KUAR | By Tess Vrbin / Arkansas Advocate

From the Arkansas Advocate:

Arkansas lawmakers approved a request Thursday and Friday for a nonpartisan investigation into Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ purchase of a $19,000 lectern, as well as expenditures by the governor’s office that were recently made private by a new law.

State Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, asked the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee last month to authorize a probe of the lectern purchase by the Arkansas Legislative Audit, an independent body with the authority to investigate spending by any state or local government entity.

Hickey narrowed his second request after members of the Joint Auditing Executive Committee said Thursday that it was too broad. He’d initially asked the Auditing Committee to look into “all matters… made confidential” by Act 7 of 2023, which shields from the public all records and communications concerning the planning or provision of security services to the governor and other state elected officials, as far back as June 1, 2022.

Panel OKs audit of Arkansas governor’s lectern purchase, some FOIA-exempt records