This past sesquicentennial Saturday in Hope, State Representative Dolly Henley attended both the celebration at City Hall, reading the resolution by the Arkansas House of Representatives commending Hope for 150 years of development and its prospects for a good future and the retirement reception of former Hempstead County Justice of the Peace Cherry Stewart.
At the reception she sat down for an interview about her first few months in office. She spoke about progress on lobbying for state financing for renovations and upgrades to Southwest Arkansas Medical Center, a human trafficking bill she has helped steer to passage and Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ signature. She also explained what it has been like to start the job of representing House District 88, which includes all of Hempstead County and parts of Miller and Howard counties.
Concerning the matter of winning additional financing for the improvement of Hope’s hospital, Henley said “The news to report is that absolutely, every single day in my life at the state capitol, I speak with somebody who has influence who will help with the funding of the Hope hospital, whether it's the governor that I've spoken to or the speaker, the senators that represent our district as well the Director of Economic Development, anybody that will listen to me.
“So when the governor’s staff texts me about a particular bill, and generally they're asking for support or not support of a particular bill, when I reply to them with a yes or no, whatever I feel about that, I say, ‘Can you give me an update on our hospital funding please?’ Every single time. So while I don't have any good news about there being a check in the mail next week, I'm just as hopeful that there's going to be funding as everybody.”
Henley’s work contributed to the passing of House Bill 1609 through the Arkansas House. It also passed the Senate and was signed by the governor March 20th to become Arkansas Act 366. It makes more severe the penalty for recruiting as part of a human trafficking operation.
“The Republican Women's Caucus had gotten together and selected seven bills, selected different members to run those bills, and mine was adding some language to the bill of human trafficking and grooming of a minor. So I was very pleased to have what some would see an easy bill. It was nerve-racking for me. I got through it and did a fine job with it. It passed and it was good,” Henley said.
She is also working with Fort Smith representative Lee Johnson, helping to steer legislation through the House that would release those who sell boats from the obligation to charge and collect state sales taxes. “Right now, it's a little convoluted across Arkansas, how revenue offices deal with boating issues, so we're trying to get that a little more consistent across the state where, up until now, you have to pay your sales tax at the dealership for boats, unlike vehicles.
"So this is going to be a little bit more like vehicles, where, hopefully, if it passes, they'll be paying that sales tax at the revenue office. So I'm excited about that. The boating industry has approached me with that and they needed that to happen,” Henley said. She says the bill will be discussed and voted on in the Revenue and Taxation Committee Monday and likely go to the House floor Tuesday.
A little inside baseball about the lawmaking process: Henley said there is often great anxiety about whether bills will pass muster after a fiscal impact study in time to be passed and signed prior to the end of the session.
On a typical day as a representative, Henley said her days start with 10:00 a.m. committee meetings. She has been assigned to the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee and the House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs Committee. She said her days at the capitol can extend even after midnight, and she has been told that the last several days of a session can be quite intense. The 2025 session, which was extended last month, will most likely end Wednesday.
Before she was sworn in to begin her term this past January 13th, Henley said she went through an orientation in December of 2024. “We had a pretty good idea about the mechanism, how things were going to work, and at least we had a vision, whether that turned out that way or not, and some of it didn't. We got the information that we needed about how it was going to work. So that was very, very helpful. The other representatives said that this was the very best orientation that they had ever been involved with.”
New representatives are paired with more senior representatives with whom to continue learning the ropes. “My mentor is representative Carol Dalby from Texarkana. It’s is an urban district of its own. I'm more rural, and sometimes our votes will let you see the difference in our districts. You know the car match, but she's been wonderful. Carol has been wonderful. And [Representative DeAnn Vaught from Horatio is another one that's been exceptional, helping with anything that I need, any questions that I had. I've called them both this weekend. I mean, since we've been home, I've called them with questions and got good answers.”
Henley said she has most enjoyed getting to talk with local experts on the issues her committee assignments compel her to gather information about. “I’m texting our local healthcare [professionals] physicians, nurses and, of course, hospital people. And then in Nashville, the same thing over at Nashville, the dentist had a bill. So I was texting our local dentist, our optometrist, we had a bill for that. I was trying to find out, how do we feel about this? So it's a lot of connections back home. And the best thing is they'll tell you generally, if they're working, if they have their association, their state association, they know about the bill, and they're happy to tell me what's going on,” she said.
A current example of an issue she has been surveying her constituents’ opinions on has been a bill proposing changes to the process whereby the state places moratoriums on the disposal of animal waste in Arkansas watersheds. Concerns arose that the bill endangered the ecosystems of several favorite Arkansas destinations.
“I probably heard from a good one third of all the members here in Hempstead County that are members of Farm Bureau, and it was good to hear from them. Now, since that time, the bill has changed with an amendment to the bill, and now the governor supports the bill. We're okay with the bill. Protecting the watershed at Buffalo River is important. I got both sides. So they were emailing me and texting me you’ve got to preserve our natural resources. And I certainly agreed with that. So we were very happy when the when the amendment came out," Henley explained. Word came Monday afternoon that the bill had passed the legislature and now awaits Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ signature.
Representative Henley, a Republican, won election to the Arkansas District 88 seat last November, defeating Libertarian Tammy Goodwin by winning 71.5 percent of the vote to Goodwin’s 28.5.