Editing Arkansas (section)

===Legislative===
{{Main|Arkansas General Assembly}}
The [[Arkansas General Assembly]] is the state's [[bicameral]] bodies of legislators, composed of the [[Arkansas Senate|Senate]] and [[Arkansas House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]. The Senate contains 35 members from districts of approximately equal population. These districts are redrawn decennially with each US census, and in election years ending in "2", the entire body is put up for reelection. Following the election, half of the seats are designated as two-year seats and are up for reelection again in two years, these "half-terms" do not count against a legislator's term limits. The remaining half serve a full four-year term. This staggers elections such that half the body is up for reelection every two years and allows for complete body turnover following redistricting.<ref>{{cite web |last= Greenberg |first= Dan |url= http://arkansaseconomics.org/policy/050105.html |title= The Dangers of Diluting Term Limits |publisher= Arkansas Policy Center |access-date= February 3, 2012 }}</ref> Arkansas House members can serve a maximum of three two-year terms. House districts are redistricted by the Arkansas Board of Apportionment. 

In the 2012 elections, Arkansas voters elected a 21–14 Republican majority in the Senate and the Republicans gained a 51–49 majority in the House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cooke |first=Mallory |date=November 14, 2012 |title=Republicans Take Control of Arkansas House, Senate |url=http://5newsonline.com/2012/11/13/republicans-take-control-of-arkansas-house-senate/ |access-date=January 8, 2013 |publisher=[[KFSM-TV]]}}</ref> The 2012 elections established a Republican dominance in both bodies of legislature.

The Republican Party's [[majority]] status in the Arkansas State House of Representatives after the 2012 elections, is the party's first since 1874. Arkansas was the last state of the [[Confederate States of America|old Confederacy]] to not have Republican control of either chamber of its house since the American Civil War.<ref name="sen">{{cite web |title= Arkansas Senate flips; first time since Reconstruction |date= November 7, 2012 |publisher= The Courier |url= http://www.couriernews.com/view/full_story/20738303/article-Arkansas-Senate-flips--first-time-since-Reconstruction |access-date= January 8, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130117082700/http://www.couriernews.com/view/full_story/20738303/article-Arkansas-Senate-flips--first-time-since-Reconstruction |archive-date= January 17, 2013 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref>

Following the term limits changes, studies have shown that lobbyists have become less influential in state politics. Legislative staff, not subject to term limits, have acquired additional power and influence due to the high rate of elected official turnover.<ref>{{cite web |last1= English |first1= Art |last2= Weberg |first2= Brian |title= Term Limits in the Arkansas General Assembly: A Citizen Legislature Responds |year= 2005 |publisher= National Conference of State Legislatures |website= Joint Project on Term Limits |url= http://www.ncsl.org/Portals/1/documents/jptl/casestudies/Arkansasv2.pdf |pages= 33–34 |access-date= February 3, 2013 |archive-date= June 3, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130603142221/http://www.ncsl.org/Portals/1/documents/jptl/casestudies/Arkansasv2.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>