Nathan Vandiver

Governor Mike Beebe on Tuesday signed into law a plan for federal Medicaid funds to be used to buy private health insurance for Arkansas adults who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

The Governor signed the bills that make up the state’s Private option expansion plan into law at a ceremony in his conference room at the state capitol.

“This is a victory for all of Arkansas in my opinion, and no one person or one group of people deserve all the credit for this,” Beebe said.

Lawmakers in both the Arkansas House and Senate will wrap up with their final vote on the state’s budget on Tuesday. Each chamber voted on identical versions of the budget today Monday.

The state’s budget for its fiscal year that begins July 1st and ends June 30th of 2014 is 4.9 billion dollars and includes increases for the state’s Medicaid program and education, as well as a 2 percent cost of living raise for state employees. It passed by a vote of 80-15 in the House.

Arkansas voters will get to decide whether to toughen the requirements to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot through the petition process after the state House gave final approval to the measure Friday.

Senate Joint Resolution 16 would require that signatures be 75 percent correct for petitioners to receive additional time to collect the full, required number of signatures.

Representative Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, said the amendment is needed in light of a high number of fake or incorrect names that were turned in on petitions before the last election.

A proposed constitutional amendment that would, among other things, prohibit state legislators and constitutional officers from accepting gifts from lobbyists is closer to being on the 2014 ballot after passing the Senate Thursday.

Arkansas will await federal approval of a plan to provide private health insurance to roughly 250,000 of the state’s working poor with federal money after the state Senate approved a bill allowing the plan to be funded Wednesday night.

By a vote of 77 to 23, the Arkansas House passed a bill that would allow funding to a plan to take federal money intended for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act and use it for private insurance for the state's adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

The funding bill must still me approved by the Senate. It requires a 3/4 majority in both chambers to pass. A bill laying out the plan has passed both the House and Senate with smaller majorities than required for the appropriation bill required to implement the plan.

A vote on the budget bill that would let the state implement a plan to use federal Medicaid money to buy private insurance for low income Arkansans is expected again Tuesday morning after failing in the House by six votes Monday afternoon.

The bill was rejected 69 to 28 because, as a funding bill, it needed 75 votes to pass.

Speaker Davy Carter allowed a motion to adjourn immediately following the no vote. He says the House will vote again.

Arkansas Speaker of the House Davy Carter is pushing the House’s final vote for the “Private Option” model of Medicaid expansion back to Monday saying lawmakers are expressing support of the plan but they need the time to convince their constituents.

“When I have members that say, ‘will you please give me the opportunity to go back and talk to my constituents?’ It’s awfully hard to say no to,” Carter said.

Some House members indicated in speeches on the House floor Thursday that they would have to vote no Friday, but could vote yes by Monday.

  The Arkansas House is expected to vote Friday on whether to let the state spend the money to implement the private option of health insurance expansion for low income Arkansans.

Thursday it approved one bill that sets up the plan, but the plan's appropriation is expected to be much harder to pass.

The Arkansas House is expected to vote Thursday on a plan to provide private health insurance coverage with federal money for low income Arkansans. The plan's implementation hinges on a tougher vote expected Friday.

The vote to enable the expansion is expected to pass the House with the needed 51 votes. Approval is easier than allowing the expansion to be funded, which takes a budget appropriation requiring 75 votes.