Arkansas Senate Bill 437, The Arkansas Wind Energy Development Act, passed out of both the Arkansas House of Representatives and Senate earlier today. This bill places significant restrictions on the wind industry in Arkansas, where currently there are none.
The bill passed out of the House with 73 Yeas and passed out of the Senate with 18 Yeas. Click on the vote count links to see who voted for and against the bill. If your state rep or senator voted for the bill, please call and thank them for their vote and support of ag aviation in Arkansas.
The bill now heads to the desk of Governor Sanders for her signature. She has five days to sign the bill. If she doesn't sign the bill it will still become law. The only thing that can stop the bill now is a formal veto by the governor.
This is a huge win for our industry! Last week this bill did not make it out of committee and frankly seemed dead. However, thanks to the hard work of our lobbyist, Joe Jett, the efforts of a dozen members that showed up at the capitol this week to demand attention, and the multitude of phone calls by our members to their state representatives - we made our voices heard and helped get the bill passed!
We know that this issue is far from being over, but we are pleased with the current results and look forward to working on future legislation.
