Some lawmakers who voted against the increase were first-time lawmakers and saw that they had to make a difficult choice for their first official vote in the Legislature.
“I had just run a successful campaign on smaller government and less taxes,” Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellville, told ADN. “I often make a correlation with how at home, my wife and I have a budget and we must live within our means and that government should operate the same way. I went to Montgomery and the very first vote was to raise taxes. I could not in good conscience vote to do the very thing that I had just run against.”