Opinion

The 2023 Regular Session is now underway. The session began on Monday, January 9 when members of the 94th General Assembly took the oath of office.

More than four years ago I used this space to share the ongoing efforts to preserve the Butterfield Overland Trail, a piece of Arkansas’s history that helped shape westward expansion. Now there is more to celebrate as legislation I championed to designate this landmark pathway as a national historic trail has been signed into law.

The 2023 Regular Session is now underway. The session began on Monday, January 9 when members of the 94th General Assembly took the oath of office.

Well, that’s over with. We are a week out from the mad dash that is the holiday season and now a new year is upon us.

Dear Constituents, this will be my final column as your state Senator. Politics has long been a passion of mine, so it was a dream come true when I was first elected to the legislature eight years ago.

A new year gives us an opportunity for a fresh start and to make positive changes to the way we live. No matter what our resolutions are, we can agree on hoping 2023 will be better than the past. It’s also the beginning of a new Congress which is another reason to be optimistic because we will have expanded options to hold the Biden administration accountable and advance policies important to Arkansas.

The 94th General Assembly will convene at noon on Monday, Jan. 9.