Sen. Hester’s Anti-Working Family Bill Fails

Last week, I wrote a story about Republican Senator Bart Hester’s bill that would directly harm Arkansas’s working families by reducing unemployment benefits.

Senate Bill 875 passed the Senate with only Republican votes and many Democratic Senators took a strong stand against Hester’s bill.

SB 875 would reduce the weekly maximum unemployment benefit by $126. Which means working families would have less money for groceries and basic living expenses. And I say working families because to even get unemployment you must have worked for a certain length of time to receive benefits.

Today, the bill came before the House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor. After testimony from both sides of this issue, with more people speaking against the bill than for it, it received 7 votes for and 8 votes against.

Hester may attempt to run it again in committee, but he’ll need to find four more votes, which is probably tough to do in the Democratically-controlled committee.

Hopefully, for Arkansas’s working families struggling to make ends meet, Hester’s bill won’t get out of committee.