Cryptomining a key topic during State 2024 Fiscal session
LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — The Arkansas 2024 Fiscal session continued today with some concerned citizens at the Capitol letting lawmakers know how they feel about cryptomining.
The increasingly hot button issue has taken center stage at this year’s session.
Though bills outside the scope of the budget aren’t always considered at the fiscal session, the issue of cryptomining has become so pressing that many lawmakers agree it should be addressed sooner than the 2025 regular season.
Today, members from at least three different communities struggling with cryptomines showed up at the capitol to encourage legislators to better regulate the industry and repeal act 851, a controversial law that limits how local governments can regulate the new industry.
Members from Pope County, Arkansas County, and Faulkner County traveled to the Capitol today to encourage lawmakers to better regulate cryptomining and repeal Act 851.
“We don’t want it in our county, we don’t want it in our state, we don’t want it in our country. We’re all working towards the same thing– it’s to get rid of it.”
“But my goal is to get the politicians attention that the citizens that don’t want it is not going to go away, and we do vote for them,” says James Ward, concerned citizen from Arkansas County.
Arkansas County, perhaps in defiance of that controversial law, enacted a noise ordinance that ultimately led to the county being sued by a new cryptomine in its borders.
Members of that particular community at the capitol today with a mission.
“To be able to talk to legislators and tell them our concerns. There have been many bills and resolutions introduced, and we are very hopeful that they all will be heard because there are merits to all of them. So that we can find some sort of ways to address these issues with cryptomines and help to educate legislators about how taking local control away can affect a community when their hands are tied and they aren’t able to address this,” says Tami Hornbeck, chair of committee for Protect Arkansas.
All eight cryptomining resolutions have been adopted in the senate as of today, so they are one step closer towards being officially introduced.
