SB39 is the fiscal year 2026-2027 appropriation act for Arkansas State University. It authorizes funding for personal services and operating expenses for the university system, including Arkansas State University-Jonesboro, system administration, heritage sites, and the Delta Center for Economic Development. The bill also sets maximum numbers of employees and salary caps across a wide range of administrative, academic, auxiliary, and support positions, including faculty, athletics, public safety, IT, facilities, and student services.
The act appropriates $82,590,670 from state operations funds and $232,896,158 from cash funds, for a combined total of more than $315 million. It includes line items for regular salaries, extra help, overtime, matching funds, operating expenses, capital outlay, funded depreciation, contingency, capital improvements, debt service, promotional items, and resale. The bill also contains standard fiscal-control language requiring compliance with state procurement, accounting, budgetary, salary, and higher-education expenditure laws, and it takes effect July 1, 2026 under an emergency clause.
SB39 does not create new substantive policy; instead, it sets the legal spending authority for Arkansas State University for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. It establishes the maximum number of employees and salary limits for numerous positions and allocates appropriated funds among the university’s campuses and programs. The bill also reinforces that expenditures must comply with existing state fiscal and higher-education statutes, including the State Procurement Law, General Accounting and Budgetary Procedures Law, Revenue Stabilization Law, Regular Salary Procedures and Restrictions Act, and Higher Education Expenditure Restriction Act.
The available context suggests the bill was routine and noncontroversial. There are no recorded committee transcripts or vote details showing debate, amendments, or opposition, and the bill ultimately became Act 67. That procedural outcome is consistent with a standard budget measure moving through the legislature without notable public disagreement in the available record.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. Because the bill is an appropriation measure, any disagreement would likely have centered on funding levels, staffing caps, or the distribution of money among campuses and programs, but the record provided does not show any member, committee, or stakeholder raising objections. The absence of transcripts and votes indicates no identifiable controversy in the available history.