Advocates in the state are worried a new house bill could take away vital funding from children and families, but the writer of the bill says instead, it would create new jobs in the natural state.
In Arkansas, gasoline taxes fund all the roads we drive on, but the dollars are dwindling.
"With sales in gasoline and diesel going down every year, there's really not enough money in the future to maintain the existing system," says State Representative Jonathan Barnett.
The solution?
"House Bill 1418 that transfers a small portion of future revenue growth to the highway department."
That percent would come from taxes collected on new and used vehicles allocating it exclusively to the highway department.
Right now, those dollar goes into the state general fund, money that bankrolls everything from Pre-K programs, to higher education to foster care, even medicaid.
"For every dollar that we invest in Pre-K, studies show that we save $9 down the road because those kids are going to be well educated, they're going to be ready to learn," says Laura Kellams, with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
So the group is concerned this bill would take away opportunities.
"We're starting out underfunded today and so what this would mean is that growth in sales taxes over the years wouldn't be sent to those programs. So they would never catch up," says Kellams.
But State Representative Jonathan Barnett disagrees.
"They may be competing for future growth money as well and they may think that's going to affect them. I would say for the most part, I don't see how they're going to be affected by this at all."
Representative Barnett wanted to stress that House Bill 1418 is a Private Sector Job Creator.
Representative Barnett wanted to stress that House Bill 1418 is a Private Sector Job Creator.
If the Highway Department has more funding, that means more construction projects and more people working on those sites.
He said more importantly it brings private sector jobs, instead of increasing the size of the state government.
"Funding for highways is really important for our economy, funding for important education programs is really important for our economy as well and we shouldn't have to choose between the two," says Kellams.
Now the bill is in the house transportation committee waiting on a vote.
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