A bill that will force Jefferson County to operate from its previous budget from 2024 until one for 2025 is passed has moved from the House floor to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ desk for her signature.
The state House of Representatives voted 92-0, with three marked present, to advance Senate Bill 182, which will allow hundreds of Jefferson County employees to be paid and the county to address bills and other expenses despite a budget stalemate between a majority of justices of the peace and County Judge Gerald Robinson. Except for first responders, employees have not yet been paid in 2025, although many have remained on the job for critical services.
The bill, which Sanders championed, would apply to all 75 counties once signed into law, which is expected to be soon as the employees’ next payday is approaching. So far, they have missed both January paychecks.
First-year state Rep. Glenn Barnes, D-Pine Bluff, was the lead House sponsor on the bill, authored by state Sen. Ben Gilmore, R-Crossett. State Reps. Mike Holcomb, R-Pine Bluff, and Ken Ferguson, D-Pine Bluff, joined Barnes in the well before the House to discuss the bill, which also declares an emergency.
“The reason for this bill is that in Jefferson County, as of right now, we have some 300 people who have gone a month and almost two weeks without pay,” Barnes said. “They are now losing their insurance. They are now struggling to pay water, light, gas, house notes and rent, and they’re in dire need of some legislation to act quickly.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The bill allows for the unpaid county employees to be paid retroactively to the first of the year.
Barnes read a document that stated: “Legislation is necessary to establish order, justice and fairness within a society by creating laws that protect the rights of citizens, regulate behavior and set standards for business and organizations. Without legislation and laws, chaos and conflicts will arise.”
Quorum Court meetings in Jefferson County have been nothing short of conflict and chaos, Barnes told the House.
“They’re looking to you and I to do something about it,” he said.
Robinson postponed a Quorum Court meeting scheduled for Tuesday due to an illness in his family. District 1 Justice of the Peace Alfred Carroll suggested via email state law allows the Quorum Court to conduct business in his absence.