Senator-elect Steve Crowell with Hope-Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Christi Burns at Thursday's retirement party for former Hope City Manager Catherine Cook Thursday.
As the Arkansas General Assembly convenes today at noon, Senator Steve Crowell will have a set of priorities in mind which he spoke about Thursday night when we ran into him at Catherine Cook’s retirement party.
Crowell will be among the 13 newly-elected Arkansas senators to be sworn in today, representing the largest freshman class for the body since 2011. He has been a senator-elect since winning the Republican primary against incumbent opponent Charles Beckham. The Democratic Party did not nominate an opponent for him to face in November.
Since that time, Crowell says he has kept busy preparing for his new role in the state capitol: “Since about mid-July, I’ve been up there at least two or three days a week. Everybody has been really accommodating. I’ve been in the district a ton and working on stuff already.”
Crowell has been assigned an office, which he likes, and which will be decorated by his wife Laura, and has also taken an apartment in Little Rock, which he said he would be moving into this past weekend.
Asked about his priorities once he takes office, Crowell said, “One of the biggest things I want to work on is income tax, which is great because our governor wants to work on the income tax. We have a lot of educational issues … but I think mental health is an issue that we have to address. And I think there's some funds that hopefully we can start to get some traction with that.”
Crowell expressed optimism that the Arkansas Senate could come together and achieve needed changes. “I'm really excited because, [from] working with some of the senators, a lot of the senators already [I think] we have a good group. And I think there's some personalities that could get along and get some stuff done.”
Crowell’s swearing in took place at the noon hour. He represents Arkansas Senate District 3, which includes most of Hempstead, all of Nevada, the southern half of Pike, all of Clark, all of Lafayette and all of Columbia counties.