Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Ross Works Hard In Final Days As Area's Senator (cont)

n who live in families where both parents work, and don't qualify for Medicare because of the family income.

There will be some co-payments under the program, Ross said, but the state understands there are families with low-paying jobs who can't afford insurance and want protection for their children.

"For every $1 spent on prevention," Ross said, "we save $10 in the long run."

Taxes, he said, were lowered some $70 million this session. This was done by increasing standard deductions on the state income tax from $1,000 to $2,000 and eliminating the marriage penalty. Now, he said, a couple can claim $4,000 in deductions.

Individuals making less than $7,700 per year are now exempt from paying state income tax, while this also goes for couples earning less than $15,500 per annum, or unmarried heads of households bringing in less than $12,000 a year

In addition, Ross said, the legislature tied the index on tax brackets to the Consumer Price Index to eliminate bracket creep.

And, he said, the child care credit was doubled from 10 percent to 20 percent of the federal allowable credits.

The special session, called shortly after the end of the regular session, resulted in eight vetoes being overturned.

Ross said this may have appeared to be partisan politics by some people, but this wasn't the case.

In Jim Guy Tucker's final days as governor, Ross said, he gave thousands of dollars to pet projects of friends. The people, he continued, said a governor shouldn't have that kind of spending power.

Because of Tucker's actions, the legislature took back the spending power it had given the governor's office in 1971. Ross said this had nothing to do with Huckabee, but was to prevent future abuses such as Tucker's.

Ross also said the legislature should never have given this authority to the governor in the first place, and should have taken it back sooner.

According to the Arkansas State Constitution, control of the state's funds is the job of the legislature.

Still, Ross said, Huckabee was given $25 million in discretionary money to spend, including $60,000 to remodel the kitchen in the governor's mansion.

Ross, the only senator with two state colleges in his district, fought for general improvement money for Henderson State University and Southern Arkansas University.

In the past, he said, he's been able to work with the sitting governors to make sure HSU and SAU get the aid they need. However, he added, at no time during the session did Huckabee ever offer to talk with Ross about these colleges or their needs.

Ross, though, was able to get $400,000 in aid for SAU and $1 million for HSU.

Additionally, Ross worked to help get $1 million to help improve the infrastructure of Arkadelphia because of the March 1 tornadoes. "Huckabee never said he would help," Ross said. "These aren't pork barrel projects, they're badly needed for the people I represent back home."