2023 Arkansas Legislative Vote Guide

The Citizens First Congress designed this voter guide as a toolkit to empower everyday citizens to advocate for themselves and the issues they care about. This guide is also intended for nonprofit advocates, state lawmakers, and those interested in learning more about how policy that advances equity and opportunity can be moved in Arkansas. Each section contains information that sheds light on the unique conditions across the state and key policies that CFC allies have fought to pass or kill. 

This is a guide to how every 2023 legislator voted on several bills that the CFC thought were important. Though the CFC took positions on other bills, many were not voted on. During the legislative session, the CFC Steering Committee votes to support, oppose or track various bills based on the CFC’s platform. We advocate for those positions, send alerts to the public, and monitor how legislators vote. This is the final record of how those bills played out. 

This guide does not endorse or condemn any legislator – or tell you whether your legislators are “good” or “bad” — it simply compares votes taken by legislators to the CFC’s Ten Priorities for a Better Arkansas and other issues on our broad platform. There are many complexities that are impossible to put in a voting chart; this vote guide tells you how your legislators tend to vote, but it does not tell you why. 

Legislators are elected volunteers who generally hold other jobs. Though they do receive a stipend for their service, this is not a salary, and most of them don’t have legislative staff aids. 

Each issue section has a summary of the bills we supported and opposed, as well as a record of how each legislator voted on the bills that came up for a vote. Other important legislation was considered during the 93rd Arkansas General Assembly which is not included in this guide.