Representative Andrew Collins

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (28:05)

colleges, you can do an associate's degree, you can do a certificate, you can do a four-year college. Whatever you do, it's two years. And I mean, in some ways, it's arbitrary. It's not, you know, we could increase the income threshold up from $90,000 or lower it down. But this is a way to get at as many people in a fair way who are taking a two-year path or a four-year path that, you know, this is how we've drafted the bill. Thank you. Thanks.

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (27:56)

semesters oh absolutely yeah and that's just a way to to limit it from being an overwhelming cost. And to have equity, I think, between the two and four-year

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (27:33)

hours because they're extending their college career by taking that part-time load but if for work reasons or family reasons or whatever reasons if they take six they would be eligible for it and then could you could you say so with the four consecutive semesters what's the question with that I'm just curious why

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (27:25)

some students who take a reduced load. This is, you know, it's their choice really. They don't get the benefit if they, they don't get as much benefit if they only take six

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (27:20)

on the first one, you know, six is the way that Colorado did it. Honestly, there are

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (26:28)

A lot of people have opportunities to get some sort of a relief on what they pay. So they're not paying the full freight of tuition out-of-pocket now. And so that's how that's reduced somewhat. And also, these are all going to be in-state residents at public two- or four-year institutions, so they're only paying that in-state

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (26:07)

the way they did this. They laid out the number of students they anticipate would take advantage of it and the out-of-pocket cost that people are paying for college now and essentially made that a multiplier. And so there are a lot of scholarships currently, especially at two-year institutions.

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (25:27)

Everyone who is attending a public two or four year institution at the effective date of this bill would be eligible for two

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (24:49)

that prevents people from accessing higher education and the life of benefits that comes after that. So, with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you guys have.

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (24:17)

And I would agree, but I would say that the opportunity to go to college should be there for everyone. And so we can and we should have a robust career pathway that doesn't include college for students who want to go that route. At the same time, it becomes even more important for us to make sure that the door to go to college is wide open, especially at a time when people are getting priced out of higher education. And so we avoid, with this bill, we avoid making parental income the closed door

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (23:46)

I think this bill is a perfect complement to access, as well as the constitutional amendment that Representative Lundstrom initiated that we passed. So ACCESS increased the availability and the amount of various scholarships. It's one of the things I think was great about ACCESS. This bill would fill in the gaps around the scholarships and around the other forms of aid people can get. So again, it unlocks that promise of higher education. It's often said, and we've said it in the discussion around ACCESS, that college isn't for everyone.

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (23:15)

as we know, makes it more difficult to achieve the economic growth we need in our state to lift all boats and ensure the revenues that we need to deliver on whatever the legislature needs to deliver on, both in terms of quality of life, safety, but also future tax reforms, anything that we may decide to be necessary in the future. We can't get there without growth, and we can't get growth without an educated workforce. This is a path to that. Obviously, we've passed the access bill.

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (22:43)

really would be over for most Arkansas families. And I would say that every dime that we invest here is an investment in our state's future. Some statistics, you all may know this generally, but Arkansas ranks 48th among states in the percentage of students earning a bachelor degree. College education is necessary for many high-paying jobs. Employers are looking for an educated workforce, and it is holding us back that we can't deliver that in many cases. So being 48th,

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (22:12)

to say it is 29 million dollars very well spent to open the door to opportunity and a lifetime of all that follows from higher education opportunities in arkansas the reasons to do the bill simply put it would shatter barriers to college, the cost barrier to college or a technical school. And effectively, with a middle-class threshold of $90,000, the days of college being too expensive

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (21:36)

So this would give every Arkansas student the opportunity to go to college, and it's modeled off a successful program in Colorado. Other states have done it, but this is modeled off of the way Colorado did it. So it would create a tax credit equal to the out-of-pocket cost that a family pays for tuition. Anyone making up to $90,000 would be eligible, and then this tax credit could be used a certificate associate's degree or bachelor's degree and it could be used at any public two or four year arkansas institution there is of course a cost it's 29 million i would venture

Revenue & Taxation (House) — March 18, 2025 (21:22)

be here with you all today in revenue and tax, and it's an honor to present the Arkansas Promise Act. I know you'll have a long agenda, so I'll keep it brief. but I do wanna just discuss what the bill does and why I'm running it.

JBC-Special Language — March 18, 2025 (6:25)

after this striking, it'll say that the fund shall be used for providing financial support for public legal aid organizations and distributed to Legal Aid of Arkansas. I think that implies 100%. I think you're right. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. members are there any other questions

JBC-Special Language — March 18, 2025 (5:55)

the remaining entity which is legal aid of arkansas they used to have they've split their territories in the past and currently 31 counties were for legal aid of arkansas and the 44 counties were for CALS, Central Arkansas Legal Services, and now both territories will be done by the same entity. That's kind of a common

JBC-Special Language — March 18, 2025 (6:23)

because of the way it's going to read

JBC-Special Language — March 18, 2025 (5:21)

the one that's remaining there's no change in funding it's that's remaining the same it's just getting rid of that one that's going away happy to answer any