Arkansas House Panel Approves Bill To Use Medical Marijuana Taxes To Fund School Meals For Students

An Arkansas House committee has advanced a Senate-passed bill that would set aside revenue from medical marijuana taxes to pay for free breakfast for students.

The legislation, SB 59, would supplement federal free and reduced-price meal funds with money from a state Food Insecurity Fund, paid for by cannabis taxes as well as private grants and money from the state’s general fund.

“One in four Arkansan children struggle with hunger,” Rep. Zack Gramlich (R), a schoolteacher and co-sponsor of the bill, said at a hearing on Tuesday of the House Education Committee, which advanced the measure on a voice vote after adopting a technical amendment.

Gramlich noted that the state ranks first in the nation for food insecurity, with 64 percent of students statewide eligible for free or reduced-price meals. At the school where he works, Gramlich said, that figure is “in the upper 80s, and we used to be in the upper 90s.”

“I see food insecurity in my school every day. I don’t know a teacher who doesn’t keep crackers or fruits or snacks for their children,” he continued. “Because if a kid is hungry, they’re not going to learn.”

One lawmaker who expressed reservations about the bill was Rep. Hope Duke (R)

“Obviously feeding children is a really important thing,” she said, “but we also come down here with beliefs, with things that our voters have kind of elected us—values [they] elected us to align with.”

Duke said the bill “causes her concerns” not because of feeding children but because of the cost of feeding children.

“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 colleagues.

The legislation would provide meals to students regardless of whether or not they qualify for free or reduced-cost food under federal law. Some supporters have said that stigma sometimes prevents families from taking advantage of those programs, leaving children hungry.

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

Advancement of SB 59 follows an endorsement of the proposal last month from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), who previewed the bill in her State of the State address. 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.”

Ahead of November’s election, Sanders opposed a ballot initiative that would have expanded Arkansas’s medical marijuana program that was ultimately shuttered 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 appears open to other modest reforms and maintaining the existing medical cannabis program. 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 defeated a ballot initiative to more broadly legalize marijuana for adults in 2022.

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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.