10 Priorities for a Better Arkansas

The 45 member organizations of the Arkansas Citizens First Congress call on lawmakers to:

Improve opportunities to learn for all students by implementing proven solutions to close education achievement gaps.
Support fair tax reform that lowers the burden on low- and middle-income families, while protecting the integrity of the state budget.
Implement energy policies to save consumers money, create jobs, and combat climate change.
Develop a new state water plan that uses the best science and engages a broad range of Arkansans.
Oppose all attempts at state-level immigration reform and oppose punitive anti-immigrant legislation.
Ensure that all graduates of Arkansas high schools have the opportunity to pay in-state tuition at state colleges by passing the DREAM Act.
Require the oil and gas industry to follow best management practices to protect landowner rights and Arkansas’s water resources.
Discourage wage theft by increasing penalties for any employer who refuses to pay workers.
Reform prison sentencing practices to make the parole process unbiased, reduce costs, and restore former inmates back into productive society.
Insure 43,000 more low-income children by expanding the ARKids First health insurance program.

Along with the 10 Priorities for a Better Arkansas, the Citizens First Congress elected a Broad Platform of issues to support

The CFC's Broad Platform

Create a Civil Rights Commission to mediate civil rights disputes and protect Arkansans from age, racial, and other discrimination.
Expand youth diversion as an alternative to prosecution for youth who have committed a first-time or relatively minor offense.
Expunge the criminal records of some first-time, minor criminal offenders upon release on parole.
End corporate tax hideouts by implementing a “combined reporting” law that limits the ability of Arkansas companies to avoid paying certain state taxes.
Hold school districts more accountable for their graduates who require remediation in college.
Limit school districts’ ability to carry over large sums of state poverty funding dedicated to help increase opportunities for low-income students.
Improve state coordination of afterschool and summer programs.
Expand access to early childhood education, including programs for infants and toddlers.
Make it easier to withhold pay from elected officials who neglect their duty.
Create an Arkansas Renewable Energy Payment Program (AREPP) and a statewide Energy Improvement District (EID).
Pass a Property Owner Bill of Rights that spells out landowners’ rights when addressing oil and gas company operations and resulting pollution on their property.
Reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS by implementing the recommendations of the AR SHARP report endorsed by the AR HIV/AIDS Minority Task Force.