HB1095 is an annual appropriation bill for the Arkansas Department of Commerce’s State Bank Department and State Securities Department for fiscal year 2025-2026. It sets the maximum number of authorized employees for each division, establishes salary classifications, and appropriates funds for regular salaries, extra help, personal services matching, operating expenses, travel, professional fees, capital outlay, examination travel, refunds and reimbursements, and investor education activities.
For the State Bank Department, the bill authorizes up to 92 regular employees and 4 extra-help positions, with a total appropriation of $14,766,118. For the State Securities Department, it authorizes up to 41 regular employees and 3 extra-help positions, with a total operations appropriation of $4,483,822, plus $50,000 for refunds and reimbursements and $316,000 from the Investor Education Fund for operating expenses, grants, and promotional items. The act also includes standard fiscal-control language requiring compliance with state procurement, budgeting, and salary laws, and it contains an emergency clause making it effective July 1, 2025.
HB1095 does not change substantive banking or securities regulation; instead, it funds the agencies that administer those laws and sets staffing and spending authority for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Its legal effect is to authorize expenditures from the Bank Department Fund, Securities Department Fund, cash funds, and the Investor Education Fund, while reinforcing compliance with Arkansas fiscal-control statutes and related budget procedures. It also preserves the agencies’ operational capacity by establishing employee caps and salary structures for the year.
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial. It passed the House on third reading by 93-1 and the Senate on third reading by 35-0, indicating strong bipartisan approval. The absence of committee transcript discussion suggests the measure was treated as a routine budget appropriation rather than a policy dispute.
No notable substantive contention is reflected in the available record. Because the bill is a budget and staffing measure for two regulatory divisions, any concerns would likely have centered on funding levels, staffing authorization, or use of the Investor Education Fund, but no objections are documented in the provided materials. The near-unanimous votes suggest that if disagreements existed, they were minimal and did not affect passage.