The Arkansas State Senate is the upper branch of the Arkansas General Assembly. The Senate consists of 35 members, each representing a district with about 83,000 people. Service in the state legislature is part-time, and many state senators have full-time jobs during the rest of the year. During the current term, the Senate contains twenty-eight Republicans, six Democrats and one vacancy.

The Arkansas Senate was created and re-created by the Arkansas Constitution ratified on January 30, 1836. It is now governed by the fifth and current constitution of Arkansas adopted in 1874.

During the Reconstruction era after the American Civil War, the federal government passed the Reconstruction Acts and enfranchised African Americans. Many African Americans served in the Arkansas House and a smaller number in the Arkansas Senate (African American officeholders from the end of the Civil War until before 1900) until Democrats reasserted white supremacy and barred them from voting and holding office as was done across the American south.

In 1947, the Arkansas Legislative Council committee was created to collect data for legislators and oversee the Bureau of Legislative Research, which is composed of professional, nonpartisan staff to aid in the legislative process. The committee consists of 36 legislators, 16 of which are state senators.

In 1964, Dorathy M. Allen became the first woman elected to the Arkansas Senate. During her time in office, she was the only woman in the Arkansas Senate.

Legislators met biennially until a 2008 ballot initiative created annual legislative sessions. In 1992, voters approved term limits of two four-year terms. In 2014, term limits were extended to 16 years cumulative in either house. In 2020, voters approved a constitutional amendment changing terms limits to 12 consecutive years with the opportunity to return after a 4-year break. This change only affects legislators elected after the November 2020 elections. Legislators elected in the November 2020 elections or earlier can serve 16 years consecutively or non-consecutively and return once 4 years have passed from their last term expiring.

Arkansas state senators are responsible for making and amending the laws of Arkansas in collaboration with the Arkansas House of Representatives and the governor. Senators begin the legislative process by submitting bill requests to the staff of the Bureau of Legislative Research that drafts a bill to conform to the author's intent. Bills are then filed with the Secretary of the Arkansas Senate or an assistant secretary of the Arkansas Senate. The legislative process during the legislative session mirrors that of other state legislatures in the United States. Bills are introduced on First Reading and assigned to a committee, vetted by the committee, undergo Second and Third Readings on the floor of the Senate, go to the opposite house of the legislature, and return or go directly to the governor. The governor has veto power, but two-thirds of the membership of both houses of the legislature can override that veto.

State senators are also responsible for approving the governor's appointments and 16 members of the Arkansas Senate serve on the Arkansas Legislative Council and the Joint Auditing Committee. The Arkansas Legislative Council oversees the Bureau of Legislative Research, which provides professional support services for legislators. It also acts as an organizing committee and members of the council exert a greater degree of influence over the legislative process and outcome.