UA Division of Agriculture Public Policy Center

05/27/2026

MAY 31 is almost here. Have you assessed your car, boat or cow? Your business personal property?

After May 31, counties apply a 10% penalty to late assessments.

In many counties you can assess online. Or call your assessor to assess over the phone.

Find a link to your county assessor: https://portal.arkansas.gov/service/property-tax-center/

Find more information about personal property taxes in Arkansas at https://www.dfa.arkansas.gov/office/arkansas-assessment-coordination-division/personal-property/

FYI, if you take advantage of the Food Freedom Act to make and sell food from your home, your business equipment is assessable.

05/22/2026

Registration is open for the 2026 Arkansas Agriculture, Forests, and Water Conference!

Join researchers, policymakers, and community members July 28–30 for critical conversations about Arkansas's natural resources.

Register by July 10 for the early bird rate $120 and select a conference T-shirt. Students can register for a discounted rate of $50.

Learn more about the topics this year's conference will cover and register here: https://watercurrents.uada.edu/registration-open-for-the-arkansas-agriculture-forests-and-water-conference/

05/22/2026

LAWSUIT UPDATE: A federal appeals court today (May 22) rejected a request from Arkansas election officials for a hearing on whether Arkansans must use ink pens versus electronic signatures to sign voter registration application forms.

Get Loud Arkansas and several Arkansans who completed voter registration forms with an electronic signature filed a federal lawsuit on June 5, 2024, saying a new state election rule prohibiting digital signatures violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

A section of the Civil Rights Act says "no person acting under the color of law" can deny a person to vote because of "an error or omission on any record or paper relating to any application, registration, or other act requisite to voting, if such error or omission is not material in determining whether such individual is qualified under state law to vote."

On March 31, 2026, a three-member appeals panel from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Get Loud Arkansas and the voters. The opinion stated they were harmed by the state's new election rule and inability to register voters, and that the district court judge had not erred in stopping the rule's enforcement. The Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners had hoped the full 8th Circuit Court of Appeals would rehear the case.

After the March ruling, Get Loud Arkansas reinstated their online voter registration application at https://form.jotform.com/222275227390050

More background: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Arkansas-Ballot-Issues-Newsletter.html?soid=1136461707000&aid=GYdUEzPKxt8

Read today's court order:https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2026-05-22-Order.pdf

05/21/2026

05/18/2026

SURVEY: Sharing on behalf of our colleagues at the University of Arkansas

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If you are an Arkansas city or county employee, we want your opinions on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its use in your job. Along with researchers from across the world and the United States, we here at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville are interested in your perspective on AI whether you use it or not, and whether you are optimistic, skeptical, or pessimistic about its use in local government.

If you work for county government in the state of Arkansas, here’s the county link: https://uark.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_38HUbJFjSnnqSJo

If you work for a city or town in the state of Arkansas, here’s the municipality link: https://uark.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ahiyCqPdXxp824C

This online survey should only take about 15 minutes, is confidential and IRB approved (UA IRB # 2509625422); if you have any questions, please contact Dr. Patrick Stewart at [email protected]

05/18/2026

There's a new federal report about data centers available that seeks to answer some basic questions, including energy requirements:

In its simplest form, a data center is a physical facility that houses and runs large computer systems. U.S. data center annual energy use in 2023 (not accounting for cryptocurrency) was approximately 176 terawatt-hours (TWh), approximately 4.4% of U.S. annual electricity consumption that year, acco...

05/18/2026

Volunteers armed with clipboards will be collecting signatures at Arkansas festivals, farmers markets and other locations over the next seven weeks as three initiative campaigns race to qualify for the November ballot.

05/17/2026

It’s graduation season. Is there a graduate in your life? If so, encourage them to register to vote!

You can pick up a paper voter registration application in several different locations in your community, including:

County Clerk Offices
Public libraries
Public assistance agencies
Disability agencies
Military recruitment offices

If you don't see the forms on displayed on a table at the location, ask an employee for help.

You can also print off a paper application from the Secretary of State's website.

For more voter resources, visit https://www.uaex.uada.edu/business-communities/voter-education/resources.aspx

05/15/2026

The Department of Education is accepting public comment on proposed new rules regarding state funding for public libraries.

Read the proposed rules:https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Files/State_Aid_to_Public_Libraries_051526_Legal.pdf

Comment in person: June 12, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. in the ADE Auditorium, 4 Capitol Mall, Little Rock

Comment via email: [email protected]

Public Comment Deadline: June 15, 2026

https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Offices/legal/rules/pending

Context: https://arkansasadvocate.com/2026/05/15/arkansas-explained-proposal-aimed-at-restricting-access-to-sexually-explicit-library-books/?emci=fd0fdca6-ca4f-f111-8ef2-000d3a14b640&emdi=f29e910d-5e50-f111-8ef2-000d3a14b640&ceid=363412

The Department of Education will accept feedback on the draft rules via email until June 15 and in person on June 8.

05/14/2026

The Arkansas State Board of Education approved Thursday an emergency rule to implement new legislation governing the creation of newly formed smaller school districts.

05/12/2026

We are fortunate to have had an intern from UALR this semester who is interested in local government policy. One of Braden's projects was to analyze county government implementation of Act 848, a new law requiring public entities to adopt artificial intelligence policy.

Of the 20 counties he reviewed, only one had adopted a policy as called for by Act 848.

Read more at

Last year, Arkansas legislators passed the state's first attempt at artificial intelligence (AI) regulation via Act 848 of 2025. The additions to Arkansas Code § 25-1-128 made through Act 848 require Arkansas public entities to adopt formal policies governing the authorized use of artificial intell...