Arkansas

A low score, but some improvement in 2024, as a laggy and nearly nonfunctional website was replaced by a new, faster site in August. New site lets users search for lobbyists by “Business type,” but still won’t let users download a complete lobbyist-client list or view expense totals without clicking through individual forms.

Arkansas captures very little of what lobbyists do. Bill numbers, positions, and compensation aren’t reported. And so it is sad to see a bar graph and a pie chart used to demonstrate that Capitol Advisors Group spent $1,623.58 on its 2024 Crawfish Boil, and that the firm spent an average of $195 on each of its clients. The public would be much better served by disclosure of what, exactly, this firm is doing on behalf of BASF North America and Entergy Arkansas, two companies whose fossil fuel projects are contributing to the climate crisis and climate-related health problems such as higher instances of asthma and other respiratory diseases. Capitol Advisors also represents the Arkansas Nurse Practitioner Association.

On March 29, 2013, ExxonMobil’s Pegasus Pipeline ruptured and spilled an estimated 200,000 gallons of tar sands crude oil into the town of Mayflower. After the spill, ExxonMobil tested the air in affected communities for benzene, but did not test for any of the at least 25 other chemicals released by the spill. Six years later, many residents of Mayflower reported that they had developed chronic health conditions as a result of these exposures.

In Arkansas, ExxonMobil’s lobbying firm of Government Solutions LLC also lobbies on behalf of the Arkansas Hospital Association. This puts Government Solutions in the position of lobbying for further dependence on fossil fuels at the same time it is lobbying for Arkansas hospitals whose patients are being increasingly harmed by climate impacts such as higher temperatures and higher concentrations of ground-level ozone and other pollutants.

Best feature: in 2022, staff in the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office generously offered to create and send a complete list of lobbyists and their clients to F Minus. No such luck in 2024.

Worst feature: new site only has data for 2024.

Additional Findings