special session definitely will go to some taxpayers, although the individual "winners" are largely in the state's top income tax bracket.
Their income tax rate will drop from 5.5% to 4.9%, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2022. Legislation enacted in an earlier special session had previously called for that rate to be reached through graduated cuts by Jan. 1, 2025.
The Legislature similarly accelerated a cut in the state's top corporate income tax rate from 5.9% to 5.3%, effective Jan. 1, 2023. That, too, was previously scheduled to happen on Jan. 1, 2025.
The new legislation also includes a temporary, nonrefundable "inflationary relief" income tax credit of $150 for individual taxpayers with net income up to $87,000 and of $300 for married taxpayers filing jointly with net income up to $174,000.
There's more in the legislation, but that's enough to make the point that government is giving something back to taxpayers from a surprisingly large surplus, projected to be $914 million in fiscal 2023.
That's what Gov. Hutchinson was touting as he signed the bills into law the same day that they hit his desk.
The tax relief package, Hutchinson said Thursday, "takes over $400 million from state coffers and puts it in individual Arkansans' pockets." That transfer of wealth, he said, "could not come at a more important time."
Altogether, the hit to the state general revenue is roughly $500 million in fiscal 2023 and more in subsequent years.
The governor's other success came with the Legislature's move to make $50 million in state grants available for school security. The intent is to enable schools to implement some of the one-time recommendations from the Arkansas School Safety Commission.
The recently reconvened commission's report is due Oct. 1.
Meanwhile, as Hutchinson noted, the state has cut individual income taxes over the past eight years while increasing state reserve funds to more than $2 billion.
All of it was accomplished, he said, "through a smarter and leaner and more efficient state government."
Those eight years constitute the two terms that Hutchinson has been governor, of course.
And, with his special session success, this ambitious Republican governor notched another reason to ask the nation's voters to consider him for president.