AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND LICENSING - DIVISION OF LABOR APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1061 is an annual appropriation bill for the Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing, Division of Labor, for fiscal year 2026-2027. It sets the maximum number of authorized employees and salary grades for the department’s shared services staff and for the Division of Labor’s operational units, including industrial safety, inspections, investigations, training, legal support, fiscal support, and information technology. The bill also provides funding for regular salaries, extra help, matching costs, operating expenses, travel, and other administrative costs across several funding streams.
The measure appropriates money for the division’s shared services paying account, state operations, boiler inspection, Board of Electrical Examiners, federal programs, wage-and-hour cash distributions, and seminar and conference expenses. It also includes special language allowing the Chief Fiscal Officer to create and manage shared services paying accounts and to transfer funds and appropriations within the department’s authorized appropriation acts. The act contains standard fiscal-control language requiring compliance with state procurement, accounting, budgetary, and salary laws, and it includes an emergency clause so the act takes effect on July 1, 2026.
HB1061 does not create new regulatory duties or change substantive labor law; instead, it authorizes the spending authority and staffing structure needed for the Department of Labor and Licensing’s Division of Labor to operate during the 2026-2027 fiscal year. It affects state budgeting and personnel administration by setting appropriation limits, employee caps, and fund sources for the division’s programs, including boiler inspection, electrical licensing support, wage claims, and federally funded activities. The bill also preserves administrative flexibility through shared-services transfer authority and special language governing fund management.
The available record suggests the bill was routine and largely noncontroversial. There are no committee transcripts or recorded votes showing debate, opposition, or amendments, and the bill progressed to become Act 54. As an appropriation measure, it appears to have been treated as a standard budget bill necessary to keep the department operating, with the emergency clause underscoring the legislature’s view that timely enactment was important for agency continuity.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. The only potentially sensitive issues inherent in the bill are budgetary: the size of the appropriations, the number of authorized positions, and the flexibility granted to the Chief Fiscal Officer to move funds among departmental accounts. However, there is no evidence in the record of disagreement over those items, and no speakers or votes are provided indicating opposition from any particular group or legislator.