AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS - POST-PRISON TRANSFER BOARD APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 FISCAL YEAR.
SB35 is a fiscal-session appropriation bill for the Arkansas Department of Corrections’ Post-Prison Transfer Board for fiscal year 2026-2027. It establishes the board’s authorized staffing levels and salary structure, including positions such as the chair, board members, revocation hearing officers, investigators, administrative staff, and a database analyst, with a maximum of 21 employees.
The bill appropriates $2,472,345 in total from the Miscellaneous Agencies Fund Account to cover regular salaries, matching costs, and operating expenses, including office operations and travel. It also contains standard fiscal controls, requiring compliance with state procurement, accounting, budgetary, revenue stabilization, and salary administration laws, and includes a legislative intent section tying expenditures to the agency’s budget materials and official legislative records. An emergency clause makes the act effective July 1, 2026, so the appropriation is available at the start of the fiscal year.
SB35 does not change substantive criminal justice or parole law; instead, it authorizes funding and staffing for the Post-Prison Transfer Board, which is part of the Department of Corrections and handles post-prison transfer/parole-related functions, including revocation hearings. Its effect on state law is to create the legal authority for the agency to spend the specified funds during FY2026-2027 and to set the maximum number of employees and salary limits for that period. The act also reinforces existing fiscal oversight statutes by requiring compliance with procurement, accounting, budgetary, and salary procedures.
The available record suggests the bill was routine and noncontroversial. There are no committee transcript excerpts or recorded votes indicating debate, opposition, or amendments, and the bill advanced to become Act 14. The lack of recorded contention is consistent with a standard appropriations measure that is typically treated as necessary annual budget legislation.
No specific points of contention are shown in the provided materials. Because there are no committee transcripts or vote details, there is no evidence of disagreement over the amount appropriated, staffing levels, or the board’s operations. Any potential concerns would likely have centered on budget priorities, agency funding levels, or administrative staffing, but none are documented here.