Arkansas special legislative session ends with wins for governor

Arkansas lawmakers adjourned Thursday after a four-day special session called a week ago by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Driving the news: Shortly after adjournment, Sanders signed 11 bills into law.

Details: Three of the bills covered topics she'd specifically asked legislators to tackle:

• SB3 — Prohibits state and local governments from mandating or requiring people to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or its subvariants.
• SB8 — Lowers Arkansas' top individual income tax rate from 4.7% to 4.4% and the top corporate rate from 5.1% to 4.8%, effective Jan. 1, 2024. It also grants up to a $150, one-time income tax credit for taxpayers making less than $90,000 a year, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2023.
• SB10 — Shields records related to the security detail of the governor and constitutional officers from public view but does require Arkansas State Police to file a quarterly report providing an overview of the expenses. The law is retroactive to June 1, 2022.

What we're watching: The state's open-records law is still being scrutinized.

In a statement this week to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Attorney General Tim Griffin said "... my FOIA advisory group continues to work, and we won't conclude our review until at least late 2024."