Alan Clark (Arkansas politician)

Byron Alan Clark (born 1960) is a businessman from Hot Springs in Garland County, Arkansas, who is a Republican member of the Arkansas State Senate from District 13. He represents Hot Spring County and parts of Garland, Grant, and Saline counties.^[1][2]

Background

Clark was born to Alfred Eugene Clark (born 1938) and Mildred I. Clark (born 1940), natives of Arkansas County near Stuttgart in eastern Arkansas, who relocated to Hot Springs in 1960. Alfred and Mildred taught school, farmed, and pastored several Christian churches, two of the Church of the Nazarene denomination. In 1973, they launched Clarks Building & Decorating Center, a lumberyard and flooring center. Alan Clark transferred in the eleventh grade to Cutter–Morning Star High School, from which he graduated c. 1978. There he met his future wife, Jana Lynn Pruitt (born 1961). He is heavily involved in his church, including a role as associate pastor and youth pastor, but his website does not give the name or denomination of the church.^[3]

Clark is the vice president and chief operation officer of the family-owned, Clarks Building & Decorating Center in Hot Springs. In 2011, Clark was named Associate of the Year by the Hot Springs Home Builders Association.^[2] The Clarks reside in Lonsdale in Garland County. They have a son, Andrew N. "Drew" Clark, and a daughter, Shay S. Clark.^[1]

Political life

From 1992 to 1996, Clark served on the Garland County Quorum Court,^[1] the equivalent of county commission in most other states. On November 6, 2012, he was elected to the state Senate. With 15,768 votes, he defeated the Democrat Mike Fletcher, who polled 13,288 ballots. Another 1,013 votes was polled by the Libertarian Frank Gilbert. Though Fletcher was an incumbent senator shifted to another district, the 13th District had been filled for the previous two years by Republican Jake Files of Fort Smith, who was transferred through redistricting into District 8.^[4]

Clark serves on these Senate committees: (1) Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development, (2) Budget, (3) Education, (4) Public Retirement and Social Security Programs, and (5) Legislative Joint Auditing.^[1] He is a member of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).^[2]

Clark opposes abortion, having voted to ban the practice after twenty weeks of gestation or whenever fetal heartbeat is determined.^[5]

In 2013, Clark was one of only five senators to oppose amending state income tax rates. He voted to reduce the amount of weekly unemployment compensation benefits and further supported legislation to require the recipients to be screened for illegal use of narcotics. He voted successfully to override Democratic Governor Mike Beebe's veto of a bill to require photo identification when one casts a ballot in Arkansas. He opposed legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan. He voted to allow 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. He voted for a bill to permit the sale of unpasteurized whole milk within the state. Clark opposed legislation requiring a racial impact statement regarding crime bills.^[5]

Clark has endorsed former U.S. Representative Asa Hutchinson for governor in 2014. Clark expressed the view that if elected Hutchinson, who lost the 2006 contest to Beebe, would be a "conservative governor."^[6]

References