Analysis: Arkansas session ends, but unresolved issues left

A debate over how to overhaul the state's tax code, lingering questions about the state's medical marijuana program and a growing highway funding gap are among a handful of the issues that the Legislature now must face with the 2017 session mostly finished.

Two major complications for that effort came over the past week, with the House rejecting a proposal to force out-of-state online retailers to collect Arkansas sales taxes and the announcement a day later that the state's revenue remains behind the official forecast.

The proposal to put the bond measure on the ballot was defeated in the House, facing criticism from conservative Republicans over an accompanying plan to levy sales taxes on the wholesale price of gasoline and diesel if voters approved the bonds.

Lawmakers enacted a bevy of measures to help set up the medical marijuana program that voters approved in November, including restrictions on where it can be smoked and limits on its advertising.

The Legislature still has to approve rules for the three agencies that are implementing the marijuana amendment — the Medical Marijuana Commission, Alcohol Beverage Control and the Health Department — as the state faces a July 1 deadline to begin accepting applications for dispensaries.

Hutchinson has said he'll ask the federal government to approve his proposals moving 60,000 people off the program by lowering its eligibility cap and imposing a work requirement for some participants.