AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS - DIVISION OF CORRECTION REAPPROPRIATION.
HB1093 is a fiscal-session reappropriation bill for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, Division of Correction. It carries forward unspent balances from prior appropriations so they remain available beginning July 1, 2026, for a range of capital improvement and infrastructure projects. The bill covers prison expansion, facility maintenance and upgrades, a water treatment plant replacement at the Tucker Unit, a camera project at the Wrightsville Unit, a flooring project at the McPherson Unit, and various prison industry and farm projects.
The measure also includes special language directing how one of the reappropriated funds may be used. Specifically, the Department of Corrections must use the prison-expansion-related funds to create capacity, expand recidivism reduction programs, improve infrastructure, add bed space to relieve county jails of state inmates, and it may not use those funds to construct a prison in Franklin County. The bill contains standard fiscal controls, limits spending to available funds, allows supplementation with grants or donations, and includes an emergency clause so it takes effect on July 1, 2026.
HB1093 does not create a new program or change criminal sentencing law; instead, it extends the availability of previously authorized capital-improvement appropriations for the Department of Corrections. Its practical effect is to preserve funding authority for correctional construction, repair, equipment, and industry/farm projects across multiple facilities and fund sources, including the Development and Enhancement Fund, cash funds, the Prison Industry Fund, and the Farm Fund. The bill also imposes a use restriction on the prison-expansion appropriation, narrowing how those dollars may be spent and prohibiting use for a Franklin County prison project.
The available context suggests the bill was treated as a routine budget measure and ultimately advanced without recorded controversy in the provided materials. There are no committee transcripts or vote tallies showing opposition, and the bill was enacted as Act 173. The inclusion of an emergency clause indicates legislative agreement that the appropriations needed to be available by the start of the fiscal year to avoid disruption to correctional operations.
The only notable point of contention reflected in the bill text is the special language limiting the prison-expansion funds. It directs spending toward capacity, recidivism reduction, infrastructure, and bed space for relieving county jails, while expressly forbidding use of those funds to build a prison in Franklin County. That restriction suggests prior concern about the location or purpose of prison expansion spending, even though no opposing testimony or recorded vote data is provided here. Otherwise, the bill appears to be a standard reappropriation measure with little visible dispute.