If you haven't been to the website explaining what the stimulus dollars will mean to us, please take time to visit it: www.recovery.arkansas.gov. There will be approximately $2.1 billion coming to our state, to help get folks back to work and get our economy moving again. While we are one of a very small number of states not running a deficit (Revenue Stabilization prohibits that), we have many needs that these dolars will allow us to meet.

Over the course of the next few weeks, we will be learning more about the rules and regulations. Speaker Wills appointed Rep. John Lowry and me to co-chair a House committee on the stimulus. We continue to meet with different groups as we try to learn more about qualifying programs. The opportunities in energy efficiency programs and weatherization, plus green retrofits, are plentiful. We can reduce our carbon footprint in a meaningful way, while creating jobs, saving money for school districts through lower utility costs, and saving money for homeowners.

Please let me know if you have questions-if I can't answer them, I will try to direct yu to someone who can.