BioSenator Dave Wallace of Leachville represents Senate District 19, which includes all of
Mississippi County and parts of Craighead and Poinsett Counties. He was elected to
the Senate in 2016 and was sworn in on the first day of session in 2017.
Senator Wallace is the vice chair of the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor
Committee. He is a member of the Senate City, County and Local Affairs Committee,
the Senate Interim Committee on Children and Youth, the Senate Rules, Resolutions
and Memorials Committee, the Joint Budget Committee, the Arkansas Legislature
Council and the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee.
During the 94th General Assembly, Senator Wallace sponsored legislation to require
public schools to provide instruction on adoption awareness. He sponsored legislation
that dealt with prepaid funeral benefits and burial associations. Senator Wallace also
sponsored legislation to amend the method of how board members are selected to the
State Plant Board.
In 2021 Senator Wallace co-sponsored legislation that became the "Justice for
Vulnerable Victims of Sexual Abuse Act." The law states that any person can bring a
sexual abuse civil suit, no matter when it happened, until the victim reaches the age of
fifty-five years old.
In 2019, Senator Wallace co-sponsored Act 579, which redefines the scope of practice
for optometry to allow optometrists to perform certain procedures that previously could
only be done by ophthalmologists, such as injections around the eye, removal of
bumps and lesions from the eyelids and certain types of laser surgery.
He was the Senate sponsor of legislation that will replace the two statues from
Arkansas in the United States Capitol, with new ones of Daisy Gatson Bates and
Johnny Cash.
In 2017, Senator Wallace co-sponsored Acts 78 and 79, which provide more than $50
million in tax relief to low-income families. He also co-sponsored Act 375 to require
new school buses to be equipped with seat belts, if funding is available.
He was the Senate sponsor of Act 50, to shorten the waiting list for treatment and care
of people with developmental disabilities.
Senator Wallace served in the House of Representatives for two years, beginning in
2015.
In 1970 he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant from the ROTC program, and for
more than 20 years led troops, first as a of Platoon Leader and then as a Company
Commander, and finally as a Battalion Commander in Units such as The 101st
Airborne, First Cavalry Division, the First Infantry Division and the 17th Aviation Group.
During the Vietnam War he was decorated for heroism on seven different occasions
while flying Cobra attack helicopters in an Air Cavalry Troop. His helicopter was shot
down twice. Senator Wallace was awarded the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, three
Distinguished Flying Crosses, an Air Medal for Valor and three Vietnamese Crosses of
Gallantry.
As a small business owner, Senator Wallace has spent years creating jobs and making
a weekly payroll. His company, Wallace Resources, specializes in disaster relief.
Senator Wallace graduated from Leachville High School. He attended Arkansas State
University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University where he received a Business
Administration degree.
Senator Wallace was inducted into the Arkansas State University Hall of Heroes in
2010, into the Arkansas Military Veteran's Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Arkansas
Aviation Hall of Fame in 2016.
Senator Wallace and his wife, Karen, have two children, Jason and Kelly, and two
granddaughters, Callie and Kenzie Leigh. He and Karen live in Leachville and are
members of the Southern Baptist Church.
|