Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday signed legislation cutting the state's property and income taxes after lawmakers wrapped up a special session where they also approved legislation to keep the state's hunting and fishing programs running.

Sanders signed the measure cutting the state's top corporate and individual income tax rates, and another raising the homestead property tax credit, hours after the predominantly Republican Legislature adjourned the session that began Monday.

The cuts are the latest in a series of income tax reductions Arkansas has enacted over the past several years. Sanders, a Republican, has signed three cuts into law since taking office last year and has said she wants to phase the levy out over time.

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"We are moving in the right direction and we're doing so responsibly," Sanders said at a news conference before signing the legislation.

The measures will cut the state's top individual tax rate from 4.4% to 3.9% and the top corporate rate from 4.8% to 4.3%, retroactively, beginning Jan. 1. Finance officials say the cuts will cost about $483 million the first year and $322 million a year after that.

Supporters argued the state is in a healthy position for the reductions, noting that Arkansas is forecast to end the fiscal year with a $708 million surplus.

But opponents of the measures have said the benefits are too skewed toward higher earners and that the state should instead put more money toward reducing the high maternal mortality rate and providing more services for people with disabilities.

"Now is not the time to be underfunding the programs that deal with these problems," Democratic Rep. Denise Garner said before the House voted on the cuts Tuesday.

The tax cut legislation also requires the state to set aside $290 million from its surplus into a reserve fund in case of an economic downturn.

The other legislation signed by Sanders increases the homestead tax credit from $425 to $500, retroactive to Jan. 1. That cut will cost $46 million.

Lawmakers had expected to take up tax cuts later this year, but that plan was accelerated after the Legislature adjourned its session last month without a budget for the state Game and Fish Commission. That created uncertainty about whether the agency, which issues hunting and fishing licenses and oversees wildlife conservation, would operate beyond July 1.

Sanders on Wednesday signed a compromise budget proposal for the agency aimed at addressing concerns from some House members who had objected to the maximum pay for the agency's director.

The new measure includes a lower maximum salary for the director, and requires legislative approval to increase his pay by more than 5%.

Sen. Eric Schmitt is pushing to ensure measures to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs within the Pentagon are included in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), telling Fox News Digital the current focus has a "negative impact" on military recruitment and readiness. 

Schmitt, R-Mo., was successful in getting a number of amendments included in the version of the NDAA that recently passed the Senate Armed Services Committee — including a measure to make permanent a hiring freeze on DEI-related positions.

Schmitt also was successful in getting an amendment in for consideration that would prevent the secretary of Defense from reauthorizing the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. He also forced a successful roll call vote to prohibit DEI contract clauses in hiring contracts and an amendment that would prohibit a DEI minor degree at the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy. 

Schmitt, in an interview with Fox News Digital, explained why these issues are imperative. 

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"We’ve got to get this country, and certainly our military, back to being a true meritocracy," Schmitt said. "Our military has been the ultimate meritocracy where people can achieve great things no matter what their background is and be heroes and be celebrated by the country — and instead, you’ve seen this woke effort with DEI in the military, and it is contrary to our American values." 

Schmitt also stressed that the DEI programs are "hurting us, recruiting wise." 

"It would be fooling ourselves to think that this kind of discriminatory ideology that is, essentially, cultural Marxism, isn’t turning people off and keeping people away," he said. "So you combine that with firing 8,000 plus men and women of the military for not getting the COVID shot to this DEI stuff. It is just really hurting recruiting, and this is an effort to turn that around and let everyone know that they are welcome in the military." 

Schmitt went on to say that focus on DEI actually "divides the room." 

"It separates people by race when we should be focused on commonality, lethality and protecting our country," he said. "That’s what this is about." 

Meanwhile, Schmitt said he is optimistic that the amendments were passed out of committee, meaning there was some Democrat support. 

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"I think that it is a good indication that we’re winning the fight here in the hearts and minds of people. People don’t want this, and I think you’re seeing even Democrats hopefully recognizing that," he said. 

As for firm Democrat support on the measures when the NDAA package comes to the Senate floor for a full vote later this year, Schmitt said he hopes to see colleagues from the other side of the aisle moving to eliminate these programs. 

"I hope so — if there’s more work to do, we’ll continue to fight for that," he said. "But again, this is about readiness. This is about our military making sure it is a lethal fighting force without injecting woke politics."

"I think we've got to continue to press on this and make sure that we root out this discriminatory, racist obsession that the left has, and the Democrats have advocated for, and it's, again, come from the Biden administration and their political appointees," Schmitt continued.  

"If you talk to real men and women in uniform, they don't like this stuff, and we've heard that time and time again," he said.