Elm Springs' Lundstrum seeking third term

 Robin Lundstrum Robin Lundstrum Robin Lundstrum
Robin Lundstrum Robin Lundstrum Robin Lundstrum

ELM SPRINGS -- State Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs, will run for a third term, she confirmed Friday.

Lundstrum, 54, represents House District 87. District 87 extends from the Oklahoma border and Siloam Springs on the west through Tontitown and Elm Springs to Springdale on the east.

She was the leading House sponsor of Act 734 of 2017, which reduced unemployment benefits for workers and the taxes on employers that pay for those benefits.

The fund that pays those benefits had reached more than half a billion dollars in reserve by the time the tax cut passed. That was excessive, enough to cover at least three years of 10 percent unemployment, Lundstrum argued during debate on the bill. Current unemployment in Arkansas is less than half of that 10 percent and running at record lows. The provisions of the measure will take effect in January.

"What a real honor and privilege it has been to represent District 87," Lundstrum said. "Thank you. I am asking for that privilege again."

She also sponsored Act 799 of 2017, which prohibits the smoking of legalized medical marijuana in areas that already prohibit smoking of tobacco. "No smoking means no smoking," she said. "This means you won't be in a theater and have somebody light up."

Lundstrum also sponsored a referred constitutional amendment, going to the voters in November, that would require voters to show more identification before casting ballots

Lundstrum was an Elm Springs City Council member and campaigned for other Republican candidates before running for her first term in the House in 2014.

She is the wife of former Washington County Election Commissioner Tom Lundstrum Jr. and the daughter-in-law of Washington County Quorum Court member Tom Lundstrum Sr. She is an owner of Cypress Investments, which owns and manages rental property in Northwest Arkansas. Before that, she taught health-related courses at John Brown University in Siloam Springs for nine years. She has a doctorate in health services from the University of Arkansas, she said.

Lundstrum serves on the House Insurance and Commerce Committee, where she is vice chairwoman. She also serves on the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee and the Energy Committee.

"I love what I do," she said. "I own a small business, and I sit on the Insurance and Commerce Committee. I have my degree in health and taught it for nine years, and I'm on Public Health. I've always been interested in energy, so every time I walk into one of my committees, I feel lucky to be there."

General News on 12/20/2017