Representative Wayne Long

State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs (House) — April 2, 2025 (3:06:55)

So I think just on the savings there, we'll pay for that. And anything that we save as far as getting the tires rotated, the oil changed, monitoring people that are not doing what they're supposed to be doing during the day will just be profit, basically. So I'll be voting for it.

State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs (House) — April 2, 2025 (3:06:26)

So the other day, the figure of $20 per unit was thrown out. Is that still the thought that it's going to be like $20 per vehicle? Yes. And is there any other cost besides the subscription per vehicle? No. Okay. Well, as a former state employee, we would spend more than an hour each month filling out the paperwork. And I got paid more than $20 per hour.

State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs (House) — April 2, 2025 (17:35)

don't know. I was thinking some West Coast metropolitan areas had looked into doing that. Basically, what I was wondering was this the first step that they took was, you know, getting the folks kind of in

State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs (House) — April 2, 2025 (17:06)

Representative Long. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative Andrews, are you familiar with any municipalities in the country that are lowering the age below 18? I'm sorry. Could you say that again? That's okay. I was wondering if you're familiar with any municipalities in the country that have lowered the voting age below 18 to vote in, like, local elections. I'm not aware of that.

State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs (House) — April 2, 2025 (0:39)

that one on deferred sir put it on

Meeting — April 3, 2025 (1:21:59)

question does your bill address the maximum amount of the dues or is it just strictly left up to the local the local yeah it just just

Public Transportation (House) — April 3, 2025 (0:52)

Mr. Chairman. Wayne Long, House District 39. Ready to proceed? Go ahead.

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:54:16)

your bill? Mr. Chairman, or Mr. Vice Chairman, having heard two different things brought up that members had concerns

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:54:21)

about, If you may, I'd like to pull down the bill, make some adjustments to it, and bring it back. Sure. If you're

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:51:49)

or a frivolous suit? Thank you, Robert. It's all for that question. Actually, my thinking there was it might, thinking that they're going to be possibly sued, or I guess countersued, might prevent some poor people from entering into a suit. So that was basically my thinking at the time. Okay. Thank you.

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:46:38)

end, they said basically that from a legal standpoint, they saw no problem with it. So they were supportive of your bill is what

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:46:48)

problems with it. Okay. Are there any other questions from the committee?

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:46:10)

for damages under your bill? If I remember correctly, I think we stated both father or spouse because that sometimes are not the same. I'm trying to cover both bases. Yeah.

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:44:58)

trying to do a two-pronged approach, both criminally and civilly, because some of these provide, well, I guess all these providers are out of state, and I wanted basically to have the option of either way going after them criminally or civilly to discourage them from breaking Arkansas law.

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:44:20)

So that's unfortunately the only answer I

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:44:11)

non-attorneys do, I went to BLR and told them this is what I'm trying to achieve and this is the language they gave me.

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:42:44)

Finally, we made a violation of this law subject to the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. This makes it possible for our authorities to take a company to court if they engage in business practices that are deceptive or illegal, which this is. So I'm ready to try

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:42:09)

but currently it's a misdemeanor to provide abortion-inducing drugs. This bill also adds a $50,000 fine for individuals or entities found guilty of breaking this law. Also under this bill, the following people will have standing to sue the drug providers. The woman upon whom the abortion was performed or attempted, the father of the unborn child, the woman's parents or legal guardian if she's under age, and also added the Attorney General to make it clear that he'd also have standing to sue.

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:41:37)

I, like many people, thought that was the end of abortion in Arkansas, but soon I found out that only the method of abortion had changed. There are many out-of-state abortion providers that are breaking Arkansas law by shipping chemical abortion pills into our state. This bill seeks to stop that from continuing by increasing the criminal penalties from the current A misdemeanor to a Class D felony. As we heard this week on the House floor, it's currently a felony to fight roosters in Arkansas,

Judiciary Committee (House) — April 3, 2025 (3:41:02)

It's a simple bill that only makes four changes to the existing Abortion-Inducing Drug Safety Act. The four changes that are being requested are a result of countless hours of research looking at similar bills in other states. The Abortion-Inducing Drug Act has served us well since 2015 because we've been willing to amend it as needed. I believe the time has come to address a new problem that has arisen since the Hobbs decision caused our implementation of our trigger law. That trigger law outlawed all abortions in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother.