Arkansas House Passes Bill Dedicating Medical Marijuana Tax Revenue To Fund School Breakfasts For Students

The Arkansas House of Representatives has approved legislation to use medical marijuana tax revenue to fund free school breakfasts for students, regardless of whether they qualify for federal free and reduced-price meal programs.

House lawmakers voted 88–4 to pass the bill, SB 59, on Thursday. Because a minor amendment was adopted in that chamber to adjust co-sponsors to the legislation, the revised measure now returns to the Senate for a final vote before proceeding to the desk of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), who’s previously endorsed the plan.

“One in four Arkansas children struggle with hunger,” Rep. Zack Gramlich (R), a schoolteacher and co-sponsor of the bill, said prior to the House floor vote, noting that the state ranks first in the nation for food insecurity. “A kid who’s hungry and their stomach hurts because they didn’t eat all weekend, they just lay their head down. They’re not learning. They’re just waiting until lunch.”

Gramlich added that schools will still seek to ensure as many students as possible are enrolled in meal programs at the federal level in order to reduce costs to the state.

“This is a great thing for our kids. It’s also a great thing for our districts,” he told colleagues, explaining that when families can’t pay outstanding lunch bills, schools themselves have to cover those costs. “There are plenty of families who are on the edge… They don’t qualify for free and reduced lunch, but they can’t afford to feed their kid.”

Voting against the bill were four Republicans: Reps. Hope Duke, Wayne Long, David Ray and Richard Womack. Two other lawmakers did not vote on the measure, while six more voted “present.”

Duke said during a committee hearing earlier this week that the bill “causes her concerns”—not because of feeding children but because of costs.

“It’s a little hard for me to ask some of the other members of my constituency to pay for this particular pocket of students,” she told the panel.

Last week the state Senate passed the bill on a 26–2 vote, days after the Senate Education Committee approved it unanimously.

The governor previewed the bill in her State of the State address last month. Sanders, a former press secretary in the first Trump administration, has historically resisted cannabis policy reform.

“We will also use those funds to make school breakfast in Arkansas completely free for any student that chooses to participate,” she said in the speech, saying the use of medical marijuana funds would make the program “sustainable for years to come.”

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Ahead of November’s election, Sanders opposed a ballot initiative that would have expanded Arkansas’s medical marijuana program—a measure ultimately scuttled by the state Supreme Court.

A survey found that a majority of likely voters in Arkansas were in favor of the initiative.

Despite her opposition to the proposal, Sanders has been open to maintaining the existing medical cannabis program and adopting other modest reforms. For example, in 2023 she signed a bill into law clarifying that medical marijuana patients can obtain concealed carry licenses for firearms despite federal law still prohibiting cannabis users from possessing guns.

The state’s medical marijuana has proved popular since its implementation in 2019, with officials announcing last May that at least 102,000 residents have registered for patient cards, exceeding expectations.

However, Arkansas voters rejected a ballot initiative to more broadly legalize marijuana for adults in 2022.

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