Representative Gary Stubblefield

Girls State — May 31, 2012 (1:07:30)

for education and grades can run through 12. We would be taking money from them, but why would they have to contribute? because what sports are in elementary, so why would they have to be affected by this? Representative has just spoken against the bill.

Girls State — May 31, 2012 (1:07:22)

recognized to speak against the bill. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would just like for y'all to think about how it says in line 24 that all state funding

Girls State — May 31, 2012 (47:53)

Representative Steele, for what purpose? Okay, so you said, you made a statement that for college classes, you would only have to

Meeting — Feb. 28, 2012 (13:42)

Members, this is simply a resolution to honor and pay respect to Mr. Lloyd George, which many of you know, who served here for a long time, and just to pay recognition to him for his service to the State of Arkansas and also show his family our condolences and our sympathy during this time of their loss. That's simply it. Thank you very much.

Meeting — March 30, 2011 (1:16:32)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I might let Representative Barnett just say a few words because he has a good relationship with some of the people from the country of Turkey. And I'll just hand it over to

Meeting — March 30, 2011 (1:15:30)

But it's just that we're basically getting a resolution that's already been filed and replacing it with a different subject matter. and it's in regards to the country of Turkey and how wonderful they've been to our delegation when we take our business to their country and we learn more about their government and our establishing alliance and a friendship with them. So that's what the amendment does, and I'd appreciate a good vote on the amendment.

Meeting — March 30, 2011 (1:14:53)

Sure. Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members. I filed a resolution for House Bill 1033 for a good friend of mine, Nolan Richardson, and there's a schedule conflict, and we're going to probably do something during the fiscal session for him. So I've been approached by other House members that thought that it was great news I'm not going to be using the resolution because there's another resolution that other members would like to run, which Representative Barnett could speak on.

Meeting — March 30, 2011 (1:14:22)

Thank you, Madam Chair. There's an amendment

Meeting — March 30, 2011 (24:06)

on section 2 line 31 it really begins in line 34 okay I will

Meeting — March 29, 2011 (59:47)

and fluoride in water and turn signals on motorcycles. And I'm sure all those bills can stand on their own merits, but I can assure you that this bill will save lives. So I encourage you to vote for it. Thank you. Mr. Stubberfield has spoken

Meeting — March 29, 2011 (59:15)

And I asked my friend, I said, why is that? And he said, well, this was a 65 to 70-year-old man that was found here in Little Rock that nobody had claimed his body. and he had smoked three to four packs of cigarettes a day. And, you know, I don't think there's any more compelling evidence because I myself have lost three family members as a direct result of smoking. You know, we passed bills here this session that deals with sagging pants

Meeting — March 29, 2011 (58:44)

right at the last year to pre-med and i was invited to come down to the med school facilities here in little rock and tour the med school facilities and i had a couple of friends that that were med students here, and they had me to go up on the floor where they worked on the cadavers, and I will never forget because when we walked up to that floor and I looked at one of the cadavers, they had it cut open and the lungs were solid black.

Meeting — March 29, 2011 (58:33)

you're recognized thank you madam chairman uh i didn't intend to come up here and speak for this bill but when i went to college i was in a majored in pre-veterinary medicine and i changed my major

Meeting — March 24, 2011 (46:27)

but a low-merit lawsuit can easily break a middle-class or low-income class family. And that's what I have to say. That's what this bill is about. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Stubbeffill. Thank you, Mr.

Meeting — March 24, 2011 (45:56)

That's why I'm skipping public testimony. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to say to each member here that last year, small businesses paid out $105 billion in liability tort cases. Since small businesses make up 70% of this country's hiring ability, that makes a huge difference in how many people they can hire and pay wages to. And, you know, a low-merit lawsuit is not going to break a company like Walmart,

Meeting — March 24, 2011 (12:35)

Representative Williams, Mr. Chairman, could we get a copy of the amendment? Sure. We can get you

Meeting — March 24, 2011 (2:56)

encourages plaintiffs who have cases that are unlikely to win to avoid suing or pursue some settlement out of court. And similarly, we need reforms that encourage defendants who have cases that they are likely to lose to pursue some settlement during the time they are sued or even before they are sued. So that is the premise on which this bill was brought to you today. Thank you, Mr. Stubblefield. So

Meeting — March 24, 2011 (2:23)

and they will be helping me present this bill today. now let me let me just say one thing before we start you know when i when i started this i want you to understand that i do believe in my heart that it's everyone's right to be heard in court everyone has that right and it's everyone's right to ask for compensation in court if they've been harmed but there are aspects of our current litigation system that are i think we would agree that are wasteful that are expensive and sometimes dangerous and i think we need reforms that

Meeting — March 24, 2011 (1:49)

This mechanism in this bill, and I'm sure you've heard of this, the offer of settlement, is a legal device. It's a common feature that encourages settlement that is found in many places in our state and our federal legal system. I have with me today two guests. I would like to introduce Marie Griffith here on my right. She is an attorney, and she's also working on her Ph.D. at Harvard. And I also have former State Representative Dan Greenberg, an attorney here in Little Rock,

Meeting — March 24, 2011 (1:16)

Has everybody got the amendment? It's been passed out. Okay. I just want you to understand that the reforms that I'm proposing in this bill, they're really simple. They're really not that complicated. They encourage litigants to settle. If the litigants don't make a reasonable settlement offer, you could end up paying some portion of the opposing party's lawsuit fees and lawsuit costs. But if you make a reasonable offer, you won't pay any cost on the other side. You might even be able to get the whole business settled and finished out of court.