The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a lower court ruling that would have prevented the state Department of Transportation from spending money on the $1 billion 30 Crossing project.
In November 2020, voters approved Amendment 101, which continues the half percent sales-and-use tax that voters initially approved with Amendment 91, which was passed into law in 2012. Amendment 101 goes into effect in July.
Amendment 91 explicitly said the tax would go to fund highway improvement bonds for “four-lane highway improvements,” but the Department of Transportation spent tax proceeds on the six-lane stretch of 30 Crossing over the Arkansas River, and they planned to spend more.
An illegal exaction lawsuit put a stop to that in 2020, followed in 2021 with a $121 million judgement against the department.
In a separate case, Little Rock attorney Richard Mays, representing a coalition of downtown neighborhoods and residents, successfully argued that the Department of Transportation couldn’t spend $350 million of proceeds from Amendment 101 on 30 Crossing. Pulaski Circuit Judge Mackie Pierce ruled that because Amendment 101 was a continuation of Amendment 91, the same four-lane restriction applied.
But today the Supreme Court ruled that Amendment 101 doesn’t explicitly limit the highway department to only four-lane projects.
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