Arkansas Game and Fish Commission budget moves along swimmingly

Staff with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission attend a meeting of the Joint Budget Committee’s Special Language subcommittee in Little Rock on June 17, 2024. (Tess Vrbin, Arkansas Advocate)

Lawmakers moved quickly Monday afternoon toward approval of an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission appropriation bill, a primary reason Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called a special session this week.

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Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe, filed the bill Friday to set the agency’s budget for the 2025 fiscal year, which starts July 1. The bill passed with no discussion through two state Joint Budget Committee meetings and with some constructive comments about the nature of the process during a meeting of the Joint Budget Committee’s Special Language subcommittee.

“I think we’ve learned something from this,” Sen. Ben Gilmore, R-Crossett, said during the Special Language meeting. “I hope we never come back to this point, and that’s for [legislative] members and that’s for Game and Fish. …Keep open dialogue so we don’t have to deal with this type of issue ever again. I say that as an admonishment to everyone.”

The appropriation bill would have typically been approved during a fiscal session, but lawmakers were unable to come to an agreement before adjournment last month due to concerns about the director’s maximum salary.

Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe, presents a bill to fund the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to the Joint Budget Committee’s Special Language subcommittee on June 17, 2024. (Tess Vrbin, Arkansas Advocate)

Under the newly proposed budget, the director’s salary cap would be set at $170,437, and any salary increases greater than 5% of the current earnings would require legislative approval. The restriction is only effective through June 30, 2025.

“I would hope that we don’t allow any of what’s transpired regarding Game and Fish becomes the norm,” Dismang said. “… No. 1: leaving without reaching a compromise on the appropriation, but then No. 2, that we don’t set this type of threshold in place. If we want it to be a specific amount, then I think we should do that while we’re actually in session.”

Game and Fish Director Austin Booth told reporters afterward that “it was a great day for Arkansas” with the budget closer to approval.

While the future of Game and Fish operations has been in limbo, Booth said employees losing their jobs and health insurance coverage have “kept us up at night.” Following that impact, Booth said the next major concerns were the state’s hatchery system to stock waterways with millions of fish, and the ability to sell hunting and fishing licenses.

Austin Booth, director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, talks with reporters in Little Rock on June 17, 2024. (Tess Vrbin, Arkansas Advocate)

As for the bill restricting increases to his current $152,637 salary, Booth said he was “totally fine with it.” He noted Game and Fish staff did not initially request the salary cap that lawmakers deemed too high, and he didn’t say if he regretted that a legislator made that amendment.

Going forward, Booth said the agency will continue to improve communication with the Legislature.

“For three years now, I’ve sat at that table right in there, and I have said that we recognize that we have to do better, that we want to increase and improve dialogue,” Booth said.

The bill is expected to head to the full Senate and the House of Representatives for approval on Tuesday.

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