Bart Hester

Background

Hester graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business management from the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he was a member of the Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team.

Hester and his wife, the former Ashley Brooke Dorsey (born 1978), have three children, Brooklyn, Addey Jo, and Nik. They reside in Cave Springs. Hester is a deacon of the First Baptist Church of Bentonville. He is a member of the National Rifle Association and the Arkansas Realtors Association.

Political life

Hester was elected to the Senate from the revised District 1 in 2012, when he defeated fellow Republican Tim Summers, 4,506 to 3,869 in the primary election. He was unopposed in the general election. The previous District 1 senator, Republican Johnny Key, was transferred to the revised District 17. Hester's Senate term expired at the end of 2016. Hester received support for his campaign from Americans for Prosperity, a Tea Party political advocacy group backed by David H. Koch and Charles Koch (often collectively referred to as The Koch Brothers).

Arkansas State Senate, 2012-2016

Hester served on the Arkansas Legislative Council and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Oversight Committee. He is assigned to these Senate committees: (1) Budget, (2) Children and Youth (vice chair), (3) City, County, and Local Affairs, (4) Revenue and Tax, (5) Rules, Resolutions and Memorials.

Hester opposes abortion, having voted to ban the practice after twenty weeks of gestation or whenever fetal heartbeat is determined.

In 2013, Hester joined the Senate majority to amend state income tax rates and to reduce the amount of weekly unemployment compensation benefits. He co-sponsored legislation to test the recipients of unemployment compensation for illegal use of narcotics. He voted successfully to override Governor Mike Beebe's veto of a bill to require photo identification when one casts a ballot in Arkansas. He voted against legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan. He co-sponsored legislation to permit handguns to be carried on church properties and to forbid the release of information on the holders of concealed carry permits. He voted to allow university staff to carry concealed weapons. Hester supported legislation to permit the sale of unpasteurized whole milk within his state.

Hester endorsed former U.S. Representative Asa Hutchinson in the 2014 gubernatorial election. Hutchinson was handily defeated by Beebe in the 2006 election, but won the governorship in 2014 in a second run for the office.

2015

In early 2015, Hester sponsored the Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act, intended to supersede local gay rights laws, and it became law. Several cities and towns have passed LGBT anti-discrimination ordinances in spite of the act, however. His "gay-hating" legislation earned Hester a nomination for "Worst Person in the World" .

In March 2015, Hester called for Springdale Police Chief Kathy O'Kelley to be fired following the release of a 2006 police report containing accusations that Josh Duggar (of the levision series]] 19 Kids and Counting) molested five underage girls, including his siblings. Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse made a statement that the public disclosure was required under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. On June 30, 2015, Hester publicly stated that "It's a good day when you can pick up 1,000 rounds at @Walmart Bentonville" on Twitter, and posted a photo of the box containing the 1000-round purchase he made.

2016

During the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Hester chaired Marco Rubio's unsuccessful Arkansas campaign. Rubio finished third in the March 1 Arkansas primary and suspended his campaign on March 15.

Opposition to "Arkansas Works"

During the fiscal session, Governor Asa Hutchinson proposed "Arkansas Works", an expansion of the private option using federal Medicaid money to assist over 267,000 low-income Arkansans to obtain private health insurance and to reduce costs at hospitals across the state. The measure also transfers funding to the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) necessary for AHTD to meet matching requirements to receive Arkansas's full allocation of federal highway funds. Hester became a vocal, leading opponent of Arkansas Works and led a "rump" group of state senators to block funding for the initiative. Although the measure gained the required simple majorities to pass (70-30 in the House and 25-10 in the Senate, with Hester opposed), rules to acquire funding for the measure require a three-fourths majority.

A vote on April 14 resulted in the measure failing to achieve the required three-fourths majority, passing 95-0 in the House but failing 25-10 in the Senate with Hester and nine other Republicans opposing the measure. Hester has said the $2.6 billion of state revenues allocated to AHTD is "adequate". Hester offered cuts to the public television Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN), War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, and business incentives to fund some state programs, to which Hutchinson has said, "I don't think those are realistic proposals". Hester said a competing proposal will be forthcoming from the Arkansas Works opponents.