The Arkansas Legislative Council meeting on Nov. 15 included a discussion about out-of-state consulting contracts during the Executive Subcommittee report.
Senator King raised concerns about these contracts, claiming the expenditure of over $600 million in the last 10 years to six or seven out-of-state firms. He questioned the necessity of these contracts, suggesting that Arkansas-based staff could do the work instead. He also pointed to a potential inconsistency in criticizing DEI initiatives while awarding contracts to firms that promote DEI. Here’s a portion of his comments related to waste:
“…when you waste money and you give money to these consultant contracts and you send our tax dollars out of state. Whether it’s San Francisco, London, England, wherever else, and you waste money on that, well, you’re hurting extra money that could be used to help the truly needy too…And why do we send that money out of state to get these people to do it? We’ve got people here in Arkansas, if we even need it. Many of these consultant reports, our audit staff and our staff could do those reports. And we’re giving these millions. So I just urge, like I said, nothing stops until it stops.”
Senator Bryan King
Senator King mentioned President Donald Trump’s appointment of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami to eliminate waste in his upcoming adminitration.
“So the other part is if you want to have money to help the needy, you’ve got to cut waste, fraud and abuse. Elon Musk and Vivek are now trying to cut waste. Arkansas in 2015 was the largest spending state per capita per tax dollar of our surrounding states. That means we waste the most amount of money.”
Senator Bryan King
He also contended that the out of state firm in question was a supporter of DEI initiatives that stood against some of the principles that he and colleagues have espoused over the years.
So this is a twofold thing. One is what standard do you have? And you want to get on some college professor about teaching DEI or some librarian. And then all of a sudden you have this standard and then all of a sudden we need to have money to help the needy, whether that’s helping the issue that’s been in the paper.
Senator Bryan King
Senator Chesterfield responded by defending diversity, equity, and inclusion, arguing that it is about recognizing the diverse perspectives of qualified individuals from different backgrounds. She expressed frustration that DEI language could potentially hinder contracts.
We are not talking about giving people jobs for which they are unqualified, but we are talking about recognizing that this country, which has been called the great melting pot, is now just a big pot of people who don’t want to recognize that others have a right to have some representation in this great state as we give out contracts.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Other members clarified that the specific contract under discussion was already in place and that the amendments related to process rather than substantial changes. Senator King reiterated his concerns about wasting taxpayer money and the need to cut unnecessary expenditures. The discussion concluded with a vote against a substitute motion to reject the Executive Committee report, followed by a vote to adopt the report.
