Sen. Dismang Says Conservatives Should Be Proud Of Session

Sen. Jonathan Dismang (R-Beebe), the incoming Senate President in the 2015 regular session, said that Republicans proved they could govern in the 89th General Assembly – the first time the GOP held control of both legislative chambers since Reconstruction.

Dismang, who was interviewed for the Talk Business Arkansas daily update, said there was “not much partisanship” in the session except for a few contentious issues involving abortion and voter ID. In the 35-member State Senate, he said there was even less partisanship than in the House.

“The Senate is more of an institution and party labels probably don’t matter as much on this end of the capitol. We work together very well all across party lines,” he said.

Dismang was one of the chief architects of the “private option” health insurance expansion plan. Republicans steered the debate from a straight Medicaid expansion to allowing federal funds to be used to subsidize low-income workers in forthcoming health insurance exchanges.

Dismang also spearheaded a number of Medicaid reform measures and helped craft several tax cut bills that were part of a major $120 million tax reform package.

Still, some conservative activists complained that tax cuts should have gone further and been enacted sooner. Many also complained that the “private option” still allowed ObamaCare to be implemented in Arkansas – an argument Dismang and his contemporaries argue is untrue. Dismang contends that doing nothing on health insurance and Medicaid would have resulted in more harm to businesses in Arkansas.

“No one could argue that there hasn’t been a very strong conservative tone over the functioning of both chambers,” said Dismang. “I think we made conservatives proud, we made the party proud, and I think we’ve proven that we can govern effectively and through adversity.”

You can watch or listen to the latest Talk Business Arkansas update below.