To Provide An Income Tax Exemption For Certain Retirement Benefits Received By Law Enforcement Officers And Firefighters.
HB1787 amends Arkansas’s income tax exemption for retirement and disability benefits to add a new exemption for retirement benefits received by retired law enforcement officers and retired firefighters based on their service. The bill also clarifies the definitions of “law enforcement officer” and “firefighter” for purposes of the exemption, specifying the categories of personnel covered, including certain municipal, county, state, highway police, detention facility, volunteer, and Arkansas National Guard firefighters, as well as specified law enforcement roles.
The bill preserves the existing exemption for military retirement and survivor benefits funded by military retirement pay, and it keeps the rule that a taxpayer claiming one of these special exemptions generally cannot also claim the separate general retirement exemption. However, it creates a partial coordination rule: if a taxpayer claims less than $6,000 under the special exemption for military, law enforcement, firefighter, or survivor benefits, the taxpayer may claim additional retirement income under the general exemption up to the difference between the amount claimed and $6,000. The effective date is for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.
In practical terms, the bill would reduce state income tax liability for eligible retired public safety workers and their survivors, and it would require the Department of Finance and Administration to administer the expanded exemption within the existing retirement-income tax framework. It affects Arkansas Code § 26-51-307, the statute governing retirement and disability income exemptions, by expanding the list of exempt benefits and refining how those exemptions interact with the general retirement exemption.
There is no recorded committee discussion or vote history in the provided materials, so the overall sentiment cannot be measured from debate or roll-call data. Based on the bill’s text and caption, the measure appears to be framed as a targeted tax benefit for law enforcement officers and firefighters, with no explicit opposition or amendment history shown in the record provided.
The main policy issue embedded in the bill is the scope of eligibility: the definitions determine which retirees qualify, including whether certain state employees, detention officers, volunteer firefighters, and National Guard firefighters are covered. Another point of potential contention is the interaction with the broader retirement exemption and the fiscal impact of expanding tax relief to additional classes of retirees.
HB1787 would amend Arkansas income tax law, specifically Arkansas Code § 26-51-307, to exempt from state income tax retirement benefits received by retired law enforcement officers and retired firefighters, in addition to the existing exemptions for military retirement and certain survivor benefits. It also adjusts the interaction between the special exemptions and the general retirement exemption, allowing limited additional exemption claims when the special exemption is less than $6,000. The bill would take effect for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and would primarily affect retired public safety personnel, their survivors, and the state tax administration system.
The provided record contains no committee transcripts and no vote history, so there is no direct evidence of support, opposition, or negotiated compromise from legislative debate. From the bill’s caption and structure, the measure appears to be positively framed as tax relief for law enforcement officers and firefighters, but the absence of recorded discussion prevents a more specific assessment of sentiment.
No explicit contention is documented in the materials provided. The most likely areas of debate would be the fiscal cost of expanding income tax exemptions, the fairness of creating occupation-specific retirement tax preferences, and the precise eligibility definitions for law enforcement officers and firefighters, including coverage of state employees, detention officers, volunteer firefighters, and National Guard personnel.