An effort to disband the independent oversight boards for the state’s libraries and public television network advanced in an Arkansas legislative committee Thursday.
Senate Bill 184 would abolish the State Library Board and the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, transferring their power and duties to the state Education Department.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, told members of the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs committee the bill seeks to boost efficiency.
“These boards and commissions meet once a quarter. They have a set agenda, they meet for about an hour, hour-and-a-half or so, and rarely do they come up with things that are consequential,” Sullivan said, adding the entities the boards oversee are “very consequential to the State of Arkansas.”
Sullivan’s wife, Maria Sullivan, was appointed in May 2024 by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to a seven-year term on the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, which oversees Arkansas PBS. The broadcaster’s CEO and executive director, Courtney Pledger, told committee members the move could threaten funding streams from private donations.
“I have a handful of concerns that [the bill] would centralize control of an independent public media network under a government entity,” Pledger said. “ADE has a tremendous amount of expertise in their area and a wonderful board, but they’ve never had oversight of a public television network.”
Pledger said she was unsure whether or not the bill would impact the roughly $2.5 million in annual funding Arkansas PBS receives from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but said it could have an impact on donations from viewers.
Sullivan repeated his claim that the existing boards are ineffective, and called Pledger’s concerns over a loss in funding a “scare tactic.”
“Under your oversight, there’s been a tremendous impact. And we have rectified that, and things have changed significantly. But it’s my contention that we will operate better and more aligned with the goals of the state – executive branch and legislative branch – if this is under the Department of [Education],” he said.
Sullivan has been a vocal critic of Arkansas PBS, and has sought to limit its spending authority. The broadcaster has also been the subject of recent legislative audits over questionable procurement practices.
Sen. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, was the only audible “no” vote against SB184 in Thursday’s committee meeting. He disagreed with Sullivan’s claim that the state Bureau of Legislative Research (BLR) found the bill would not have any significant conflict with both entities’ operations.
“It’s not BLR’s job to know the function of [Arkansas PBS]. Their job is to look at the code language and move responsibilities over, they don’t know about licensing or those sorts of things,” Tucker said. “The justification that we have been given is just efficiency or alignment, and that’s just not a good enough reason to jeopardize the existence, as it exists today, of PBS in my opinion.”
While most of Thursday’s discussion was dedicated to the public television side of the bill, one member of the public spoke against the bill’s changes to the library board. Misty Hawkins, director of the Arkansas River Valley Regional Library System, said she was concerned the move could impact services and diminish local representation in library leadership.
“The Arkansas State Library provides essential resources, professional support and funding that sustains services in our communities. Any threat to these resources jeopardize[s] support and lifelong learning opportunities that so many Arkansans rely on,” Hawkins said.
The Arkansas State Library is a state agency under the Department of Education, while the Arkansas State Library Board oversees the state funding of public libraries and acts independently from the Education Department. Senate Bill 184 would remove the board's ability to appoint the leader of the State Library, reserving that right instead for the secretary of the Department of Education.
The bill passed committee on a voice vote and now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
Arkansas PBS, Little Rock Public Radio, and KASU receive support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Little Rock Public Radio KUAR/KLRE is licensed to the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas System. KASU is licensed to the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas State University System.
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