Gov. Sanders discusses jobs, prison, tax cuts

In a wide-ranging interview, Gov. Sarah Sanders reflected on the recently concluded legislative session and shared her priorities heading forward.

Sanders sat down with Talk Business & Politics Editor-in-Chief Roby Brock on Friday (April 18) to discuss education, economic development, the Franklin County prison, maternal health, Medicaid, tax cuts and her reelection campaign.

The full interview, which aired on Sunday’s “Talk Business & Politics” and “Capitol View” programs, can be found at the end of this post.

The following excerpts touch on highlights from the interview:

With her ACCESS Act overhaul of higher education completed, a focus of the legislation centered on rewarding colleges and universities that are in better sync with meeting workforce demands and addressing ways to better prepare students for post-education opportunities. Sanders said business will have a bigger role in eduction in shaping the direction of education.

“There absolutely should be. We need industry to take a big role because ultimately they’re going to help determine what jobs are available, what is the demand. We have focused a lot in breaking down the silos between education and commerce and workforce. Bringing all of those players to the same table, whether it’s the private sector, the public sector, nonprofit, local communities, and forcing people to have those tough conversations.

“One of the big things that we did even through Arkansas LEARNS and ACCESS was identifying here are the 18 areas that we think Arkansas has a right to win. I would love to say that I think we can be first in everything, but if we’re really getting serious, we know there are some critical places that Arkansas industry is always going to do well in. We’ve identified what those look like by working with the business community and now we’re building a workforce that matches it. That’s what you see reflected in LEARNS. It’s what you see reflected in Arkansas ACCESS.”

A package of economic development incentives passed in the session, including laws that impact tax breaks, workforce and notable power generation.

“Certainly, there are a lot of factors as you know that go into economic development. There’s not just one thing, but there are a couple of things that we’ve worked really hard on and not just in this session, but building off of some of the success over the last two years since taking office. One of the biggest questions when I first came into office was every single business leader we met with that was either looking to expand or come to the state: The No. 1 question they asked was, ‘Can you supply the workforce?’ So we leaned really heavily into meeting that demand and meeting the expectation that they had. We’re still continuing to build on that and we’ll continue making sure that is a key priority for our state. As time has shifted and over the last year, that question changed.

“Now, the No. 1 question those companies and those business leaders are asking is: ‘Can you meet the energy demand? Can you supply power?’ So we put a significant amount of focus this session on doing exactly that, helping build and provide the infrastructure and making that energy accessible. I think having both of those things as well as what ultimately becomes one of the most critical pieces — is this an environment that a business wants to operate in? Do people want to call Arkansas home? That is an answer. We’ve always had our people and our quality of life, our low cost of living, those were always selling points. Now we have the another, I think two big pieces of the stool that are needed to really recruit and retain business to do big expansion here in our state.”

The governor touched on passing laws to address Arkansas’ lowest-in-the-nation maternal health standing and said she expected to see improvements quickly.

“I think we made tremendous strides. The bad news is we had as being ranked at the very bottom, Arkansas had no place to go but up. The good news is we had no place to go but up, and this is I think a huge step in the right direction, investing more than $45 million just in maternal health. We know that healthier moms have healthier babies, and that’s the ultimate goal. And I think we’ve got a lot of things in this that are going to show some pretty quick and immediate results for our state.”

Medicaid has come under fire at the federal level. Congress is seeking deep spending cuts that could affect the federal-state matching program that provides a safety net for low-income and disabled Arkansans. Sanders said there is too much uncertainty around the program to decide what may change or what may need to change. She touted her efforts to build a new work requirement as one step in helping protect the long-term viability of the program.

“I think the work requirement is certainly one of the biggest pieces and something that we have asked for and will continue to push for and expect to get what a broader look. I think that would take a lot more time than what you and I have here today. But I think what we ultimately have to do is make sure people that need access to care are getting it and that we have long-term sustainability and affordability for the program.

“There’s too many hypotheticals out there. What I do know is that we can do a better job, and it’s why we have pushed for and asked for a workforce requirement. I’m hopeful that that gets addressed. I think things like that give us a lot more solvency in our program and those are the types of solutions we’re going to continue to look for and work with the federal government on implementing.

“Our goal is always going to be to focus on making sure people who really need that care get it and that we have long-term sustainability in our program. What that looks like. We will determine a lot of what the federal government ultimately decides to do, but we want to make sure people have care and that we can afford to pay for the program. So there will be a lot of options, if changes come from the federal side.”

A big late-session debate erupted over PBMs [pharmacy benefit managers]. Legislators passed overwhelmingly a law that will not allow a PBM to own a pharmacy in Arkansas. PBMs like CVS own pharmacies in the state and suggest the new law will cause them to shut down their 23 drug stores in communities. Sanders said the decision to sign the law was an easy one for her.

“Ultimately, this wasn’t something that was a really difficult decision because it was the right thing to do. We have allowed a monopoly to take place. You have a PBM, the drug middlemen. They’re the ones that are supposed to be negotiating the prices for the pharmacies when they’re owned by the same entity. It’s really hard for them to negotiate a fair good price that the consumer is on the winning side of, and so we’re always going to err on helping do what we can to protect patients in Arkansas, make sure that they have good access and that the prices aren’t skyrocketing. This was one of the best tools that we had to do that. I’m proud of the fact that we were able to sign this legislation, proud that Arkansas is leading the way, and I expect other states are likely going to follow suit.”

When asked about the possibility of 23 CVS pharmacies closing, Sanders responded:

“I think if they close those down, it shows that they care more about their bottom line than serving and giving access to patients. At the same time, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a single community pharmacy in the state that doesn’t support this, that serve a lot of our rural areas that are desperately needed. This legislation likely kept their doors open.”

A setback for the governor this session revolved around failing to pass a $750 million prison appropriation bill tied to a controversial new state prison to be built in rural Franklin County. Sanders said she has never wavered that Franklin County is the right location for this prison.

“Look, I think that people misunderstand the process and don’t realize that we did a comprehensive look at a number of locations around the state and determined that this was the best place. It’s still the best place, and we’re going to continue to move forward with that location.”

Beyond the legislative session, Sanders did not give specifics about future tax cuts. The economy is generally viewed as softening, state tax collections are still strong but slowing down, and the governor advocates a moderate pace to cutting income taxes further. With the end of the state’s fiscal year coming (June 30), Sanders said she will evaluate options soon to see when, not if, a third tax cut in her administration may come.

“We’ll make the determination on what that looks like down the line, but one thing I’m really proud of is the fact that we’ve already been able to remove 20% of our state’s income tax. That’s a lot of money back in the pockets of hardworking Arkansans. We’re going to keep working until we can phase that out, but we’re going to do it responsibly. We want to make sure that we do this correctly, and so far we’ve been able to do a really good job of chipping away at that, and we’re not going to stop anytime soon.

“We’re certainly not taking anything off the table, but I’m not going to make any announcements on it now. I fully expect that we will be able to continue to chip away at the state’s income tax over the next year or so, whether that is in a fiscal session or special.”

With the session wrapped up, Sanders said she will focus her administration on the regulatory process and implementing the new laws from the 95th General Assembly. She will also begin ramping up her reelection campaign for 2026.

“I think now that the session is over, you’ll start to see that ramp up pretty significantly. And the good thing is I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish in the last two and a half years. We have a great success story. Our state is booming. Our people are doing well, and I’m excited to be out and about and around the state telling that story and talking about and meeting with people whose lives are better because of the work that we’ve been able to do over the last two and a half years.”