Senator 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.
