Arkansas Senate now passes bill to restrict crypto-mining

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Crypto-mining has been making noise at the Arkansas State Capitol this week as the Senate passed a bill on Monday that could bring more oversight and even slap fees on the data companies.

These efforts go back on a law that passed just last year.

After that state law was passed last year protecting the industry, data centers started popping up in rural communities and have brought lots of noise along with them.

On Monday, farmer Jerry Lee Bogard made the hour drive to the capitol to protest the new data centers.

He explained how a crypto-mine is now his neighbor.

“I think it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” Bogard said. “With all of the noise and the potential for water pollution, and natural resource pollution. It can cause you to miss a crop or not be able to irrigate your crop, where you have serious losses.”

His group spoke with state lawmakers like State Senator Bryan King, who explained that passing Act 851 in the first place may have been a mistake.

“It rolled in the Senate, and no one knew anything about it. We were misled to the whole process.” King said. “You know, fool me once, shame on you fool me twice, shame on me.”

Now King is sponsoring a Senate bill that would create more oversight for crypto-mines and possibly fine the companies. 

The bill passed in the Senate on Monday with a 28-3 vote.

“It just basically treats them like anybody else in the special interest protections that they’ve got will be gone,” said King, as he described the bill.

However, State Senator and Senate President Bart Hester opposed the bill and pushed for more specifics.

“I’m not supporting anything wide-sweeping. But if it’s focused on the bad actors, I’m going to support it,” Hester described.

King’s is just one of many bills up for debate that proposes changing or even getting rid of the law that protects crypto-mines, with some of them addressing concerns about possible ties to China.

“I’m for the government getting out of the way of people doing business. But also understand maybe it went too far. And we got to come back in when there’s people bad actors, and they’re taking advantage of the general population,” Hester added.

Though Hester explained there still could be a long road before any bill passes.

“Now [that] the Senate has gone through everything. We’ll see what the House chooses to do. We both have to agree on these resolutions before we can file a bill,” he said.

For now, farmers like Bogard plan to keep coming back to the capitol until something changes.

“We want to remind everyone here, that there’s somebody on the other side of that vote that you cast for 851. That’s bearing the consequences of that vote,” Bogard said.

The House Rules Committee will meet on Tuesday morning to review at least seven different crypto-mining bills.

After that, the remaining bills will need a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.