An Act For The Arkansas Public Service Commission Appropriation For The 2025-2026 Fiscal Year.
HB1097 is the Arkansas Public Service Commission’s annual appropriation bill for fiscal year 2025-2026. It authorizes funding for the agency’s Utilities Division, Tax Division, and Pipeline Safety Program, including maximum employee counts, salary ranges, extra-help positions, and operating expenses. The bill also sets out specific appropriations for regular salaries, personal services matching, overtime, travel, professional services, building maintenance, federal regulatory services, and data processing services.
The measure is primarily a budget and administrative authorization bill rather than a policy change bill. It includes a special language provision directing that travel expense reimbursements be deposited back into the same fund or account from which the original travel expense was paid. It also contains standard fiscal compliance language requiring expenditures to follow state procurement, accounting, budgetary, revenue stabilization, and salary procedures laws, and it includes an emergency clause making the act effective July 1, 2025.
HB1097 affects state law by appropriating a total of $11,726,374 for the Arkansas Public Service Commission’s Utilities Division, $1,424,140 for the Tax Division, and $1,240,094 for the Pipeline Safety Program, while also establishing staffing limits for each unit. It governs how the commission may spend state funds during the 2025-2026 fiscal year and reinforces existing fiscal-control requirements. The bill directly impacts PSC operations, utility regulation, tax valuation functions, and pipeline safety oversight, as well as the agency’s ability to hire regular and temporary staff.
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial. The voting history shows strong passage in both chambers, with 93 yeas and 1 nay on House third reading and 35 yeas and 0 nays on Senate third reading. No committee transcript or recorded debate is provided, and the bill’s content is a routine appropriation measure, which is consistent with the overwhelmingly favorable votes.
There is little visible contention in the available record. The bill is a standard agency appropriation, and no committee discussion is included to show objections or amendments. The only potentially notable issue is the special language on travel reimbursement refunds and the detailed staffing and spending limits, but the voting record suggests these provisions did not generate significant opposition. The lone House dissent indicates at most a minor objection, not a broader dispute.