AN ACT FOR THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1037 is an annual appropriation bill for the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. It authorizes funding for the agency’s regular operations, including salaries for nine full-time positions, up to twenty temporary or part-time employees, operating expenses, travel, and professional fees. The bill also provides separate appropriations for election expenses and for nonpartisan general election costs, and includes standard fiscal provisions governing how the money may be spent.
In addition to the dollar appropriations, the bill contains special language allowing unexpended election-expense funds to carry forward into the next fiscal year under specified reporting and approval conditions. It also authorizes transfers from the Nonpartisan Filing Fee Fund to the Miscellaneous Agencies Fund if needed to ensure the Board can perform its duties. The act includes compliance language tying spending to state procurement, accounting, budgetary, and salary laws, and it contains an emergency clause making the act effective July 1, 2026.
HB1037 primarily affects state budget law rather than substantive election policy. It appropriates a total of $1,103,617 for the Board’s operations, $6,340,000 for election expenses, and $1,600,000 for nonpartisan general election expenses, while setting staffing limits and temporary-help authority for the agency. The bill also creates carry-forward and fund-transfer mechanisms that shape how election-related appropriations may be managed across fiscal years, and it reinforces existing fiscal controls under Arkansas procurement, accounting, and budget statutes.
The available record suggests the bill was routine and broadly noncontroversial. There are no committee transcripts or recorded votes indicating debate, opposition, or amendments, and the bill ultimately became Act 164. That procedural outcome, along with the absence of documented dissent, indicates general support for funding the State Board of Election Commissioners’ operations and election administration responsibilities.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. The only provisions that could potentially draw scrutiny are the carry-forward authority for unspent election funds and the ability to transfer money from the Nonpartisan Filing Fee Fund to cover agency needs, since those provisions affect fiscal flexibility and oversight. However, there is no evidence in the record of disagreement over those items, and no named legislators, agencies, or outside groups are identified as opposing the bill.