Senate Convenes
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (118)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1333
Act 950
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1333 Warren Sample TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING VOLUNTARY RETIREM…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT AND ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS UNDER THE TIER TWO … | Warren | Notification that HB1333 is now Act 950 |
|
HB1417
Act 1012
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1417 Watson Eads TO AMEND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967…”
|
TO AMEND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967 TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF CERTAIN … | Watson | Notification that HB1417 is now Act 1012 |
|
HB1433
Act 951
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1433 Rushing Clark TO AUTHORIZE INDIVIDUALS WITH PRIOR DRUG-RELA…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE INDIVIDUALS WITH PRIOR DRUG-RELATED OFFENSES TO WORK WITH INDIVIDUALS RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT … | Rushing | Notification that HB1433 is now Act 951 |
|
HB1542
Act 955
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1542 Burch Clark TO ALLOW THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO OB…”
|
TO ALLOW THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO OBTAIN CERTAIN RECORDS WITHOUT CHARGE. | Burch | Notification that HB1542 is now Act 955 |
|
HB1543
Act 956
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1543 Burch Clark TO CLARIFY THE LAW ON ELIGIBILITY FOR SERVICES…”
|
TO CLARIFY THE LAW ON ELIGIBILITY FOR SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES UNIT … | Burch | Notification that HB1543 is now Act 956 |
|
HB1545
Act 957
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1545 F. Allen Irvin TO AMEND THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE HEALTH SERVIC…”
|
TO AMEND THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE HEALTH SERVICES PERMIT COMMISSION. | F. Allen | Notification that HB1545 is now Act 957 |
|
HB1673
Act 1037
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1673 Petty Hester CONCERNING THE ISSUANCE OF A NO CONTACT ORDER.”
|
CONCERNING THE ISSUANCE OF A NO CONTACT ORDER. | Petty | Notification that HB1673 is now Act 1037 |
|
HB1711
Act 968
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1711 Burch Clark TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING GUARDIANSHIP SUBSID…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING GUARDIANSHIP SUBSIDIES OFFERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES. | Burch | Notification that HB1711 is now Act 968 |
|
HB1746
Act 970
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1746 Kelly Hammer TO PROVIDE CIVIL AND CRIMINAL IMMUNITY FOR IND…”
|
TO PROVIDE CIVIL AND CRIMINAL IMMUNITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO MAKE REPORTS TO THE CHILD ABUSE … | Kelly | Notification that HB1746 is now Act 970 |
|
HB1755
Act 971
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1755 Scott Elliott CONCERNING THE PUNITIVE ISOLATION OR SOLITARY…”
|
CONCERNING THE PUNITIVE ISOLATION OR SOLITARY CONFINEMENT OF INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE UNDER EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS … | Scott | Notification that HB1755 is now Act 971 |
|
HB1763
Act 910
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HB 1763 Hester”
|
TO CREATE THE TRANSFORMATION AND EFFICIENCIES ACT OF 2019; TO ESTABLISH CABINET-LEVEL DEPARTMENTS; TO TRANSFER … | A. Davis | Notification that HB1763 is now Act 910 |
|
HB1815
Act 975
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1815 Perry Leding TO AMEND THE DEATH CERTIFICATE REGISTRATION PR…”
|
TO AMEND THE DEATH CERTIFICATE REGISTRATION PROCESS FOR THE SIGNATURE OF THE MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF … | Perry | Notification that HB1815 is now Act 975 |
|
HB1860
Act 977
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1860 D. Ferguson Irvin TO REQUIRE REPORTING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF…”
|
TO REQUIRE REPORTING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH OF PATIENT TRANSFERS FROM A LAY MIDWIFE. | D. Ferguson | Notification that HB1860 is now Act 977 |
|
HB1875
Act 978
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1875 A. Davis Dismang TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE CITY MANAG…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE CITY MANAGER FORM OF GOVERNMENT. | A. Davis | Notification that HB1875 is now Act 978 |
|
HB1890
Act 979
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1890 Della Rosa Sturch TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH IN THE STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITATION THE MAXIMUM … | Della Rosa | Notification that HB1890 is now Act 979 |
|
HB1902
Act 980
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1902 Ladyman Sample TO AMEND THE USED TIRE RECYCLING AND ACCOUNT…”
|
TO AMEND THE USED TIRE RECYCLING AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT; AND TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE … | Ladyman | Notification that HB1902 is now Act 980 |
|
HB1943
Act 1030
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “HB1943 Cavenaugh Rapert TO AMEND THE PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTI…”
|
TO AMEND THE PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION ACT; AND TO REVISE THE DEFINITION OF "PERSONAL INFORMATION" … | Cavenaugh | Notification that HB1943 is now Act 1030 |
|
SB409
Act 1075
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “SB409 Flippo TO ALLOW FOR THE ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATION OF AN INVIT…”
|
TO ALLOW FOR THE ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATION OF AN INVITATION FOR BIDS AND ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF … | Flippo | Notification that SB409 is now Act 1075 |
|
SB519
· 2 mentions in chapter
Matched: “SB519 #1 K. Hammer TO AMEND THE LAWS CONCERNING FUNDING FOR COMMU…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAWS CONCERNING FUNDING FOR COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTERS. | K. Hammer | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB595
Act 997
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB595 AN ACT TO DEFINE THE MONIES TO BE AVAILABLE IN THE RAINY DA…”
|
AN ACT TO DEFINE THE MONIES TO BE AVAILABLE IN THE RAINY DAY FUND; AND … | Teague | Notification that SB595 is now Act 997 |
|
SB597
Act 998
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB 597 TO AMEND THE REVENUE STABILIZATION LAW; AND TO DECLARE AN E…”
|
TO AMEND THE REVENUE STABILIZATION LAW; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB597 is now Act 998 |
|
SR44
· 2 mentions in transcript
Matched: “Yes, sir. Senate Resolution 44 by Senator Ballinger to support a”
|
TO SUPPORT A SCENIC GONDOLA INSTALLATION AT BLACK MOUNTAIN ON THE MULBERRY RIVER. | B. Ballinger | Sine Die adjournment |
|
HB1121
Act 898
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1121 AN ACT FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 201…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2019-2020 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1121 is now Act 898 |
|
HB1156
Act 901
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1156 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIRECTOR'S OF…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIRECTOR'S OFFICE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2019-2020 … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1156 is now Act 901 |
|
HB1197
Act 1008
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1197 AN ACT FOR THE ARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY APPROPRIATION FOR T…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE ARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2019-2020 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1197 is now Act 1008 |
|
HB1210
Act 902
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1210 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ARKANSAS HERITAGE APPROPRIATIO…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ARKANSAS HERITAGE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2019-2020 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1210 is now Act 902 |
|
HB1255
Act 1011
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1255 Dotson Hester TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING LICENSING, REGIST…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING LICENSING, REGISTRATION, AND CERTIFICATION FOR CERTAIN PROFESSIONS; AND TO ESTABLISH … | Dotson | Notification that HB1255 is now Act 1011 |
|
HB1298
Act 948
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1298 J. Mayberry Elliott TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE PAYABLE…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE PAYABLE RATE OF AN ANNUAL RETIREMENT BENEFIT RECEIVED BY … | J. Mayberry | Notification that HB1298 is now Act 948 |
|
HB1453
Act 953
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1453 Penzo Hammer TO CREATE THE PERINATAL PALLIATIVE CARE INFORM…”
|
TO CREATE THE PERINATAL PALLIATIVE CARE INFORMATION ACT. | Penzo | Notification that HB1453 is now Act 953 |
|
HB1460
Act 1013
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1460 Speaks Flippo TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING UNOPPOSED CANDIDA…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING UNOPPOSED CANDIDATES; AND TO REQUIRE UNOPPOSED CANDIDATES TO APPEAR ON … | Speaks | Notification that HB1460 is now Act 1013 |
|
HB1484
Act 954
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1484 Watson Flippo TO CLARIFY THE PROCEDURE FOR DISPOSITION OF U…”
|
TO CLARIFY THE PROCEDURE FOR DISPOSITION OF UNCLAIMED BODIES IN THE STATE OF ARKANSAS. | Watson | Notification that HB1484 is now Act 954 |
|
HB1547
Act 958
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1547 Perry Teague TO ENSURE THAT PERSONS LICENSED TO PROVIDE EME…”
|
TO ENSURE THAT PERSONS LICENSED TO PROVIDE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES OR ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT RESCUE … | Perry | Notification that HB1547 is now Act 958 |
|
HB1555
Act 959
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1555 A. Collins Irvin TO INCREASE COVERAGE FOR MEDICATIONS APPRO…”
|
TO INCREASE COVERAGE FOR MEDICATIONS APPROVED BY THE UNITED STATES FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION FOR … | A. Collins | Notification that HB1555 is now Act 959 |
|
HB1557
Act 1034
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1557 House Cooper TO CREATE AN EXEMPTION FROM THE FREEDOM OF INF…”
|
TO CREATE AN EXEMPTION FROM THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; AND TO EXEMPT … | House | Notification that HB1557 is now Act 1034 |
|
HB1558
Act 960
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1558 Lowery M. Johnson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING ADULT EDUCATI…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING ADULT EDUCATION PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS TO ENSURE THAT MORE THAN … | Lowery | Notification that HB1558 is now Act 960 |
|
HB1622
Act 961
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1622 A. Collins Hammer TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE APPLICATI…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR A MINOR APPLYING FOR A DRIVER'S … | A. Collins | Notification that HB1622 is now Act 961 |
|
HB1625
Act 962
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1625 Gazaway Bond TO CREATE THE OFFENSE OF ENCOURAGING THE SUICI…”
|
TO CREATE THE OFFENSE OF ENCOURAGING THE SUICIDE OF ANOTHER PERSON. | Gazaway | Notification that HB1625 is now Act 962 |
|
HB1626
Act 1016
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1626 Cloud Ballinger CONCERNING THE OFFERING OF AN ACADEMIC STUD…”
|
CONCERNING THE OFFERING OF AN ACADEMIC STUDY OF THE BIBLE COURSE IF STUDENTS REQUEST THAT … | Cloud | Notification that HB1626 is now Act 1016 |
|
HB1630
Act 963
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1630 Lundstrum Cooper TO EXEMPT CERTAIN INFORMATION PERTAINING T…”
|
TO EXEMPT CERTAIN INFORMATION PERTAINING TO A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER FROM THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION … | Lundstrum | Notification that HB1630 is now Act 963 |
|
HB1633
Act 1017
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1633 Tosh Bond TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING WITNESS INTIMIDATION,…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING WITNESS INTIMIDATION, RETALIATION, TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE, JURY TAMPERING, AND BRIBERY. | Tosh | Notification that HB1633 is now Act 1017 |
|
HB1664
Act 1036
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1664 Crawford Ballinger TO ESTABLISH THE LIFE CHOICES LIFELINE P…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE LIFE CHOICES LIFELINE PROGRAM. | Crawford | Notification that HB1664 is now Act 1036 |
|
HB1665
Act 965
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1665 Brown Garner TO STRENGTHEN VOTER TRUST IN THE ELECTION PROC…”
|
TO STRENGTHEN VOTER TRUST IN THE ELECTION PROCESS; AND TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING ELECTION … | Brown | Notification that HB1665 is now Act 965 |
|
HB1666
Act 966
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1666 Brown Garner TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING ELECTION ADMINISTR…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING ELECTION ADMINISTRATION AND PROCEDURES; AND TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING … | Brown | Notification that HB1666 is now Act 966 |
|
HB1678
Act 1038
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1678 Gazaway Stubblefield AMENDING CERTAIN LICENSING REQUIREMENT…”
|
AMENDING CERTAIN LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR A LICENSE TO CARRY A CONCEALED HANDGUN. | Gazaway | Notification that HB1678 is now Act 1038 |
|
HB1686
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1686 A. Collins Hammer TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "MARITAL PROPE…”
|
TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "MARITAL PROPERTY" FOR PURPOSES OF DIVISION OF PROPERTY IN AN … | A. Collins | Died on House at Sine Die Adjournment |
|
HB1691
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1691 M. Gray Irvin TO REQUIRE THE DIVISION OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISA…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE DIVISION OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES SERVICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO … | M. Gray | Sine Die adjournment |
|
HB1693
Act 1019
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1693 Wing Pitsch TO AMEND THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER-GENERAL CONTR…”
|
TO AMEND THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER-GENERAL CONTRACTOR METHOD OF PROCUREMENT PILOT PROGRAM. | Wing | Notification that HB1693 is now Act 1019 |
|
HB1698
Act 1039
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1698 Della Rosa Cooper TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE FILING AN…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE FILING AND PUBLICATION OF CERTAIN CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS; AND … | Della Rosa | Notification that HB1698 is now Act 1039 |
|
HB1707
Act 967
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1707 Capp B. Davis TO AMEND THE ADULT AND LONG-TERM CARE FACILIT…”
|
TO AMEND THE ADULT AND LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY RESIDENT MALTREATMENT ACT; AND TO DECLARE AN … | Capp | Notification that HB1707 is now Act 967 |
|
HB1710
Act 1041
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1710 Perry Teague TO CREATE THE TASK FORCE ON TRANSPORTATION OF…”
|
TO CREATE THE TASK FORCE ON TRANSPORTATION OF NONEMERGENCY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PATIENTS. | Perry | Notification that HB1710 is now Act 1041 |
|
HB1712
Act 1042
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1712 Wardlaw Irvin TO REPEAL THE LAW REQUIRING THAT INFORMATION…”
|
TO REPEAL THE LAW REQUIRING THAT INFORMATION OBTAINED ON HOME HEALTHCARE SERVICES BE CONFIDENTIAL. | Wardlaw | Notification that HB1712 is now Act 1042 |
|
HB1731
Act 1043
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1731 G. Hodges Stubblefield TO REQUIRE COOPERATION BETWEEN CERTA…”
|
TO REQUIRE COOPERATION BETWEEN CERTAIN STATE AGENCIES REGARDING SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY. | G. Hodges | Notification that HB1731 is now Act 1043 |
|
HB1733
Act 969
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1733 Gazaway Bond CONCERNING A THREAT TO COMMIT AN ACT OF MASS V…”
|
CONCERNING A THREAT TO COMMIT AN ACT OF MASS VIOLENCE ON SCHOOL PROPERTY. | Gazaway | Notification that HB1733 is now Act 969 |
|
HB1775
Act 974
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1775 Bentley Flippo TO CREATE THE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR A…”
|
TO CREATE THE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR ABLE-BODIED ADULTS ACT OF 2019. | Bentley | Notification that HB1775 is now Act 974 |
|
HB1782
Act 1044
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1782 Capp Bond CONCERNING COURT COSTS AND FEES FOR SPECIALTY COU…”
|
CONCERNING COURT COSTS AND FEES FOR SPECIALTY COURT IN THE STATE'S DISTRICT COURTS. | Capp | Notification that HB1782 is now Act 1044 |
|
HB1789
Act 1022
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1789 Penzo Ballinger TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE OFFENSE OF…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE OFFENSE OF TRAFFICKING; AND TO CREATE AN OFFENSE FOR … | Penzo | Notification that HB1789 is now Act 1022 |
|
HB1803
Act 1045
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1803 F. Allen Irvin TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS BLUE RIBBON PANEL ON…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS BLUE RIBBON PANEL ON PEDIATRIC CANCER RESEARCH. | F. Allen | Notification that HB1803 is now Act 1045 |
|
HB1809
Act 1046
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1809 Love Clark TO CREATE AN ADDITIONAL TERM OF IMPRISONMENT FOR…”
|
TO CREATE AN ADDITIONAL TERM OF IMPRISONMENT FOR OFFENSES THAT CONSTITUTE SERIOUS ACTS OF VIOLENCE … | Love | Notification that HB1809 is now Act 1046 |
|
HB1811
Act 1048
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…? Counter. Committee on Transportation to whom was deferred House Bill 1811 by Representative Maddox recommend to do pass?”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE OPERATION OF ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES ON PUBLIC STREETS AND HIGHWAYS. | Maddox | Notification that HB1811 is now Act 1048 |
|
HB1814
Act 1049
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1814 Rushing Cooper CONCERNING THE OFFENSE OF HARASSING COMMUNIC…”
|
CONCERNING THE OFFENSE OF HARASSING COMMUNICATIONS. | Rushing | Notification that HB1814 is now Act 1049 |
|
HB1817
Act 1050
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1817 Capp Stubblefield TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING NATIVE WINE IN…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING NATIVE WINE INCENTIVE GRANTS; TO AMEND THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF … | Capp | Notification that HB1817 is now Act 1050 |
|
HB1820
Act 1051
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…your Committee on City, County, Local to whom was referred House Bill 1820 by Representative Gonzalez compare the engrossed copy of th…”
|
CONCERNING FIREARMS; CONCERNING FIREARM NOISE SUPPRESSORS AND MACHINE GUNS; AND CONCERNING COMPLIANCE WITH THE NATIONAL … | Gonzales | Notification that HB1820 is now Act 1051 |
|
HB1821
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB 1821”
|
TO PROVIDE FOR MEDICAID REIMBURSEMENT RATES THAT ADDRESS THE MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES; TO PROVIDE FOR … | Murdock | Sine Die adjournment |
|
HB1839
Act 1053
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1839 L. Johnson Rapert TO ESTABLISH THE PREPAID MOBILE DEVICE PR…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE PREPAID MOBILE DEVICE PROTECTION ACT. | L. Johnson | Notification that HB1839 is now Act 1053 |
|
HB1842
Act 1054
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1842 Pilkington Dismang TO STREAMLINE THE GRIEVANCE PROCESS FOR…”
|
TO STREAMLINE THE GRIEVANCE PROCESS FOR STATE EMPLOYEES; AND TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE … | Pilkington | Notification that HB1842 is now Act 1054 |
|
HB1849
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1849 Della Rosa Cooper TO AMEND THE PERMANENT AUTOMOBILE LICENSI…”
|
TO AMEND THE PERMANENT AUTOMOBILE LICENSING ACT OF 1967; AND TO SUSPEND THE ANNUAL MOTOR … | Della Rosa | Sine Die adjournment |
|
HB1850
Act 1055
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1850 Mccollum Hester TO ESTABLISH THE EMPOWER INDEPENDENT CONTRA…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE EMPOWER INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS ACT OF 2019; TO AMEND PORTIONS OF THE LAW … | McCollum | Notification that HB1850 is now Act 1055 |
|
HB1854
Act 1056
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1854 Hillman Caldwell TO AMEND THE COMPOSITION OF THE STATE PLAN…”
|
TO AMEND THE COMPOSITION OF THE STATE PLANT BOARD. | Hillman | Notification that HB1854 is now Act 1056 |
|
HB1856
Act 1057
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1856 Dotson Ballinger TO PROHIBIT STATE AGENCIES FROM CONSENTING…”
|
TO PROHIBIT STATE AGENCIES FROM CONSENTING OR APPROVING THE TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY FOR AN INDIVIDUAL … | Dotson | Notification that HB1856 is now Act 1057 |
|
HB1866
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1866 Petty Hammer CONCERNING EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY, PARDON, AND COM…”
|
CONCERNING EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY, PARDON, AND COMMUTATION OF SENTENCE. | Petty | Sine Die adjournment |
|
HB1878
Act 1058
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1878 Della Rosa Cooper TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING CERTAIN CAMPA…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING CERTAIN CAMPAIGN SIGNS AND LITERATURE; AND TO REQUIRE TRANSPARENCY BY … | Della Rosa | Notification that HB1878 is now Act 1058 |
|
HB1896
Act 1025
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB 1896”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS. | Gates | Notification that HB1896 is now Act 1025 |
|
HB1905
Act 981
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1905 AN ACT AMENDING THE UNIFORM CLASSIFICATION AND COMPENSATION…”
|
AN ACT AMENDING THE UNIFORM CLASSIFICATION AND COMPENSATION ACT AND VARIOUS LAWS CONCERNING THE OFFICE … | Eaves | Notification that HB1905 is now Act 981 |
|
HB1911
Act 1027
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1911 M. Gray Dismang TO AMEND THE INCOME TAX ACT OF 1929 CONCERN…”
|
TO AMEND THE INCOME TAX ACT OF 1929 CONCERNING WHO SHALL BE TREATED AS THE … | M. Gray | Notification that HB1911 is now Act 1027 |
|
HB1913
Act 1059
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1913 Bentley Flippo TO AMEND THE LONG-TERM CARE AIDE TRAINING AC…”
|
TO AMEND THE LONG-TERM CARE AIDE TRAINING ACT; AND TO SPECIFY CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS FOR LONG-TERM … | Bentley | Notification that HB1913 is now Act 1059 |
|
HB1915
Act 1060
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1915 Womack Wallace TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING OPEN BURNING OF…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING OPEN BURNING OF VEGETATIVE STORM DEBRIS. | Womack | Notification that HB1915 is now Act 1060 |
|
HB1928
Act 1028
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1928 V. Flowers Elliott TO AMEND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT…”
|
TO AMEND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; AND TO REQUIRE ALL OPEN PUBLIC … | V. Flowers | Notification that HB1928 is now Act 1028 |
|
HB1944
Act 1061
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “Counter. Committee on Transportation to whom was deferred House Bill 1944 by Representative Meeks recommend to do pass? Counter. Comm…”
|
CONCERNING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY. | S. Meeks | Notification that HB1944 is now Act 1061 |
|
HB1947
Act 1031
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1947 Fortner Hammer TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING EYESIGHT TEST RE…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING EYESIGHT TEST REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ISSUANCE OF A DRIVER'S LICENSE. | Fortner | Notification that HB1947 is now Act 1031 |
|
HB1950
Act 1062
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1950 Glover Cheatham TO ESTABLISH JOHN H. JOHNSON DAY AS A MEMOR…”
|
TO ESTABLISH JOHN H. JOHNSON DAY AS A MEMORIAL DAY. | Glover | Notification that HB1950 is now Act 1062 |
|
HB1965
Act 1066
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1965 V. Flowers Cheatham TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS DELTA MUSIC TRAI…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS DELTA MUSIC TRAIL ACT; TO PROMOTE TOURISM AND PROVIDE TAX INCENTIVES … | V. Flowers | Notification that HB1965 is now Act 1066 |
|
HB1967
Act 1067
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1967 Watson Irvin TO CREATE THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE RESOURC…”
|
TO CREATE THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE RESOURCE ACT. | Watson | Notification that HB1967 is now Act 1067 |
|
HB1968
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1968 D. Ferguson Ingram TO AMEND AN EXEMPTION TO THE ARKANSAS CL…”
|
TO AMEND AN EXEMPTION TO THE ARKANSAS CLEAN INDOOR AIR ACT OF 2006. | D. Ferguson | Sine Die adjournment |
|
HB1982
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…p. �andcela Rivera Committee on Transportation, who was for House Bill 1982 by Representative Hodges, recommend do pass as amended numb…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE ELECTRIC MOTORIZED SCOOTER ACT. | G. Hodges | Sine Die adjournment |
|
HJR1008
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HJR1008 Vaught Pitsch AN AMENDMENT TO THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION TO…”
|
AN AMENDMENT TO THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION TO AMEND THE PROCESS FOR THE SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL … | Vaught | Reviewed by the Governor |
|
SB101
Act 874
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…e following? Senate concurrent resolution Senate Urb Take.. Senate Bill 101 by Joint Budget Senate Bill 110 by Joint Budget”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIVISION OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES SERVICES APPROPRIATION … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB101 is now Act 874 |
|
SB110
Act 876
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…esolution Senate Urb Take.. Senate Bill 101 by Joint Budget Senate Bill 110 by Joint Budget”
|
AN ACT FOR THE ARKANSAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2019-2020 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB110 is now Act 876 |
|
SB122
Act 986
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB122 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOR MEDICAL SCIENCES…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOR MEDICAL SCIENCES APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2019-2020 FISCAL … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB122 is now Act 986 |
|
SB182
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB182 A. Clark TO AMEND THE LAW TO ALLOW FOR MORE OPTIONS IN THE…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW TO ALLOW FOR MORE OPTIONS IN THE LEVYING AND COLLECTION OF … | A. Clark | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB258
Act 879
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “Senate Bill 258 by Senator Bond Senate Bill 277 by Sandra Hill Senate Bill…”
|
TO INCREASE THE PENALTY FOR TAKING CAMPAIGN FUNDS AS PERSONAL INCOME; AND TO AMEND PROVISIONS … | Bond | Notification that SB258 is now Act 879 |
|
SB277
Act 880
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “Senate Bill 258 by Senator Bond Senate Bill 277 by Sandra Hill Senate Bill 454 by Senator Rayford Senate Bi…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING SURPLUS COUNTY PROPERTY AND INTERNET SALES. | Hill | Notification that SB277 is now Act 880 |
|
SB38
Act 711
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…asures in the regular session of the 92nd General Assembly. Senate Bill 38, Act 711. Senate Bill 39, Act 712. Senate Bill 45, Act 713.…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION - BUILDING AUTHORITY DIVISION APPROPRIATION FOR … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB38 is now Act 711 |
|
SB441
Act 928
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB441 #1 Bledsoe TO ADD RESTRICTIONS REGARDING ADVERTISING OF MED…”
|
TO ADD RESTRICTIONS REGARDING ADVERTISING OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA AND USE OF CERTAIN SYMBOLS. | Bledsoe | Notification that SB441 is now Act 928 |
|
SB454
Act 882
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…ate Bill 258 by Senator Bond Senate Bill 277 by Sandra Hill Senate Bill 454 by Senator Rayford Senate Bill 505 by Senator Irving Senate…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE INVESTMENT OF FUNDS IN THE STATE TREASURY; AND TO … | Rapert | Notification that SB454 is now Act 882 |
|
SB461
Act 1077
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB461 K. Hammer TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE CREATION OF AND T…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE CREATION OF AND TIMING OF TAX COLLECTION IN CERTAIN … | K. Hammer | Notification that SB461 is now Act 1077 |
|
SB463
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB463 M. Johnson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING INITIATIVES AND REFE…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING INITIATIVES AND REFERENDA; AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE LICENSING, REGISTRATION, … | M. Johnson | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB505
Act 887
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…Bill 277 by Sandra Hill Senate Bill 454 by Senator Rayford Senate Bill 505 by Senator Irving Senate Bill 637 by Senator Ingram Senate…”
|
TO AMEND THE PROVISIONAL LICENSE REQUIREMENTS FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINERS. | Irvin | Notification that SB505 is now Act 887 |
|
SB525
Act 889
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…ill 505 by Senator Irving Senate Bill 637 by Senator Ingram Senate Bill 525 by Senator Hester Senate Bill 542 by Senator Clark Senate B…”
|
TO MODERNIZE PLUMBING PLAN REVIEW SUBMISSIONS AND RESPONSES; AND TO CLARIFY THAT LOCAL JURISDICTION REVIEW … | Hester | Notification that SB525 is now Act 889 |
|
SB542
Act 890
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…ill 637 by Senator Ingram Senate Bill 525 by Senator Hester Senate Bill 542 by Senator Clark Senate Bill 641 by Senator Ballinger Senat…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE MEDICAL, NURSING, HOSPITAL, AND AMBULANCE SERVICE LIEN ACT. | A. Clark | Notification that SB542 is now Act 890 |
|
SB547
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB547 #1 B. Johnson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE DIVISION OF P…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE DIVISION OF PROPERTY IN AN ACTION FOR DIVORCE. | B. Johnson | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB560
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…641 by Senator Ballinger Senate Bill 599 by Senator Flipper Senate Bill 560 by Senator Hester Prepare the enrolled copies of the origin…”
|
AN ACT TO AMEND THE ADMINISTRATION OF STATE TAXES; TO AMEND THE ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING PROCEDURES … | B. Johnson | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB576
Act 822
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB576 #1 and 2 Hester TO REFORM THE TAX LAWS CONCERNING THE LEVY…”
|
TO REFORM THE TAX LAWS CONCERNING THE LEVY AND COLLECTION OF SALES AND USE TAX, … | Hester | Notification that SB576 is now Act 822 |
|
SB599
Act 891
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…l 542 by Senator Clark Senate Bill 641 by Senator Ballinger Senate Bill 599 by Senator Flipper Senate Bill 560 by Senator Hester Prepar…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING THE ISSUANCE OF A BOND BY A REGIONAL SOLID WASTE … | Flippo | Notification that SB599 is now Act 891 |
|
SB605
Act 1083
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB605 A. Clark TO AMEND THE NAME OF NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH STATE C…”
|
TO AMEND THE NAME OF NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH STATE CATEGORICAL FUNDING. | A. Clark | Notification that SB605 is now Act 1083 |
|
SB637
Act 892
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…ll 454 by Senator Rayford Senate Bill 505 by Senator Irving Senate Bill 637 by Senator Ingram Senate Bill 525 by Senator Hester Senate…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING GREYHOUND RACING; AND TO AUTHORIZE THE USE OF PAYABLE WINNINGS … | K. Ingram | Notification that SB637 is now Act 892 |
|
SB641
Act 893
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…Bill 525 by Senator Hester Senate Bill 542 by Senator Clark Senate Bill 641 by Senator Ballinger Senate Bill 599 by Senator Flipper Sen…”
|
TO ALLOW A LIMITED EXEMPTION TO THE ARKANSAS ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES ACT; AND TO ALLOW AN … | B. Ballinger | Notification that SB641 is now Act 893 |
|
SB652
Act 1086
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB652 M. Johnson TO NAME THE OFFICE BUILDING LOCATED AT 501 WOODL…”
|
TO NAME THE OFFICE BUILDING LOCATED AT 501 WOODLANE, LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS; AND TO HONOR … | M. Johnson | Notification that SB652 is now Act 1086 |
|
SB657
Act 1087
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB657 B. Sample TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE METHOD BY WHICH T…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE METHOD BY WHICH THE OFFICE OF DRIVER SERVICES MAY … | B. Sample | Notification that SB657 is now Act 1087 |
|
SB664
Act 1088
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB664 Elliott TO REQUIRE THAT NEW INMATES RECEIVE READING ASSESSM…”
|
TO REQUIRE THAT NEW INMATES RECEIVE READING ASSESSMENTS AND DYSLEXIA SCREENINGS; TO REQUIRE READING AND … | Elliott | Notification that SB664 is now Act 1088 |
|
SB668
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB668 K. Hammer CONCERNING A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT IS CLASS…”
|
CONCERNING A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT IS CLASSIFIED AS BEING IN NEED OF LEVEL 5 … | K. Hammer | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB670
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB670 M. Johnson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING POLL WORKERS AND OTH…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING POLL WORKERS AND OTHER ELECTION OFFICIALS; AND TO AMEND A … | M. Johnson | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB679
Act 1090
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB679 K. Ingram TO AMEND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT…”
|
TO AMEND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT REVENUE BOND ACT OF 1985. | K. Ingram | Notification that SB679 is now Act 1090 |
|
SB683
Act 1091
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB683 Hester TO ABOLISH THE ARKANSAS BROADBAND COUNCIL, THE ARKAN…”
|
TO ABOLISH THE ARKANSAS BROADBAND COUNCIL, THE ARKANSAS YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION TASK FORCE, THE GRADE … | Hester | Notification that SB683 is now Act 1091 |
|
SB87
Act 927
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB87 #1 A. Clark TO DEFINE "IMMINENT HARM" UNDER THE ARKANSAS JU…”
|
TO DEFINE "IMMINENT HARM" UNDER THE ARKANSAS JUVENILE CODE OF 1989 AND THE CHILD MALTREATMENT … | A. Clark | Notification that SB87 is now Act 927 |
|
SCR6
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SCR6 J. English TO BRING AWARENESS TO PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION PR…”
|
TO BRING AWARENESS TO PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION PROGRAMS AND TO DECLARE THE FIRST WEEK OF SEPTEMBER … | J. English | Reviewed by the Governor |
|
SR30
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SR30 T. Garner TO CONDEMN THE POLICIES OF PRESIDENT NICOLÁS MADU…”
|
TO CONDEMN THE POLICIES OF PRESIDENT NICOLÁS MADURO OF VENEZUELA AND TO SUPPORT THE PEOPLE … | T. Garner | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SR42
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SR42 S. Flowers TO ENCOURAGE AND URGE GOVERNOR ASA HUTCHINSON TO…”
|
TO ENCOURAGE AND URGE GOVERNOR ASA HUTCHINSON TO ACT EXPEDITIOUSLY ON CERTAIN PAROLE BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS. | S. Flowers | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SR43
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SR43 Maloch TO COMMEND THE WORK OF FAMILIES AGAINST DISTRACTIVE…”
|
TO COMMEND THE WORK OF FAMILIES AGAINST DISTRACTIVE DRIVING. | Maloch | Sine Die adjournment |
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Unknown speaker
0:00
Thank you.
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You ready? You ready? There we go.
Thank you.
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Chair
Unverified
21:57
Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismayne,
Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendren, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Ludding, Malik, Pitch, Raypert, Rice, Sample, Stubbefield, Starch, Teague, Wallace. Everyone, please rise
and put those in the gallery.
Speaker 23
22:34
Senator Wallace is going to lead us in a word of prayer. Governor. Oh, Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve as senators and for the past 90 days to serve as colleagues and friends. Help us to finish up this week and to watch over the
Speaker 24
22:57
state of Arkansas. Lord, bless our homes, our families, and watch over our
Chair
Unverified
23:03
soldiers. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
Speaker 27
23:08
and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Senator, any items to be read across the desk? Yes,
Chair
Unverified
23:31
sir. Will your Committee on Engrossed Bills to whom was referred House Bill 1763 by Representative Davis compare the engrossed copy of the original and find the same correctly engrossed?
Calendar. Will your Committee on City, County, Local to whom was referred House Bill 1820 by Representative Gonzalez compare the engrossed copy of the original and find the same correctly engrossed? Calendar. Will your Committee on Joint Budget to whom was deferred Senate Bill 595 by Senator Teague recommend to do pass as amended No. 1? Counter. Committee on Joint Budget to whom was deferred Senate Bill 597 by Joint Budget recommend to do pass as amended No. 1? Counter. Committee on Transportation to whom was deferred House Bill 1811 by Representative Maddox recommend to do pass?
Counter. Committee on Transportation to whom was deferred House Bill 1944 by Representative Meeks recommend to do pass? Counter. Committee on Transportation who was for Housebook Calvary Council of Auxilter of Meudez boo Rep. �andcela Rivera Committee on Transportation, who was for House Bill 1982 by Representative Hodges, recommend do pass as amended number 1.
Calendar. Dear Mr. President, this is to inform you that on April 1, 2019, I approve the following measures in the regular session of the 92nd General Assembly. Senate Bill 38, Act 711. Senate Bill 39, Act 712. Senate Bill 45, Act 713. Senate Bill 48, Act 714. Senate Bill 62, Act 715, Senate Bill 67, Act 716, Senate Bill 69, Act 717, Senate Bill 74, Act 718, Senate Bill 99, Act 719, Senate Bill 103, Act 720, Senate Bill 111, Act 721,
Symbol 117, Act 722, Symbol 121, Act 273, Symbol 126, Act 724, Symbol 129, Act 725, Symbol 131, Act 726, Symbol 138, Act 727, Symbol 392, Act 728, Symbol 397, Act 729, Symbol 421, act 730. Symbol 431, act 731. Symbol 459, act 732. Symbol 479, act 733. Symbol 480, act 734. Symbol 489, act 735. Symbol 512, act 736. Symbol 530, act 737. Symbol 534, act 738.
Symbol 540, Act 739, Symbol 562, Act 740, Symbol 563, Act 741, Symbol 565, Act 742, Symbol 575, Act 743, Symbol 586, Act 744. Sincerely, Asa Hutchison, Governor. Follow. Dear Mr. President, will your committee on enrolled bills to whom was deferred the following? Senate concurrent resolution Senate Urb Take.. Senate Bill 101 by Joint Budget Senate Bill 110 by Joint Budget
Senate Bill 258 by Senator Bond Senate Bill 277 by Sandra Hill Senate Bill 454 by Senator Rayford Senate Bill 505 by Senator Irving Senate Bill 637 by Senator Ingram Senate Bill 525 by Senator Hester Senate Bill 542 by Senator Clark Senate Bill 641 by Senator Ballinger Senate Bill 599 by Senator Flipper Senate Bill 560 by Senator Hester Prepare the enrolled copies of the original We're going to find the same correctly and roll it at 10.35 a.m. delivered to the governor for his approval. Follow it.
Speaker 43
27:13
Senator Clark. Senator Clark. Ben, will you go find Senator Clark, please? Okay. Senator Bond can be
Chair
Unverified
27:24
recognized while we go find Senator Clark. Well, while we're waiting, I don't want
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
27:34
to jump the line here, but we have Dr. Teresa Weirich in the back. Teresa Weirich Glover, her husband David Glover, is Wright Lindsay
and Jennings and a lawyer friend of mine. Dr. Weirich is at UAMS. She's in orthopedic surgery and specializes in hands. And we have nurse Brenda Hewitt with us. Let's give them big round and welcome today. Dr. Weirich Glover's
mom, BJ, is on the city board here in Little Rock and has been for a long time. Isn't
that right, Dr. Weirich? I think that is. Yes, we've got it right. Thank you. Yeah, and her father was a senator. Phil was a senator.
and and so let's give them give them all a big another
Chair
Unverified
28:24
round of applause senator clark is
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
28:30
recognized senator clark thank you governor
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
29:15
Colleagues, this morning it is my honor to honor one of our own. It has been different this session, not having Mr. Tigg here to visit with every day as I
come in the door. He and I go way back, not so much personally as family. Many of the folks here are personal friends of mine that are his family. We grew up together and we go back. Also, I have a citation here, but go back to Mr. Tig's son, served in the State Senate. And I met him the night that I graduated from high school because he spoke at our high school
graduation. And they and we lost him at way too young an age. they have a great history with the State Senate and Mr. Tigg served here many years and it is my great pleasure to honor him today and so I'll read this citation, whereas Mr. James R. Tigg was one of eight children in a family who were active in the civic affairs of Garland County and Morningstar and whereas he was drafted into the Navy during World War II and served as a CB
during action on Lausanne in the Philippines after which he worked at Reynolds Metals where he retired as a foreman and whereas in 1983 he became a sergeant at arms for the Arkansas Senate during the regular session of the 74th General Assembly eventually becoming the head of the Senate sergeants and rarely if ever missing a day of work even when the roads were icy until he stepped down after the regular session of the 91st General Assembly in 2017 and whereas Mr. J.R. Tigg served as a deacon for 10 Mile Baptist Church at Lonsdale for 30 years
while he and his wife Louise raised three successful children and helped raise a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren and whereas the members of the Arkansas Senate wish to join Senator Alan Clark in expressing their sincere attitude to Mr. J.R. Tigg for his life of service to his community, the state of Arkansas, and the Arkansas Senate.
And I will also note that they have been married 73 years. Governor, if we could have about five minutes, I'm sure a lot of people will want to take pictures. Without objection.
Unknown speaker
32:34
Without objection. Thank you.
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Speaker 87
43:33
Ready? Okay, I'll do it. I didn't get it. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 91
44:13
Yes, sir. Senate Resolution 44 by Senator Ballinger to support a
Chair
Unverified
44:17
scenic gondola installation at Black Mountain on the Malbury River. Senate Resolution 44. Calendar Senator English.
Senator English, SCR 6. Senate Concurrent Resolution 6 by Senator English
Speaker 91
44:28
to bring awareness to pre-disaster mitigation programs and declare the first week of September Resilience Weeks. Senator English has the floor. Thank you very much.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
44:43
So this bill basically does call in September its National Pre-Disaster Mitigation Week. And what it does is it means let's get prepared. So this is a fairly lengthy resolution, so I will just read a couple of the important things in here. The Federal Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 makes available new funding for states and communities to undertake pre-disaster mitigation measures.
And whereas since 1908, national disasters have cost the country more than $1 trillion. dollars. Whereas effective pre-disaster mitigation reduces the demand for relief services on volunteer organizations, food banks, and homeless shelters that serve our communities by changing their operations to provide additional services to those affected by disaster. So it's important that communities develop long-term mitigation strategies to protect people and property from future disasters. Thank you.
Speaker 102
45:48
any any questions for senator English senators closed all those
Chair
Unverified
45:55
in favor of the resolution say aye opposed eyes have it resolution is adopted transmit to the house senator flowers we're passing over senator garner's resolution and we will pass over Senator Malek after
Senator Flowers. Senator Flowers. Senate Resolution 42 by
Speaker 40
46:25
Governor Asa Hutchison to act expeditiously on certain parole board recommendation.
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
46:32
Senator Flowers has the floor. Senator Flowers. Thank you. Members what
this is is a Senate resolution that came about as a result of the presentations from Senator Elliott and Senator Bund dealing with two bills that make reference to individuals that are
now incarcerated for drug offenses and they were sentenced prior to the 2011 Act 570 and if you recall that act decreased the penalty for certain drug offenses and these particular inmates that were highlighted in the two different bills that were brought to the Judiciary Committee were all sentenced
before that act and all received sentences that some I think got lifetime sentences for the same drug offenses that now are punished
Speaker 108
47:57
by lesser penalties. So both bills asked
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
48:02
for these inmates to be, for their sentences to be reviewed and recalculated or at least the sentence conformed to what Act 570
provided for those same offenses because Act 570 did not make those offenses or the punishment for them retroactive. And so instead of doing that, we felt as a committee and all of our members of the Senate Judiciary have signed this Senate Resolution Number 42, we thought it would be better to have the parole board review these, some of the inmates' applications for parole have been reviewed by the parole board
and recommended some lesser sentencing or maybe parole or some. We don't know whether they have multiple offenses. So even if the sentence that they got prior to Act 570, it could be that they're serving some more time for other offenses. So instead of us trying to be a judge and a jury in the parole board, we are asking that the governor look closely and as quickly as possible at these applications and the recommendations made by the parole board dealing with these particular inmates.
I think it's a number anywhere from 71 to 95, depending on who you talk to. But we thought it was best as opposed to, you know, trying to figure that out ourselves to ask the governor. And he's charged with commutations of sentences. So if they have multiple offenses that they're serving time for, and this sentence for the drug offense that they were convicted of prior to Act 570 could lessen that sentence but keep them in there for others, then that's his call to make in the parole board.
So I would appreciate that you join with the Judiciary Senate Committee and say yes to this resolution. Thank you. Answer
Speaker 110
50:40
any questions. Any questions? All those
Chair
Unverified
50:43
in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye's
have it. Resolution is adopted. Senator Hendren is recognized.
Okay, members, a couple things. First off, I'm going
to give you the batches here in just a minute, so get your calendars out, and we'll go through those so we can hopefully expedite the process on some of the House bills later today. As you all probably know, there are several bills that have been signed out. Again, we have rules with the Chairman, and I appreciate you all are doing a good job of notifying the other members. What I would ask is, out of a courtesy to the other members, if you're presenting a bill that has been signed out, just let the membership know that when you present the bill. Not that there's anything, you know, mischievous at foot, but we
just, well, I think it's fair to let everybody know that this bill was signed out and didn't get perhaps the normal committee review process. Second thing is, there's been some concern about how quickly we're going through some of the concurring with amendments. Make sure that you realize, particularly Senate bills to concur, or House, Senate bills to concur with House amendments, that you're reviewing what those amendments are. If you're presenting one, that you explain thoroughly. Now, if it's just a technical change or a sponsorship, that's fine. But realize when we concur with those amendments, you might want to look back and see if you voted for the original
bill. And if you're still opposed to it, you may still be opposed to it, so you don't end up with the votes you don't want. So when we have Senate bills to concur in House amendments, there's only four of them on the calendar, but make sure that you're comfortable with where you're going to be on those. And the same thing, if you're presenting a Senate amendment, make sure you explain that, since many times we're engrossing that and then considering it later in the day. Okay, the other thing is you may have heard there's some consideration about some extraction moves. Again, out of consideration for the members,
what I would ask is that we set a time to do that today so that members don't have to worry about missing it if they're out taking a call or something. So what we normally do for those is between the Senate and House Bill section, if you have a motion to extract, that'd be the appropriate time for those to be considered. There's a couple suspensions that we'll be asking to make for rules one is if you were in budget today You heard that the RSA came out with a due pass Both the speaker and I on this end will be asking for a suspension of the rules So we consider RSA today that gives us the ability to finish up our business on Wednesday again as we'd hoped would be possible
So the RSA was on the desk Friday. It was emailed to you. You've seen the schedule We've had discussions about that if you have further questions Let us know because prior to the budget calendar will do what we've done in the last several sessions which is suspend the rules to take up RSA today the other one is as we talked about last week the the bill for transformation to engross that 2,000 page monster took a tremendous amount of work the staff worked most of the weekend they work late every evening and they finally accomplished that it is
engrossed you heard it read across in the gross report it is online now so take the time to review that. Again, if you have, yeah, just read through those 2,000 pages real quick if you haven't. If you have questions about the amendment, talk to a member of the state agencies committee, talk to the sponsor, Senator Hester, or if you have a question, he'll be presenting the bill again in its entirety. If we still want to finish on Wednesday, I would like for us to consider that bill today as well since it's been basically talked about through the entire session. I think most people are familiar with it, so that would be the only two suspensions
at least with regard to calendar. There'll be some other ones, but those are two of the major things. Before I move on to the batch, I think it's only appropriate, I don't think it's been recognized yet, that we have another birthday today. Senator Bond, congratulations on your, what, 65th?
Okay, members, so let's go through the calendar, and again, same procedure applies. Any member that wants one
of these bills pulled out of the batch. Come let Joseph know and he will make sure that we keep the list current. We'll
go through it again before we do them. So as we go through to page two, there are none on that page. We have the Senate bills and a few House bills. If you go to page three, the top bill on your calendar should be House Bill 1417. Okay, and it is considered for the batch. It passed 86 to nothing. The next one is House Bill 1673. It passed 92 to 0. House Bill 1678. It passed 84 to 0. House Bill 1693. It passed 91 to 2. House Bill 1943. It passed 94 to
0. House Bill 1547. It passed 92 to 0. Okay, that's it for that page. Go on to the next page and there's not quite as many in this because some of these have already been batched in previous days now we go down to all the way down to House Bill 1333 okay it's down under the second calendar there house bills for third reading and passage you might want to make a note there I'm going to make a motion when I finish here that House Bill 1763 be placed there in the
calendar before we start that second calendar and again that is the transformation bill so if you want to make a note about the flow that's what we'll be looking to consider it okay so House bill 1333 is in the batch House bill 1433 passed 91 to 0 House bill 1542 passed 96 to 0 House bill 1543 passed 97 to 0 House bill 1545 passed 97 to 0 House bill 1557 we can't put in the
batch it passed 93 to 1 but it requires 24 votes so it will not be in the
Chair
Unverified
56:34
batch and that's all one one second I think that's a
I think that's been changed to 18 so we determined it only takes 18 so House Bill
1557 will be in the batch okay unless somebody wants to see it removed okay the final page House Bill 1711 it passed 92 to 0 House bill 1746 it passed 89 to 0 House bill 1755 it
passed 87 to 0 House bill 1815 it passed 92 to 0 House bill 1849 it passed 89 to 0 pass it over that one okay pull out for 1849 that was not going to be considered house bill 1860 it passed 91 to 3 house bill 1890 it passed 88 to 0 house bill 1902 it passed 92 to 1 house bill 1913 it passed 90 to 2 okay so yes
senator if you want to pull a bill out come down here let the staff know and
Chair
Unverified
57:55
batch anything to give any updates i'm sure there'll be a couple pulled out senator did you include is one second and did you is
that a mistake okay okay so hb 1691 is a pass over
uh okay okay so that is the uh option alternatives for batch
So, again, just so folks know, the transformation bill number is House Bill 1763. What I'd like to do, again, is make a motion to suspend the rules to put it on the calendar after House Bill 1950. And we've already adopted the amendment. This is so that we can
Chair
Unverified
58:36
get it back to the House for concurrence. Well, Senator Irvin
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
58:40
is, Ingram is recognized. Ingram, Irvin, Irvin, Ingram. HB 1968, we passed that out of here, I think, unanimously. That is an identical bill, that's on the Clean Air Act.
Which page are you on there? It's on the back page, very last one, HB 1968. It had to do with Southland and Oak Lawn and the Clean Indoor Air Act. That is an identical bill to the Senate bill that I had. We just started them in both houses to make sure. So you're one that would be in the
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
59:10
batch? Yeah. Which one is it? HB 1968. Okay, so 1968, the last bill on the, just include
it in the batch, unless somebody wants it withdrawn.
Speaker 94
59:21
Okay, so pull it back out of the batch. Okay, so
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
59:28
it's not batched. Hey, I'm going to ask somebody for that. I asked for HB 1875 to be pulled from the batch last time, but I'm okay with it now. Senator Bond is recognized. Thank you, I'm sorry. Go ahead. HB 1875. What page you're on?
page, page before the last. Senator Desmang and Representative Davis. 1875. Okay, so 1875, if you're on page three, will be included in
Speaker 148
59:52
the batch unless somebody removes it. Okay,
again, if you have one of these you want removed, you should have them all circle. Come up here and let the staff know.
Speaker 127
1:00:02
1875 is on page four yep yeah okay okay Senator
Chair
Unverified
1:00:19
Elliott is recognized thank you I heard mr. governor say
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:00:25
something about 1691 is that one in the batch or is it not? We're passing over
Chair
Unverified
1:00:33
1691. We're passing over, okay. The bottom of page 4 is HB 1691 that's passed over. Oh, we're just passing over it
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:00:39
and is it is that what you Okay. Their sponsor requested me Okay.
Alright. Got it. Thanks. Okay. So again we'll review these
batches before we vote them to make sure that it matches what you show on your calendar and again if
you have concerns about one go talk to the sponsor maybe you don't have to pull it out but
if you're not comfortable certainly come pull it out of the batch let's let's yeah yeah there'll be some pulled out and we'll go over it again later and again if you
Speaker 167
1:01:17
want them pulled out let them know well you've heard senator chesterfield do you wish to be recognized
Speaker 169
1:01:21
on the motion we've got a motion standing or do you want a point of information point of information before the motion okay uh chesterfield's recognized thank you 1849 would you please restate what you said about it 1849 representative de la rosa's bill what page is it on there it's on the last page
Passed over. That's being passed over. Okay. Is there a reason? The sponsored request, my understanding. Thank you. Okay. You've heard the Senator's motion.
Speaker 43
1:02:02
Any objection to his motion? Motion carried. Without objection, Senator Hendren. Hendrick. Senator Cooper, for what purpose does the gentleman rise? Information. Okay. Senator Cooper's
Speaker 178
1:02:17
recognized. 1849 was passed over at the request of the sponsor. Rod? Yeah. Thank you,
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
1:02:27
Senator. Okay. Senator Hendrick. Yeah, my final comments again, members, we've got a
long calendar. The priority is to get any Senate bills that need to get down to the House end, down to the house end let me also say to the committee chairs standing committee chairs there will probably be some senate bills coming back for concurrence so you may need to meet in
the morning make sure if you have a bill that is on the other end and got an amendment put on it and it needs to be concurred with make sure you get with the chair so that there's an opportunity to do that tomorrow okay so committee chairs i know a lot of you have it at the call we may have A's and B committees both meeting in the morning, but any concurrences from the other end need to be done tomorrow.
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
1:03:12
Senator Hickey, just wanted to make sure we did something correct. We batched all those, but, and you mentioned something about having a vote to suspend the rules for the
transformation, but I don't know that we ever had that vote for that suspension, did we? Well,
that was what my motion was, was to move that bill, to put it on the calendar there. I'm not making the motion to batch until after we get to that
point. Okay, so all of that was inclusive, the batching and... No, the batch motions will come before we vote the batch, after we see any more that need to be
Speaker 184
1:03:41
pulled out. That'll work. The batching's going to be changed
Speaker 185
1:03:43
based on the conversations that the Senators have had with staff, so that was only on transformation. That was just to put that one bill on
Speaker 187
1:03:50
the calendar. Thank you. Thank you all.
Chair
Unverified
1:04:02
I'm ready, Senator Pitch House Joint Resolution 1008 by Representative Vaught and Senator Pitch to amend an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to amend the process for the submission and approval of proposed initiated acts, constitutional amendments, and referenda
Speaker 191
1:04:17
Senator Pitch Thank you, Governor The Arkansas Constitution is
a very sacred document and should be held in high esteem among all of us.
It was not meant to be easy to change or to amend. Our Founding Fathers did not anticipate the vast level of special interest groups and outside influence used to take advantage of our citizens' right to amend their Constitution. H.J.R. 1008 is designed to protect the people of Arkansas' rights and to ensure citizens' initiatives are genuinely citizens' initiatives and not special interest purchases. This constitutional amendment does four things.
The first, three-fifths of the House and Senate will have to vote to refer an amendment to the voters versus the current half threshold required. The second thing, three-fifths of the Arkansas counties must have enough petition signatures collected, That's 45 counties versus the 15 counties currently. Please note the number of signatures required per county is still based on the previous voter turnout ratio and will remain the same as the threshold.
Third, we removed the cure period. A deadline for submittal should be and needs to be a deadline for submittal. Fourth and finally, we moved up the submittal and challenge dates. Initiated petitions for any statewide measure will be required to be filed with the Secretary of State no later than January 15th of the year of the election. Any challenges to the sufficiency of the statewide measure will be required to be filed no later than the April 15th of the year of election.
H.J.R. 1008 was developed with the input of many, lawyers and staff from the Election Commission, the Secretary of State's Office, the Attorney General's Office, the Governor's Office and the Bureau of Legislative Affairs have spent the better part of six weeks working to develop this amendment so we'll be able to stand the scrutiny of legal challenges and still
Speaker 191
1:06:26
accomplish the protection, our stated goal of our great document, the Arkansas Constitution. I appreciate a good vote, and I am open for questions.
Speaker 54
1:06:35
Any questions for Senator Pitch? Senator Bond. Senator Pitch
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
1:06:41
and I have had this discussion in committee. So we're tripling the number of counties you have to get signatures from, a significant increase in the mountain you have to climb to get
on the ballot. Yes, that came from one of our founding fathers, Madison, who said when you have a petition drive, it needs to be a broad-based appeal. When you take 15 out of 75 counties, the people working on this amendment did not feel like that was a broad-based appeal.
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
1:07:09
Just one more quick point, and we talked about it in a committee. I made the statement that I believe this makes a mountain to climb for regular, everyday folks significant, but those with substantial assets can
still get on the ballot. You disagree with that, I take it? I do disagree with that. I think
Speaker 191
1:07:26
it's still available for signatures on a broad-based appeal that everybody wants to change their constitution
Speaker 196
1:07:31
to be there. They can still do it with signature collection. Thank you, Senator. Any other questions? Senator
Chair
Unverified
1:07:39
Elliott, would you like to ask a question?
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:07:42
Yes, a question, please. Senator Pitch, do you know if there are any special interests that are in favor of this resolution? i have not worked with any
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:07:55
special interest groups i know do you know
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:07:57
of any that are not that they work with you do you know of any
Chair
Unverified
1:08:06
special interests none that have approached me no okay thank you any other questions senator chesterfield is recognized to speak against
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:08:13
thank you is recognized thank you mr. chair ladies and gentlemen of the senate I don't know if the trains rolling and I'm about to get run over by the caboose or not but I do think it's important to say that the will of the people of this state being heard is very very important And when you continue to make it harder for the people to voice their opinion, I think we do them a disservice.
When we did not act on certain things, they had the power of the initiative to change their form of government, and that is what they did. Whether you agree with them on the minimum wage, medical marijuana, gaming, or not, the majority of the people of this state rose up and said, if you won't do it, we will do it. This amendment simply makes it easier for rich folks to come into this state and run it. Because poor people can't get to 45 counties. But those who have the money, the very ones you say you're trying to keep out,
will have sufficient funds to go into every county in this state, pay people to get the signatures, and get whatever they want done. This is not a solution. This is creating another problem. It means then, too, that when we talk about, well, we're going to increase the amount of votes that it takes for us to get something out. One party now already has 70 votes in the House. So what difference does it make?
You're talking about a nine-vote difference. You're not increasing, really, the threshold for members of the General Assembly to get anything out. what you're doing is making it virtually impossible for poor people to be able to say, we want our voices heard, and too often we don't hear them. I would appreciate a no vote on the
Speaker 102
1:10:12
bill. Anyone wish to speak in favor of the resolution? Anyone against or on it?
Chair
Unverified
1:10:19
The senator closed. The senator wishes to close.
Speaker 191
1:10:22
The senator will close. This is a very important bill to this state. We love our Constitution. that's unchallenged by anybody. Everybody in here agreed to serve the people of our state and
defend our Constitution. When we said that, that's what this bill does. I appreciate a good
Speaker 208
1:10:43
vote. The senator has closed. Madam Secretary, please call
Speaker 14
1:10:49
the roll. Ballinger? Aye. Bledsoe? Bledsoe?
Chair
Unverified
1:11:05
Cheatham. Chesterfield. Clark. Cooper. Davis. Dismeng.
Speaker 210
1:11:17
Dismeng. Eades. Elliot. English. Flippo. Flowers. Garner. Garner.
Hammer Hendron Hester Hickey Hill Ingram Irvin Blake Johnson Mark Johnson Letting Mallet Pitch Rapert Rice Sample
Stubbafil Sturge Teague Teague Wallace Aye
Speaker 43
1:12:10
change their vote? Senator Cheatham is no Anyone else over here? Senator
Chair
Unverified
1:12:17
Disman is no Anyone over here? Senator Irvin is aye Anyone else? Anyone
else? cast up the ballot. 25 yays, 10 nays.
The resolution passes, transmit, I'm sorry, return to
the House. Senate bill is a concurrent House amendment. Senator Clark. Amendment 1 to Senate
Bill 87. Senator Clark, then Senator
Bledsoe, then Senator Johnson, Blake Johnson. The amendment just added
Speaker 61
1:12:50
Representative Kep as a House sponsor. The bill passed the Senate 35-0. I'd appreciate a good vote. Any questions
Chair
Unverified
1:12:56
on the amendment? Any objection? Without objection, amendments adopted. Senate Bill 87 by Senator
Clark and Representative Kapp to define imminent harm under the Arkansas Juvenile Code of 1989 and the Child Maltreatment
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:13:15
Act. Senator Clark. Bill passed 35-0 last time. It does
Chair
Unverified
1:13:20
just what the title says. Any questions? Anyone wish to speak on it? Senator
Chair
Unverified
1:13:30
to rolling the vote? Please roll the vote, Madam Secretary. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismaine,
Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch, Rayford, Rice, Sample, Stubbfield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote? Seeing none,
cast up the ballot. 35 yeas, zero nays. The bill is
passed. Enroll it. Senator Bledsoe, first on the amendment,
Speaker 233
1:14:08
then the underlying bill. Amendment 1,
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
1:14:14
Senate Bill 441. Thank you, Mr. President. Ladies and gentlemen, the amendment, the bill was passed out of the Senate. It went to the House. They put an amendment on it, and all it does, it just changes the list of warnings to allow ads to list only one instead of the four. And an example of that would be advertising and marketing for medical marijuana shall include at least one of the following.
Marijuana is for use by qualified patients only, keep out of the reach of children. Marijuana used in pregnancy or breastfeeding poses potential harm to an unborn child or child. marijuana is not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration to treat, cure or prevent disease and then the final one was do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of marijuana and so instead of all four the amendment allows
only one. I appreciate a good vote.
Chair
Unverified
1:15:21
Not the bill on the amendment no questions on the amendment anyone wish to speak
on the amendment. Any objection to the amendment? The amendment is adopted without
objection. Now the underlying bill. Senate Bill 441 by Senator Bledsoe, an act to add restrictions regarding advertising of medical marijuana and use of certain
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
1:15:44
symbols. Senator Bledsoe. Thank you, Mr. President.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, the bill has really not changed. All it does is codify the language from the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission, and that's what it does. I'd appreciate a good vote.
Chair
Unverified
1:16:00
Any questions for the senator? Anyone wish to speak?
Speaker 243
1:16:06
Any objection to rolling the vote? Please roll the
Chair
Unverified
1:16:14
vote, Madam Secretary. Ballinger, Bloodside, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang,
Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendren, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch, Rayford, Rice, Sample, Stubbefield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote? Senator Chesterfield present.
Anyone else? Anyone else? Cast up the ballot. Senator Elliott? Okay.
Speaker 102
1:16:50
You got me before I stop. She's present. You got me. Did you already
Speaker 231
1:16:59
do it? Sorry, Senator. Okay. Cast of the ballot. 33 yays, zero
Chair
Unverified
1:17:04
nays. The bill is passed and roll it. Senator Hester, this one has two amendments. Okay. Senator
Speaker 11
1:17:12
Bond. No, go ahead, Senator Bond. If Senator Hester's good with it, I don't want to get to see
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
1:17:19
him, you know. Well, Senator Johnson's passed over SB 547,
but I need to announce, due to learning
of potential conflicts over the weekend, that I cannot participate or will not participate in SB 547 or House Bill 1686. Just need to make that
Chair
Unverified
1:17:36
announcement. Okay. So, Senator Hester, this has two amendments and an emergency clause.
Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 576. Amendment 1.
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:17:47
Members, this is my bill I agreed on in the House, and it removes the throwback rule
and takes the corporate rate from 6.5% down to 5.9% on that amendment. Any question on the
Chair
Unverified
1:18:03
First Amendment? Any question at all? Any objection to the First Amendment? Amendment is adopted without objection. Second Amendment.
Amendment 2 to St. Bill 576. Members, this was
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:18:13
the agreed-on language with the car wash industry that we added to get most of them on board. Any questions on the second amendment?
Speaker 84
1:18:25
Senator Hill. Go into a little more detail on that besides get everyone on board. Senator Hill. Go into a little
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:18:32
more detail and just gets everyone on board. Well, I didn't say it got everyone. It got a lot of specifically moved automatic car washes that were just going to get a fee into the water base, and then it actually cut the water base fee in half.
So it was going to be like 0.0075, and it moved it down to 0.004 cents per gallon. Senator
Speaker 265
1:18:52
Hill. Did it change any of the bays or anything else?
Speaker 268
1:18:56
It exempts bay washes. Okay, what does it consider a tunnel wash then? A tunnel wash is
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:19:02
where you pull in and the car continues to move. An automatic is where you pull in and the wash moves around you. So it includes automatic
Chair
Unverified
1:19:12
now also? Yes, it does. Any other questions? Senator Chesterfield is recognized. This is on Amendment 2
Speaker 169
1:19:18
only. Yes. Could you tell me the origin of this? Because I've just been
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:19:22
fascinated as to why car washes got in the middle of all of this.
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:19:27
Help me with that. Sure. Well, you know, it's through an 18-month process in the Tax Reform Task Force. We ended up, the Tax Reform Task Force sent three bills
to the legislature, one dealing with personal income, a second dealing with just reforms, and the third dealing with car washes issues that had fiscal impacts car washes happened to be one that had a fiscal impact and we had all those other
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:19:51
things that had fiscal impact and we decided we'd just go with car wash well tax reform
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:19:58
task force sent everything with fiscal impact
Speaker 280
1:20:01
into one bill thank you Senator any other question on amendment 2
Chair
Unverified
1:20:06
any objection to amendment 2 all those in favor of amendment 2 say aye Aye. Opposed? No. Ayes have it. Amendment is adopted. Senator, now the underlying bill. Madam Secretary, please
read the title. Senate Bill 576 for Senator Hester, to reform the tax laws
concerning the levy and collection of sales and use tax, the apportionment and allocation of income for tax purposes, corporate
income tax rates, and net operating losses and declare an emergency.
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:20:36
Senator Hester. Thank you, members. This is a bill we've talked about all session long, but it deals with the single sales tax factor, the corporate rate from 6.5 to 5.9 percent, net operating loss from five years up to ten years. It deals with car wash reform, and it deals with e-fairness or Main Street Fairness. Happy to
Speaker 284
1:20:55
answer any questions. Any questions? The bill as amended. Senator Irvin and then Senator Clark.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
1:21:02
Before the amendment for the car wash, I think that was at 1.8. if i'm right is that changed the fiscal impact was 1.8 less to the state what's the change as because of your amendments to the car wash part just the car
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:21:17
wash part yeah it went it went from about a million dollars up to
Speaker 292
1:21:24
1.8 okay oh okay okay sorry okay thank
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:21:32
you Senator Hester, I'm a co-sponsor, but on the car washes, we've included automatic machine
car washes somehow now, right? Yes, we have. That they're taxed.
How about the folks that collect money at the register like I do? How are they affected? That we're charging sales tax. Are they still charging sales tax or no? So, no, because they're going to be people that were
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:22:02
plugging at a register are now going to be billed off. They're all going to be billed the same way off of a water-based rather than off of a
sales tax. Why? Well, because it's, and we're trying to eliminate the exemption, right? And it's a very difficult process. I mean, you have bays, you have automatics, you have tunnels, and you have many that are variations in between. It's a very complicated, well, DF&A doesn't see it complicated, but many car washes see it complicated because if you roll up today and your car wash is not touched, then it's not taxed. If it is touched, it is taxed. So if you pull into a tunnel car wash and no one greets you out front and deals with
your car, then it's tax free. If they spray something on your tires, then it is taxed. Sometimes they may spray something, sometimes they may not. So, you know, if the guy takes a 10-minute break and five cars go through, they weren't taxed. But if he's out there working, they are taxed. It's very complicated. We tried to find something that was consistent. That way when there was an audit, guys weren't punished. There was testimony from one individual that if you gave away, like if it rained within 48 hours of a car wash and they would give you a free one, you could come back.
They got audited and they had to pay over $50,000 for giving away free car washes for people. It's just complicated. away uh so
they're accountants and they know a consistent manner of how to handle that okay but we
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:23:28
greatly cut the sales tax on those that are worth that's right some we're paying more will pay
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:23:34
less some that we're paying them will pay more it's more of a fairness issue fairness between
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:23:40
car washes but not fairness between car washes and everybody else okay thank you
Speaker 190
1:23:51
Any other questions? Anyone wish to speak against the
Chair
Unverified
1:24:00
bill? For the bill? At all? Senator's closed? Senator has closed. I bet there's an
Speaker 15
1:24:07
objection to rolling the vote. Is there? Okay, there is. Please
Speaker 13
1:24:12
call the roll, Madam Secretary. Ballinger.
Speaker 212
1:24:18
Aye. Bledsoe. Bond. Aye. Caldwell. Aye. Cheatham. Cheatham. Chesterfield. Aye. Clark. Aye. Cooper.
Speaker 214
1:24:29
Aye. Davis. Aye. Dismaine. Aye. Eads. Aye. Elliott. Elliott.
Speaker 210
1:24:36
English, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Irvin Blake Johnson Mark Johnson Letting Mallet Pitch Raper
Speaker 38
1:25:07
Rice Sample Sample Stubbafil Stubbafil Sturge Teague Teague Wallace Wallace Anyone wish to vote or change
Chair
Unverified
1:25:32
is aye Senator Flippo is aye Anybody else?
Aye And that's Senator Teague Is aye Anybody else? Cast up the ballot 31 yeas 3 nays
The bill passes Emergency clause is adopted and
roll it. Senator Blake Johnson has a motion. I'd like to make a motion to
Speaker 314
1:25:58
send Senate Bill 547 back to the Judiciary Committee. Thank you. I'd like to send Senate Bill 547
Speaker 102
1:26:08
back to the Judiciary Committee. Any questions on the motion? That's right. Senator Elliott, do you have a question for
Chair
Unverified
1:26:14
Senator Johnson on the motion? It's my bill. Yeah, I just asking what's the subject matter that
Speaker 315
1:26:21
just it's not it's a division of divorce okay
Chair
Unverified
1:26:29
all right thank you any other questions is there any objection to the motion
motion is carried without objection senate bills with senate amendments senator kim hammer amendment one to senate bill
519 senator hammer thank you members this amendment uh does primarily three things one it cleaned up a couple of technical issues that we caught as the bill was being worked out. Then the meat of the matter is it gets to the other two things, and it just says that any contracts of $25,000 value will be referred or reviewed to legislative council and joint budget if the general assembly is in session at least 30 days before the execution date
of the contract. And then the second thing it does is that in the event that there is a reduction in contract and this is dealing with the community mental health centers if there's a reduction in contract they have to give them 45 days before they can initiate that cut so as to be able to work out any difficulties that may come or interfere with the community health centers being able to you know fulfill the obligation that's the that's what the amendment says any question
Chair
Unverified
1:27:41
on this amendment any objection to the amendment any objection to the amendment
Without objection, the amendment is adopted. Send to engrossing.
Speaker 102
1:27:52
We're now going to go to budget if... I don't see Senator Teague. Okay. We'll come back to Senator Teague as soon as we find him.
Chair
Unverified
1:28:07
Senate bills for third reading. Senator Hendren is recognized. one more announcement i forgot to
make if any of y'all just came up with a great idea about
filing a bill by the constitution you can't file
one the last three days of the session so be very careful if we really do adjourn on wednesday you'd
have a constitutional problem so hopefully all your bills are filed but come talk to me if you feel like that's going to
Speaker 96
1:28:35
be an issue for you senator we're going to senator clark instead of you we're going to get a senator Teague and the budget all right
members we have two bills have been held till tomorrow they'll have to pass tomorrow but we hold them till then we have sent
bill 122 UA medical sciences we're holding a house bill 1197 Arkansas Tech with that said we have hospital 1905 meaning uniform classification compact House Bill 1121, Secretary of State Appropriation, House Bill 1156, Department of Human Services Director's Office Appropriation, and House Bill 1210, Department of Arkansas Heritage Appropriation. I didn't answer any questions, Trent,
Speaker 330
1:29:20
Mr. Representative Garner, Senator Garner, I'm
sorry. Senator Garner was recognized. Thank you. The House bill that was funding for Tech, we know who held that. We do. Is
that public information to be shared? They just asked me to hold it until tomorrow. It's held in here. I don't usually tell who
asked that. I don't think it's a big deal. It'll go out tomorrow. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank
you. Any other questions? Mr. President, I move that we batch
Speaker 167
1:29:50
the bills and roll them. Any objection to batching or rolling?
Chair
Unverified
1:29:58
vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismayne, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Mallett, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubfield, Sturge, T. Wallace.
Speaker 40
1:30:17
Anyone wish to change their vote? Seeing none, cast up
Chair
Unverified
1:30:26
these are House bills, so they are returned to the House.
Mr. President, now can we do the supplemental? Yes. All right, members, I have Senate Bill 595. It's a rainy day fund. We need to suspend the rules to consider both of
Chair
Unverified
1:30:45
these. Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 595. Hang on just a
second. These are just—you were just amending them. All right, members, maybe we don't have to suspend hang on just a
minute. Okay. All right, members, I don't have to suspend
the rules. can we just humor me and suspend the rules anyway remember that I moved it we suspend the rules for purpose of amendments for both
Senate Bill 595 and 597 that way I'll just feel better about
Speaker 102
1:31:41
it sir I know I'll feel better any objection
Chair
Unverified
1:31:46
to suspending the rules no objection without objection the motion's carried now you have amendment one
on SB 595 Members, this is
the Rainy Day Fund bill, I'd answer any questions. Any questions
Chair
Unverified
1:32:02
on the amendment? This is on the amendment.
No questions. Any objection to the amendment? Amendment is adopted without objection. Amendment 1 to Senate
Bill 597. Members, this is the RSA
amendment, I'd answer any questions. Any questions on this amendment?
Chair
Unverified
1:32:20
Any objection to this amendment? The amendment is adopted without objection. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
Speaker 359
1:32:39
Page two, Senator Clark. Senate bills for third reading and passage.
Chair
Unverified
1:32:50
Senate Bill 182 by Senator Clark to amend the law to allow for more options in the levying of a collection
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:32:58
of fire dues. Okay, Senate Bill 182 is a bill I agreed to run for the municipal
league. It got lost, and in the meantime, I've amended it to make it a better bill.
If you want to get at me, you can get at me by voting against this bill. If you want to get at me, you can get at me by voting for this bill. It allows volunteer fire departments within city limits, or city fire departments that are volunteer, in other words, by petition to place their fire department dues on the property tax bill uh and that is non-voluntary they would you anybody would have to pay it
it's amended now that if it's over a hundred dollars that the per year that the city council would have to uh approve it and i'll be happy to take any
questions any questions for senator clark Senator Garner is recognized
Chair
Unverified
1:34:03
for a question Thank you Mr. President So the local city would have to do a petition
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:34:11
And then if that petition was successful That's when the dues would go on there So it would basically be a local control issue
Where they would make a decision Whether they want to do
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:34:24
this or not Is that correct? The local fire department Although it's a city fire department The fire department which is volunteer Would have to do the petition To put
it on the property tax and once the petition is successful, it would go on the property tax bill. The
petition would be voted on by the citizens, though,
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:34:42
not just like the fire department or anything like that. There is not an election. If you read the bill, this supersedes an
election. They have to get so many signatures, and it will go on the property tax bill.
Speaker 166
1:34:55
Okay. Thank you. The other question, Senator Dismayne and Senator Hill and
Speaker 371
1:34:57
Senator Hammer. So is it going to go on the bill
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:35:01
as a voluntary tax or an involuntary tax? Involuntary. This is the Municipal League, Jonathan. It's involuntary. Senator
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
1:35:09
Hill. Okay, is this going to be on a pure parcel basis, a pure house or pure address, or how's
it being done? It does not specify Senator Hill.
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:35:21
That's a big open statement right there. I'm not trying to sell it. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 377
1:35:29
Senator Hammer. Senator Hammer. Thank you, Mr.
Governor. Senator Clark, on the $100, I just want to make sure I'm clear on that one. If the fire department tries to raise the
dues above $100, that's the part
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:35:52
that has to be approved by the city government. If they've set dues over $100, which
was my amendment, then the city council would have to approve anything over $100 for you.
Right. So that is kind of the safety net to make sure that a volunteer fire department in the city doesn't run the dues up without a stopgap in there somewhere. Is that correct? That is correct.
Speaker 383
1:36:22
That is the safety. Thank you. Any other questions? Any
Speaker 102
1:36:27
other questions? Anyone wish to speak against the bill, for the bill? On any...
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:36:38
Senator closed? Folks, this is a,
both sides of this, this is a fairness bill.
has happened both in city and rural is but our volunteer fire departments have worked to get our ISO rates down and so that our insurance homeowners insurance has come down a great deal so much so that your dues is actually free and if your insurance companies did what they used to do which they would charge you your old ISO which was class nine if you unless you belong to the fire department and then you got the discount. They don't do that anymore so everybody gets the
discount but only 40 to 60 percent of the people are paying to support the fire department. That's the good side of it. The bad side of it is if you don't pay you can lose your property. That's why we put the hundred dollars because most people are saving way over a hundred dollars on their homeowner's insurance. On the other side you know this kind of got lost after I'd agreed to run it to see what the Municipal League was going to do with my water bill. They said that the problem the whole time was representation. We got down, we lost in the House committee.
We took out representation, the only part that they had a problem with, and then they came around Friday, which I couldn't say anything different than just dirty tricks that just gutted the whole bill without my knowledge. and so I think it's probably a good bill but I don't trust them any further than you can throw them but
Speaker 208
1:38:16
here it is Senator closed Any objection
Speaker 386
1:38:20
to rolling the vote? There is Please call the roll Madam Secretary Ballinger Bledsoe
Speaker 212
1:38:35
Bond Bond Caldwell Cheatham Chesterfield Clark Cooper Davis Dismang
Speaker 214
1:38:54
Eads Elliott Elliot, English, Flippo,
Speaker 210
1:39:11
Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hickey, Hill,
No. Ingram. Ingram. Irvin. Irvin. Blake Johnson. Blake Johnson. Mark Johnson. No. Letting. Leading, Mallet,
Speaker 38
1:39:51
Mallet, Pitch, Rapert, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, Teague, Teague, Wallace.
Speaker 397
1:40:09
any senator who wishes to vote or change their vote Senator Chesterfield is aye
Senator Hester is no any other senators who wish to change their vote or vote Senator Rayford is no Senator Cheatham is aye Senator Eads is aye Senator Stample is no any others? Senator Dismanke any others?
Senator Hickey is no. Senator Bond is aye. I'm beginning to wonder about mine. Any others? If not, cast up the ballot. The vote of 14 yea. 14 yea, 15 nay. The bill has failed to pass. Senator Clark. Move for pleasure. Move for pleasure.
Speaker 404
1:41:09
it's proper motion chair ask all for
Speaker 397
1:41:22
clinching senate bill 182 say aye all opposed
motion is carried Senator Flippo, Senate Bill 409.
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
1:41:41
Thank you, Mr. President. Members, I make a motion to put Senate Bill 409 on second reading for purpose of amendment.
You've heard the motion to put Senate Bill 409 on second reading for purpose of amendment. Is there any objection to the motion? Seeing no objection, the bill is placed on second reading for
Chair
Unverified
1:42:00
purpose of amendment. Amendment 3 to Senate
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
1:42:04
Bill 409. Senator, you're recognized. All right, members. So good news is this is the third, and I believe the final amendment to Senate Bill
409. So what this does is it returns the trade journal to an option.
So the bill would require notice in the newspaper with an option to use a trade journal in addition. If bids are accepted electronically, then a website notice must
also be made. The only other change from what was voted out of committee is the removal of any reference to exclusive for online advertising because they will not be able to exclusively advertise online. I'd be happy to take any questions. Any questions on the amendment
for Senator Flippo? Saying no questions, the question before the Senate is amendment adoption.
All in favor of the amendment say aye. Aye. All opposed? Saying none,
Speaker 397
1:42:51
the amendment is adopted. Senate to engrossing. Senate Bill 461, Senator Hammer.
Speaker 32
1:42:57
Senate Bill 461 by Senator Hamer to amend
Chair
Unverified
1:43:00
the law concerning the creation of and timing of tax collection in certain fire departments and improvement districts and to declare an emergency. Senators, it does have an
emergency clause. Senator Hamer, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So
you just heard about a fire department bill. Let me make sure we have clear distinctions as to which fire department we're talking about.
And I've covered some of this last week, so I'll try to be as brief as I can. there are at least five ways that you can form a volunteer fire department. There's the volunteer fire department, the municipal fire department, the subordinate service district, the improvement district, and the fire protection district. The volunteer fire department are those that
are often associated with nonprofits. They're the ones that go out and do the fish fries and not say fire improvement districts don't do that, but
that's totally separate. The one that I'm dealing with are the fire protection district. What makes that unique is that when it comes to the dues that are established by the
fire protection district it involves the local vote of the people to determine what the dues are that are going to be collected and imposed upon themselves and so what this bill would do is that in the case of the fire protection districts that the dues that have been deemed to be collected or to want to be collected by the vote of the local people would be placed on the tax due for the purpose being collected the time your personal property taxes are collected you could not pay your personal property taxes just like you
can't pay your personal property taxes unless you pay your suburban improvement districts your city liens or your sanitation liens you would not be able to pay your personal property taxes until your volunteer fire department dues that are associated only with the fire protection district would be paid first a couple things I want to remind you of first of all back in 1980 the legislative branch passed a bill that required, mandated, if you would, that volunteer fire departments of all kinds have to show up and put out a fire or respond to an emergency call
because of a situation that happened where somebody had not paid their dues and the fire department showed up on the scene to put out the fire and because they had not paid their dues, they didn't put out the fire. After that situation, law mandated that they had to respond. So they have to keep the fire trucks they have to keep the training up they have to keep the buildings in place they have to do all the things just as though they were getting paid those dues or not and then the second
thing I want to remind you of is that the last session we basically took away
their GIF funding okay we took away their GIF funding so what this is going to do is just move those dues in the fire protection district up to where they would be placed to be collected prior to the personal property tax being
collected this bill is not going to affect the vast majority of your voters the ones that this is going to affect are those that want the service but don't want to pay for it get the benefits of it by having their ISO low scores lower so they get better insurance rates
on their homes and this is a fairness bills way I would list it in that
everybody ought to pay their fair share and this is what the bills intended to do and I'll be glad to answer
Speaker 422
1:46:16
any questions okay we're still on a per partial basis though right that's correct it's only as determined and the big thing I want
everybody understand the the total amount of the dues okay and the structure of which is collected on that's all determined at the local level that's the good and I'll just go on record and say I hope someday every
volunteer fire department is a fire improvement district because the process is a lot more transparent there's some stopgaps the other thing that this bill does that I want to make sure you know is that though that those dues have to be and this is to your point Senator Hickey I amended the bill they have to be reviewed and approved or disapproved by the foreign court and to Senator Flowers issue that she had everything prior to January 1st 2020 is deemed uncollectible so this begins moving
Speaker 422
1:47:06
forward to follow up with that okay so if
I have a one acre vacant lot next to my house I'm gonna be assessed two fees correct if those are two separate parts we have a parcel yes sir and now where's the fairness that on this the fairness is that you at the local level get
to have that interaction with your board to determine how all that is is determined and that's what drives it to the local level if it's if it if your house is with one acres and that's one parcel you only pay one fee if your acre is one parcel and your others your house is one parcel that would be two but you fight
that out at the local level and once you fight that out the local
Speaker 424
1:47:47
level then that's where this would kick in but this is
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:47:57
a local decision why don't we leave it locally because thank you any other questions Senator Elliott I
couldn't quite all of what you were saying, but I'm wondering if somebody has not paid their taxes or paid for the fire protection, do they not get the fire services if they have not paid?
Because I'm thinking about cases such as maybe there's some kind of hardship that happened at a point, not that I want to keep anybody from paying, I mean, I think
people should pay, but is there any kind of exception for any kind of hardship somebody might have
Speaker 422
1:48:36
run into? Well, I would probably answer that two ways. Number one, I want to remind you of
the dues that you already have to pay or what you already have to pay before you pay your personal property
tax. That is suburban improvement districts, city liens, and sanitation liens.
Okay. Those all have to be paid before you pay your personal property tax. What this bill is intended to do is give the volunteer fire department the same status as those three. And so I would say that once we pass this law, everybody will know what the law is, and they need to pay those dues prior to them being able to pay their personal property tax. Well,
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:49:11
I think that makes my question, as far as I'm concerned, more important to what I'm getting at. Because we already have
a list of things they have to pay. I'm not against that.
I am not against them paying this fee either. I'm not against it. But what I'm asking, because things do happen to people. And so, because even, you know, if you can't pay your taxes, a lot of times you can work out some kind of payment plan or something. I don't know about all those you mentioned. But if you cannot pay, say, at the time it's due, is there some kind of way you can work with the district and get the taxes
paid if you can demonstrate a hardship, is what I'm asking. I think that
would be a discussion that you would need to have, say, for example, your resident living
within, of course, again, keep in mind, all this is decided at the local level as far as the amount of the dues, the parcels that Senator Hill was talking about, all that can be fought out at the local level.
But once it's been fought out at the local level and it's been determined by the vote of the people, the approval of the board and as written into this, the review and the approval process by the quorum court, once all that's been fought out at the local level, then it would be submitted. So I wouldn't want to speak on behalf of any one county or any one fire department that if somebody had a hardship and they went to their fire chief and said, hey, I just I need some I need some help on this. i'm i'm not saying that couldn't happen i'm not saying it would happen but to me that's where it
would need to happen is at that local
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:50:40
level but there's nothing in the bill though like we have laws for some things that in the event of a hardship or or in the event you need more time you can get more time work on a process for paying there's nothing in the in the bill that says at
the local level set it up there's nothing like that though this is what i'm trying to be sure about no ma'am
there's nothing in the bill nor to my knowledge is there any of
that allowed for the server improvement district
the city lanes or the sanitation lanes that are already in existence now I'm gonna maybe there is I'm just saying I don't know that there is well I'm gonna
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:51:19
back up one last time and say I appreciate all those things you keep telling me I'm I
have no issue with that I am more
concerned whether or not if somebody because of a hardship the house catches on
fire will they get service if they've not
paid yes ma'am they if that's your
concern that was that was taken care of back in the 80s when we mandated to these volunteer fire departments you have to respond to a call we mandated that as a legislature back then okay and so they are and that that's part of why i brought this is because there are some people who want the service but they don't want to pay for it as long as it's in the volunteer status they're going to ride that all day long and they're going to get the lower iso ratings but they're not going to put any skin in the game yeah well i'm
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:52:05
not arguing that and that's what i was asking all along trying to are they going to get service that's all i was trying
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
1:52:11
to find out so thank you thank you very much thank you any other questions senator hill one more question what what type
Speaker 422
1:52:22
of oversight do we have for the all the section likes we go into these uh fire departments for
the money that's going to it yes so if you got a bad actor fire department that's what you're referring to I had I went back and checked with leg audit and a lot of the bad actors are the volunteer fire departments that are nonprofit they're the ones that kind of give I don't I don't want to say a hundred percent that those let me back up take another run at the volunteer
fire departments that are nonprofit have the least amount of accountability for how the money is spent because the board has a discretion that's the reason I didn't go for everything I'm just going to the fire protection district because the fire protection district has the greatest accountability factor when those dues get set at the local level and I've even enhanced it in this bill that before they can raise their due so we don't get a runaway fire department that's out there just jacking it up they've got to go
back before the quorum court and get review but also approval or disapproval so the quorum court could say we we disapprove so that's that's the good feature in this so whatever
the whatever the fees are set out there now moving forward if this bill goes through quorum court's going to have a little bit more involvement in it which i think
is a good transparency and accountability thing any other questions anyone
Chair
Unverified
1:53:37
wish to speak against the bill for the bill senator clark is
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:53:45
recognized for the bill folks this is not a perfect solution but it is an important it is a needed solution i would have preferred that we went back and not allowed the insurance companies to give the iso discount if you weren't a member and i ran that bill four years ago and the insurance companies didn't want it and i understand it i'm a businessman myself they said it shouldn't be
our responsibility but we rejected that solution and that would have still everybody would have still been voluntary but you wouldn't have got the discount of the iso rating so then you would have joined the fire department and uh which would have been less expensive than uh than paying more for your insurance the state has mandated a lot of us are not aware of this the state originally volunteer fire departments decided what area they wanted to serve the state has come in since then mandated that every area of the state must be covered by volunteer fire departments so they're
covering areas they didn't necessarily want to cover they're offering we've come back and mandated what services they have to offer and uh and so in my we're i've got several that are close to i-30 that are running up and down i-30 all the time leaving their jobs uh for accidents for fires and for emt type things with all of that there's a cost we helped out that we we as legislators help direct millions of dollars in general improvement funds to fire departments while
they existed they no longer exist i had the same concern that you have about making it mandatory but these folks have to be funded that's why the amendment is there that says the if it's over a hundred dollars the quorum court and the county judge who are elected have to approve it and let me also remind you that in these fire improvement districts that center hammer is talking about they're not your normal local fire department their board members are appointed by the county
judge so you have another layer of protection to be sure that you don't have any crazy stuff going on so it's not perfect but is by far the best solution that anyone has offered center hammer worked very hard on this the fire departments have worked very hard on this uh and it's something that i think we need to pass if you come up with a better selection in the better uh answer in the next two years i know center hammer and i will work with you on it but in the meantime i would ask that you vote for this thank you anyone
Speaker 129
1:56:24
wish to speak against anyone wish to speak for
Speaker 102
1:56:28
or anyone wish to speak at all. Senator
Speaker 207
1:56:31
closed? Want to close? Senator's going to close. Thank you, Mr.
Governor. A couple things. With regards to the parcel discussion, I respect that, understand that. That's fought out at the
local level, okay? This bill doesn't interfere with that part of it. So that can be maintained and fought out at the local level. One of the efforts to make sure, you may remember last session, Representative Bragg ran a bill if you're a timber guy or you own timberland
you know we put the cap of the nickel on there remember that that part and then the other thing I
want you to to be knowledgeable of as Senator Clark mentioned we've been working on this and and back and forth on this to get it to the best that we could the tax collectors actually approached me and wanted this because they want to see
a standard across the state that's uniform so when people walk in they know what the law says and the last thing I would do is just remind you this is fire improvement districts only that we're
asking this for so I'd appreciate a good vote to help
Speaker 102
1:57:38
the volunteer fire departments Senator has closed is there any objection to rolling the vote
Speaker 453
1:57:45
there is an objection please call the roll
Speaker 210
1:57:51
Ballinger Ballinger Bledsoe bond Caldwell. Caldwell.
Speaker 212
1:57:59
Cheatham. Cheatham. Chesterfield. Chesterfield. Clark. Cooper.
Speaker 210
1:58:07
Davis. Davis. Dismang. Eads. Elliot. English. Flippo. Flippo. Flowers. Garner. Hammer. Hendren, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blight Johnson, Mark Johnson,
Aye. Letting. Aye. Mallet. Pitch. Raper. Raper. Yes. Rice. Rice. Sample. Aye. Stevafield.
Speaker 38
1:59:01
Stevafield. Sturge. Aye. Teague. Aye. Teague. Wallace. Aye. Anyone wish to vote or change
Chair
Unverified
1:59:22
Senator Caldwell is aye. Senator Garner is no. Senator Hendren is aye. Senator Hester is aye. Senator Filippo is no. Anybody else? Anybody over here? We're called up. Okay. Cast up the
Speaker 102
1:59:43
ballot. 26 yays, 4 nays The bill is passed The
Chair
Unverified
1:59:50
emergency clause is adopted
Transmit to the House Senator Mark
Johnson Senate Bill 463 By Senator Mark Johnson To amend the law concerning initiatives and referenda And to provide for the licensing Registration and enforcement of laws Concerning certain persons and
entities That participate in the paid
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:00:17
canvassing industry This does have an emergency clause Senator Mark Johnson Thank you, Governor. Senate Bill 463 regulates the paid canvassing industry for initiative petitions. It does not regulate volunteer initiative petitions. So true grassroots organizations are not affected by this.
The bill regulates paid petition canvassers. It regulates the organizations that pay those canvassers and the sponsors who are the ultimate ones behind it. I think that Senator Pitch did a wonderful job of explaining the problem we're dealing with and that the proposed constitutional amendment will hopefully alleviate some of this. This will come in under that and fix some of the problems related to how people go about collecting the signatures one of the
things it does it requires the the sponsors in the canvas or companies to actually be licensed they have to take a test and they
have to take a test on the election law and how amendment 7 is administered under the law and they also have to
take a test on the particular uh ballot initiative that they're trying to get people to sign petitions for a lot of this came about because i had a a friend and lady was actually
friend of many of y'all that was went out to the um was at the gas station out here in west little rock and someone approached her with a binder clipboard that had a petition and said would you like to sign the term limits petition she says i don't know i'd like to look at it This person handed her this clipboard to sign, and she took it, unbound the clipboard, and flipped the petition over. It was not the term limit petition. It was the gambling amendment, the casino amendment petition.
Obviously, that's fraudulent. And it made me think about how the fact that there's just practically no regulation of these organizations that come in and pay to have someone circulate petitions. This bill, we got it down to I think 18 pages, it took a long time to work through some of the arguments and some of them are simply, they're just constitutional. There's been a lot of case law around the country about dealing with these organizations and we have met all of those except a couple and Mr. Sloan at the Ethics Commission had
made some recommendations after the bill came out of committee and the Bureau has already drawn an amendment that we will hopefully uh get adopted in the house that will clean up the language and make sure that we're in compliance of all that you cannot uh require that a a paid canvasser be
a red registered voter you can require they be a resident but you can't say they have a resident a uh a registered voter you also can't uh require that they wear an ID with their name on it but you can require that they have the ID on their
person and provide it when they are asked the bill would also require that when someone signs a petition that they will show their ID just like under Arkansas law today they have to show their ID when they're going to vote and so if I'm over in the western eastern end of Perry County and I see some open the store, and someone comes up to me and hands a petition to
me, and I say, well, I'm Jason Raper, and I'm going to sign this petition here.
Well, obviously, I'm not Jason Raper, but I know him. I might even know kind of how he signs his name, and I know his address, so I could fraudulently sign that, and no one would ever be the wiser. This will require them to actually see an ID that proves that person is who they are when they sign the petition
and log it in. A couple of more facts about it. They must pass a criminal background check. As I said, they take a test demonstrating knowledge of a ballot measure and a test demonstrating knowledge
of Arkansas state and local ballot initiative and referendum laws, and they pay a $200 fee for the license. The license canvassers must allow anyone that asks for it again to see their license and they must review that license every two years. The Secretary of State must maintain a hotline for people who file complaints about petition canvassers and develop and administer a test covering the state and local initiative process
and the Attorney General will develop and administer a test over the particular ballot measure, and the Secretary of State will develop the test about the process, and the Attorney General will develop a test over that specific ballot measure for the licensed canvassers. There are some penalties it will create for a licensed canvasser that does something fraudulent.
They lose their license, and it can be a Class A misdemeanor. The
canvassing organization or sponsor, if it's proven that they actually conspired to defraud the people of Arkansas in this process, it can be a Class D felony. That is the highlights of the bill. I will be happy to answer any questions. Any questions? Senator
Speaker 169
2:05:56
Chesterfield. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Senator, this is
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:06:02
an awful lot for a person to do who's probably getting five bucks a signature.
Would you agree? It's an awful lot, you say? You don't think that this is overkill for somebody who is trying to make a living probably getting $5 a pop for a signature that they're going to have
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:06:26
to take a test? Well, if they want to do the job, they have to take a test. remember one thing Senator Chesterfield, this doesn't have anything to do with grassroots organizations that want to volunteer to it. This is only people that want to get paid to do it
this is to and I think you point out the problem in bringing that up. If someone gets paid to get someone, coerce someone to sign a petition then there's an incentive for them to maybe fudge a little bit on it And I might add, you brought up a point that's in here, Senator, this would prohibit paying someone per signature on a piecemeal basis. They can be paid a salary or a wage, and they can even have performance bonuses, but they can't be paid, as you said, $5 a signature under this act.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:07:19
How much does the creation of the can-for-serve license examination cost? How much does it cost the
Speaker 279
2:07:30
individual? No, how much does it cost to develop
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:07:33
the test? Who developed the test? The fee will be collected by the individual. I understand what you're saying. Who will develop the test? The one for the individual, I want to keep these straight. One test, the one on the law, will be developed by the Secretary of State's office.
And the one on the individual ballot measure will be developed by the Attorney General's office. So
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:07:55
in order for you to canvass, you've got to take two exams? Yes,
Speaker 474
2:08:03
ma'am. I'm just trying to be clear. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:08:06
That's exactly what I did. Okay, that's it. And has the Secretary of State or the AG told you what it would
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:08:15
cost them to develop the test? No, ma'am, but our
estimates that we worked up have to do with the fact that if no one wants to go through this process,
then there will be no reason to develop anything other than the first test, which would be going forward indefinitely because it has to do with what's in Amendment 7 and in the corresponding law. On the specific test related to an individual ballot measure, then that would only be developed once that's certified to the Secretary of State. then the Attorney General would put together an exam related to that.
And I don't expect these to be extremely long, but I expect them to cover the highlights and the fact that someone that is out supposedly following the law has some knowledge of what the law actually is. So in
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:09:09
essence, what you're saying is you're just trying to cut
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:09:13
this out completely. No, ma'am, we're not. Matter of fact, as I said, you cannot, if this is a grassroots petition drive, This law would not affect it at all. This is only those that, like I mentioned,
came up to my friend at the Murphy USA station and tried to fraudulently coerce her to
sign a petition. Any other questions? Senator Elliott, then
Chair
Unverified
2:09:40
Senator Pitch. Senator Johnson, I know you are genuine about
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
2:09:44
this, but it appears to me you have to do more
to be a canvasser than you do a state senator. I'm sorry, I didn't hear
that last part. I said it appears to me that to be a canvasser requires you to do more than you have to do to be a state senator.
And I am struggling with the gravity with which you view this versus so many other things that we do, such as becoming
a state senator. We don't have to do nearly as many as these things in here. So do you think it's possible that you may be putting too much of a burden on people who want to do something like collecting signatures that, not to diminish it,
but could be far less reaching than what we do in here? And we don't
have to measure up to anything near this. Well, Senator, I do
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:10:50
disagree one thing. First of all, we won't be requiring these people to be a registered voter. And, you know, there's no test to be a registered voter. You don't have to know anything about government to be a registered voter. You only have to live in your district, be of age, and to be a registered voter to be elected to the Senate. There's a few other things like if you're a convicted felon, obviously you can't run.
But this is more akin to how someone gets a driver's license. You have to take a test that shows you have a modicum of knowledge of the traffic laws and that you have, I'll say, a modicum of ability to operate a motor vehicle in order to get a driver's license. And why do we do that? It's to protect all the other people out there. And that's what I believe this bill does. It protects the voters of Arkansas from someone who can come in with millions of dollars, buy their way onto the ballot, and perpetrate something on the people.
Now, there's nothing either illegal or even in many cases inappropriate, although I do have some problems with it, of people spending their money to get public policy changed. I have no problem with that. But when you see instances where someone has manipulated the process and even more so probably done some things that are fraudulent to coerce people to sign a petition, even as the instance that I laid out where they actually lied to my friend about what this particular petition was.
So this is why we have to regulate these, because there's a chance of our petition and initiative process being subverted by those that have enough money to do so for their own parochial interests. Well, but
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
2:12:34
are you saying that you have a friend and something happened with your friend? And there was no investigation about that, I'm assuming. We don't know what could have been the problem. Because I remember when we had the petition going for the casinos and something else.
And I saw people like at the gas stations and stuff like that. And they had two folders or two, what do you call those things that we don't use anymore? clipboards. They had two clipboards. One was one thing and one was the other. It's reasonable to me that in a
case like that, they might have just had the wrong thing under the signature page. So I'm just worried about an overreaction to something that I think seemingly could be
problematic, but doesn't seem like it should rise to this occasion of this kind of law that seems rather punitive, because I don't think you...
Do you have to be a registered voter to be a senator? You have to be a registered voter to be
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:13:38
a senator, yes, ma'am. I'm asking, do you have to be a registered voter? You have to be a qualified... The Constitution, I believe,
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
2:13:44
says qualified election. Yeah, it doesn't say you have to be a registered voter, though, does it? I'm sorry, that last... Does it say you have to be a
registered voter? I'm missing that if it does. But these people have to be registered voters. What's fair about that?
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:13:58
Well, Senator, you and I could debate fairness all day
long, but I think what we're talking about here are professional people who hire out to do a job. The job they do has potentially a tremendous effect on the public policy of the state of Arkansas. And we simply ask that they follow the law, starting out by knowing what the law is, and in the second sense, to stay within the legal boundaries of the process that is already outlined in Amendment 7.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
2:14:29
Okay, my last question, what is it going to cost me to get registered to be a Canvasser? What's my entire cost? Your total cost would
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:14:37
probably be about $200. But remember, the sponsoring organization can pay that. Yeah. If you want to hire people and there's a train, this in effect, you've got to train them and you've got to go get them licensed. And just like, of course, as you know now, we have a shortage of truck drivers. If you want to be an over-the-road truck driver, there are companies out there that will not only pay for your instruction, and they'll pay for you to go take the CDL if you really want to work at it.
And this would be no different. But it would ensure that, like those CDL drivers on the highway, that you would know the law and would try to follow it. Just like we
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
2:15:15
do in here, right? We know the law and we always try to follow it. We don't ever pass anything that's knowingly unconstitutional, do we?
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:15:22
We certainly try not to. But, you know, you know, Senator, sometimes, you know, we are fallible people, and I recognize this. And that's why we're all
Speaker 491
2:15:31
down here for 90 days. Thank you, Senator.
I appreciate it. To try to cover those things. Thank you. Thank you. Senator Teague
Speaker 185
2:15:38
has a motion. Mediate consideration. Here, here. Please come down to the well and
Chair
Unverified
2:15:56
make the motion. He's got to yield. Well, Senator, yield. I'll be happy to yield. Mediate consideration. Thank you. immediate consideration you've heard the motion for immediate consideration
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:16:03
all those in favor say aye aye opposed ayes have
Speaker 500
2:16:06
it motions carried please call the law ballinger bledsoe bond
Speaker 502
2:16:11
Bond? No. Caldwell? Aye. Cheatham? No.
Chair
Unverified
2:16:29
Chesterfield? No. Chesterfield? Clark Cooper Davis Davis
Speaker 214
2:16:41
Dismang Eads Elliott English Flippo Flowers
Speaker 210
2:16:59
Garner Hammer Hendren Hester Hickey Hickey Hill Ingram
Ingram Irvin Blake Johnson Mark Johnson Letting Letting Mallet Mallet Pitch
Speaker 38
2:17:34
Raypert Rice Rice Sample Stubbafil Stubbafil Sturch
Teague Wallace Anyone wish to vote or change their vote?
Chair
Unverified
2:17:52
Senator Hill is no. Anyone else over here? Anyone over here? Cast up
the ballot. 17 yeas, 7 nays, the bill fails.
Speaker 516
2:18:17
Are you wishing to be recognized? Okay, please stand. Please come
Speaker 518
2:18:20
to the well and make your motion. I'm going to ask any questions but all
Chair
Unverified
2:18:39
those in favor against motion fails Senator Johnson
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:18:50
I move in response to both of which Senate Bill 463
Chair
Unverified
2:19:00
failed. You've heard the motion. Any objection? Yes. All those in favor say
Speaker 11
2:19:06
aye. Aye. Those? No. The ayes have it. Motion's carried. Senator Clark. Senate Bill
Chair
Unverified
2:19:18
605 by Senator Clark to amend the name of National School Lunch State Categorical
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
2:19:23
Funding Senator Clark thank you governor this bill would rename the name the National School Lunch Fund to the Enhanced Student Achievement Fund be glad to take any
Speaker 441
2:19:42
questions any questions for the senator. Anyone wish to speak
Speaker 102
2:19:46
against? Four. Senators closed. Appreciate a good
Speaker 208
2:19:52
vote. Any objection to rolling the vote?
Speaker 14
2:19:57
Please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell,
Chair
Unverified
2:20:01
Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismaine, Eads, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Ladding, Mallett, Pitch, Rayford, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote? Seeing done, cast up the ballot.
Speaker 43
2:20:32
35 ayes, 0 nays. The bill is passed. Transmit to the House. Senator Mark Johnson. Senate Bill 652 by Senator
Speaker 32
2:20:39
Mark Johnson, to name the office building located at 50 Wood Wood Lane, Little Rock, Arkansas, and to honor Governor
Chair
Unverified
2:20:45
Winthrop Rockefeller. Senator Johnson. Thank you, Governor. This is one I hope maybe
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:20:56
we can get past. The building across the street, some of you know, is the 501 building.
Some of you know is the Agon building. Some of you know is the National O-Line Insurance Company building. It's a historic building for a couple of reasons, but first and foremost, it was the penthouse of that building that many of you have visited as the offices of Arkansas State University was where Governor Winthrop Rockefeller lived when he was first elected and when he was first inaugurated in 1967. The governor's mansion was built during the McMath administration, and they literally
ran out of money, and the legislature was loathe to put any more money into the mansion, so subsequent governors lived there, and they needed some work done. They had exposed wiring and other problems. Governor Rockefeller, being wealthy and able to afford it, said, I'll fix it up, but I need to live somewhere temporarily. So he moved into the penthouse of the National
O-Line Building, and that's where he lived for about the first six months of his first administration.
Governor Rockefeller was born in New York in 1912 and in 1955 he came to visit a friend in Arkansas and fell in love with it. He bought a farm up on Petty Jean Mountain and decided he wanted to leave
her the rest of his life. Governor Faubus at the time recognized the value of having someone from a famous and wealthy family to help sell Arkansas for economic development and he named Mr. Rockefeller as the first chairman of what we know now as the AEDC, then it was called
the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission.
He took that work very seriously, and by the time he left that commission after nine years, he had brought over 600 new industrial plants to the state of Arkansas and provided 90,000 new jobs. Industrial employment in Arkansas grew by 47%, and manufacturing wages grew by 88% during that time. In 1964, Winthrop Rockefeller challenged the incumbent governor, Oral Faubus, and was defeated, but in 1966, he was elected as
the first Republican governor in Arkansas since Reconstruction, an event that was very notable in my life because the person
he defeated was my father. I have to tell this story and it has a lot to do with why I sponsored this bill. Back in 1984 when we still elected judges on a partisan basis my dad was the Republican nominee for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and our late friend and Lieutenant Governor Winthrop Paul Rockefeller invited all the candidates up to Petty Jean
for a rally and picnic. And
when we got up there, my dad looked over at Wynne and said, Wynne, if your daddy had said, if I had said about, if you'd said about my daddy what I said about your daddy, I'm not so sure I would have invited you to my house.
But I'm grateful to be here. And that began a friendship between Wynn and myself that lasted up until his death.
And I still have, with most all of his family, I consider very close personal friends. My daughter was honored to work in his office when he was Lieutenant Governor. I think this is a lesson of reconciliation and how people that were political enemies can come together and be great friends. Governor Rockefeller changed the trajectory of this state in many, many ways. And I just outlined a few of them. But there is no building named for him.
And it seemed like the appropriate thing to do that now the state owns the building. It's right across the street from the Capitol. And the history he had with it of that being a place where he lived in the early part of his administration, that it would be an appropriate way to honor not just Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, Rockefeller, but Lieutenant Governor Gwynn Paul Rockefeller and
their entire family who have contributed so much to this state. So I would appreciate a good vote and
Speaker 535
2:25:26
I'll be happy to take any questions. Mr. Hammer. Thank you.
Senator Johnson, a couple sessions ago, I think then
Representative Burris ran a bill that would prohibit naming buildings after elected officials. Do you research this and check that, or that doesn't apply to this, does it? There is
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:25:44
a bill, and I'm very familiar with it, Senator Hamer. If the person is deceased, retired, or over 70 years of age, then you can name it after. I mean, Governor Rockefeller, sadly, is all three. Yes, sir.
Chair
Unverified
2:26:01
Any other questions? Anyone wish to speak on this bill?
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:26:05
Senator Chesterfield in favor. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is not often that I agree with
my friend, Senator Johnson, although I value his tenacity. But Winter Paul Rockefeller and Winter Paul Rockefeller were special people in this state. It was when Rockefeller who appointed the first African Americans to his cabinet and brought this state together after we had gone through the Orville
Favreau era and it gained a reputation as being a not a good place for people of color especially to live. It was his leadership that helped to bring us back together. I think it is all it is very appropriate that we would name a building in his honor. And I would offer a great recommendation and a great thank you to Senator Johnson for bringing it, and I too would appreciate a good vote.
Speaker 102
2:27:16
Anyone else wish to speak on this bill? Senator, want
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:27:25
to close? Thank you, Senator Chesterfield, for those comments. I think it's important that we all recognize the things we have in common because too often up here we have to look at the things that we disagree on. So
Speaker 14
2:27:41
thank you all and I appreciate a good vote. Madam Secretary,
Chair
Unverified
2:27:44
please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis,
Dismaine, Eads, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendren, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Mallett, Pitch, Raper, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, T. Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote, cast up the ballot,
Speaker 231
2:28:10
35 yeas, 0 nays. The bill is passed. Transmit to
Chair
Unverified
2:28:16
the House. Senator Sample of Garland County.
Speaker 32
2:28:19
Senate Bill 657 by Senator Sample. to amend the law concerning the method
Chair
Unverified
2:28:25
by which the Office of Driver Services may provide required notices to a person whose driver's license or permit has been
Speaker 544
2:28:34
suspended, disqualified, or revoked. Senator Sapper. Thank you, Mr.
Senator Bill Sample
Unverified
2:28:37
President. This is a bill. This is DF&A's bill. It's geared towards saving them some time and money. It concerns when a person has their driver's license either suspended or they're a permanent revote,
that they don't have to send them that notice in certified mail. They can send it by first class
Chair
Unverified
2:29:05
mail. Any questions for the senator? Anyone wish to
Speaker 208
2:29:10
speak on this bill? The senator has closed.
Chair
Unverified
2:29:15
Any objection to rolling the vote? Please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismayne, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch, Raper, Rice, Sample, Stubbeville, Sturge, T. Wallace.
Anyone wish to change their vote? Senator Clark is no. Senator Garner, did you
Speaker 102
2:29:46
say you're no? Senator Garner's no. Anybody else? Anybody else?
Chair
Unverified
2:29:53
Cast up the ballot. 33 yays, 2 nays. The bill is passed. Transmit it down to
the House. Senator Elliott. Symbol 664 by Senator Elliott, to require that new inmates receive reading assessments and dyslexia screenings, to require reading and dyslexia services, and require corrections of teachers' known best practices of science-based reading instruction.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
2:30:21
Senator Elliott is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Governor. Members, you might remember a few days ago I had a bill that was designed to make sure our young people who were in our juvenile institutions would be granted the same thing as our kids in K-12 and that they would get services for reading for dyslexia and also have teachers who are trained in the science of reading so they don't continue to go through school, the juvenile detention centers.
not learn to read or come back to school. Well, this is one step further in that we are going to do the same thing, but we just can't do it to the same degree in the beginning for the folks who are in the Arkansas Department of Correction. Because it is a different situation, they have a school system that is funded through the Department of Education and they up on up on intake they do assessments for folks but for dealing with the rest of
the people who are in the system that's a whole different kind of process we're going to have to use so this bill in a lot of ways what looks a lot different from the other from the other one but that's because I got together with the folks I got together with the superintendent of the school for our Department of Correction to get it the way they could handle it but it will do roughly the same thing but just over a longer period of time and the steps they
have to take a little bit different the cause of the clientele I'll answer any
Speaker 102
2:32:00
questions any questions for the senator anyone wish to speak against
Chair
Unverified
2:32:15
Senator is closed. Any objection to rolling the vote? Please roll it. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang, Eads, Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson,
Ludding, Malik, Pitch, Rayford, Rice, Sample, Stubberfield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote? Cast up the ballot. 35
yeas, 0 nays. The bill is passed. Transmit down to the House. Senator Hammer. Senate Bill 668 by Senator
Hammer. Concerning a public school district that is classified as being in need of level 5 intensive of support, and to allow the State Board of Education to grant extensions of its exemption
of authority in certain situations. Senator Hammer. Thank you, Mr.
Governor. If you look on page two, it's the meat of the bill. What this bill does is allow that a school that is under state control that's been taken over by the Department of Ed to be able to add two 24-month periods, during which time the school district that's under control of the state board of education could be removed provided they meet the criteria. This is what I would refer to as the opportunity for soft landing that if a
school district is right there on the verge of being where it needs to be but not quite yet there that the Department of Ed would be able to hold them up to two 24-month periods and the school district can complete and finish and get out during any of those 24 it's not a total 24 month takeover and that's what the meat of the bill does I'll be glad to answer any questions any questions anyone
Chair
Unverified
2:34:05
wish to speak on this okay Senator Chesterfield would like to speak against
Speaker 43
2:34:10
and then we'll get to Senator Bond anybody want to speak for it okay Senator Chesterfield
Speaker 203
2:34:19
then Senator Bond. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I had spoken with
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:34:25
Senator Hammer about this bill since the majority of these districts that have been taken over are all African-American, or majority African-American. And there's something particularly egregious about waiting until February to tell children
what they have to do by April in order to get out. In order to make this work, the State Department of Education needs to establish head on, and I thought I had legislation that said it, to specifically say, and I put this on in by 2013 specifically state what steps a district had to take in order to extricate itself from state control. I thought that was reasonable. That way the kids know what they've got to do,
the parents know what they have to do, the school district knows what they have to do. And while we may talk about Pine Bluff and we may talk about Mariana, in essence, this is about Little Rock. When the state board waits until February to tell you what you've got to do by April, it creates difficulty. Especially when you change the measures by which you assess how children are doing.
We started out under No Child Left Behind. We have now moved to ESSA. Our kids were showing progress. Those of you who are in education and those of you with common sense knows it takes a couple of years for kids to understand the test, for teachers to understand the test, but now you're going to keep people for nine years. Nine years without knowing who your school board is.
Well, you know who that is, Johnny Key, or whomever the commissioner is. But try as a parent getting through to the commissioner of education to talk about a local school board matter. You have no say-so over who becomes the superintendent of schools. All you do is pay the money. Pay the money. And if you don't like what's going on, that's just too bad because people don't have to respond to you.
Everybody keeps talking about local control. Well, people at the local level are being asked for taxation without representation. I want schools to succeed, but I don't think they succeed when the people who are making decisions don't know anything at all about the children. I don't think they can succeed if the people who are making the decisions have no invested interest in those kids. kids. I don't think it succeeds if parental involvement is not a part of it, and parents
can't be involved if they don't know to whom and how to get things done for their kids. But here we are. If it went to a local school district and a superintendent was there for three years and hadn't made the difference, what would we do? We'd fire the superintendent. if a school board were in place and our kids were not making adequate yearly progress we unseat the members of the school board well this has been going on
for almost five years and now we come with well if they didn't get it right for five years of fooling with our children let's
Speaker 474
2:38:15
give them four more to do what? To effectuate what? And how do
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:38:25
we as parents and taxpayers get any resonance because they don't have to pay any attention to us whatsoever and invariably they don't. This is bad public policy. If we believe in local
government we will restore it. And even more importantly it's time for us to establish a level playing field there are school districts across this street at which I have a far higher percentage of kids who aren't doing well who never get taken over it's not fair it's unethical and it's unnecessary I'd appreciate a no vote
Speaker 102
2:39:03
anybody wish to speak in favor Senator Bond against I know everybody's
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
2:39:10
tired the calendars on this is a huge
issue for our area so we have to take just a few minutes and hope that y'all will focus on it the State Department has been in control of LRSD for four and a half years current law allowed them to control it for five now they want to extend it for four more if you look at page two of the bill down at the bottom it extends it allows them to extend for two 24-month periods but then it also comes back and says in any of those times if there's insufficient progress and we can still consolidate reconstitute or whatever so there is we
got our exit criteria for LRSD 4.5 years after the state took over just so everybody's clear the state hires the superintendent they hired mr. Curris fired him then they hired mr. poor they have been in total control of LRSD for four and a half years. We tried to pass a bill in this session that said you have to turn it back at the end of five years. That was defeated in the Senate committee and not heard in the House committee. The extension of control by the state makes no sense. I know we all talk about local
control. I heard a member or one of our elected officials say at a meeting about LRSD that he's for local control until local control isn't working well under state control they have now classified eight schools it used to be six under state control it's gone from six to eight so what does that tell you it's time for this district to be turned back to a local school board to have representation that people know who they can go to so that we can attempt if we need to
to pass a millage. I was for millage under state control, which was defeated because most people said, why would we want taxation without representation? So give us an opportunity. This bill is about Little Rock. That's what it's really about. Give us an opportunity to have our schools back. They are on the right track. They are making progress, but it's time to turn it back to a local board. And that's what we should all want. What if it was your district after five years? What if it was Bentonville? What if it was Springdale? What if it was Searcy?
wherever you would want it back it's the right thing to do do not
Speaker 96
2:41:31
pass this bill please anybody else wish to speak on the bill for against senator are you ready to close thank you
mr. governor just a couple things to remind you of as far as what the bill does so as it is now at the end of five years which is approaching one particular school district but also want to remind you the other school districts have been taken over are making good progress and are actually succeeding
toward beating that five-year on the trend that they're on so as it is now at the end of five years the district has not met the requirements as other school districts that have been taken over by the state are currently working toward and moving in a pace to meet that at the end of five years one of two things will happen either it'll be reconstituted or it'll be turned back over to the district now the comment that was just made is they are making progress. So that's the important criteria of this bill. It doesn't prevent a district that
is making progress from continuing, because what it does is it allows two additional 24-month periods that if they are right there and about to get out and get where they're supposed to be, it allows the department that latitude to hold on just a little bit longer so that they can be be up on their feet and once they're released not come back because we know from time to time districts in the state get taken over they get straightened back out they get turned back and then they have to get taken back over that's not very often but yet it has happened
now the one thing I would use in the way of an analogy it's like this you have an accident and you get the best team assembled together or you get a team whether you consider it the best team or not assembled together and that team is helping you in the rehab process and it gets right there to the end of the time that you're about to be able to walk on your own and the team says sorry time's up we can't help you anymore and at that point you're not ready to get up and to go this allows the team to stay just a little bit longer and there's a key word in this that seems to be
overlooked and it says the word may this was not mandatory in that it says the school the state board shall grant up to it may this creates that latitude for those districts that are right there at that five-year level, but yet need just a little bit more time, and as testified today, are in the right direction, the ability to have the Department of Ed work alongside them so that they can finish the journey and not be taken back over again. I'd appreciate a good vote.
Speaker 14
2:44:03
Madam Secretary, please call the roll. Ballinger? Aye. Bledsoe? Bledsoe? Bond. No. Caldwell.
Chair
Unverified
2:44:22
No. Cheatham. No. Chesterfield. No. Clark. No. Cooper. No. Davis. No. Davis. No. Davis. Dismang. No. Dismang. No.
Speaker 214
2:44:33
Eads. No. Elliot. No. English. No. English. No.
Speaker 210
2:44:39
Aye. Flowers? Aye. Garner? Yes. Hammer? Yes. Hendron? Aye. Hester? Aye. Hickey? Aye. No. No. Hill. Hill. Ingram. Irvin. Blake Johnson. Mark Johnson. Aye. Ludding.
No. Mallet. No. Pitch. Yes. Raper. Yes. Rice.
Speaker 38
2:45:17
Rice. Sample. No. Stubbafil. Yes. Stubbafil is no. Sturge. Teague. No. Wallace. Aye. Aye. anyone wish to vote
Speaker 179
2:45:41
or change their vote Senator Bledsoe is aye Senator
Chair
Unverified
2:45:46
Davis is aye Senator Hill is no Senator Dismayne
is no anybody else anybody else got it
cast up the ballot 16 days 15 days the bill fails center hammers from here okay well I'd rather
you come here but come on down place trying to keep
it consistent and have a little decorum senators recognized for a motion thank you mr. governor like to make a motion that senate bill 668 be the vote be expunged by which it
Chair
Unverified
2:46:35
failed there any objection okay all those in favor say aye aye opposed
ayes have it motion is carried votes expung senator johnson senate
bill 670 by senator mark johnson to amend the law concerning poll workers and other election officials, and to amend a portion of the election laws as amended by Act 258 of
2019. Senator Johnson is recognized. Thank
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:47:11
you, Governor. Earlier in the session, we passed Act 258, and when it was presented by having a senior
moment, Senator Sturge carried this bill. It was actually Representative Gray's bill, and it was to protect people from having a deal with a poll worker who was the spouse of a
candidate. I asked him if this would apply to a specific situation that I knew of. At least one instance, it turns out I found out about another one, where a county chairman's wife was
election commissioner and would prohibit that. and Senator Sturge told me that it was only about poll workers and would not affect it.
Later that afternoon, he emailed me and apologized and said he was mistaken, that unfortunately, the way it was drafted, it did affect a situation
where an election commissioner was the spouse of a county chairman. So I drafted this bill and bounced it off Senator Sturge and Representative Gray, and everybody seemed to think it was okay. And then the Association of the Counties found another little quirk in it. And so this is a cleanup bill to make all those pieces of legislation jive and that they do what they originally were intended.
And I would be happy to take questions
Chair
Unverified
2:48:33
if there are. Any questions for Senator Johnson? Senator Pitch is recognized. Senator
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:48:38
Johnson, did you speak out against this bill when it first came through? I'm sorry, I
Speaker 575
2:48:45
didn't hear that, sir. speak out against Sturge's bill when it went through? I
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:48:49
did not speak against it. I asked him a question and he answered in a positive manner and answered my concerns and then he approached me later that day and said that he was mistaken and the answer he gave me in the question.
Chair
Unverified
2:49:02
Is he supportive of your bill? Yes, sir. Any other
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
2:49:13
questions? Senator Hill. So, looking at this, Senator Johnson, does that not kind of give an inclination or a motion toward or something to show that there might be a conflict of interest when you have the chairman and his spouse working at the polls? Does that
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:49:29
not show a kind of... It's not about poll workers. This is about a county chairman, a party county chairman.
And an election official. And an election commissioner. Commissioner. Yes, sir. And as you know, the county committees elect the election commissioners. Right. So you
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
2:49:43
don't feel like there's any conflict there whatsoever? No, sir. I don't. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Senator Teague's
recognized. Thank you, Mr. President. Does this say another
person can object to somebody within 10 days and they get thrown off? I can't tell what that last paragraph
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:50:02
says. uh is this the part that's in the uh of the last paragraph of the bill
that was part of the language i think the association of counties asked that we put in just to kind of as a clean up thing on their part that
was not part of it say any person that objects you're going to throw the other person off another person makes an objection to his or her service to
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:50:34
the county board within 10 days well it has to do with this is about the poll worker part senator teague this is and the original story i was told is that that representative gray
had a constituent that had a problem felt intimidated by the spouse of their opponent being a poll worker at a particular situation in her district and the the let's just say they cast a little bit broader net than they'd originally intended and uh some people that i mentioned got caught in that net and this is uh the solution to it with some additional language that the association of counties
brought that they felt cleaned it up and that's the language i think
Chair
Unverified
2:51:13
you're referring to thank you mr president any other questions
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
2:51:20
senator hill has a question if if the uh why didn't they bring that before on the first bill whenever senator
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:51:27
starts ran it they had a problem with it? I don't know, Senator, and sometimes things slip by them just
like they do in our case. I don't know the answer to your question, but I do know that I have seen nothing nefarious on anybody's part related to this. This was what you might call a way that just was poorly
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
2:51:43
crafted in the first place. Right, and you are saying Senator Sturge does support you on
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:51:48
what you're doing? I spoke to him before today's session. I told him what the bill was. He was aware of it. He said, I'm fine. I started asking him to speak for it, but I didn't want to put him on the spot on this. I wish he was in here so he could make a comment on that. Well, I do, too. But I did specifically approach him and remind him that the bill was
Speaker 102
2:52:06
up, showed him a copy of the bill. Okay, thank you. Any other questions for the senator? Anyone wish to speak against? Four.
Chair
Unverified
2:52:14
Senator, will you? I'm closed. Senator has closed. Any objection to ruling the vote? There is an objection. please call
Speaker 14
2:52:23
the roll. Ballinger? Ballinger? Aye. Bledsoe? Bledsoe? Bond? Bond? Aye. Caldwell? Aye.
Speaker 212
2:52:37
Cheatham? Cheatham? Chesterfield? No. Clark? Clark? Cooper? No. Davis? No.
Speaker 214
2:52:56
Elliot, English, English, Flippo, Flippo,
Speaker 210
2:53:06
Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hammer, Hendron, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Ingram, Irvin,
Irvin Blake Johnson Blake
Speaker 353
2:53:41
Johnson Mark Johnson Letting Mallet Pitch Rapert Rice Rice
Speaker 179
2:54:10
Anyone wish to vote or change your vote?
Chair
Unverified
2:54:17
Senator Dismay is no. Senator Hendren is no. Anyone else? Cast
up the ballot. 10 yays, 13 days. The bill
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
2:54:30
fails. Senator Ingram. Senate Bill 679
Chair
Unverified
2:54:37
Local Government Capital Improvement Revenue Bond Act of 1985. Senator Ingram.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
2:54:48
Thank you, Governor. The Arkansas Energy Performance Contracting Program was started in 2014. Since inception, it has executed contracts valued of $102.5 million, and it has realized over $150 million in energy savings. Those figures are expected to more than double by the end of 2019. Performance contracting provides the state's public entities the opportunity to utilize
guaranteed energy savings to improve the energy and operational efficiency of their existing facilities without the need for upfront capital. This bill simplifies the definition of a performance-based efficiency project. The proposal is the one remaining code cleanup measure with respect to energy efficiency project and qualified provider. The industry will now, with passage of this, be operating under a single framework.
This language has been vetted with local revenue bond council, the Friday firms, the Stevens Muni Group, and the Municipal League is in support of this. This proposal will help spur energy efficiency and renewable energy projects among municipalities, their facilities and generating energy savings that can be reinvested in other needs. Happy to take questions. If not, I'm closed. Any questions for the senator? Anyone wish to
Chair
Unverified
2:56:21
speak on this? The senator has closed. Any objection to rolling the vote? Please roll the vote,
Madam Secretary. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismayne, Eades, Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Ludding, Malik, Pidge, Raper, Rice, Sample, Steffelfield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Anyone wish to change
their vote? Seeing none, Senator Hickey, present.
Anyone else? Anyone else? Cast up the ballot. 34 yeas, 0 nays. The bill is passed. Transmit it down to our friends in the House.
Speaker 91
2:57:15
Senator Hester. Senate Bill 683 by Senator Hester. To
Chair
Unverified
2:57:19
abolish the Arkansas Broadband Council, the Arkansas Youth Suicide Prevention Task Force, the Grade A Milk Program Advisory Committee, and the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park Advisory Commission.
Senator Hester is recognized. Members, this is
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
2:57:34
a bill brought to us from work with Bruce Campbell on it, just that these aren't
functioning boards anymore and just need to get the language or get them removed. Have to answer
Speaker 169
2:57:47
any questions. Senator Chesterfield is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Senator Hester. They just
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:57:56
don't operate at all. We don't have anything. Are they somewhere else? when we're talking about dealing with youth suicide and that sort of thing,
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
2:58:04
are they housed someplace else? Well, I can tell you that when I asked that question, I was told that these were agreed on within the memberships of these boards. I think they're being moved somewhere else or they're just not functioning anymore. All
Speaker 181
2:58:16
right. Thank you. Senator Hickey has a question. More of a statement. This was signed out of committee, and I think we said that we were going to say if
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
2:58:22
they were signed out or not at the beginning of this. Was that correct? I don't know about that. Yeah, we did sign
Speaker 604
2:58:27
this bill out of committee. Thank you. Any other questions?
Speaker 15
2:58:34
Anyone wish to speak on this bill? Senator, closed? Closed. Senators, closed.
Chair
Unverified
2:58:45
Any objection to rolling the vote on this bill? Please roll the vote, Madam Secretary. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, ingram irvin blake johnson mark johnson bledding mallock pitch raper rice sample stubblefield
starch teague wallace anyone wish to change their vote cast up the ballot 35 yeas zero nays bill is passed transmit to the house senator ballinger is recognized purpose for motion senator
Senator Bob Ballinger
Unverified
2:59:27
ballinger has a motion i am going to make a motion to move senate bill 484 to an interim study and um would like to have an opportunity to kind of discuss what we're doing with the motion and why we're
doing this um so i you know i will i'll go ahead and kind of explain my motion so we've uh we've been working on this pretty hard this session i think actually we got to a really nice balance in legislation, something that while the prosecutors didn't necessarily agree to it, they were no longer opposed to it. I feel like it's in pretty good shape. However, everybody else didn't have that same opportunity. They weren't living with it like I was living with it or like a lot of the other folks who were involved was living with it. But what I would
want is for this body, for you all to realize that it is something we will be dealing with in the future and to think about it and get to the point where, especially when my colleagues will have an opportunity to get comfortable one way or another. You know, 31 states have some version of stand your ground. What that means is you have no duty to retreat if you're defending yourself. Real simple. So 31 states includes Ohio, California, Michigan, Pennsylvania. I mean, the map is pretty expansive of states that have some version of this stand your ground.
It's not a, you know, get out of jail free, get to shoot somebody and get away. That's misinformation. information. So it's something we'll be dealing with over the next couple years. I value my colleagues and their input in the process as we deal with this and wrestle with this, and hopefully we'll get something ready for two years from now. But I appreciate, I wanted everybody to know that that's what we're doing so that it doesn't have to become an issue that messes with other legislation or our time here. So thank you. Does
Speaker 89
3:01:13
anybody have any questions for Senator Ballinger?
on this? Senator will speak in favor of the motion? Yeah, I do want to support the
motion, and I want to thank Senator Ballinger and those that have worked on this. I think it's a hard issue, and it's an issue that deserves a lot of thought and input, and I know Senator Ballinger's been working on this for a while. I just engaged a couple weeks ago, and I will tell you I was pleased to see both the prosecutors and the NRA make some movement towards each other, towards some common language, and I think there's opportunity for us to do that. But we are at the end of the session, and and I also value the committee process.
And any compromise that is put together needs to be fully vetted. The public needs to have an opportunity to participate and make their voices heard, which is really just not practically feasible between now and the end of the session. So I think the approach Senator Ballinger's taken to put some thought in it, to come up with an approach for the next session is a good one. Like a hard issue that I dealt with that's gonna suffer the same fate, sometimes these big issues just take a little bit of work and effort, and I appreciate his
willingness do that I hope the body will support the motion anybody else that wish to be
Chair
Unverified
3:02:17
recognized on this motion is there any objection to this motion
without objection motion carried it's going to interim study and judiciary senator Mr. Hammer is recognized.
Speaker 359
3:02:48
By the way, this is that little window between Senate bills and the House bills Senator Hendren referenced earlier. That's
where we are. Senator Hammer. Thank you, Mr. Governor. I'd like to make a
motion to extract from Committee House Bill 1821. This is a bill that is dealing with the DD providers
and home care, and that's my motion. I'd be glad to address it. You've heard the motion.
Speaker 288
3:03:19
Senator Hendren has a question. Senator Hammer. Thank you.
Thank you, Governor. Senator Hammer, did this bill get a hearing in committee? this bill got a
hearing committee but there were a few members that were out and no it was not signed out of the committee so but the public did
have a chance to participate and and make statements yes sir so why is it that you're extracting
this one as opposed to other legislation as opposed to the other ones that are not being other bills I mean like say this one got a hearing it had a vote has not been signed out so why on this one but not
on others fair question I think because of the population it affects which
is the DD population and also the home care population and the merits of the bill and that's why I would ask it.
Chair
Unverified
3:04:03
This is a debatable motion any other questions or anyone wish to speak on this motion? Anyone at
all? This requires 18. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? No. Can I see five hands. I believe
the no's have it, but I see five hands. One, two, three, four, five.
Speaker 212
3:04:46
Bledsoe bond bond Caldwell Cheatham Cheatham Chesterfield, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper,
Chair
Unverified
3:04:58
Cooper, Davis, Dismaine, Eads, Eads, Elliot,
Speaker 210
3:05:08
Elliot, Elliot, English, English, Flippo, Flowers, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson,
Speaker 589
3:05:49
Pitch. No. Rapert. Rapert. Rice. Aye. Sample. Aye.
Speaker 38
3:05:56
Stubbafil. Aye. Sturge. Sturge. Sturge. Teague. Teague. Wallace. Anyone wish to vote
Chair
Unverified
3:06:12
cast Senator Bond Senator Bond's no Senator Hill is aye anyone else cast up the ballot 12 yeas 12 nays
Speaker 102
3:06:25
the motion does not carry the earlier vote was confirmed yes sir point of information Senators recognize thank
you would it be appropriate to make a motion for the vote to be expunged by which the vote
Speaker 535
3:06:45
for extraction failed so it can be removed from the record. Okay. So I'd like to make a
motion that the record be expunged by which the vote for the bill to be extracted from committee failed like for it
to be expunged. You want to expung a motion
Chair
Unverified
3:07:10
vote? Right. you've never seen that Steve
says we can do it all in favor say aye close eyes have it motions
carried as if it never happened anybody else in this little interim period referred to by Senator Hendren distraction any other thing all right we're moving on to the house bills Senator Ballinger. Senator Ballinger is not here. Senator Caldwell. It's good to see you
walking down to the well, Senator
Chair
Unverified
3:07:50
Caldwell. House Bill 1854 by Representative Hillman,
an act to amend the composition of
Senator Ronald Caldwell
Unverified
3:07:59
the State Plant Board. Senator Caldwell. Thank you. Members, this is basically a cleanup bill of technical errors through the years it's been written in code as to who could be appointed plant board head of department entomology the head of part plant pathology these have been changed to two non-voting members designated by the vice president department of AG we changed the name of fertilized to plant food association and there was an
appointment on there by the feed manufacturers association that is non-existent and we change that to representing a someone who is regulated by the Arkansas Bureau of Standards and appointed by the Arkansas oil marketers every farmer in every county buys diesel and fluids and so that would be a good appointment that board I appreciate a good vote any questions for
Speaker 441
3:08:54
the senator Anyone wish to speak on this?
Chair
Unverified
3:08:59
Any objection to rolling the vote?
Chair
Unverified
3:09:09
says roll it. Please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang, Eads, Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malick, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubbeville, Sturge, Teague, Wallace.
Speaker 397
3:09:35
Any senators who wish to change their vote? Senator Hester is no. Any other senators who wish to change their vote? Seeing
none, cast up the ballot. Vote of 34 yea, 1 nay. House Bill 1854 has passed. Transmit back to the House, or return to the House.
Chair
Unverified
3:10:05
Senator Ballinger. House Bill 1626. House Bill 1626 by Representative Clout concerning the offering of an academic study of the Bible course if students request that the course be offered.
Senator Bob Ballinger
Unverified
3:10:16
Senator Boundary recognized, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. This is the bill that dealt with the offering, actually, the course of the Bible in schools. We're actually offering this course. It's already set up through the structure within the code. Originally, this actually was a mandate that if there was enough students that were involved, but that has actually been taken out. All this does now is instruct that the Department of Education develop the materials, which they're already on track to doing, so it removed all opposition that I knew of. So I would appreciate a good vote.
Any questions? Anyone to speak for or against the bill? Seeing
Speaker 641
3:10:53
none, is there any objection to rolling the
Speaker 14
3:10:59
vote? There is an objection. Madam Secretary,
Speaker 212
3:11:06
please call the roll. Ballinger. Aye. Bledsoe. Bond. Bond. Aye. Caldwell.
Chair
Unverified
3:11:18
Caldwell. Cheatham. Aye. Chesterfield. Chesterfield. Clark. Clark. Cooper. Davis. Davis. Dismayne. Dismayne. Aye. Eads. Eads.
Speaker 210
3:11:30
Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendren, Hester, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson,
Leading Leading Mallet Mallet Pitch Riper Rice Sample
Speaker 38
3:12:17
Stubbeville Sturge Teague Wallace Wallace Any senator who wishes to vote or
Speaker 397
3:12:30
change their vote Senator Hill is aye Senator Hickey is aye.
Malik is aye. Senator Letting is aye. Any other senators who wish to vote or change their vote? Seeing none, cast up the
ballot. The vote of 28 yeas, 2 nays. The bill has passed. Return to the House. Senator
Chair
Unverified
3:13:01
Clark, House Bill 1896. House Bill 1896 by Representative Gates. to amend the law concerning the establishment of certain improvement districts.
Senator Clark, you're recognized. Present
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
3:13:28
your bill. House Bill 1896. Thank you,
Mr. President. House Bill 1896. recognizes that water improvement districts may be formed by just having 51% of the property owners sign a petition. Most people are unaware when they sign that petition that they are actually
forming the water improvement district. And so once the 51% is reached, often they find out that they now have to pay the engineers and others whether they actually want a water improvement district or not, which a lot of times is hundreds of thousands of dollars. So this does a number of things. One, it requires in large print at the top of the petition that it says that if you sign it, it will form a water improvement district.
It gives a little bit more time, ordains a little bit more time for a hearing by the county judge so that people can appeal and it also mandates that not only is it advertised in the newspaper that it also be advertised on the internet if the Secretary of State or the local county has a website. I'll be happy to take any
questions. Any questions for Senator Ballinger? Seeing
Speaker 397
3:14:52
none, anyone who wishes to speak for
against the bill. Seeing none, Senator, to
Speaker 650
3:15:04
close for the bill. I'm closed. I appreciate a
Chair
Unverified
3:15:11
bill. Is there any objection to rolling the vote? Seeing no objection, Madam Secretary, please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting,
Mallett, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Any senator who wishes to change
Speaker 397
3:15:38
their vote? Seeing none, cast up the ballot. Their vote 34 yeas, one present. The bill
Speaker 400
3:15:45
has passed. Return to the House. Senator
Chair
Unverified
3:15:52
Hester, House bill 1255. House bill 1255 by Representative Dodson and Senator Hester to amend the law concerning licensing, registration, and certification for certain professions and to establish a
system of endorsement, recognition, and reciprocity for licensing. Senator, you're recognized, sir. Thank you, members.
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
3:16:08
This is a bill after a lot of the work
from the red tape reduction task force and a lot of the talk about licensure comes around. This just says that if you move in from another state that has a similar license to you. Our current boards have to find a way to give you about like a 90-day period where you can work within their parameters. It gives you time to actually get a license and comply with what our current, our state wants. Only if it's a very
similar license with similar requirements from the state you're coming from. And our board gets to determine that as well. Just encouraging. Happy to answer any questions. Any questions for Senator
Hester. Saying none, is there anyone to speak for against the bill? Saying none, the senator is closed. The senator is closed.
Chair
Unverified
3:16:56
Any objection to rolling the vote? Saying no objection, Madam Secretary, please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismaine, Eads,
Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch, Raypert, Rice, Sample, Stubberfield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Any senator who wishes to change their vote? Seeing none, Madam Secretary,
Speaker 397
3:17:23
cast up the ballot. Vote 34, yay. One present. The bill has passed. Return to the House.
Senators, page 3, House Bill 1417 was part of the batch. Unless there's an objection, we'll move to House Bill 1460. Senator Flippo. House Bill 1460 by
Chair
Unverified
3:17:47
Representative Speaks to amend the law concerning unopposed candidates and to require unopposed candidates to appear on the ballot. Senator Flippo, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. President.
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
3:17:58
All right. Members, House Bill 1460 seeks to do exactly what it says, which is to require that unopposed candidates be placed back on the ballot.
I believe two years ago we passed some sort of legislation that took them off. There was some initial opposition to this by the clerks. However, the counties came to us last week with an amendment, and so what we did, and we amended this bill in committee last week, to make sure that it applies only to constitutional officers and legislative candidates. So any local elected races are not going to be impacted by this, so the clerks and the counties are neutral on this bill.
I'd be happy to take any questions. Any questions for Senator Flippo?
Saying none, is there anyone who wishes to speak for
Speaker 650
3:18:43
or against the bill? Saying none, is
Chair
Unverified
3:18:49
there an objection to rolling the vote? Senator is closed. Madam Secretary, would you please roll the vote? Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Cheshawil, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch, Raypert, Rice, Sample, Stubberfield,
Speaker 397
3:19:13
Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Any senator who wishes to change their vote? Seeing none, cast off the ballot. The vote of 33 yea, 2 nay. House
vote 1460 has passed. Return to the House. Senator Bond, House Bill 1633.
Chair
Unverified
3:19:32
House Bill 1633, by Representative Tosh and Senator Bond to amend the law regarding witness intimidation, retaliation, tampering with evidence, jury tampering, and bribery.
Senator Bond, you're recognized to present your bill.
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
3:19:45
This is a bill that Representative Tosh, Representative Collins worked with the Municipal League on, came over to the Senate, got a big vote in the House, came over to the Senate, and There were some issues with regards to the level of felony offenses. We amended it to correct that. I don't think there's any opposition to it now. I'm happy to answer any questions. The intent was to make sure that if people were intimidating a witness or tampering with physical evidence, that these were considered serious crimes.
Speaker 397
3:20:15
Appreciate a good vote. Any questions for Senator Bond? Saying none, is there anyone who wishes to speak for or against
Speaker 650
3:20:24
the bill? Say none. Is there an objection to rolling the vote? Say none. Madam Secretary, please roll the vote.
Chair
Unverified
3:20:52
Stubblefield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Any senator who wishes to
Speaker 397
3:20:57
change their vote? Seeing none, cast up the ballot. The vote of 34 yeas. The bill has passed. Return to
the House. House Bill 1673 is in the batch. House Bill 1678 was taken out of the batch. We'll now hear Senator Stubblefield on House Bill
Chair
Unverified
3:21:24
1678. House Bill 1678 by Representative Gassaway and Senator Stubblefield
amending certain licensing requirements for a license to carry a concealed handgun. Senator Stubblefield, you're
recognized to present your bill. He's requested to
Speaker 397
3:21:45
pass over. Are we going to go back to it later? today, or tomorrow? Later
today. House Bill 1693 was in the batch. We'll be moving on to House Bill 1789.
House Bill 1789, Senator Ballinger. House Bill 1789
Chair
Unverified
3:22:11
by Representative Penzo. To amend the law concerning the offense of trafficking to create an offense for the unlawful solicitation for the relinquishment of parental rights to amend the
law concerning adoptions and declare an emergency. Senator Ballinger, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. President.
Senator Bob Ballinger
Unverified
3:22:32
This is a piece of legislation that has actually been in the work for years, and it's basically kind of an adoption reform. It was designed to kind of close some loopholes that the unscrupulous people are using currently in order to basically buy and sell babies in the state. particular focus on the Marshallese population, but it's not exclusively to them. There were some concerns about how the original legislation was drafted. In fact, it was amended, kind of brought in some people, but then all the groups weren't brought in. Well, the other evening we sat over here in 205 and worked until after 10 o'clock at night to put together an amendment that
actually made everybody happy, Bar Association. And essentially what we've done is just kind of cut off the part of the bill that was concerns. We're going to put that in an interim study and work on that. And then what we have left is basically a bill that just clarifies the offense of trafficking if you actually go out and recruit somebody to basically sell their baby that you're part of trafficking. So having that, this is supported by Bar Association, supported by basically all the groups, no opposition, and I appreciate a good vote. Any questions for Senator Ballinger?
Speaker 397
3:23:33
Saying none, is there anyone who wishes to speak for or against the bill?
Saying none. Is there any opposition to rolling the vote?
Chair
Unverified
3:23:47
Saying none, Madam Secretary, please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismayne, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Ludding, Malik, Pitch, Rayford, Rice, Sample, Stubbeville, Sturge, Teague, Wallace.
Any senators who wish to change their vote? Seeing none, Madam Secretary cast up the ballot. For 35 yeas, the bill has passed, returned to the House. Senator Stubberfield, we'll go
Chair
Unverified
3:24:26
back to House Bill 1678. House Bill 1678 by Representative Gassaway and Senator Stubberfield, an act to amend certain
licensing requirements for a license to carry a concealed handgun. Thank you, Mr. President.
Senator Gary Stubblefield
Unverified
3:24:41
Colleagues, this is a bill that was brought to me by the state police. It simply helps people who have had their records sealed through the courts or received a governor's pardon to be able to get their Second Amendment rights restored. It doesn't change any existing law, and it does not affect any out-of-state pardon. It would simply allow people who get their felony sealed and expunged under Just Offender or Drug Court to be able to get their concealed weapons permit restored. That's it.
Heard an explanation of the bill. Is there any questions for Senator Stubblefield? Seeing none, is there anyone who wishes to speak for or against the bill?
Speaker 650
3:25:25
Seeing none, is Senator closed? Senator is
Chair
Unverified
3:25:31
closed. Is there any objection to rolling the vote? Seeing none, Madam Secretary, please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang, Eades, Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson,
Mark Johnson, Bledding, Malik, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubbuffield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Is there any senator who wishes to change
their vote? Saying none, Madam Secretary, please cast up the ballot. Vote 35 yeas. The bill
is passed. Return to the House. House Bill 1693 was requested to be out of the batch so we will now go to House Bill 1693 Senator Pitch House Bill 1693
Chair
Unverified
3:26:32
by Representative Wing to amend the construction manager general contractor method of procurement pilot program. Senator, you're
recognized. Thank you, Mr. President. In 2017, the legislature passed Act 809. It was a test pilot program to test a different type of procurement for transportation projects. It was copied after the state of Tennessee. Since then, we've done one project a 70 million dollar project on highway 10 estimates of the savings are in the 7 million
dollar range having worked on the process and written and approved rules we are asking for this pilot program to be modified and the modification and i might add tennessee modified theirs after the first year as well the first of these modifications take the total number of projects currently at three to five. This will allow a potentially broader type of project, and we are not asking for any more money. The same amount of money applies. The second change is to make the projects capable of being run at the same time. The original bill had them finishing it before they started the
second one. The third change would be extending the length of the time on this pilot project from five to seven years, and it would end in 2024. Finally, what I want to say about this bill is we ended up working as a committee in transportation to work to meet the general contractors who had some issues out there, came to different members of our committee, and we worked together to come up with an amendment that we all found that we could get behind. The closing, this is still a pilot project.
There are 400 projects in the current statewide transportation improvement program, and that number will increase. We are asking for two more in this pilot program, which leaves the type of program projects being tested at 1.2% of their total projects. Basically, at least 18 states are using this method. It's called the general contractor method, and we would like to finish this pilot program and be more educated at the end of it. Thank you to my committee members in transportation for helping me with the amendment, and with that, I'm open for questions.
Any questions for Senator Pitch? Say none. Is there anyone who wishes to
Speaker 650
3:28:57
speak for or against the bill? Say none. Senator is
Chair
Unverified
3:29:03
closed. Senator is closed. Is there any objection to rolling the vote? Say no objection. Madam Secretary, please roll the vote. Balinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismayne, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Ludding, Mallett, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubbeville, Sturge, Teague, Wallace.
Speaker 397
3:29:27
Any senator who wishes to change their vote, Senator Hill is non-voting. Present. Senator Hill is present. Any other senators
who wish to change their vote on this bill? Seeing none, Madam Secretary, please cast up
Speaker 397
3:29:41
the ballot. With a vote of 33 yeas and two present, the bill has
passed. Return to the House. Senator Dismayne, House Bill
Chair
Unverified
3:29:52
1911. House Bill 1911 by Representative Gray, to amend the Income Tax Act of 1929 concerning who shall be treated as the owner of a portion of a trust.
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
3:30:00
Senator, you're recognized to present your bill. Thank you, Senator. This is a technical cleanup bill here that we adopt,
USC Section 671 through 679, which has to do with grantor trust and tax treatment here in the state. Any questions for
Speaker 414
3:30:17
Senator Dispeng? Say none. Is there anyone who wishes
to speak for or against the bill? Say none. The senator is closed. Is there any
Chair
Unverified
3:30:30
objection to rolling the vote? Say none. Madam Secretary, please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang,
Eades, Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Ludding, Malik, Pitch, Raper, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Any senator who wishes to change their vote? Seeing none, Madam Secretary, please cast up the ballot. Voted
Speaker 397
3:30:55
33, yea. To present, the bill has passed. Return to the House. House Bill 1943 was part of the batch.
We will now move to House Bill 1298, Senator Elliott.
Chair
Unverified
3:31:19
House Bill 1298, Mayor Representative Mayberry and Senator Elliott, to amend the law concerning the payable rate of an annual retirement benefit received by a retired mayor. You're
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
3:31:32
recognized, Senator Elliott. Thank you. Members, when Representative Mayberry brought this bill to the Retirement Committee, it involves mayor salaries,
and it had issues that we needed to fix because when she brought it, it was open to, I think, what could be a lot of favoritism or lack thereof. So what this bill does now, right now, if you're a mayor and you retire, then you can get one half of your mayor's salary. And she was changing that so that at the local level, people could decide if they wanted to do that or not. What I wanted to add to the bill,
and what the Municipal League wanted to add to the bill as well, we worked with them to get it fixed, was that if you want to do that, you have to have some criteria prior to people filing for that position. so that you don't have somebody file for the position and you change the rules of the game after they file. And also, too, there was an issue with even if you are going to change the rules, you have to have something that is actuarial to base it on
because that was the reason for her bill in the first place. So on page two is laid out the actuarial and things that are not subjective that people will base it on, whether or not they're going to change it from the one half they can get right now. Because the problem that people were having, in some cases, there were just especially small towns who were not able to afford the one half. And as I said, we work with Municipal League to get it to where it is, and so we got to a point everybody was happy.
I'll answer any questions if you have
Speaker 397
3:33:15
any. Any questions for Senator Elliott? Say none. Is there anyone who wishes to speak for or
Speaker 650
3:33:24
against the bill? Saying none, is the senator closed? The senator is closed. The senator
Chair
Unverified
3:33:30
is closed. Is there any objection to rolling the vote? Saying no objection, Madam Secretary, please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill,
Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Any senator who wishes to change their vote? Seeing none, Madam Secretary, please cast up
Speaker 397
3:33:54
the ballot. Vote of 35 yeas. The bill has passed. Return to the House. Senator Hendren, you're recognized. Members, we're going to go ahead and vote the batch on
this page. There's only three bills left in it, but they have amendments, so we need to get them down to the House so they can get through the process. So you should have these circled.
but it's 1417, 1673, and 1943. These are the only three left in the batch, and again, I'd like to go ahead and vote those now so we can get them down
Speaker 397
3:34:33
there to the House. Senators, you've heard the motion by Senator Hendren to batch the following bills, House Bill 1417, House Bill 1673,
House Bill 1943. Is there any objection to the motion? Same no objection. Madam Secretary, please read the bills.
Chair
Unverified
3:34:47
House Bill 1417 by Representative Watson to amend the Freedom of Information Act of 1967 to protect the identity of certain persons assisting in criminal investigations and to create an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act of 1967. House Bill 1673 by Representative Petty concerning the issuance of a no-contract order. No contact order.
House Bill 1943 by Representative Kavanaugh to amend the Personal
Information Protection Act and to revise the definition of personal
Chair
Unverified
3:35:36
Information Protection Act. Madam Secretary, please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismayne, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron,
Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubbefield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Any Senator who wishes to change their vote on the batch? Seeing none, Madam
Speaker 414
3:36:07
Secretary, please. Cast up the ballot, a vote of 35
Speaker 397
3:36:13
yeas, the bills have passed, return to the House. Senators, on your
Speaker 414
3:36:18
calendar, page 3, we'll now take up House Bill 1453 by Senator Hammer.
Chair
Unverified
3:36:30
House Bill 1453 by Representative Penzo and
Senator Hammer to create the Prenatal Palliative Care Information Act. Senator Hamer, you're recognized
to present your bill. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be on page
one of this bill. It talks about perinatal care and palliative care with regards to a woman who has been told that her baby in all probability will not survive through birth or up
to three months is what's specified in the bill and that's by the medical team that would give her that diagnosis on page one it gives you some basic information as far as what the intent of the bill is about when it gets over to page two line 13 says it guarantees a woman considering abortion after a diagnosis of lethal fetal anomaly is presented with information on the option of perinatal palliative care and so that's really the thrust of what this bill does it just make sure that a woman that is in that position is going to be
provided that information it does not interfere with her choice it is her choice as to which way she wants to go but it is requiring that the physician who is going to perform the act would make sure that the that the mother is informed of this option partner health testified as far as the fiscal impact is $5,000 which they said would not be a problem for them in order to make sure sure that the materials are pushed out. I'll be glad to answer any questions.
Speaker 397
3:38:07
Any questions for Senator Hammer? Seeing none, is there anyone... Senator
Bohn? Senator Hammer, will you accept a question
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
3:38:15
for Senator Bohn? I sure will. A couple of quick questions. The way I read it is after the woman is told that her baby is likely to die, there's a 72-hour wait before she can determine whether she wants to end the pregnancy or not. Is that right? 72-hour waiting period in line on page 3
line 22 except in cases of medical emergency consent to an abortion when the unborn child has been diagnosed with a lethal
fetal anomaly is voluntary and informed only if at least 72 hours before the abortion that's correct all right and then
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
3:38:52
on the last page of this this is language it's been in another bill this right of intervention where the general Assembly may appoint one or more of its members who sponsored or co-sponsored to intervene in the matter in any case, challenged. What is the purpose
of that right of intervention? I don't understand that. Sure, and
I think I was told that's consistent with some other pieces that
have come through dealing with this subject matter, but I think it may just give us protection in case we're called to give testimony
Speaker 535
3:39:24
that we're authorized to do it. If we intervene through member and lose does the
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
3:39:29
Senate have to pay the fees don't think so
Speaker 535
3:39:31
not according what I was told thank you thank you
Chair
Unverified
3:39:37
anyone wish to speak against or on the bill senator closed closed appreciate a good vote senator has closed there was any
Speaker 102
3:39:51
back-and-forth I didn't hear it so is there any objection rolling the vote There is objectionable.
Speaker 14
3:39:59
Please call the roll. Ballinger. Aye. Bledsoe. Aye. Bledsoe. Aye. Bond. Aye. Caldwell. Aye.
Speaker 212
3:40:07
Caldwell. Aye. Cheatham. Aye. Cheatham. Chesterfield. Aye. Chesterfield. Aye. Clark. Aye. Clark. Aye. Cooper. Aye. Cooper. Aye.
Speaker 210
3:40:34
Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram Irvin
Blake Johnson Mark Johnson Letting Mallet Pitch Rayford Rice
Speaker 38
3:41:12
Sample Stubbeville Sturge Teague Wallace. Anyone wish to vote
Speaker 102
3:41:23
or change their vote? Senator Cooper is aye. Senator Malik
is aye. Senator Cheatham is aye. I thought Teague had two hands up. Senator Cheatham is aye. Senator
Chair
Unverified
3:41:39
Malik is aye. Senator Caldwell, Senator Hendren are both aye. Anybody else? Anybody else? cast up the ballot. Twenty-nine yays, five nays. The bill is passed. Return to the House. Senator Filippo. House Bill
1484 by Representative Watson and Senator Filippo to clarify the procedure for
deposition of unclaimed bodies in the state of Arkansas. All
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
3:42:09
right, members, so House Bill 1484 addresses and streamlines the time frames that the
coroners and hospitals use to notify the next of kin, then if the body of the deceased is unclaimed, the bill provides for proper cremation or burial. This bill also facilitates tissue and organ donation and use for medical studies for medical schools and osteopathic schools. I'd be happy to take any questions.
Speaker 102
3:42:31
Any questions? Anyone wish to speak on the bill?
Chair
Unverified
3:42:36
Senator has closed. Any objection to rolling the vote? Please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismayne, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample,
Chair
Unverified
3:43:09
Anyone wish to change their vote, cast up the ballot. Thirty-five yays, zero nays. The bill is passed. Return it to the House. Senator Hendren is recognized. Yeah, members, I've had a
few questions, so let me just tell you the plan right now is we're going to finish this page and go down to where the end of this calendar is. On the next page, House Bill for Third Reading and Passage, that last calendar. Right before that, you recall we put in House Bill 1763, the transformation bill. We're going to hear that, and then we're going to do the batch. and then we probably will hold up on the last page of House bills until tomorrow.
Chair
Unverified
3:43:46
Did you get that, Ann? Okay. Senator Teague. This
is one pulled out of the batch. House Bill 1547 by Representative Perry. to ensure that persons licensed to provide emergency medical services or advanced
Speaker 40
3:44:12
life support rescue services maintain continual national emergency medical services certification.
Thank you, Mr. President. This bill does two things for the EMS.
It allows for those EMS professionals who've let their national registry certification lapse to be certified and requires all newly licensed EMS professionals to certify with the national registry. This is a bill that's part of the EMS package. I think that the cost to gain recertification is $20. Cost for initial certification is $80, and then $20 after that. I'd answer any questions.
Speaker 102
3:44:49
Any questions for Senator Teague? Anyone wish to speak on this bill?
Chair
Unverified
3:44:55
Gantz for Senator has closed. Any objection to rolling
the vote? Please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismayne, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Mallock, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield,
Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Senator Garner
is a no. Anyone wish to change their vote? Senator
Davis is not voting.
Anybody else? Cast up the ballot. 32 yeas, 1 nay. The bill is passed.
Speaker 692
3:45:43
Return it to the House. Senator Irvin. House Bill 1555 by
Chair
Unverified
3:45:53
Representative Collins and Senator Irving to increase coverage for medications approved by the United
Speaker 91
3:45:57
States Food and Drug Administration for tobacco cessation in the Arkansas Medicaid program. Senator Irvin is recognized. Thank
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
3:46:07
you, members. This bill expands from four to seven the tobacco cessation drugs that are covered by Medicaid without power authorization. That's what the bill does. The fiscal impact, there is no, it's an unknown general revenue. However, every $1 spent resulted in $3 in Medicaid savings. So I would have, I can answer
Chair
Unverified
3:46:25
any questions. Any questions for Senator Irvin? Anyone wish to speak on this bill? Senator Garner has a
question. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, or Mr. President. What's the difference between what they can do now and what
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
3:46:41
they can do after this? What are the additional... It just, it requires that they are not, they don't have to have prior authorization. So you don't have to have to obtain prior authorization for nicotine replacement therapy, patches, gum, lozenges, nasal spray or inhalers or two other medications that are nicotine
replacements. So it expands it without prioritization from four to now seven. Okay so what are the
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
3:47:07
additional three ma'am? I'm sorry? From four to seven what are the seven that
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
3:47:14
you just listed are the additional seven? I think it has to the three bottom ones i think it was the lozenges and the um inhalers and i believe that those were the three that did not the lozenges inhalers and i think number six and number seven okay thank you
Speaker 43
3:47:33
any other questions anyone wish to speak on this the senator closed yes
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
3:47:38
i'd appreciate a good vote
Chair
Unverified
3:47:47
for representative collins is there any objection to rolling the vote please roll the vote Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Leading, Malik, Pitch, Raper, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield,
Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their
Speaker 231
3:48:12
vote? Cast up the ballot. 35 yeas, 0 nays, As the bill is passed, turn the bill down to
Chair
Unverified
3:48:21
Ferndale. House Bill 1558 by Representative Lowry to amend the law concerning adult education public charter schools to ensure that more than one adult education public charter school may operate in the state. Senator Johnson. Thank you, Governor.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
3:48:38
This is Representative Lowry's bill. All it does is allows the one adult education charter school to open a second location without having to put up another million dollars in private funds. The only one operating today that this is talking about is the one operated by Goodwill Industries. It's been a really excellent program and it's actually reached out to a lot of our ex-offenders, people from Department of Community Corrections. So this just will allow them to have another location of the same thing without having to put up yet another million dollars.
But they continue to have to make their financial
Speaker 102
3:49:21
commitment. Appreciate a good vote. Any questions for
Speaker 76
3:49:27
the senator? Anyone wish to speak against or for? Senator's closed? I'm
Chair
Unverified
3:49:34
closed. Senator's closed. Any objection or on the vote? Please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismaine, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Mallet, Pitch, Raper, Rice,
Speaker 38
3:49:54
Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, T. Wallace.
Chair
Unverified
3:49:57
Anyone wish to change their vote? Senator Flowers is present. Anyone else? Cast up the ballot. 34 yays, 0 nays. The
bill is passed. Return it to the House. Senator Hammer. House Bill 1622
by Representative Collins and Senator Hammer to amend the law concerning the application requirements for a minor applying for a driver's license.
Speaker 91
3:50:18
Senator Hammer. Thank you, Mr. Governor. What
this bill does is if you're a parent and you have a child that needs to go get their driver's license,
you could have a form signed, and you'd have to have it notarized so that your parents could take their grandkids to go get their driver's license without you having to take off
Speaker 705
3:50:42
work, and that's what the bill does. I'll
Chair
Unverified
3:50:48
be glad to answer any questions. Any questions?
Anyone wish to speak on it? Senator's closed? Closed. Appreciate a good vote. Any objection on the vote? Please roll it. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismaine, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch,
Speaker 38
3:51:13
Rayford, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, T. Wallace.
Speaker 284
3:51:16
Anyone wish to change their vote? Cast up the ballot. 35 yays, 0 nays. Bills passed. turn it
Chair
Unverified
3:51:28
to the House. Senator Bond. House Bill 1625 by Representative Gasway to create the offense of encouraging the suicide
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
3:51:36
of another person. Senator Bond. Another bill that came through Senate Judiciary by Representative Gasway to address the issue you may have seen in the news I think in Massachusetts where someone essentially encouraged through text someone to commit suicide
and the bill is pretty tight where it has to be that those texts, numerous repeated texts or other contact causes the person to commit suicide. I'm happy to answer any questions. Appreciate a good vote. Any questions for the
Chair
Unverified
3:52:02
senator? Anyone wish to speak on this? Senator Garner, are you standing?
Speaker 363
3:52:07
You have a question. Senator Garner has a question. Thank you, Mr.
President. So it's the same penalty whether they successfully commit suicide or the person doesn't?
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
3:52:19
Encouraging the suicide of another person is a class D felony. Yes, a person uses persistent language and there's a suicide or attempted suicide. Yes, same class D felony for the person who is encouraging, persuading, inciting, or urging.
Chair
Unverified
3:52:41
Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Anyone else wants to speak? Senator has
closed. Any objection to rolling the vote?
Speaker 14
3:52:49
Please roll it. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell,
Chair
Unverified
3:52:54
Cheatham, Cheshfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismaine, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Ludding, Mallett, Pitch, Raper, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Starch, Teague, Wallace. Anyone wish to change your vote? Senator
Wallace, you're confirming that you're yes?
Speaker 231
3:53:20
Okay, good. Good, very good. Anyone else? Anyone wish to change your vote? 35 yays, 0 nays. The bill is passed.
Chair
Unverified
3:53:33
Return it to the House. Senator Cooper. House Bill 1630 by Representative Lundstrom and Senator Cooper to exempt certain information pertaining to a law enforcement officer from the Freedom of Information Act of 1967 and concerning
Speaker 178
3:53:48
public record websites. Senator Cooper. Thank you, Mr. President. This is a bill by Representative Lundstrom
and has to do with protection of undercover police officers and their private information and creates a study group on how to protect their personal information concerning where they live and things like that. So it's a study group that will develop the mechanism for doing that at the local courthouses and personal property and things like that. Any questions?
Chair
Unverified
3:54:18
Anyone wish to speak on this? The senator's closed.
Any objection on the vote?
Please roll it. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismane, Eades, Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote?
Seeing none, Kessett, the ballot 35, yea, 0, nays. The bill is passed. Return to the House.
Chair
Unverified
3:55:28
Representative Brown and Senator Garner, to strengthen voter trust
in the election process and to amend the law
Speaker 91
3:55:33
concerning election process and administration. Senator Garner.
Thank you. Page one's only got terminology changes. Page two has terminology changes until line 30.
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
3:55:42
When an existing procedure is clarified, existing line 19 on page three, this law says a person assisted is not without any comment or interpretation. However, it does not provide any recourse for poll workers observing the violation. This bill provides procedural guidelines for poll workers. It also ensures that a person being assisted continues to be helped by two poll workers.
Line two, or 35 through line two on page four, limiting candidates to only assisting a family member reduces opportunity for election fraud. And page 4, line 27, this addition to the administrator affidavit ensures that they are aware of the procedure for handling FC ballots. That'll take any questions. Any questions? Senator Elliott is recognized
Chair
Unverified
3:56:20
for a question. Senator, I am here to plead my ignorance.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
3:56:29
I just don't know what this bill is doing.
Would you just kind of give me a summary of what does
Speaker 362
3:56:36
it actually do? Yes, ma'am. First thing it does is it kind of clarifies some of the language. Second thing is when a
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
3:56:42
person is able to take, say, a disabled person in there, there's rules on if they're able to speak or not. What we're worried about is somebody who doesn't have a relationship with them be able to take somebody in there and influence how their vote is done. So to clarify that, it gives the option to remove that person if it's reserved, while making sure two poll workers are still there to help that disabled or
person that might need to help last board has a no if you're witnessing certain
things and how that works and then yeah this typically what it has to do with how to deal with people when they and actually in the poll to make sure there's no election
fraud or things like that especially candidates who may take somebody in there as
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
3:57:30
well. So it's a part of it that the person who has taken somebody in
to help them, that person can be removed under what kind of conditions? I think
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
3:57:41
under current law, like the way it's written, that is somebody speaks or kind of influences their decision making. We want to make sure that that person who is needing the assistance is the sole person to make the decisions. If that is observed, it creates a process where that person may be removed if they are used in a way that could be a scrupulous manner, and it still allows for two poll workers to remain there and
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
3:58:05
help. So if I'm helping somebody, two poll workers can witness what's happening?
Is that what we're saying? No, ma'am. If you're helping somebody and a poll worker observes you talking to them, say you need to vote for candidate X,
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
3:58:16
they can have a process to remove you, and then the two poll workers would basically substitute for you and make sure that person with assistance gets to punch what they want and things like that. If
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
3:58:26
they ask me a question, am I allowed to answer? I believe under current law,
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
3:58:30
you're not supposed to say anything of that nature. You're not supposed to talk or anything else. Wow. Well, exactly then, what are you doing?
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
3:58:40
I mean, what can I do then as a helper?
I'm not figuring that part out, what I can do. It says assist, but I don't know what assist means.
I think it has to do with if you need somebody to push the numbers for
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
3:58:54
you or do things like that. So if you're voting for candidate X, you can tell the person to vote for you, and they'll press it, the physical, actual act of it. I think that's what the intent of this is, to make sure that person is an influencer. They are basically your hands or your able body to use in that capacity,
so that disabled person, the person who needs help, is in full capacity
Speaker 103
3:59:17
to be able to use that. Okay, thank you. Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 102
3:59:22
Any other questions for Senator Garner? Anyone wish to speak against? Four. Is the senator closed? I
Speaker 15
3:59:31
am, Mr. President. Senator closed. Completely closed. Any objections, Senator Elliott, to rolling the vote? Okay. Madam Secretary, just
Speaker 14
3:59:38
please call the roll. Ballinger? Ballinger? Ballinger? Aye.
Speaker 212
3:59:41
Bledsoe? Bond? Caldwell? Caldwell? Cheatham?
Chair
Unverified
3:59:56
Cheatham? Aye. Chesterfield? Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang,
Speaker 210
4:00:11
English, Flopo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron,
Hester. Hickey. Hill. Hill. Ingram. Irvin. Blake Johnson. Blake Johnson. Mark Johnson. Mark Johnson. Letting. Letting.
Chair
Unverified
4:01:04
T. Wallace. Anyone wish to vote or change their vote? Senator Dismaine is aye. Senator Hill of Cabot is aye. Senator Leving is no. Anybody else over here? Okay. Senator Clark is aye. Anyone
else? Cast up the ballot. 27 yeas, 6 nays. The bill passes. Return it to the House.
Senator Garner. House Bill 1666 by Representative Brown and Senator Garner to amend the law concerning election administration and procedures and to amend the law concerning dual office holding. Senator Garner. Thank you,
Speaker 715
4:01:48
Mr. President. The first page we deal with chair
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:01:51
or secretary of a county political party shall not serve as a member of the county board of election commissioners. research has shown that both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party already had this prohibition to some degree in their rules this is just
codifying that make sure we don't have that conflict of interest page through these all these changes are updates clarification of duties essentially providing a job description for election commissioners which here for has not exist in law page 3 line 4 clarifies training requirements currently unaddressed line 22 to 36 on page 4 line 1 through 12 are updates to clarifying procedure when poll workers do not report to their polling site. Page 4, line
16 is a grammatical correction. Lines 32-34 are terminology updates. With that, I'll take any questions.
Speaker 441
4:02:37
Any questions for the Senator? Anyone
Speaker 102
4:02:42
wish to speak on this? Again, it's 4. Senator is closed. I'm closed. Any objection to
Speaker 212
4:03:00
Please call the roll, Madam Secretary. Ballinger.
Speaker 210
4:03:08
Ballinger. Bloodsoe. Bond. Caldwell. Caldwell.
Chair
Unverified
4:03:11
Cheatham. Cheatham. Chesterfield. Clark. Clark. Cooper. Davis. Davis. Dismang. Dismang. Eads.
Speaker 210
4:03:22
Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Mallet,
Speaker 38
4:03:57
Pitch, Raypert,
Rayford Rice Sample Stubbafil Sturge Teague Teague Wallace Anyone wish to change their vote? Senator
Chair
Unverified
4:04:16
Davis is aye Senator Clark is no Senator Cheatham
is no Anybody else? Senator Caldwell is aye. Anybody else?
Cast up the ballot. 23 yeas, 10 nays. The bill passes. Return it to the House. Senator Hammer. House Bill
1686 by Representative Collins and Senator Hammer to amend the definition of marital property for purposes of division of property and an action for divorce. Senator Hammer. Thank you, Mr. Governor.
Carrying this bill for Representative Collins on the other end. This bill This is a bill that clarifies how active appreciation of non-marital property is treated in divorce.
For 30 years, the Arkansas courts held that active appreciation or an increase in the value due to the time, effort, or skill of either spouse during the marriage is an endeavor belonging to the marital estate, and therefore presumed to be marital property and subject to equitable distribution upon divorce. In 2016, a new interpretation of the Arkansas Supreme Court found that the marital property statute did not indicate with adequate clarity that active appreciation of non-marital property was itself marital property. And if the legislature wished to restore the traditional approach,
we would need to clearly state the exception in the statute. And this is what this bill does. It simply returns the law to where it had been for 30 years prior to that. And I'm going to be real blunt, real upfront. This is one that the lawyers need to raise in or to weigh in on. I I know that, from what I understand, the emails and messages have blown up since about 8 o'clock last night on this one, and so I'm going to defer to the attorneys in the room to come argue for or against it, and I'll try to answer any questions to the limit I can.
Speaker 441
4:06:10
Any questions for the senator? He's walked away, but any questions? Anyone wish to
Speaker 102
4:06:16
speak against? Senator Garner, are you going to speak for or against? Against, okay. Anybody else going to speak after him? Okay, Senator
Speaker 103
4:06:25
Flowers is for it. Senator Garner is against. Thank you.
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:06:30
What worries me about this is this assumption that the time, effort, and skill automatically goes to the spouse, that it seems like we're presuming that the law that automatically goes to that person
and they get that benefit of the doubt to how that merit of property appreciates, even though we don't see, I know there's more laws and more kind of common law and case law that deals with how long you have to do it being a marriage, but it's an automatic presumption that the person who had that property before has to overcome. I think that's a huge burden to place on them whenever this could be a relatively short-term marriage or something of that nature. So with that, I think the current law has it interpreted by the Supreme Court as more equitable to both parties.
I think this places an undue burden on the one spouse who was getting divorced, and I think that
Speaker 43
4:07:20
because of that, I'm going to vote no. Senator Flowers is
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
4:07:32
Senator Clark will speak on it. Members, I think this is a good bill. It's been the practice in Arkansas for, like the presenter said, more than 30 years.
All it does is follow what the judges have been doing in divorces by looking at the improvements to separate property, property brought into the marriage by one spouse or the other. And so when that separate property increases in value, the court will look at what it was in terms of value before the marriage and at the time of divorce.
So if you have improved a property, say you got some property, a house, and the house was worth a certain amount of money prior to marriage, it's a separate property brought into the marriage by one of the spouses. Well, if they improve it, build an addition onto it or whatever, then that addition is going to have a specific value and it increases the value of the whole thing. So that part of the
increase is going to be divided 50-50. That becomes the marital property. And so it's a good bill. It keeps in line with the equitable practices of divorce courts in the state of Arkansas. And I don't know why the Supreme Court all of a sudden didn't see that that was what had been happening in Arkansas, but basically they were saying it needs to be in the code and that's what this bill attempts to do. Thank you for a good vote.
Chair
Unverified
4:09:21
Senator Hendren has a question. Senator Flowers? Senator Hendren is recognized.
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
4:09:25
So why are they interpreting it that way? It's
not in the law now. Well, as I've said before, when I've come down to the well to speak about divorces and property divisions whether it be alimony or marital property separate property some things are not codified all things are not codified there are about nine factors in in the code that the courts consider upon divorce in terms of property division but
And there is some mention about separate property being considered for division or some portion of it to go to the other spouse that did not bring it into the marriage, considering certain things, if children are involved, those kinds of things. But the whole arena of divorce is about equity. So if you think about a property that's brought into the marriage, just like I said,
if it's a piece of property, a house, and they build onto the house and improve it, it becomes a greater value attached to that house. Well, the value that resulted by the improvement comes from things that happened in the marriage. It might be money that was put into it that was marital income.
It could be the time and the skill of either the one that owned it before bringing it into the marriage or not. But what we're trying to do is work an equitable balance, and that's why it needs to be in the code.
Speaker 190
4:11:26
Thank you. Colleagues, we heard this
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:11:33
bill three times, and I was the fifth vote.
I was not comfortable with holding it up and not letting you vote on it. but there's some things that we thought at first that it did that are not at all what it does. We were under the impression throughout most of the first time we heard it that if the spouse who did not bring the property into the marriage was active in improving the value that that was what it meant.
That is not what it means. If either spouse improves the value of the property during the time of the marriage, both split the game in the property. So that's a whole different animal. Now, they say that's the way that the courts have done it until the Supreme Court decision, but this is putting it in law. And I would have been more comfortable with taking more time and looking at it a little longer and seeing if we couldn't be more specific
with the way this was done. But in talking to the judge that testified for it, he said there is a backdoor way to take care of it now with inequitable distribution. But it did appear that a lot of people think it needs to be fixed. I'm just not sure that we have quite the right fix yet. I'm not speaking against the bill. I just want you to understand what the bill really does, because I heard it for an hour and a half and thought I understood what the bill did and didn't.
Speaker 207
4:13:15
So I'll be happy to take any questions. Anyone else want to speak on the bill
in favor of, against? I don't think he... Senator Hammer, you ready to close? Yes. I don't think I'd say about this is and is this that if you are currently in the middle of a divorce you the rumor is that you're going to get a divorce or you don't know that you are yet
July 1st it only applies after July 1st so between now and July 1st this wouldn't apply to you okay it'd kick in after July 1st. And so with that, I'd just say you vote your conscience on the basis of what you heard today. Senator's closed. Madam Secretary,
Speaker 15
4:14:06
when you can, please call the roll. Or a substitute.
Speaker 353
4:14:23
Don't roll it. Don't roll it. Ballinger? No. Bledsoe?
Speaker 212
4:14:37
Bond? Bond? Bond? Caldwell? Caldwell? Cheatham? Yes.
Chair
Unverified
4:14:46
Chesterfield? No. Clark? Clark? Cooper? Yes. Davis? Davis? Dismang? No. Eads, Eads, Elliot,
Speaker 210
4:15:00
Elliot, English, English, Flippo, No, Flowers, Garner, No, Hammer, Yes,
Hendron, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Blake Johnson. Mark Johnson. Mark Johnson. Letting. Aye. Mallet. Yes. Pitch.
Speaker 38
4:15:38
Pitch. Raper. Raper. Rice. No. Sample. No. Stubbafil. No. Sturge.
Chair
Unverified
4:15:47
Sturge. Sturge. Teague. Teague.
Speaker 43
4:15:51
Wallis. Wallis. Anyone wish to vote or change their vote? Senator Chesterfield is aye. Senator Pitch is no.
Chair
Unverified
4:16:06
Senator Raper is no. Anyone else? Senator Eads is aye. Senator Hendren is no. Senator Davis is no. Anybody else? Got it? No.
cast up the ballot nine yeas 18 nays bill did not pass senator is recognized for a motion thank you mr governor like to make
a motion like to make a motion
that the vote be expunged by which h hb 1686 be was defeated you've heard the motion. All those in favor say aye.
Speaker 167
4:16:48
Aye. Opposed? No. No's have it. I don't think it was
close. I was going to make a motion to send it to interim study, but anyway,
Speaker 523
4:17:02
okay. We'll get that done before this is over. They
Speaker 363
4:17:05
say that's where all things go to die. Yes, sir. All right. You have a, okay, you
have another motion. Thank you. Senators recognize it. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to suspend the rules for the purpose of putting Senate Bill 668 back on the agenda for consideration today at the end of
Speaker 102
4:17:24
the House bills. Okay, any questions on the motion?
Speaker 96
4:17:27
All those in favor? Center pitch? Okay. Will you put it up here so they can see it? S.B. S.B. 668. Will you
Chair
Unverified
4:17:55
is concerning a public school district that is classified as being in need of level
five intensive support and to allow the State Board of
Speaker 91
4:18:05
Education to grant extensions of its assumption of authority in certain situations.
Speaker 184
4:18:30
aye. against nose habit nose habit nose habit
where's where's center hammer got see five hands
Speaker 11
4:18:50
I didn't know if you were raising your hand to
Speaker 765
4:18:57
roll call he's not going to pursue a
Speaker 185
4:19:00
roll call okay we ended on the bottom of page three
Speaker 453
4:19:07
Senator Davis House Bill 1707 by Representative Camps and Senator Davis
Speaker 91
4:19:27
Adult and Long-Term Care Facility Resident Maltreatment Act and declare
Chair
Unverified
4:19:33
an emergency Thank you, Mr. Governor.
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
4:19:40
This is a cleanup bill. All it does is add language that clarifies and strengthens the investigation process to ensure
Chair
Unverified
4:19:55
that they review and
gather information from all sources when they're conducting a
thorough investigation. With that, I'll take any questions. Any questions? Anyone wish to speak on the bill, against the bill, for the bill? Senator, closed? I'm closed, thank you. Any objection to rolling the vote? Please roll the vote.
Speaker 231
4:20:34
Anyone wish to change their vote? Seeing none, cast up the ballot, 35 yays, 0 nays. The bill
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:20:45
is passed. Return to the House. Senator Clark. Thank you, Governor. I would like to ask for
your patience. I would like to make another motion to expunge the vote by which House Bill 1686 failed. The reason for that is that it passed 87 to 0 in the House. and I would like to give the sponsors of the bill
and those who support it an opportunity to talk to some of you if they wish before we flat
out say no. So I would appreciate you voting
Speaker 42
4:21:18
to expunge. Do you know which bill? Senator Elliott? Do you have a question, Senator Elliott? Yeah,
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:21:23
I do have a question. So could you wait until tomorrow and make it contingent upon whether or not our bill that passed here 35-0
can get another vote down there?
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:21:36
Are you following me? Yes, ma'am. Again, you saw I'm not a big proponent of the bill. I understand what you're saying. I
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:21:49
just want to be fair. Okay. All right. Thank you.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
4:21:54
I hear you. Senator Chesterfield. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is this the one that you put the clincher on? No,
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:22:02
no, no. No, this is the bill that Senator Hammer just presented on marital property.
It passed the House 87 to nothing. And again, the sponsors of the bill are much more familiar with it than either Senator Hammer or I. And I would like them, if they wish, to have the opportunity to reach out to you and try to explain the bill to you. any of any
Chair
Unverified
4:22:26
other questions for senator clark anybody center pitch just real quick have they mentioned to you
that they're going to come lobby the bill they have not but
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:22:35
they again had no idea that it would it would fail i mean
it's a valid question we're gonna we're gonna re-vote to
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:22:43
expunge again but if they don't want to work it if they don't work it i expect it to go the same way that it that it went we won't bring it back up I just want to give if we don't expunge it they
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
4:23:00
don't have the opportunity Senator Irvin just a question how many if this is a roll call vote how many does that require 24 the the 24 the motion that he's making 24 24 okay and um I mean
I know that Division of Workforce Services had a bill that passed 35 to 0 over here, but then didn't get
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:23:23
through the Public Health Committee. I just, sometimes, Senator Irvin, we all understand this. Sometimes, whether it be on this end or that end, we're not as prepared to present something as just because we've got other things going on. And so it might be a good bill.
But I would rather they had the opportunity to reach out if they want
Chair
Unverified
4:23:51
to. Any other questions for the senator? Anyone wish to speak on this? You've heard the motion. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Take the motion and take the word in, please. Okay. This is the one he's
Speaker 185
4:24:08
been talking about for the last 15 minutes. This is the one. You
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:24:11
want to restate your motion to expunge the vote? by which House Bill 1686 failed.
Chair
Unverified
4:24:15
This is the marital property bill that failed a few minutes ago. Okay? All those opposed?
Speaker 211
4:24:26
No. I think they got 24. Senators recognize. Okay, members,
get a little... One second, Senator. senator's got the floor
we've got about 14 more bills and i just want you to pay attention
none of these are batched because all of these got were somewhat controversial in the house so we're going to push through those and then we're going to do transformation we're going to do the batch so try to keep your explanations on point and
your questions on point so that we can get through these and because we do need to get these done today so again pay attention these next 15 bills or so, and then we'll do transformation in the batch.
Chair
Unverified
4:25:31
Yes. House Bill 1710 by Representative Perry to create the Task Force on Transportation of Non-Emergency Behavioral Health Patients.
Senators recognize. Thank you, Mr. President. Members, I'm not a fan of the Task Force, but they haven't been able to work their problems out dealing with patients on non-emergency transports. That would be a case like where the ambulance comes and picks somebody that has to go to Memphis,
and they're out of the county then for six hours while they run to Memphis and back. So they're trying to figure out how to deal with that. They haven't been able to work it out amongst themselves, and so they're proposing the task force. It's their bill, the EMS providers, to try to figure that out. I'd answer any questions. Senator, any questions
Speaker 102
4:26:21
for Senator Teague? No questions at all. Anyone wish to speak against or for?
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:26:31
Senator Garner speaking against. Thank you, Mr. President. I have no ill will
toward this bill. I'd normally vote for it without a second question. The reason I'm speaking for you today is I ran a task force for veteran suicide that passed through this body without one dissenting vote, passed through the Senate without one dissenting vote, passed through the committee without a dissenting vote, and failed in the House. And then it was amended in the committee on the House side to make it a
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:26:58
subcommittee. I was told over and over again that there would be no task force coming through the House
because it costs too much money. Now, this might be a very needed thing, and I'm not going to argue it's not. But if they're going to hold a Veterans Task Force for suicide and say that costs too much money, and then we're going to do
it for other issues, I think we're creating a bad precedent. And so I'm going to vote no for that very reason. If we're going to be consistent with this,
then we need to be consistent. And I'll take any questions.
Speaker 784
4:27:28
Senator Ballinger. Thank you, Mr. President. And I was just going to ask, do you think that this is an issue that you'd be willing to take up an interim study
through a committee or subcommittee, kind of like the issue with the veterans? Absolutely. I'm not speaking of the merit
of the issue. It sounds like a good issue, and normally I'd vote for it. But after that distinction was told to me, I'd put my pride aside, even though I wanted a task force. I had the governor's support on it, to do it through a subcommittee because I thought our veterans aren't something we should be playing political games with. And this same issue now that we have before us is the same kind of thing. So if we're going to be consistent, I'd ask that we be consistent. Anyone wish to speak in favor?
Chair
Unverified
4:28:08
Against at all? Senator, you're closed. The senator has closed. Please call
Speaker 353
4:28:26
the roll. Ballinger? Bledsoe? Bledsoe?
Speaker 212
4:28:33
Bond? Bond? Caldwell Caldwell Caldwell Cheatham Chesterfield
Chair
Unverified
4:28:40
Clark Cooper Davis Dismang Eads Eads,
Speaker 214
4:28:55
Elliot, English, English, Flippo, Flowers,
Speaker 210
4:29:04
Garner, Hammer, Hammer, Hendren,
No. Hester? Hester? Hickey? Hill? Hill? Ingram? Aye. Irvin? Irvin? Blake Johnson? Blake Johnson. Mark Johnson. Mark Johnson. Letting. Aye. Mallet. Yes. Pitch.
Speaker 38
4:29:49
Aye. Pitch. Rapert. Yes. Rice. Rice. Sample. No. Stubbafil. Stubbafil. Sturge. Aye. Teague. Aye. Wallace. No.
Speaker 43
4:30:05
Anyone wish to vote or change their vote? Senator Clark is no. Senator Hammer, no. Senator Bledsoe,
Speaker 793
4:30:14
not vote. President. Mr. President, I would just assume you're the lowest vote in the Senate. Six or eight of these people. We've got to finish the vote, Senator. Let's
Speaker 43
4:30:29
finish the vote. Yeah. Senator Davis is aye. no, she is no
Senator Hill is aye Senator Pitch
Chair
Unverified
4:30:43
is no anybody else Senator Irvin is no anybody else cast
up the ballot you got it 13 yays, 16 nays the bill did
not pass now you recognize Senator Teague okay Okay. Senator Stubblefield. Passing over
Speaker 692
4:31:10
Senator Stubblefield. Okay. Senator Bond. Senator Bond.
Chair
Unverified
4:31:19
House Bill 1733 by Representative Gassaway concerning a threat to commit an act of mass violence on school property. Senator Bonner
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
4:31:29
is recognized. Thank you, Governor. This is another one of Representative Gasway's bill where he's attempting to tighten up the code with regards to mass threats of violence. 87 votes for it in the House. It does establish it at a felony level, one level higher than just regular terroristic threatening. It's a good school safety bill, and everybody needs to know, I think, kind of like you just don't yell bomb on an airplane.
you don't threaten to commit a mass act of violence against
Speaker 54
4:31:57
the school. Happy to answer any questions if needed.
Speaker 102
4:32:03
Any questions for Senator Bond? Anyone wish to speak against
Speaker 243
4:32:10
or for on the bill? Senator's closed. Senator has
Chair
Unverified
4:32:15
closed. Any objection to rolling the vote? Please roll the vote. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismayne, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson,
Letting, Malik, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubbafield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Anyone wish
Chair
Unverified
4:32:45
ballot. 35 yays, 0 nays. The bill is passed. Return to the House. Senator Flippo.
House Bill 1775 by Representative Bentley and Senator Flippo to create the Employment Opportunities for Able-Bodied Adults Act of 2019.
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:33:02
Senator's recognized. Thank you, Mr. President. All right, members, so if you're following along on page two on line 19, it's going to say exactly what this bill is going to do. So it says the Department of Human Services shall require an able-bodied adult under 60 years of age who receives SNAP benefits, has dependents who are all at least six years of age or under the age of
18 years of age or who has no dependents and is not otherwise subject to the requirements of Article 7, U.S. Code, Section 215, as it existed on January 2019.
So basically what this is going to do, it's going to mandate that those folks participate in workforce training, can volunteer, or get a
job to keep their SNAP benefits. This does not require a federal waiver. Texas has already passed legislation. Wisconsin is fixing to do so. Tennessee, Missouri, and Montana have
legislation geared towards doing this exact same thing. According to Department of Workforce Services, Arkansas currently has 32,600 unfilled jobs.
And we're projected to create more than 166,000 jobs in 2019. Now, mind you, these are not my statistics either coming from Department of Workforce Services. This bill allows for three years to get employment training programs developed across the state. Employment training programs are already available in 37 of the 75 counties, covering 75% of all work registrants. 72% of all able-bodied working-aged adults on food stamps do not work at all.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
4:34:37
And I'm happy to take any questions. Any questions? Senator Chesterfield. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Senator Filippo, I agree with you that everyone who is able to work out a B-Walker. Sure. My question is, are you aware that there are still employment deserts across
Speaker 800
4:35:00
the state? I'm sure there are places where there are other jobs, but...
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
4:35:03
So if there are no jobs there, and you're a SNAP recipient, what do you do?
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:35:09
I started looking for work, Senator Chesterfield. I'm sorry. I get they're able, but you've got to start working for work. Have
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
4:35:15
you been to Duramod or any of these other places where there is no one? I've not been to Duramod, no, ma'am. Have
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:35:24
you been to the Delta Pier? You bet.
Speaker 474
4:35:26
My family's from Turrell, as a matter of fact.
Speaker 169
4:35:30
Okay. So you... Okay. Never mind. Senator Cheatham is recognized. Thank
Speaker 386
4:35:35
you, Mr. President. Senator Flippo, have you got any kind of estimate of what this is going to cost?
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:35:42
Yes, sir. I think DHS, and this is a rough estimate from DHS, but they're expected to cost about $3 million, and that would go towards transportation and child care if you had 100% participation. Yes, sir, but
Speaker 803
4:35:50
50% of that is going to be federally funded, so about $1.5 million of our state tax dollars. So, and these people that are on SNAP, how
Speaker 805
4:35:57
long do they draw these benefits? Two years. Two years. I'm kind of like
Speaker 802
4:36:02
Senator Chesfield. It's on my Senate district. Sure. a long way from where they lived to where there's any kind of training or any kind of job.
Chair
Unverified
4:36:13
You bet. Thank you. Any other questions for the senator? Anyone? Senator Elliott is recognized for a
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:36:23
question for Senator Flauptow. Senator, based on that last
answer that you gave that it's a oh
god I'm tired Senator Cheatham that it's a long way from where a job might be to some training or whatever the case may be And I don't want this to get mixed up with even assuming people don't want, that anybody here doesn't want people to work.
I don't want to just dispel that for sure.
Speaker 11
4:36:47
Senator Elliott, will you suspend for a second? Senator Elliott has the floor. In the
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:36:54
case of what Senator Cheatham just described, which I know is a reality, it might take somebody even the two years to be able to find something. Does that not persuade you at all? that. No, ma'am. Well, I didn't even finish my question. Well, you asked
Speaker 803
4:37:10
me that. It doesn't persuade me, and I answered
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:37:13
it. Well, I may try again, if you will. Does it not dissuade you at
all that what Senator Cheatham said, that this may be a reality for a lot of folks and not something that they're
just being lazy and that they don't want to work unless you intimately know all the parts of this state and what's available for them to be able to carry out what you're asking because nobody is against it I don't think well we're going
to find out well I'll try asking my question again
Speaker 812
4:37:53
does any of that dissuade me does it mean anything to you does it mean anything to
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:38:01
you at all Senator Elliott here's my thing there's an abundance of jobs in this state and I'm completely unsatisfied if 72% of able-bodied working-aged adults on SNAP benefits are currently not working, yeah I find that very problematic I do too, and what we're talking past
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:38:16
each other, I ask you a question and you're giving me a back of debate you know what, they might have to go to an area
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:38:24
of the state in which there are jobs
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:38:26
available I'm asking you a question and I'm
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:38:28
giving you an answer, and if they cannot find a job and where they live, they might need to work somewhere where there is a job, is it our responsibility as taxpayers to subsidize somebody to live somewhere where there are
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:38:39
no employment opportunities. You're debating with me about something, and I'm asking
you a question, and you're debating about this. I just ask you a question, and I'm going to try one more time, and I want to just ask you, let me
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:38:53
get through my question. I've tried to answer your question. See, you voted for work requirements for Medicaid expansion.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:38:59
What are you talking about? I'm asking you a
question i've tried to answer your question all this other stuff if you don't want to ask a question get out of the well i'm doing my best to answer your
Speaker 288
4:39:14
question you know okay let's try it again
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:39:16
let's try again senator just don't talk over each other does it does it not give you pause or at least help you think about what you and i totally agree on that
everybody should work but that just because I believe that deeply
what was described to you by Senator Cheatham and I know these places to exist that perhaps it may not be as cut and dried as you assume it is and should that not inform what you're doing if I had a problem with this bill, Senator I would not be running it if
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:39:48
those things gave me concern I would not be running this legislation. Do you even know
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:39:58
those things exist? I do. But despite
knowing somebody might not be able to do
what you said, you don't care enough to consider that in your bill. Yeah, listen,
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:40:09
poverty is cyclical. Helping people get a job is a good idea, in my opinion. This isn't saying you got to get a job. This isn't saying you got to participate in workforce training. You can volunteer. You can get a job. It's fairly in line with what we did with Medicaid
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:40:29
expansion in those work requirements. You keep talking about something I'm not even asking you about.
So maybe at some point you'll get to the point you will answer a question. But my patience is long. I don't know how many different ways
Speaker 803
4:40:43
you want me to answer your question, Senator Elliott. Just straightforward. That would be
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:40:46
a good way to answer my question. Well, I feel like I've given you a straightforward
answer, Senator. You don't know how? I feel like I have given you a straightforward answer. Well, then, I haven't even had the question answered, let alone straightforward. Because what you
said in your last answer was that you, if you had an issue, you wouldn't have the bill up there.
That is not remotely what I ask
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:41:10
you. You asked me if these things give me pause for concern. I said if I had concern, if
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:41:17
that did, then I would not be running this legislation. No, you said you wouldn't be running the legislation. But what I'm asking you, based on what we know is reality, do you not have any pause? And obviously, I guess you don't. Thank
Speaker 591
4:41:32
you, Senator. I am finished. Senator Starch.
Senator Starch is recognized for a question. Senator Flapper, I want you to go back to what you just said a couple
of sentences ago about the federal grant match. Sure. You said something about $1.5 million. And is that new money that we have to put in, or is that existing services we're all providing that
Speaker 825
4:41:54
they'll count as a match? Existing services. Okay, so we're not putting in an
Speaker 43
4:41:58
additional $1.5 million. Okay, thank you, sir. Senator Hammer, then Senator Garner, then Senator Johnson. Senator Hammer. Thank you.
Senator, what I was trying to read when I read through the bill,
it seems like this bill is encouraging individuals to get work training to do other things that are going to help them move toward employment the question of whether there are jobs in the community where they live or not doesn't that's correct and
does not seem to be addressed in the bill that is a that is a battle that we need to try to work on but I'm I'm just seeing as the bill reads that it's just if you're getting workforce training
if you're getting the the benefit you're expected to be preparing yourself so if a job does come available
you'll be trained to take that job am i misinterpreting the bill no sir
Chair
Unverified
4:42:49
you are not all right thank you senator garner
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:42:52
then senator johnson thank you mr president what's the current law deal with able-bodied adults snap recipients and their ability to work is it already a work requirement already in our law is that something i don't believe so i think
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:43:02
for tan if you might be thinking about where there are, but I'm not aware of any with SNAP benefits, Senator. So what you're intending to do with this bill, though, is give these poorest among us who
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:43:15
are using this benefit an opportunity, a leg up, an ability to find a job which we know empowers them, which we know moves them out of other
welfare programs, to actually get out, and it doesn't matter if they're in a work desert or not, this is just
Speaker 314
4:43:38
that ability where they can work. Correct. Thank you. Senator Flippo, in the TANF program, there's an educational component that can be used for this training, and also in your bill, it addresses public service.
If there are these islands of no work, they can be trained through the TANF program and also do public service for their communities. and if their job is available, is that correct? That is correct, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Chesterfield. Thank you,
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
4:44:09
Mr. Chair. It's fairly obvious that people have made up their mind about the bill. So I won't belabor that. I'm just trying to figure out, sir, are there workforce service centers
that are within the reach of all of those individuals who are to be trained? And if not, is there a plan from Workforce Services to make sure that
Speaker 803
4:44:35
individuals have access? Senator Chester, they have three years to make sure that they have those within each county. Right now, as
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:44:42
I said, there's 37 of the 75 counties. They have it covering about 72% of, you know, eligible workforce. But they have until, if you look on
the last page, let's see here, October 1st of 2021.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
4:44:55
One. And then, two, I'm looking for the transportation piece.
That's in here, I'm sure. There is a transportation
piece in here, right? Whereby we can get
Speaker 803
4:45:10
those people to the workforce. Yeah, that's part of that $1.5 million was child care
Chair
Unverified
4:45:15
and transportation. I see. Thank you. Senator Cheatham is recognized
Senator Eddie Cheatham
Unverified
4:45:19
for a question. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Flippo, and I'll be trying to be brief.
Speaker 802
4:45:25
And I kind of agree with what you're trying to do, I guess, but it seems kind of like this is some of the same requirements we've put on Arkansas Works that's just been challenged by the
Speaker 805
4:45:36
federal courts and said we can't do that. Did that cross your mind? I would disagree. As
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
4:45:42
a matter of fact, this doesn't even require a waiver from the federal government. We already have
Chair
Unverified
4:45:49
the ability. Okay. Any other questions? Anyone wish to speak on this?
Speaker 43
4:45:55
Senator Elliott's going to speak against. I want to remind senators that we give, the chair gives great latitude. This is your body for discussion. The only thing I ask
Chair
Unverified
4:46:06
is that you don't step on each other in the debate. Thank you. Senator Elliott's recognized to speak
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:46:12
against. Thank you, Governor. I'm not even really here
to speak against this bill. As I said a thousand times, who in here disagrees with what this bill is trying to do? And I just resent the notion that because we ask questions about it, there is some assumption that some of us just want people to just have something for nothing.
That's always an undercurrent in here when we talk about poor people. I don't know anybody, especially the 35 of you in here. I don't know anybody who thinks that's an okay thing to do. But you can't ask a question without some assumption that you just want everybody to be a slackard. We talk that way every time we talk about poor people.
Speaker 462
4:46:58
And that's absurd. General, I suspend. Senator's got the floor.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:47:04
And maybe because you've gotten lucky, or maybe because you've done well, and maybe because you have a great
job to go to every day, somehow you deserve more respect than somebody who's not that fortunate. I totally resent this notion that you're going to lecture to us all the time about people ought to be working. That's like telling me rain is wet.
That's like telling me there are 35 people in the Senate. That's like telling me there are 100 people in the House. that's like telling me all of you right now wish I would just shut up and I won't that's like telling me there's some resentment about against people who are poor and that somehow we must always have an attack some kind of attitude about people who are struggling as if somehow
you woke up one morning and said no I don't want to be poor I think I'll be self-sufficient and everybody else got
up and said oh I love this being poor if you had a choice between poverty and being middle class why haven't you chosen that people don't choose this just to be choosing it and the next time we have somebody up here with the bill I don't care what it is the least you
could do is just answer the questions that's the least any of us can do. And if you don't ever say anything else to me, don't talk to me about poor people as if they are less than what we are, that they're lazy, that this is what
they wanted to be. Good for you if you don't know
Chair
Unverified
4:49:03
those people. Senator Garner is recognized in favor of the bill and then you want to speak
on the bill okay well senator garner's going to speak in
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:49:16
favor of the bill thank you mr president first you know under the default part of the federal law that authorizes
the stat benefits there is already a work requirement that states can waive from 18 to 49 there's a mandate within that law for work requirements not work training like we're trying to do here but actual work requirements to answer Senator Cheatham's question but you know I think that in my district we have
a high population of those who are lower income if you look at the index and I look at them and I don't
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:49:48
look at them as in people who are bad people who don't care who don't the thing I don't look them like Senator Elliott just described it but what I want to do for those people is give them an opportunity to
better themselves through employment it was Ronald Reagan who said the greatest form of welfare is a job getting people back in the workforce is the intent of programs like this it is the reason we put them in place to have those people have a ability to be there
and stand up on their own and that should be the object of every single government welfare program that we do from snap to medicaid to everything else to get those people who can use that back into our workforce to get them back on their feet that's the optimal outcome for this with that
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
4:50:31
i'll take a question. Senator Bond, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Senator. And it goes along with what you started with. My understanding of the requirement now is that individuals age 18 to 49 without children in the home can only get three months out of every
three years of SNAP unless they're working 20 hours per week. That's what you're talking about. Correct. There's already something that knocks people that don't have kids off.
And I think I think that's a distinction between, say, the Medicaid work requirement, because that's defaulting the law. So a judge couldn't say that
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:51:04
wasn't part of the initial program. So
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
4:51:06
I believe that's correct. So that's already in there. The other thing is, SNAP, sometimes we talk about it like
this, it's a huge benefit. I don't know if you're aware, it's about $1.21, $1.21 per person per meal.
You're aware of that. I don't know how many people in here have done the SNAP challenge. I know several have, and I have. it's something, however you vote on this bill, that you ought to take the SNAP challenge and see how limited this benefit is.
I agree, Senator Bonn, it is a limited benefit, but that's why it's called supplemental. It's to supplement their already income when it comes to
Speaker 43
4:51:41
those kind of things. Anyone else want to speak? Do you have a question, Senator Elliott? I have a question. Senator Elliott has a
Speaker 484
4:51:49
question. Senator Garner, is it clear to you
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
4:51:51
that everybody in here believes folks should work and they should not just be getting something for nothing just to get it. Is that clear
to you? I believe you wholeheartedly agree with that theory.
Chair
Unverified
4:52:06
Okay, thank you. Anyone else wish to speak on this? Senator, ready to close? I'm closed for my
Speaker 742
4:52:26
bill, and I'd appreciate a good vote. Please call the roll. Ballinger?
Speaker 212
4:52:34
Aye. Bledsoe. Bond. Caldwell. Cheatham. Chesterfield. Clark. Cooper. Davis.
Speaker 210
4:52:46
Dismang, Eads, Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hammer, Hendron, Hester,
Speaker 730
4:53:16
Irvin. Irvin. Blake Johnson. Aye. Mark
Speaker 210
4:53:22
Johnson. Mark Johnson.
Ludding, Mallet, Mallet, Pitch, Raper,
Speaker 619
4:53:33
Rice, Sample, Stubbafil, Stubbafil, Sturge, Teague, Teague?
Speaker 38
4:53:44
Wallace? Anyone wish to vote or change their vote? Senator
Chair
Unverified
4:54:01
Irvin is aye. Senator Sample
is no. Senator Malik is aye. Anyone else? Anyone else? Cast up the ballot. 25 yeas, 9 nays.
The bill passed. Return it to the House. Senator Hendren. Okay, members. I know you're going to be disappointed, but we're
going to do one more bill and then do the batches. So the bill was the one we moved to the calendar, the transformation bill, House Bill 1763. So we're going to leave the rest of these on this calendar for tomorrow. So all they are is House bills that
we'll try to finish up tomorrow. So again, the plan right now is do House Bill 1763. Then I'm to come back and we're going to do the do the two batches if you want to know what those are it is house bill 1875 the first batch 1333 1433 1542 1543 and 1545 the batch on the second page is 1711 what about
Chair
Unverified
4:55:06
uh senator what about 1557 remember that was reduced we got a poll okay
Thank you. The second page is 1711, 1745, 1755,
1815, 1860, 1890, and 1902. And then I've got a couple motions to recall
a couple bills from the house for the purpose of the interim study that will handle this transformation bill first. So that's the plan.
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:55:42
Senator, I think you said 1745. Is that 1746 you meant? Yeah, my body. It's getting
Speaker 127
4:55:47
old. It's making sure. Yeah, okay. So before we do the
passage, we're going to do the transformation bill next. Senator Malek is... What do you need a
Speaker 845
4:56:09
motion for? Senator Malik is recognized. Thank you, Governor. Members, I visited with Senator Garner.
House Bill 1710, which set up the Task Force for Transportation of Non-Emergency Behavioral Health Patients, there's been a group that's been working on that for a long time. They think the work of that task force can save literally millions of dollars. The task force itself doesn't cost. I agree with Senator Garner on what happened to his down there. I was in favor of his task force. But because of that possibility, I'm going to, again, move to expunge the vote by which House Bill 1710 failed. Any questions? All those in favor say aye.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
4:56:44
Aye. Opposed? Aye. Ayes have it. The motion is carried. We're going to do the transformation
Speaker 124
4:57:01
bill, and then we're doing the batch, and that's
Speaker 32
4:57:12
it. Senator Hester's bill. House Bill 1763 by Representative Davis and Senator Hester to create the Transformation
Chair
Unverified
4:57:19
Efficiencies Act of 2019 to establish cabinet-level departments to transfer state entities and declare an emergency. Senator Hester is recognized. Thank you,
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
4:57:33
colleagues. So this is a big bill that does a lot. And so in 1971 was the last time that we've had a government reorganization like this. There were 60 direct reports to the governor back then. it was reorganized down to 13. Since then, we've grown back to 42 direct reports to the
governor, plus over 200 boards and commissions, and this is a reorganization that takes it back down to 15. It's strictly administrative. All the boards and commissions keep their spending and current authorities, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Senator Garner is recognized for a
Speaker 386
4:58:09
question. Thank you, Mr. President. Now, you know about the Arkansas
Constitution, the third reading It's supposed to be a bill in its entirety.
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
4:58:23
That's what the Constitution says. I believe this
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
4:58:34
body has agreed to suspend that rule. Any other questions? Senator Clark. Senator Hester, are there any other parts of the Constitution
Chair
Unverified
4:58:45
that you want to suspend? Not today. any
Speaker 231
4:58:52
other serious questions no questions okay anyone wish to speak on the bill against or
Speaker 288
4:58:58
senator ingram uh did we ever uh senator ingram's got the floor the
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
4:59:04
15 million dollars in savings that are going to come from this did we ever get specific or did we just say there's 15 million dollars worth of savings that are coming from
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
4:59:15
this. We did not get very specific. We used some examples of some other boards and commissions that we merged, and there's some estimates off of that. I think we hope there's going to be a lot more savings than that, but I think we'll learn to see that. Senator Bond actually added a really good amendment to this bill that says by
the end of July of 19, we're going to
get a report from the executive branch explaining what has happened and what they plan on moving forward, and I think
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
4:59:43
we'll have a much better idea at that point. And one follow-up. Implementation. Could you just briefly, and I mean briefly, give us an idea of how, once this passes, how it be implemented? Well, I
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
4:59:57
think, you know, that's incumbent upon the executive branch. I think that they've got a good plan. Amy Fincher's been working on this for several years. And I think one of the first
things the governor's got to start doing is selecting his secretaries, of which, thanks to the good work of the committee, you know, Senator Sample and Hickey and Caldwell and the entire committee, that, you know, the Senate's going to have confirmation of those secretaries. So, I think that's going to be one of the first steps, and as we do those, and those secretaries will
have a lot of say on the implementation of the merging of the boards under them.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
5:00:36
Senator, I'm sorry, you're not confident. I have two points of clarification, Senator. I am unable to
figure out how we're going to save. What are the parameters? I'm not asking you for specifics, but if there are some assumed savings, it's going to be because we did what? If you fill in that blank for me, what are the big
things we did that's going to cause a savings to happen?
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
5:01:00
Sure. Well, look, I think from what we've seen from other boards and commissions that have merged, we saw some retirements, and with that retirement, no need to backfill that position. So if you've got two different boards that have an IT person, they merge together, and one of them chooses to retire, there's no reason to hire a second IT person. So I think it's going to be some overlapping. The governor's been very clear that he's not going to, you know, people aren't going to lose their jobs because of this. but I think when people retire or choose to move on to another profession
or another area outside the government, that that position won't be backfilled. So in a case like
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
5:01:37
that, are they retiring because of the transformation, or do we know if they were going to be retiring folks anyway? I think a good example
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
5:01:44
would be somebody that maybe they've put in 25 or 30 years, and now they're about to have to change up everything, and they're just like, you know, I'm not going to do that. And I think that's an example. so they just go ahead and take retirement that's currently eligible. Okay,
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
5:01:59
and the other clarification I wanted to get,
in cases where somebody who's already here is going to move to be in the Cabinet Secretary, is that person going to do two jobs? How do we manage that? I
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
5:02:14
haven't figured that out. I think that's the current plan for that person to start doing two jobs.
That's right. There's no increased funding for them to do two, But whoever chooses to be the secretary
Speaker 857
5:02:29
will have two responsibilities. I think I understood you said
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
5:02:33
that person, whoever's the secretary, is just going to have two jobs, correct?
Chair
Unverified
5:02:37
That's correct. Okay, thank you. Any other questions for the senator? Senator Chesterfield is recognized. Thank you,
Speaker 169
5:02:45
Mr. Chair, and thank you, Senator Hester. we have kind of tee hee
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
5:02:47
heed about it but as we violate the constitution is that not giving you pause i didn't hear the first part of your question i said we've kind of laughed about it because you said we're not going to see the whole bill before we vote on the whole bill
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
5:03:04
no i i think the question was are we going to read the whole 2 000 pages out loud before we
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
5:03:08
no no that's not what my point are we going to adopt this without seeing the engrossed version of the bill, is that what we're going to do? The engrossed version of the bill is online. Is online, so we've already got that. Yes, we do. So we're within constitutional parameters. To vote. Yes, ma'am, we are. To vote. Yes, ma'am, we are. You're not having me commit an unconstitutional act. No, ma'am,
Speaker 297
5:03:30
we are not. You're sure? I'm sure because if I was willing to do that, I would have done it Wednesday or Thursday or Friday last week. I know you would
Speaker 102
5:03:39
have. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any other questions? Anyone wish to speak
Speaker 76
5:03:51
against, for, on? Center has closed. Is there any objection to rolling the vote on the transformation bell? Please roll
Speaker 212
5:04:21
Bond Aye Caldwell Aye Cheatham Aye Chesterfield
Chair
Unverified
5:04:32
Chesterfield Clark Aye Cooper Aye Davis
Speaker 210
5:04:41
Aye Dismang Aye Eads Aye Elliott Aye English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin,
Blake Johnson. Mark Johnson. Mark Johnson. Letting. Mallet. Pitch. Rayford.
Speaker 38
5:05:12
Rice. Sample. Stubbafil Sturge Teague Wallace Anyone wish to
Chair
Unverified
5:05:30
vote or change their vote?
Senator Teague is aye Anybody else? Senator Chesterfield is aye It does have an emergency clause, yes cast up the ballot 33 a's one day the bill is passed the emergency clause is adopted return to the house Senator Caldwell thank you Governor I
Senator Ronald Caldwell
Unverified
5:05:59
want to take a point of personal privilege to thank the
make sure everybody can hear you thank you I want to take a point of personal privilege to thank everyone that worked on state agencies we started at the beginning of session and worked, came in early, stayed late, and came in multiple days. They really did a good job working on that transformation bill, and I appreciate them very much.
Speaker 863
5:06:37
Thank you, Senator. Senator Clark, then we'll get the report. Senator Clark. Yes, I
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
5:06:43
I would like to move that we withdraw House Bill 1385 from the House for the purpose of amendment. They have discovered an
incongruity in the language, and I know it is next to impossible to get it done at this point, but
if I don't start, then... Recall it. That was what I meant to say. 1385. Representative Mayberry's bill.
Chair
Unverified
5:07:13
Well, I think they want to know what it
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
5:07:19
is before we do this. It defined what a schoolhouse is for the purposes of
Chair
Unverified
5:07:23
ABC. Any questions on the motion? Senator Garner, what's the mistake they
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
5:07:30
found? They don't have the same language in two different
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
5:07:35
parts. Okay. Any other questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye.
Speaker 363
5:07:43
No's have it. Give me five hands. All
Speaker 13
5:07:59
right, five hands. Please call the roll. Ballinger. Bledsoe. Bledsoe.
Speaker 212
5:08:13
Bond, Bond, Caldwell, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Davis,
Chair
Unverified
5:08:25
Dismang. Dismang. Aye. Eads. Aye. Elliott. Aye. English.
Speaker 210
5:08:40
Aye. Flippo. Aye. Flowers. Aye. Garner. Garner.
Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting? Letting? Mallet?
Mallet? Pitch? Rapert? Rice?
Speaker 38
5:09:23
Sample? Sample? Stubbafil? Aye. Sturge? Sturge? Teague? Aye. Wallace? Wallace? Aye. Anyone wish to vote or
Speaker 280
5:09:37
change their vote? cast up. Senator Bond
Speaker 231
5:09:41
is aye. Cast up the ballot. 27 yeas, 0 nays. Motion is carried.
Senators are recognized. I'm somewhat hesitant after that fight to recall because I've got three or
four more here. House Bill 1710, I believe that we recall that from the House. That was the vote that, that was the bill that Senator Malik just made a motion to expunge. turns out we'd already sent it down there so we need to get it back here we're going to do that so i'd move we recall house bill 1710. any objection without objection okay we've got two two bills here that want to be recalled from the house they're basically down in the committee not going anywhere for interim study so one is uh senate bill 560 by senator johnson so i'd move
Speaker 711
5:10:29
recall senate bill 560. any objection without objection
motion carried then senate bill 571 is the tobacco tax thing down in Senate Bill public or revenue tax. I move we recall it for NM study as well. Any objection? Without objection, motion carried. Okay, and then before
Speaker 711
5:10:44
we vote the batches, we've got one other Senate
Bill we need to hear. We amended it. It was on third reading and that's why I didn't catch it, but we amended it, Senator Flippo's bill, so that we can get it down to the House tomorrow. So I move that we put Senate Bill 409, or I guess we need to
Chair
Unverified
5:11:00
read it across as far as being engrossed first. Will your committee on engrossed bills to whom we deferred Senate Bill 409 by Senator Filippo to compare the engrossed
Speaker 869
5:11:11
copy of the original and find the same correctly engrossed. So I
Chair
Unverified
5:11:14
guess I'm going to put it on third reading for purposes of passage. We, your Committee on State Agencies Governmental Affairs to whom we deferred Senate Bill 409 by Senator Filippo recommend due pass as
amended number two. So we're ready. You've heard the motion to suspend the rules put on the calendar. Any objection?
Without objection, motion carried. All right. Thank you, Mr. President. Senate Bill 409 by Senator Filippo to allow for the electronic notification of an invitation for bids and electronic submission of bids and to create the Fair Notice and Efficiency and Public Works Act. Senator Rackenhausen. Thank you, Mr.
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
5:11:49
President. Members, I am happy to be down here for what I hope is going
Speaker 808
5:11:53
to be the last time to talk to you about Senate Bill 409. So going into this, we only had, you know, the only
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
5:11:59
opposition was the Press Association and the Democrat Gazette.
I'm happy to report that there's some thorough work and umpteen different amendments. I think we have neutralized those concerns, and so my hope is, Mike, that whenever you all do a story on me in the Democratic Gazette, you'll find a little bit more
Speaker 808
5:12:14
flattering photo. I know those are few and far between for me,
Senator Scott Flippo
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5:12:18
so I appreciate that. So, members, what Senate Bill 409 does is it provides cities, counties, and schools an option to use one of
three qualified vendors selected by the Office of State Procurement for electronic advertising and bid submission for construction projects only. There can be no cost to view the public notice.
It establishes a public works committee to monitor vendor compliance, complaints, and reporting. Creates strong vendor penalties for noncompliance, including having common ownership or requiring payment for viewing of notices. It establishes the advertising notices and time frames that must be met before a city, county, or school district can use online notices. States that this process will not
be available for use by cities, counties, or schools prior to the public works committee being notified by the Director of State Procurement that the RFQ has been successful and who the qualified vendors are.
Requires continued use of newspaper advertising. And that was a whole glitch in the whole process was that continued
use of newspaper advertising of which this now does include. And with that, I'd be happy to take
Speaker 441
5:13:18
any questions. Any questions for Senator Filippo? Anyone we should speak
Speaker 102
5:13:23
against or for or on? Senator, closing? It's closed. Is there any objection to
Speaker 699
5:13:32
rolling the vote? Roll the vote, please.
Chair
Unverified
5:13:37
Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Cheshireville, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismane, Eades, Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Ludding, Malik, Pitch, Rayford, Rice, Sample, Stubberfield, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote?
Senator Wallace says no. Anybody else? Cast up the ballot. 34 yays and one nay.
The bill is passed. Yeah, transmit to the House. Okay. We are committee on
engrossed bills to whom was first sent Bill 519 by Senator Hammer. Compare the engrossed copy of the original and find the same correctly engrossed. Calendar. Okay,
members, and again, we have one more bill that we amended today, Senate Bill 519.
It was on the amendment calendar, got back from engrossing in order to get it down to the House. I'm going to move that we suspend the rules so that it's
Chair
Unverified
5:14:51
put on the calendar for hearing today. Any objection? Without
objection, motion carried. Senate Bill 519 by Senator Hamer to amend the laws concerning funding for community mental health senators. Senator Hamer.
Thank you, Mr. Governor. Thank you, Senator Hendren, for that. So what this bill does at Senate Bill 519, community health centers are that group in the state that do a couple things.
Number one, they take care of the needs of those that don't have insurance, but yet they
are called upon in the community to go out and deliver services to them or they come into the office. So that's one thing to do. The other thing to do is if your county jail gets somebody that needs to be assessed, this
is the group that goes out to assess them, determine if they need community health support services or whether they stay, you know, in the
jail. And so they provide two very important. This is also the group that when preferred family went out of business, they picked up a portion of that population and were asked to step in.
So they are a very critical link in providing services in the state. And so what they are asking for in this bill is a couple things, or a couple things, excuse me. One of the things that they would do is that they would be, if notified, that funding is cut. And this is a rarity, but it does happen. But if funding is cut, instead of getting a phone call saying tomorrow, hey, you're going to be cut tomorrow, that they are given a 45-day extension before that cut is put into place.
That's one thing that the bill does. The other thing that the bill does, if you
look on, there was an amendment too, excuse me. And it provides for that 45-day buffer, but also in matters of contracts that exceed $25,000 that the legislative council or the joint budget, when in general session, would have the opportunity to review it to make sure that, and this mirrors what's done with youth services contracts at DYS. And so that's the nuts and bolts, and I'll be glad to answer any questions.
Speaker 761
5:16:56
Any questions? Senator Hendren is recognized. yeah is there a fiscal impact on this or the DFA and do on
when this kind of goes back to what you asked the other day when it comes DHS set at the table and if there is a fiscal impact it's if the if the feds cut the funding they are going to have to find the money within their discretionary funds and that was discussed in the committee that they would that they would need to find that funding in order to carry it over the one thing that they want about the 45 day is that gives them time a
to adjust but also what they don't want to have is to take on a contract and then the funding gets cut but yet they are expected to provide that same amount of services for less money and so that's part of what this is intended to do is it to be a soft landing instead of just a crash because in one case they took some pretty significant you know funding cuts so how much did they say the potential
hit would be if the feds cut the funding it's kind
of what it was undetermined and the reason was undetermined is because they don't know what contracts might be cut they cited one case one of the providers cited one
case it was 60 I think was 60,000 so DHS did not sit at the table and and speak to the financial impact of it they spoke more to the to the to the fact that they
would have to delay at 45 that's what they were opposing to so it is mine yeah and
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
5:18:18
that and I really was wanting to kind of find out where the direction came from on the bill so I'm assuming this is not a DHS bill and it looks like one that's probably going to take some of the authority away from DHS as far
as how they make those determinations well as it is and I apologize I know
that's what we're running today and I would like a member of the committee sat in there because if I'm wrong on the figure as far as financial impact I'd like one of the members call
me correct me Senator Hickey or somebody else if anybody else wants to feel free. I'm sorry would you ask your question again Senator Dismayne? Yeah
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
5:18:55
well I was just curious of what DHS's position was on the bill and I like I'm just
trying to quickly as I can scan through I read it once earlier but then
I didn't think we were hearing it so. They've been working really hard with community health providers in order to you know come to terms with this the biggest sticking point was the 45 days that was the biggest sticking point because what would happen if they get a call from the feds and the funding is cut and say they uh that division has 156 contracts what they would do before is they would and and i mean this is what the director told me was he would make the phone calls to all of them and say look there's
been a uh there's been a 200 000 cut in each one you need to take a little bit okay so what this would do is it would delay it 45 days to the community health providers and and then he would have to make that over the other ones but it would kind of protect the community health provider or community health providers but it's going to set some priorities if it if
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
5:19:51
it cut did come they would have to be fully funded and they would set precedent over maybe some other needs in state that dhs may put may or may not pay for other discretionary funds and the idea before the 45
days and the reason for the
45 days is that gives them chance that gives them time to make adjustments Because of the services that they provide, it gives them time to make adjustments, not only to prepare for that cut, but also to be able to negotiate to make sure that the department is not holding them to the same
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
5:20:29
comes to providing to the needs of this population. Last question, and then so page two, I think, section two, or C2, it says that the Division of Aging, Adult Behavioral Health Services Department, DHS, shall meet with the community mental health centers annually to determine the appropriate changes in funding.
How do you see that meeting playing out? What are the requirements of that meeting? Does everyone have to be invited? Does everyone have to show up? I
think it's a little bit loose. Well, actually read a little further because great question. Glad you brought that out because when you read line 16 through 24, it actually sets the mechanism up where that they will meet on a quarterly basis with the report going to the Senate and the House Committee on Public Health and Welfare.
And this report shall include an annual audit of the Community Mental Health Center that is performed by an independent certified public account and meets actually that's where the substitute language gets dropped in public accountant and meets the generally accepted accountable principles so the mental health or the community mental health providers are not
Speaker 875
5:21:38
afraid for the department to look at them and
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
5:21:42
but that wasn't my so my question is I actually 3a makes more sense to me than 2 what I'm trying to understand is the requirement of DHS to have
annual meeting with community mental health centers. We don't really define what that is. Is it an organization? Is it multiple organization? Is it every entity? Is it, I mean, location level? Like what do you envision is what I was trying
Speaker 875
5:22:07
to ask for that meeting. What they envisioned and what
they would like is for the community mental health providers or those that are providing those services to have a regular ongoing meeting with DHS because part of the problem is is the disagreement between between the providers and the and the
agency as far as what the expectations are and that was part of the reason is to kind
of force the ongoing discussion because it's been absent based on what was shared in in testimony in committee go ahead that's
Speaker 43
5:22:46
okay okay any other questions for the senator? No questions? Anyone wish to speak against? For? At all? Senator
Speaker 752
5:22:57
Desmayne, do you want to speak? You want to. You don't have to. Like I said, I
Speaker 879
5:23:05
think there's some language in there that I
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
5:23:10
have a hard time processing exactly what that means. I I mean, I think there were some
valid reasons that some of DHS would not like to meet with some behavioral health folks here in the state. I think you can read the paper and probably see that for yourself. Again, I just think there's some things that, like, I don't know.
I mean, I read the bill this morning when we first came in, and then I kind of set it to the side because I anticipated we weren't going to hear it. And I understand we're in the last part of the day, but there's still some just pieces that don't really flow to me in the way they're writing the bill. So I suppose for
Speaker 207
5:23:45
that, you can do whatever you'd like. Anyone else wish to speak? Senator closed. Okay, Senator's
going to close. Thank you, Mr. Governor. How many times have we had that debate in here during this session about the lack of communication between the providers and DHS? And I know we went through, you know, the John Stephen report. I know we went through all those others, but here we are two years later and we're debating the communication lines.
I think one thing that this bill does good is for the population that we're talking about, remember, this is the group that's going to go into the jails and do the assessments to see if they can get out and get out to the services in the community, keep them out of the jail, number one. Number two, when another group collapsed, who picked up the slack, okay? And this was part of the group that picked up the slack. And the other thing I would just say is I think the good component that the bill does is it will require that ongoing communication that I think is essential for this provider group.
And I don't think that that's a bad thing, especially if it keeps us involved, because it's going
back before the committee on a quarterly basis to make sure we have ongoing discussions instead of having to have it whenever
Speaker 3
5:24:53
we're having session. And for that, I'd
Speaker 13
5:24:56
appreciate a good vote. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.
Speaker 212
5:25:04
Ballinger? Bledsoe? Bledsoe? Bond. Aye. Caldwell. Caldwell. Cheatham. Aye. Chesterfield. Chesterfield. Clark. Aye. Cooper.
Speaker 214
5:25:24
Eads, Elliot, Elliot, English, English,
Speaker 210
5:25:34
Flippo, Flippo, Flowers Garner Hammer Hendren Hester
Hickey Hill Ingram Irvin Blake Johnson Mark Johnson
Speaker 353
5:26:04
Aye. Ledding. Aye. Mallett. Mallett. Pitch. Yes. Raper. Yes.
Speaker 38
5:26:12
Rice. Aye. Sample. Yes.
Stubblefield. Aye. Stubblefield. Sturge. Aye. Teague. Teague. Wallace. Aye. Anyone wish
Speaker 11
5:26:26
to vote or change the vote? Senator Cooper. Senator Cooper's
Chair
Unverified
5:26:34
no. Senator Caldwell is aye. Senator Hester is no. Senator Ingram is aye. Senator Filippo is no. Senator Elliott is no. Sorry, Senator Elliott.
Oh, aye, sorry. Bad eyesight. Anybody else? Senator Chesterfield is aye. Senator Caldwell, we got you as aye. Anybody else? Cast up
Speaker 231
5:26:59
the ballot. Twenty-two yeas, six nays, bill passed, transmit to the House. Senator Hendricks. Some items at the desk, Madam Secretary. Notice
Speaker 32
5:27:16
of passage of Senate Bill 632 by the House as amended number one.
Transportation. Notice of passage of Senate Bill 646 as amended by the House number one. Judiciary. Notice of passage of Senate Bill 658 by the House as amended number 1. Judiciary. Notice of passage of Senate Bill 535 as amended 1 and 2 by the House. Education. For your
Chair
Unverified
5:27:47
Committee on State Agencies to whom was first, House Bill 1969, by Representative Wardlow, we recommend do pass.
Calendar. Calendar. Committee on Engrossed Bills to whom is first sent bill 595 by joint budget. Compare the engrossed copy of the regional and find
the same correctly engrossed. Committee on Engrossed Bills to whom is first sent bill 597 by joint budget. Compare the engrossed copy of the regional and find the same correctly engrossed. Caliber. Senator
Henry. Okay, members, before we read off the batch and batch the bills, which we've talked about before, you just
heard a couple bills came back. They're in committee to concur with amendments. You need to know where your bills are and make sure you get with the chairmen of the committee
so that you can get them, if you want to get them through, that
you make sure they're having a meeting. And you'll hear about some of the meetings here after we do that. But we've
got two more batches to vote. We'll finish that. The first one you see there on the list. So I'd move House Bill 1875, 1333, 1433, 1542, 1543, and 1545 be voted as
Chair
Unverified
5:28:48
a badge. Any objections? Any questions, Madam Secretary? Secretary, please. Any
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
5:28:57
objection? Roll the vote. Please roll the vote.
Chair
Unverified
5:29:01
House Bill 1875 by Representative Davis to amend the law concerning the city manager form of government. House Bill 1333 by Representative Warren to amend the law concerning voluntary retirement eligibility for benefits under the Tier 2 benefit plan for the state police retirement system. House Bill 1433 by Representative Rushing to authorize individuals with prior drug-related offenses to work with individuals receiving substance abuse treatment as peer support specialists
or similar positions and declare an emergency. House Bill 1542 by Representative Birch to allow the Department of Human Services to obtain certain records without charge. House Bill 1543 by Representative Birch to clarify the law on eligibility for services provided by the Adult Protective Services Unit of the Department of Human Services House Bill 1545 by Representative Allen to amend the membership of the Health Services Permit Commission
Chair
Unverified
5:30:17
bells, please roll the vote Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismayne, Eads, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram,
Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Ludding, Malick, Pitch, Rayford, Rice, Sample, Stubbeville, Starch Teague Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote,
Speaker 231
5:30:47
cast up the ballot. 35, yay, zero, nays. All
Chair
Unverified
5:30:53
of the House bills passed. Return to the
House. Senator Hendren is recognized for the
second batch. Okay, second batch on
the final page there. You see it up on the
board. House Bill 1711, 1746, 1755, 1815, 1860, 1890, and 1902. I'd move those
be voted as a batch.
Chair
Unverified
5:31:27
any objection any objection roll the vote please roll the vote as a badge after you read
the titles House Bill 1711 by Representative Birch to amend the law concerning guardianship subsidies offered by the Department of Human Services House Bill 1746 by Representative Kelly to amend civil and criminal immunity for individuals who make reports to the child abuse hotline in good faith. House Bill 1755
by Representative Scott concerning the punitive isolation or solitary confinement of individuals who are under 18 years of age. House Bill 1815 by Representative Perry to amend the death certificate registration process for the signature of the medical certificate of death. House Bill 1860 by Representative Ferguson to require reporting to the Department of Health of patient transfers from a lay midwife. House Bill 1890 by Representative De La Rosa
to require the Department of Education to establish in the standards for accreditation the maximum number of students that a teacher in grades 5 through 12 is permitted to teach for school day. House Bill 1902, I received Lady Mayan to amend the Used Tire Recycling and Accountability Act and to amend provisions of the Arkansas Solid Waste Management Law. There
Speaker 179
5:32:58
was no objection to batching. Roll the vote. Please
Chair
Unverified
5:33:01
roll the vote, Madam Secretary. Ballinger, Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell,
Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismain, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch, Raper, Rice, Sample, Stubbeville, Sturge, Teague, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote? Seeing none, cast
Chair
Unverified
5:33:36
Zero nays. The House bills have passed. Return to the House. Are there any items at the desk? Senator, one second,
Madam Secretary. Senator Hendricks, recognize? No, I'm just going to say the chairs will
announce their meeting times in a minute. We'll go into session tomorrow at 1 o'clock. Hopefully we can do it a little earlier on Wednesday if things keep going well. But again, chairs, make sure there's not some concurrence waiting, hung up in your committee that you don't have a meeting for before we go into session
one tomorrow. But other than that, it'll be about like today, hopefully a little shorter calendar tomorrow.
Speaker 371
5:34:09
Any announcements? Senator Clark. Senate Judiciary, we'll
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
5:34:12
meet upon adjournment as we had announced Friday. We've got a couple of bills from the House to concur on amendments
and upon call of the chair. Senator Jane English. Thank you, Senator Education. We'll meet in the
Senator Jane English
Unverified
5:34:30
morning at 9 o'clock. We have a couple of concurrent, I mean, amendments to concur on. Thank you. Any other announcements? We're adjourning.
Speaker 103
5:34:40
I'm subject to the clearing of the desk. In a second. Senator Rayburn.
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
5:34:44
Yes, I want to make sure Insurance and Commerce, we do have some concurrence. It shouldn't take very long, so we'll just meet normal
Speaker 562
5:34:56
time, 10 a.m. Any other announcements? We are adjourned until 1 o'clock tomorrow, subject to the clearing of the
Chair
Unverified
5:35:03
desk. House bill 1106 by joint budget.
Agenda
Call to Order
Roll Call
Prayer
Pledge of Allegiance
Announcements
Items to be read
SCR6 J. English TO BRING AWARENESS TO PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION PROGRAMS AND TO DECLARE THE FIRST WEEK OF SEPTEMBER "RESILIENCY WEEK".
SR30 T. Garner TO CONDEMN THE POLICIES OF PRESIDENT NICOLÁS MADURO OF VENEZUELA AND TO SUPPORT THE PEOPLE OF VENEZUELA.
SR42 S. Flowers TO ENCOURAGE AND URGE GOVERNOR ASA HUTCHINSON TO ACT EXPEDITIOUSLY ON CERTAIN PAROLE BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS.
SR43 Maloch TO COMMEND THE WORK OF FAMILIES AGAINST DISTRACTIVE DRIVING.
HJR1008 Vaught Pitsch AN AMENDMENT TO THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION TO AMEND THE PROCESS FOR THE SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL OF PROPOSED INITIATED ACTS, CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS, AND REFERENDA.
SB87 #1 A. Clark TO DEFINE "IMMINENT HARM" UNDER THE ARKANSAS JUVENILE CODE OF 1989 AND THE CHILD MALTREATMENT ACT.
SB441 #1 Bledsoe TO ADD RESTRICTIONS REGARDING ADVERTISING OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA AND USE OF CERTAIN SYMBOLS.
SB547 #1 B. Johnson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE DIVISION OF PROPERTY IN AN ACTION FOR DIVORCE.
SB576 #1 and 2 Hester TO REFORM THE TAX LAWS CONCERNING THE LEVY AND COLLECTION OF SALES AND USE TAX, THE APPORTIONMENT AND ALLOCATION OF INCOME FOR TAX PURPOSES, CORPORATE INCOME TAX RATES, AND NET OPERATING LOSSES; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
SB519 #1 K. Hammer TO AMEND THE LAWS CONCERNING FUNDING FOR COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTERS.
SB182 A. Clark TO AMEND THE LAW TO ALLOW FOR MORE OPTIONS IN THE LEVYING AND COLLECTION OF FIRE DUES.
SB409 Flippo TO ALLOW FOR THE ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATION OF AN INVITATION FOR BIDS AND ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF BIDS; AND TO CREATE THE FAIR NOTICE AND EFFICIENCY IN PUBLIC WORKS ACT.
SB461 K. Hammer TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE CREATION OF AND TIMING OF TAX COLLECTION IN CERTAIN FIRE DEPARTMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
SB463 M. Johnson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING INITIATIVES AND REFERENDA; AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE LICENSING, REGISTRATION, AND ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS CONCERNING CERTAIN PERSONS AND ENTITIES THAT PARTICIPATE IN THE PAID CANVASSING INDUSTRY.
SB605 A. Clark TO AMEND THE NAME OF NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH STATE CATEGORICAL FUNDING.
SB652 M. Johnson TO NAME THE OFFICE BUILDING LOCATED AT 501 WOODLANE, LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS; AND TO HONOR GOVERNOR WINTHROP ROCKEFELLER.
SB657 B. Sample TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE METHOD BY WHICH THE OFFICE OF DRIVER SERVICES MAY PROVIDE REQUIRED NOTICES TO A PERSON WHOSE DRIVER'S LICENSE OR PERMIT HAS BEEN SUSPENDED, DISQUALIFIED, OR REVOKED.
SB664 Elliott TO REQUIRE THAT NEW INMATES RECEIVE READING ASSESSMENTS AND DYSLEXIA SCREENINGS; TO REQUIRE READING AND DYSLEXIA SERVICES; AND TO REQUIRE CORRECTIONS TEACHERS KNOW BEST PRACTICES OF SCIENCE-BASED READING INSTRUCTION.
SB668 K. Hammer CONCERNING A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT IS CLASSIFIED AS BEING IN NEED OF LEVEL 5 - INTENSIVE SUPPORT; AND TO ALLOW THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO GRANT EXTENSIONS OF ITS ASSUMPTION OF AUTHORITY IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS.
SB670 M. Johnson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING POLL WORKERS AND OTHER ELECTION OFFICIALS; AND TO AMEND A PORTION OF THE ELECTION LAWS AS AMENDED BY ACT 258 OF 2019.
SB679 K. Ingram TO AMEND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT REVENUE BOND ACT OF 1985.
SB683 Hester TO ABOLISH THE ARKANSAS BROADBAND COUNCIL, THE ARKANSAS YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION TASK FORCE, THE GRADE "A" MILK PROGRAM ADVISORY COMMITTEE, AND THE PRAIRIE GROVE BATTLEFIELD STATE PARK ADVISORY COMMISSION.
HB 1821
HB1626 Cloud Ballinger CONCERNING THE OFFERING OF AN ACADEMIC STUDY OF THE BIBLE COURSE IF STUDENTS REQUEST THAT THE COURSE BE OFFERED.
HB1854 Hillman Caldwell TO AMEND THE COMPOSITION OF THE STATE PLANT BOARD.
HB 1896
HB1255 Dotson Hester TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING LICENSING, REGISTRATION, AND CERTIFICATION FOR CERTAIN PROFESSIONS; AND TO ESTABLISH A SYSTEM OF ENDORSEMENT, RECOGNITION, AND RECIPROCITY FOR LICENSING.
HB1417 Watson Eads TO AMEND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967 TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF CERTAIN PERSONS ASSISTING IN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS; AND TO CREATE AN EXEMPTION TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967.
HB1460 Speaks Flippo TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING UNOPPOSED CANDIDATES; AND TO REQUIRE UNOPPOSED CANDIDATES TO APPEAR ON THE BALLOT.
HB1633 Tosh Bond TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING WITNESS INTIMIDATION, RETALIATION, TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE, JURY TAMPERING, AND BRIBERY.
HB1673 Petty Hester CONCERNING THE ISSUANCE OF A NO CONTACT ORDER.
HB1678 Gazaway Stubblefield AMENDING CERTAIN LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR A LICENSE TO CARRY A CONCEALED HANDGUN.
HB1693 Wing Pitsch TO AMEND THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER-GENERAL CONTRACTOR METHOD OF PROCUREMENT PILOT PROGRAM.
HB1789 Penzo Ballinger TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE OFFENSE OF TRAFFICKING; AND TO CREATE AN OFFENSE FOR THE UNLAWFUL SOLICITATION FOR THE RELINQUISHMENT OF PARENTAL RIGHTS.
HB1911 M. Gray Dismang TO AMEND THE INCOME TAX ACT OF 1929 CONCERNING WHO SHALL BE TREATED AS THE OWNER OF A PORTION OF A TRUST.
HB1943 Cavenaugh Rapert TO AMEND THE PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION ACT; AND TO REVISE THE DEFINITION OF "PERSONAL INFORMATION" IN THE PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION ACT.
HB1298 J. Mayberry Elliott TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE PAYABLE RATE OF AN ANNUAL RETIREMENT BENEFIT RECEIVED BY A RETIRED MAYOR.
HB1453 Penzo Hammer TO CREATE THE PERINATAL PALLIATIVE CARE INFORMATION ACT.
HB1484 Watson Flippo TO CLARIFY THE PROCEDURE FOR DISPOSITION OF UNCLAIMED BODIES IN THE STATE OF ARKANSAS.
HB1547 Perry Teague TO ENSURE THAT PERSONS LICENSED TO PROVIDE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES OR ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT RESCUE SERVICES MAINTAIN CONTINUAL NATIONAL EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES CERTIFICATION.
HB1555 A. Collins Irvin TO INCREASE COVERAGE FOR MEDICATIONS APPROVED BY THE UNITED STATES FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION FOR TOBACCO CESSATION IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM.
HB1558 Lowery M. Johnson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING ADULT EDUCATION PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS TO ENSURE THAT MORE THAN ONE (1) ADULT EDUCATION PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL MAY OPERATE IN THIS STATE.
HB1622 A. Collins Hammer TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR A MINOR APPLYING FOR A DRIVER'S LICENSE.
HB1625 Gazaway Bond TO CREATE THE OFFENSE OF ENCOURAGING THE SUICIDE OF ANOTHER PERSON.
HB1630 Lundstrum Cooper TO EXEMPT CERTAIN INFORMATION PERTAINING TO A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER FROM THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; AND CONCERNING PUBLIC RECORD WEBSITES.
HB1665 Brown Garner TO STRENGTHEN VOTER TRUST IN THE ELECTION PROCESS; AND TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING ELECTION PROCESS AND ADMINISTRATION.
HB1666 Brown Garner TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING ELECTION ADMINISTRATION AND PROCEDURES; AND TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DUAL OFFICE HOLDING.
HB1686 A. Collins Hammer TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "MARITAL PROPERTY" FOR PURPOSES OF DIVISION OF PROPERTY IN AN ACTION FOR DIVORCE.
HB1707 Capp B. Davis TO AMEND THE ADULT AND LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY RESIDENT MALTREATMENT ACT; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
HB1710 Perry Teague TO CREATE THE TASK FORCE ON TRANSPORTATION OF NONEMERGENCY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PATIENTS.
HB1731 G. Hodges Stubblefield TO REQUIRE COOPERATION BETWEEN CERTAIN STATE AGENCIES REGARDING SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY.
HB1733 Gazaway Bond CONCERNING A THREAT TO COMMIT AN ACT OF MASS VIOLENCE ON SCHOOL PROPERTY.
HB1775 Bentley Flippo TO CREATE THE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR ABLE-BODIED ADULTS ACT OF 2019.
HB1782 Capp Bond CONCERNING COURT COSTS AND FEES FOR SPECIALTY COURT IN THE STATE'S DISTRICT COURTS.
HB1817 Capp Stubblefield TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING NATIVE WINE INCENTIVE GRANTS; TO AMEND THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF NATIVE WINE INCENTIVE GRANT FUNDS AWARDED; AND TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS AGRICULTURAL MARKETING GRANTS FUND.
HB1839 L. Johnson Rapert TO ESTABLISH THE PREPAID MOBILE DEVICE PROTECTION ACT.
HB1842 Pilkington Dismang TO STREAMLINE THE GRIEVANCE PROCESS FOR STATE EMPLOYEES; AND TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE PROCEDURES, FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED, AND STANDARD OF REVIEW FOR GRIEVANCES.
HB1866 Petty Hammer CONCERNING EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY, PARDON, AND COMMUTATION OF SENTENCE.
HB1875 A. Davis Dismang TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE CITY MANAGER FORM OF GOVERNMENT.
HB1928 V. Flowers Elliott TO AMEND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; AND TO REQUIRE ALL OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS TO BE RECORDED.
HB1947 Fortner Hammer TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING EYESIGHT TEST REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ISSUANCE OF A DRIVER'S LICENSE.
HB1950 Glover Cheatham TO ESTABLISH JOHN H. JOHNSON DAY AS A MEMORIAL DAY.
HB 1763 Hester
SB 409
SB 519
HB1333 Warren Sample TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT AND ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS UNDER THE TIER TWO BENEFIT PLAN FOR THE STATE POLICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
HB1433 Rushing Clark TO AUTHORIZE INDIVIDUALS WITH PRIOR DRUG-RELATED OFFENSES TO WORK WITH INDIVIDUALS RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT AS PEER SUPPORT SPECIALISTS OR SIMILAR POSITIONS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
HB1542 Burch Clark TO ALLOW THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO OBTAIN CERTAIN RECORDS WITHOUT CHARGE.
HB1543 Burch Clark TO CLARIFY THE LAW ON ELIGIBILITY FOR SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES UNIT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES.
HB1545 F. Allen Irvin TO AMEND THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE HEALTH SERVICES PERMIT COMMISSION.
HB1557 House Cooper TO CREATE AN EXEMPTION FROM THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; AND TO EXEMPT SECURITY PLANS RELATED TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA FACILITIES.
HB1664 Crawford Ballinger TO ESTABLISH THE LIFE CHOICES LIFELINE PROGRAM.
HB1691 M. Gray Irvin TO REQUIRE THE DIVISION OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES SERVICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO PROMULGATE RULES FOR CLOSURE, SALE, TRANSFER, AND EXPANSION OF CERTAIN FACILITIES AND SERVICES.
HB1698 Della Rosa Cooper TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE FILING AND PUBLICATION OF CERTAIN CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS; AND TO AMEND PORTIONS OF ARKANSAS CODE RESULTING FROM INITIATED ACT 1 OF 1990 AND INITIATED ACT 1 OF 1996.
HB1711 Burch Clark TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING GUARDIANSHIP SUBSIDIES OFFERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES.
HB1712 Wardlaw Irvin TO REPEAL THE LAW REQUIRING THAT INFORMATION OBTAINED ON HOME HEALTHCARE SERVICES BE CONFIDENTIAL.
HB1746 Kelly Hammer TO PROVIDE CIVIL AND CRIMINAL IMMUNITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO MAKE REPORTS TO THE CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE IN GOOD FAITH.
HB1755 Scott Elliott CONCERNING THE PUNITIVE ISOLATION OR SOLITARY CONFINEMENT OF INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE UNDER EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS OF AGE.
HB1803 F. Allen Irvin TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS BLUE RIBBON PANEL ON PEDIATRIC CANCER RESEARCH.
HB1809 Love Clark TO CREATE AN ADDITIONAL TERM OF IMPRISONMENT FOR OFFENSES THAT CONSTITUTE SERIOUS ACTS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST A PERSON AT A CHURCH OR OTHER PLACE OF WORSHIP.
HB1814 Rushing Cooper CONCERNING THE OFFENSE OF HARASSING COMMUNICATIONS.
HB1815 Perry Leding TO AMEND THE DEATH CERTIFICATE REGISTRATION PROCESS FOR THE SIGNATURE OF THE MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATH.
HB1849 Della Rosa Cooper TO AMEND THE PERMANENT AUTOMOBILE LICENSING ACT OF 1967; AND TO SUSPEND THE ANNUAL MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS.
HB1850 Mccollum Hester TO ESTABLISH THE EMPOWER INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS ACT OF 2019; TO AMEND PORTIONS OF THE LAW IMPACTING INITIATED ACT 4 OF 1948; AND TO AMEND DEFINITIONS OF "EMPLOYEE", "EMPLOYMENT", AND "EMPLOYMENT STATUS" WITHIN TITLE 11.
HB1856 Dotson Ballinger TO PROHIBIT STATE AGENCIES FROM CONSENTING OR APPROVING THE TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY FOR AN INDIVIDUAL IN THE CUSTODY OR GUARDIANSHIP OF THE STATE AND FROM EXPENDING STATE FUNDS FOR THE PURPOSE OF TERMINATING A PREGNANCY.
HB1860 D. Ferguson Irvin TO REQUIRE REPORTING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH OF PATIENT TRANSFERS FROM A LAY MIDWIFE.
HB1878 Della Rosa Cooper TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING CERTAIN CAMPAIGN SIGNS AND LITERATURE; AND TO REQUIRE TRANSPARENCY BY POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES AND INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE COMMITTEES.
HB1890 Della Rosa Sturch TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH IN THE STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITATION THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF STUDENTS THAT A TEACHER IN GRADES FIVE THROUGH TWELVE (5-12) IS PERMITTED TO TEACH PER SCHOOL DAY.
HB1902 Ladyman Sample TO AMEND THE USED TIRE RECYCLING AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT; AND TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT LAW.
HB1913 Bentley Flippo TO AMEND THE LONG-TERM CARE AIDE TRAINING ACT; AND TO SPECIFY CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS FOR LONG-TERM AIDE TRAINING PROGRAMS.
HB1915 Womack Wallace TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING OPEN BURNING OF VEGETATIVE STORM DEBRIS.
HB1965 V. Flowers Cheatham TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS DELTA MUSIC TRAIL ACT; TO PROMOTE TOURISM AND PROVIDE TAX INCENTIVES FOR ART PROJECTS ALONG DESIGNATED MUSIC HIGHWAYS IN THE STATE; AND TO REQUIRE SIGNAGE ALONG DESIGNATED MUSIC HIGHWAYS IN THE STATE.
HB1967 Watson Irvin TO CREATE THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE RESOURCE ACT.
HB1968 D. Ferguson Ingram TO AMEND AN EXEMPTION TO THE ARKANSAS CLEAN INDOOR AIR ACT OF 2006.
HB1905 AN ACT AMENDING THE UNIFORM CLASSIFICATION AND COMPENSATION ACT AND VARIOUS LAWS CONCERNING THE OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.
Batched Bills
HB 1417
HB1673
HB 1943
HB 1333
HB 1433
HB 1542
HB 1543
HB 1545
HB 1711
HB 1746
HB 1755
HB 1815
HB 1860
HB 1890
HB 1902
HB 1875
Budget Bills
SB122 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOR MEDICAL SCIENCES APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2019-2020 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1121 AN ACT FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2019-2020 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1156 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIRECTOR'S OFFICE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 20192020 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1197 AN ACT FOR THE ARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2019-2020 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1210 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ARKANSAS HERITAGE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2019-2020 FISCAL YEAR.
SB595 AN ACT TO DEFINE THE MONIES TO BE AVAILABLE IN THE RAINY DAY FUND; AND TO ALLOW THAT ADDITIONAL FUNDS MAY BE MADE AVAILABLE FOR STATE AGENCIES AND INSTITUTIONS APPROPRIATIONS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
SB 597 TO AMEND THE REVENUE STABILIZATION LAW; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
Announcements
Adjourned
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
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Speaker 11
Speaker 14
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 23
Speaker 24
Speaker 27
Speaker 43
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
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Speaker 89
Speaker 29
Speaker 91
Senator Jane English
Unverified
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Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
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Senator Jim Hendren Chair
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Senator Trent Garner Chair
Unverified
Senator Missy Irvin
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Speaker 94
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Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
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Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
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Senator Mathew Pitsch Chair
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Senator Linda Chesterfield
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Senator Cecile Bledsoe
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Senator Bart Hester
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Senator Kim Hammer Chair
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Senator Larry Teague Chair
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Senator Jonathan Dismang
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Senator Ricky Hill
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Senator James Sturch Chair
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Senator Scott Flippo
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Senator Mark Johnson
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Senator Bill Sample
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Senator Jason Rapert
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Senator Bob Ballinger
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Senator Ronald Caldwell
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Senator Gary Stubblefield
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Senator Breanne Davis
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Senator Eddie Cheatham
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