Senate Convenes
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Transcript
Bills discussed (2)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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SB2
Act 99
· 5 mentions in transcript
Matched: “…. As we found out last night, we went from Senate Bill 1 to Senate Bill 2. So unless there's a question on the rules, I'm going to mo…”
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AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION REAPPROPRIATION. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB2 is now Act 99 |
|
SB1
Act 98
· 3 mentions in transcript
Matched: “…use things change. As we found out last night, we went from Senate Bill 1 to Senate Bill 2. So unless there's a question on the rules…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE ARKANSAS SENATE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2020-2021 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB1 is now Act 98 |
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Unknown speaker
0:00
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Speaker 1
6:03
the take-out. Is this on? Senator Wallace?
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
6:20
to stay in the office if you want
Speaker 37
6:29
to come down. Really, there's more people here
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
6:40
than we normally have.
Chair
Unverified
8:57
Senate will come to order. Senator
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
9:03
Hendricks, recognize you. Senator Hill, come on down. We've
Speaker 60
9:08
got one more spot on this gallery side. Will the
Speaker 61
9:14
Secretary of the Senate please call the roll. Ballinger,
Speaker 64
9:21
Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismaine,
Eads, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Ervin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Malik, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubbefeld, Sturge, Teague, Wallace.
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
9:59
Senator Bledsoe will lead us in prayer. Pray with me. Father God, we gather here under heavy, unprecedented circumstances as a silent but deadly enemy infiltrates our land. We ask for your mercy and intervention in dealing with our present health care crisis. We ask for protection over and wisdom for our health care workers on the front lines
and those behind the scenes working to find a cure. we also lift up the other hard-working members of our state who continue to serve in our midst we ask this for truckers grocery and delivery workers and for all others father who are steady during this time and also we thank you for the leadership of our governor and those that work within his administration god grant us the wisdom today to work together in a spirit of
unity on behalf of our state. In your mighty name we pray.
Speaker 69
11:13
Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and
Speaker 70
11:18
to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Senator Hendren, do you
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
11:39
So, members, I'm just going to notify the governor in the House via
Speaker 62
11:48
text that we're ready for business. Well, Madam Secretary, will
Speaker 78
11:55
you read the governor's proclamation, please? State of Arkansas, Executive Department, proclamation. To all to whom this presents shall come greetings. whereas an extraordinary occasion has arisen making it necessary to convene the 92nd General
Assembly into extraordinary session and whereas an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 COVID-19 has spread throughout the world resulting in global pandemic and whereas March 11, 2020 by Executive Order 20-03, an emergency was declared in the state as a result of COVID-19, and that emergency is ongoing. And whereas COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the United States
and Arkansas, bringing great hardship to bear upon the citizens of Arkansas, and whereas necessary measures taken in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19 have brought great hardship to bear upon commerce in the state, impacting the revenue of the state of Arkansas. And whereas on March 21, 2020, the United States Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced the federal income tax filing due date is extended from April 15 to 2020
to July 15, 2020, and taxpayers may also defer federal income tax payments due on April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020, without penalties and interest, regardless of the amount owed. As a result, Arkansas extended its tax deadline for individual income tax filings and payments to be consistent with this date, further impacting revenue, and whereas there is an urgent need
for the state of Arkansas to make budgetary adjustments to respond to the impact of this emergency. Now, therefore, I, Asa Hutchison, governor of the state of Arkansas, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by Article 6, Section 19 of the Arkansas Constitution, do hereby call an extraordinary session of the General Assembly to convene in Little Rock on March 26, 2020, at 1 p.m., and I do hereby specify that the General Assembly is convened in such session to consider, and if so, advise and act laws for the following purposes.
one to create the COVID-19 rainy day fund to transfer funds to the COVID-19 rainy day fund and declare an emergency two to confirm gubernatorial appointees as required by Arkansas code 10213 and three to provide for the payment of expenses and per diem for the house of representatives and the senate for this extraordinary session in testimony whereof here unto set my hand and cause the great
sale of the state of Arkansas to be affixed this 24th day of March in the year of the Lord, 2020. Signed, Asa Hutchison,
Chair
Unverified
15:00
Governor. Filer. Senator Hendricks, I'll recognize, present the temporary emergency rule. Okay, members,
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
15:07
before I present the rules, just a couple comments. I want to thank everybody for cooperating with the somewhat unusual procedures that we put
in place to try to convene safely. I hope the next time you go through the doors, you'll thank the medical personnel and the police down there who have stepped up and helped us to try to keep this safe and try to minimize the risk that we would all have for infection.
And, of course, I always want to thank the staff, and you all have been around here long enough to know the last week has been incredibly busy for them, and they've worked very hard to get us ready for a special session in these circumstances. So we've got a lot of people who made this happen. But again, I thank you all. I know this is somewhat awkward when we have members in the galleries and we have members in their offices, but I also know that everybody realizes the importance of using good judgment as we conduct our business. So the temporary rule that you have before you that I've emailed out to all of you,
we've discussed on conference calls, and I think everybody is familiar with it, so I'm not going to go through the details unless there's a whole bunch of any questions about it. I do want to thank Senator Ballinger for the suggestion he made to the change because it really was important for us to have a little bit more flexibility than the original draft did on issuing these proxies because things change. As we found out last night, we went from Senate Bill 1 to Senate Bill 2. So unless there's a question on the rules, I'm going to move that we adopt them. Let me just say again, the purpose of these rules is to allow us to conduct business
in this environment without exposing members to risk that they don't need to be exposed. There are temporary rules. They expire June the 30th. Now, if we end up having a special session in July or August or September and we find ourselves in this environment, we may have to adopt them
again. We may want to take some modification of these rules if we find out that they work well and incorporate them more permanently. But for now, these rules, I think you all have read them, they
expire June the 30th and I would move that we adopt the temporary
Speaker 56
17:09
rules as presented. Seeing no questions. Any objection? Without objection. Motion carried.
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
17:16
I've got one more motion. As I mentioned, and again you saw in the email thread, there was a mistake in drafting. Two sponsors were left off of the bill inadvertently. The sponsors had notified me and BLR prior to the deadline. It just got left off the draft. There were also two House members who wanted to be added if we were going to make a change on this end. So rather than amend the bill, I'm going to withdraw Senate Bill 1, and we've filed Senate Bill 2, which is exactly the same with the correction for the sponsors. So I'd move that we withdraw Senate Bill 1 from consideration.
Speaker 77
17:50
You've heard the motion. Any questions? Senate Bill 1 by Senator Henrin, an act to create the COVID-19 Rainy Day Fund
Speaker 78
17:58
to transfer funds to the COVID-19 Rainy Day Fund and declare
Speaker 84
18:02
an emergency. Any objections to the motion?
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
18:06
Motion carried. okay members at this time I'm going to move that we go to the committee of the whole for consideration
Speaker 77
18:12
oh yeah go ahead Senate Bill 2 by Senator Hendren an act
Speaker 78
18:15
to create the COVID-19 rainy day fund to transfer funds to the COVID-19 rainy day fund and declare an emergency
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
18:21
so let me before I make this motion explain
to you how it's been explained to me the rules work here. The decision was made because of the circumstances with the House meeting on the other side of town, us here, that to have a joint budget committee on one bill did not make a lot of sense. So both the House and the Senate are going to be considering this bill in a committee of the whole. Now when this goes to a committee of the whole, there's some unique rules that I'll ask to suspend so we can have full debate on it. But basically the process will be that we will
hear the bill as a joint budget committee and then if there's an amendment we'll hear the amendments debate the amendments and then we'll rise and report and since the bill was never sent to committee there's not a another vote required it will be placed on third reading and final passage either as it is or as amended for final consideration tomorrow so that's the process it's the it's a way where everybody gets to participate in the debate and and hopefully minimize us traveling back and forth. So I'd move that we adjourn to Committee of the Whole,
recess to Committee of the Whole for consideration
Speaker 56
19:29
of Senate Bill 2. Any questions on that motion? Any objection to that motion? Without objection, motion carried. We'll now move
Speaker 62
19:35
to Committee of the Whole. I will step out of the chair, and Senator Hendren has requested that Senator Malik be seated in the chair. Okay, and Senator Malik, since you're
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
19:45
going to be in the chair, Senator Hill you're next on the list so if you want to come and take a position on the floor during these discussions you can. As you guys can see we've asked
Kevin Anderson and Jake Bleed to come. Now they need to get over to the House so what I would ask is after I explain the bill if you have questions of either of them we ask those up front and once we've finished with them we let them go so that they can get over to accomplish the same thing in the House. So having that again, let me go
through Senate Bill 2. We've got another spot. Senator Ballinger, you are next
on the list. So you come down to this side of the gallery
Chair
Unverified
20:32
and we have a seat. The Senate is now in the Committee of the Whole and and participants, and Senator Hendrick can invite others into the chamber as he has done with our budget staff, and Senator Hendrick, you're recognized to present your bill to the Committee of the
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
20:53
Whole. Before I present the bill, one of the things that Steve pointed out, or actually Senator
Malik pointed out, is unbeknownst to me, when you go to Committee of the Whole, there's
a lot of limits on what can happen with regard to debate. After I present the bill under normal rules, there would be five minutes for someone to to propose an amendment, five minutes for someone to oppose the amendment, and that would be all the debate that was allowed. I think all of us realize there's a desire to have a more thorough discussion about this amendment, so I'm going to move, and I've talked to Senator Hickey about this, so I'm going to move that we suspend that rule and allow for any potential amendments to be debated as per normal process on the floor.
Chair
Unverified
21:35
Senator Hendren is making reference to Rule 16.02. With respect to Committee Behold, it is very specific with respect to amendments that were provided for five minutes to speak for and five minutes against and then there should be no further debate senator hendron has moved that we suspend rule 16.02 all in favor say
Speaker 95
21:50
aye all opposed no that motion carried that rule is suspended okay members that brings us to
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
21:57
senate bill two and i will go through this and i'm going to give you a little bit of the background uh on senate bill two how we got to this place
I think we're all living in times that are unprecedented when we say extraordinary session I think this may be the most extraordinary session that any of us will ever participate in because these are extraordinary times so this bill is to address some of the crisis that we find ourselves in so I want to go through the bill I'll be again at the end making a few comments about why I think it's so important that we come together and adopt this legislation as presented. So the first section basically establishes and defines the COVID-19
rainy day fund. You can see that in number three under section one. I want you to notice if you're following along on the bill what it says this fund can be used for. It can be used for two things and it says one it says may be funding for one or more appropriations authorized by the general Assembly. In other words, Category 1 that these dollars can be spent for is things that we have already passed appropriation bills for with three-fourths or more of a vote. Category 1 says
it cannot be spent for anything that we have not already appropriated dollars for. Category 2 goes outside of that. Category 2 says, or, and it talks about the fact that this is necessary because of the revenue reductions that are going to be done automatically because of RSA. We all know that the forecast got changed. RSA is going to balance the budget for us one way or the other between now and June 30th. So we may have appropriated 10 million dollars for something, but RSA is going to say you're not going more than 7 million because of the change in forecast.
So this gives us the ability to plug some of those appropriation shortfalls that we've already approved with this rainy day COVID-19 fund. The other category is unanticipated needs created by the COVID-19 crisis. That's the reason that we have to have some flexibility. We find ourselves in a crisis, and that crisis is going to demand that we have the ability to react quickly and that we have the ability to expend funds in ways that we may not have anticipated a year and a half ago when we were doing the budget hearings. I have confirmed with
Mr. Anderson and if you guys can talk with him again if you have a question that we do have sufficient appropriations for even in that circumstance for these dollars to be falling under appropriations that we've currently passed. So that is the establishment of the fund. Page two talks about the approval process and I think this is the one that has probably gotten the most attention because obviously it's unprecedented times and the question is how are we going to allow these funds to be expended in a way that still has legislative accountability legislative oversight and that everybody is aware of what's
happening so I want to kind of give you I think a lot of people think that the speaker and I and the governor sat around and came up with this this has evolved so much from the beginning from when it started the initial the initial plan was we would treat this like we have in place now with this which is our emergency rules let me give you an example a week and a half ago the governor said we've got a problem at our unemployment insurance offices they can't process claims fast enough it's overwhelming our technology and people
cannot get their claims process until we upgrade our technology and that's going to cost over about 1.1 million dollars and he asked the general assembly for approval for that 1.1 million dollars under the rules that we're operating now that approval was granted by two people in the legislature chair of ALC on both sides, Senator Bledsoe and Representative Ford Law. And the initial idea was we would operate this transfer in the same way, but some legislators, and I will tell you, these discussions took place before I ever even engaged in this discussion.
Then there was a discussion that when we're not talking about a million here or a million there, we're talking about $170 million, and we're also talking about moving it into big holes in RSA, we should expand that beyond the normal emergency rules of two people. So it was suggested, well, let's find somebody who's elected by both houses. Everybody's had a vote in the leadership election of the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tem. While I have tremendous respect for Senator Bledsoe, and I would have trusted her implicitly with that, I think it did give members more confidence to know that somebody who was elected by the entire body would have that authority.
And that was, as you all remember on our first conference call, the way that the bill was presented. And thanks to the feedback from my colleagues that we wanted more broad-based approval authority, I told the Speaker and I told the Governor we needed to change it. We need more accountability, so we asked that the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader both be included in that approval process. And that was done in reaction and in accommodation to, I think, a legitimate concern. Because the fact is, we have to have two things. We have to have the ability to respond, but we also have to have sufficient input and
awareness. So this approval process was then changed to include those members, and it was also, again, insisted that some of these decisions literally may save lives if they're not made in a matter of hours. And the ability to find six members now versus me or the speaker necessitated that there be some more flexibility given to make sure that if I could not get a hold of two of the other people and I needed one of theirs to vote or the same thing on the House, there would be a methodology for that to occur. And that's where their designees
came into effect, and a two-hour period was put onto that. Now, some people think that means, well, if I can't get a hold of somebody in two hours, then it automatically is approved. That's not true. If I can't get a hold of somebody in two hours, it automatically goes to their designee. And then their designee, if I can't get a hold of that designee, then it is considered a yes. And again, that was an accommodation to the ability to respond quickly. Some of this I don't necessarily like, but I want us to get something we can pass. And again, you realize this is not like a Senate rule.
I have to have House buy-in and the governor's buy-in. And this is something that everybody that was involved in these and anybody who wanted to be involved from the conference call on was allowed to be involved, was seen to get more degree of comfort with. So that's the approval process. Two of those three members or their designees have to sign off on that, and they have a two-hour window to do that. Now let me just make one other point. this is for an emergency situation I've talked to the governor and I've told him and the speaker
has as well that many of these dollars are not going to be an emergency and we're going to have time to inform members what we are planning to do and those and you see Jake shaking his head over there if we have the ability to have meetings appear the governor's office has committed to come to those meetings and explain their plan for how they're going to deal with this COVID-19 fund to the best of their ability. The same thing for legislative council, and legislative council is really the approving authority in normal times. But there needed to be the case for
us to get the ability to approve these funds quickly. I saw on the news this morning where New York City anticipates their need for ventilators is going to be 40,000, and they have 12. Think about that. There are going to be that many, what is that, 28,000 ventilators short. And I can assure you, if the governor of New York City finds a way to acquire an extra thousand ventilators, the idea that we're going to make them go through a committee process and all the hoops that come along with that in order to prevent them from doing that is just untenable in this circumstance.
I don't think we'll see many of those circumstances, and I think you'll see most of this plan mapped out in advance and presented to the legislature through as normal of means as we can make happen in this environment. And that's the commitment that the governor's office has given to me. The other thing that I want you to realize is that was added in a response to input from the members. There's not going to be anything done that everybody here doesn't know about. And I mean know about probably more than you're going to want to know about. The request is not coming to just the pro tem and the speaker and the majority. It's coming
to the entire General Assembly. Not just the request, but that notification is required in this bill that everybody in the General Assembly will know that these dollars are being requested. The approval must be notified to every member of the General Assembly. A summary of how many dollars have been spent and what they've been spent on must be presented to every member of the General Assembly. That started out as a peer, and then we expanded it to ALC. And then the speaker and I said, why don't we just send it to everybody? What's the
harm in everybody knowing? And it was expanded to everybody. So this has been a bill that has evolved over the last week or so to try to be as inclusive and as transparent, but also give the needed flexibility to make these changes in this crisis that we find ourselves. So that's the approval authority. And that was really the hardest part of the bill for Marty and Jill to find a way to put into legislation. Then we go down to actually the part of the bill that transfers the money. If you look in Section 2, it says there's going to be $173,610,632.
That's the amount at the time that Kevin found was in the unallocated reserve. That's basically our surplus for the last fiscal year, and it's going to be transferred to this fund. Another change that was made because of input from members of the General Assembly was section B. It was clarified after the speaker and I got input from you and told the administration we wanted this section in there that June 30th, to be clear that this is a temporary situation, this oversight and temporary approval process is not going
to go on forever. June 30th, this all goes away. If there is a dime left in this fund, it goes right back where it came from. It goes back to the unallocated reserve fund, and that's what that section B is on page four. There is an emergency clause, and I think if there was ever a bill that needed an emergency clause, this would be one. So, in closing, why do we need this bill? We need this bill because many of you contacted me and contacted the governor and said, we've got to do something to help small businesses and individuals who are
struggling, who've lost their jobs, and yet they've got an April 15th tax deadline. The federal government did it. Why can't we do it? And I want to tell you, the reason that we're able to do this, again, is because of input from members of the General Assembly, because when the governor first looked at that, because of the way our fiscal year runs through June 30th, moving that to July 15th would have been about a $500 million hit, and we could not have found a way to absorb that. And so the initial answer was, we'll move it to June 15th, because that's the best we could do. But then our tax accountant and resident chairman of revenue and tax said,
there's potentially another way. Why don't we leave corporations alone? They're not the ones that are struggling like the small businesses and individuals are and move it just for the individual filers, the individual income tax returns. Senator Disbank suggested that and DF&A ran the numbers on that and turned out that that does become something that's much more affordable. And I thank him for his input because again, I don't know that we would be here today if we had not been able to find a way to leave the corporation tax returns out of it. So, when we had assurance that the General Assembly was going to agree to a method that
the Governor could support, that the House could support, and that the Senate could get sufficient support, and I want you to understand, when we got to that point, the Governor then extended the tax deadline. And he did not extend that tax deadline until both the Speaker and I told him that we could pass the legislation as is through the General Assembly based on commitments that you all made to myself and to the Speaker. Because the worst thing we could do is get deadlocked down here, move the deadline and now have a $500 million hold between now and June 30th and no way to fill it.
So I thank you all for reasoning together and understanding that we may not like everything about this bill, but we understand we've got to do something to help folks out there in Arkansas. And this is not the time to let the details be the enemy of the good and what we need to do to help those people. And the fact is, because we moved that deadline, RSA and the forecast being changed, RSA is going to happen. Whatever we do, these cuts are going to happen.
And I sent you all out a spreadsheet of what those cuts are going to be. We need to find a way to manage that. There was talk about moving RSA, but Kevin and others explained to us the problems that would come about if we tried to do that. So we need this flexibility by transferring these funds. Otherwise, we're going to be cutting our health department, we're going to be cutting DHS, we're going to be cutting reimbursement to providers who are out there risking their lives treating our people because we couldn't come to an agreement.
We need to approve this, and we need to approve 35 to nothing. The approval process, again, I want to reemphasize, everybody has different ways they might like to do this, but I hope we all understand that we have to pass something. This is the approval process that was able to get support that can pass both houses and that the governor can accept. The oversight authority of the legislature is not asserted by this bill. As I said, every dollar we're going to spend, you voted for.
It's been through this chamber, it's been through the House chamber, it's been signed by the governor. Really what we're talking about is how do we manage, when we're $350 million short, making sure the dollars go where they're needed so people don't suffer because we don't have that flexibility. This bill is needed for that. So I think we'll talk more perhaps as we talk about the amendment, but I think that's how we got here. This was a complex process that evolved and just like many other pieces of legislation and I think back particularly to the highway bill, this bill got so much better because
of legislative input. And I appreciate those of you who engaged, the concerns that you brought from the minority caucus who said we deserve representation to those who said we've got to find a way to do it responsibly to those who wanted more notification I appreciate your input and our willingness to to get to a point we can pass this bill so having said that I'll be happy to answer your questions
Chair
Unverified
36:43
Senator Henderson has presented Senate Bill 2 the floor will be open for any questions and Mr. Anderson
Mr. Bleed may also be able to help answer those since it's committee of the whole
Speaker 101
36:52
are there any questions? Senator Rayford you're recognized. Thank you Mr. Chairman
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
37:01
and Senator this may be something that they can respond to and of course you've laid out the case very well. I appreciate you speaking to the fact that really this is giving even greater accountability than we currently have under emergency rules. What I wanted to hear from them is if they can to state very specifically if we don't act what is the potential for the state to absolutely run out
of funding before we get to the end of the
Speaker 96
37:30
fiscal year mr bleed state your name for the
Speaker 105
37:33
record please then you may respond yes sir jake bleed dfa office of budget so the way the revenue stabilization works and my understanding is this information was sent the categories c and b will be cut in their entirety and then category a distributions which is the funding we're distributing now will be cut the total amount that will cut from category a is 236 million dollars
out of the the annual budget the challenge we face though is that that cut which is about 4.2 percent of their total distribution has been squeezed in the last three months of the fiscal year kevin and i were talking and in our research we've never found a time where in the history of our state we've cut that deeply this late into a fiscal year so while a 4.2 percent cut is formidable if you look at the percentage cut that is going to come out of those monthly distributions that our agencies operate on we're actually
looking at a 25 percent cut in what they're going to be operating on at some of our agencies that'll be a very very significant cut something that we've been wrestling with since the forecast was changed and we're trying as best we can with the tools available to us to fix it our primary goal in all this of course is to make sure those critical state services are safeguarded that we can still operate as a state but we certainly face some challenges in doing that I can't say when each agency is going to face is going to hit the cliff
but we know that the cliffs are out there and we're doing our best to avoid them all right thank you very much thank you mr. chairman any
Chair
Unverified
39:12
other questions If not, are there any amendments to be offered to the bill? Senator Hickey, you're recognized.
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
39:21
You may present your amendment. Thank you, Senator. I do have a question since we're in a Committee of the Whole and I don't remember us doing it this way before.
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
Unverified
39:28
As far as me presenting my amendment, is it done much the same way as it would with a bill where I present, take
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
39:34
questions, people speak for or against, And then I have a closing. Would that be correct? We've
Chair
Unverified
39:42
suspended the rule as far as the time limit, as far as the number of people it would speak for and against. And I think we would
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
39:50
honor that same method. OK. Thank you. Members, this is going to be about the easiest bill for me to present that I ever have. Because the only thing that's changing with this amendment,
the way that Senator Hendren had just presented, is the structure with the approval process. That is the only thing that is taken out of there. And just to give you a little bit of comfort about that, everybody knows that this session was done quickly. Ms. Garrity and I were on the phone last night at about text, email, whatever, at about 11.50 and started again at 5.50 so that we were making sure that all of that was correct. So just to give you that assurance on that part.
But what this does is takes out the individuals that it had, that Senator Hendren had talked about and had explained to you all. And what it does is it enters that peer will be the authorizing entity of this. But in addition to that, what I have done as it relates to these COVID funds, if we want to talk about this $170 million, I have also added the speaker and the pro tem as voting members to that committee. Nobody had asked me to do that, but I did think that that was appropriate so that they would actually be the voting members along with the other committee members.
What it also does is allow for the calling of the meeting to be by conference call, email, or a regular type meeting. and I also had had some discussions and what we can do we could have a combination of that just in the rare case that if for some reason some of us were down here and a meeting had to be called and some of them were in person and we needed to get some on the phone we could have a combination of that also just so that if that crosses your mind that would be covered so and it also
says that the meeting will be called within three hours and we did three hours. The truth of the matter is we could probably do it in two. I really do believe that two would probably be as quick as quick as we could get it done. Ms. Garrity and I had some discussions and you know an hour an hour by the time you get the chairs there or get the chairs involved, notify the members, try to get the paperwork out. It's probably going to probably going to be about two
hours before that meeting would be scheduled. So with that I'll be happy to try to take any questions and then at the end like I say I will have a closing statement that I want to make in regards to all this. Are there
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
42:39
any questions for Senator Hickey? Senator Blake Johnson. Senator Hickey appreciates this amendment but in the original bill, it requires notification for all.
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
42:48
In your amendment, you've stricken that. No, sir, it's still included. Where? Well, if you'll look at the bill, and again, Ms. Garrity and I had discussed that this morning, And what this
Speaker 126
43:12
does is deleting, on page 2, it's deleting line 7 through 36.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
43:18
On page 2, line 24 is where all members are given notification. In your amendment, it's not there that I can find, unless you can show it to me. Well, that's the release of the
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
Unverified
43:33
funds. Let me get in here and look at this. this was a specific question that I had this morning on that.
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
43:52
Okay, if you'll look over on page three, and I
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
Unverified
43:59
apologize to you, I don't have the one that has That's the one that has the numbers on it on the line on my amendment. But it says action by the peer subcommittee, and of course that would include the Joint Budget Committee if they were in session as final. And it says under DI, the action taken under this subject shall be
Speaker 123
44:21
reported to the members of the General Assembly. That's after the action.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
44:25
The original bill is prior to the release action and approval. That's after the committee votes, then it's released to us. In the original bill, the request is released to all members, so we can communicate with those, the majority, minority, and the pro-tem in that process.
Speaker 134
45:05
Do you have a copy of the amendment with the lines on it? members if
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
Unverified
45:17
you don't mind give me just a minute again uh this is all happened so so fast and trying to get it prepared but I was assured that that was in there
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
46:10
You're possibly correct, I do not, let
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
Unverified
46:17
me look back at the deletion of the lines, deletion page 2, lines 7 through 36, it does appear that that was unintentionally
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
46:26
deleted. So again, it's my intention to have that in there, again I'd ask that question, but again we were working late last night so that's, that would be an oversight and if we can add that with a voice somehow, Mr. Chair, I'd be happy to do that, because, again, my intentions
are that it's just that way.
Chair
Unverified
46:51
Senator Elliott, you're recognized. I have a
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
46:55
question. We'll work on that. Okay, for a question. Yes. Senator Hickey, and
maybe Pro Tem might want to weigh in on this as well. If indeed what you had intended to be in the rule has been inadvertently stricken, there would be nothing that would keep us from notifying members anyway.
Just because if it's not there. Let me say, I'm asking this question in the same spirit of the President Pro Tem said that in cases where we have enough time to notify a peer and go through that process, that we would do that. That is not in the bill, but we take that at face value. So I'm asking you that question in that spirit. Do you see any reason we could not be notified anyway? No, ma'am, I do not.
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
47:53
However, the truth is I would definitely want for it to be in writing and in statute. I wouldn't want to, but you are correct. It could be done, but it is the intent that every member of the General Assembly would at least have an email with this stuff on it. Well,
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
48:09
to be fair, I also said the same, because Senator Hendrick and I had this discussion. I said the same thing, too, about, well, if we might do that anyway, why don't we just put it in the bill? But I did not push that because we were at a point here where we were about to act.
So I'm looking at this in the same vein and just letting you know that to see if you think that is something that is a parallel issue. That's all.
Chair
Unverified
48:36
Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Senator Hickey, I think they're going to check to see how long it might take to get a written amendment
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
48:45
that would include that language. Okay. All right. I'll give you my word, members, that is supposed to be in
there. It's just because we're acting fast right here and late nights trying to get it done
because, as you all know, the original bill was not actually filed, so we could not do the amendment until late in the hours last night. Is there any
Speaker 151
49:11
other questions? I'm sorry. Senator Hickey, let me ask
Chair
Unverified
49:13
you, we can proceed with questions. we can proceed with people speaking for and against do you want to do that with respect to having the amendment before we get out of here today that would include notice to all the members
yes sir i do all right we'll proceed with our discussion along those lines we will still see how long that will take but are there any other questions for senator hickey would anyone like to speak against this amendment Would anyone like to speak for the amendment? Senator Elliott is recognized to speak for. Senator Hickey, you might get with staff to see if
Speaker 95
49:53
we can work on an amendment. Marty's coming over. So, Senator Elliott, you're recognized.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
49:59
Thank you, Senator Malek. I would like to start this comment with something that
we should all be aware of, that everybody in this body wants to do the right thing to help people in this state. And that nobody, nobody should assume motives that are anything other than pure that we have a disagreement on this particular issue. It is not about the substance of what we are doing for the people of this state.
I know Senator Hendren comes from a good place. I know everybody whose name is on that bill comes from a good place. I also know that everybody who is going to vote yes on that bill comes from a good place today, and those who will vote no the same way. But we're just kind of at a crossroads here, that there's been a building here. That's something that is very bothersome for me. I'm supporting this amendment because when I first came here in 2001,
and over these periods of years, I've just seen us bit by bit by bit. eat away at our own authority as a legislative body, and I think that's wrong. One of the major things we've done to demonstrate that
to you, when we first had a fiscal session, we decided it's the legislative fiscal session. We decided it would be the legislature
who would determine what was going to be taken up in the session. We
eroded that maybe after the first or second session by giving the governor veto power or addition power over what was going to be in the session. It's not the worst thing in the world except that. I don't think that's what people envisioned for a legislative session,
that we would not be making that decision for ourselves. I just think it is time for us to think about balancing what we do. It is possible to balance our democracy with our needs. It will not always be convenient. We all know how messy democracy can be. This is one of those instances where I think it is not asking too much to ask us to go through a semi-process,
because we're not even talking about going all the way through counsel, a semi-process of our holding on to and being true to what we raised our hands to honor, that we would be the ones who would be making these decisions for the legislative body to the fullest extent that we can. I know these are unprecedented times. I care about this as much as everybody else does,
but I do believe Senator Hickey has a point and a good one. With that in mind, I would ask us to think seriously about please can we balance what we do does it have to be one or the other because these are unprecedented times because these are the times when we are not careful is when we continue to erode and erode and erode I watched in a little bit of horror and some understanding when we did
that to our country in a big way with the Patriot Act. We gave away so much because it was unprecedented times. And it never has gone back. It's still in the same shape as it was when we were in the unprecedented time. So I've been thinking a lot about where we are and why we are here. And thinking a lot about the great John M. Barry, who wrote the definitive book on the 1918 influenza academic issue that we had. The deadliest
of all. And here's something he said, and I
stand here and ask you to support this
amendment in this vein. So the final lesson of 1918, simply one, yet one most difficult to execute is that those who occupy
positions of authority must lessen panic that can alienate all within a society. Society cannot function
if it is every man for himself and as you know me I would add woman to that. by definition civilization cannot survive that those in authority must retain the public's trust I'll suggest to you we can retain the public's trust and also meet our duty the way to do that is to distort nothing and I stand here today trying to be careful not to distort anything but to tell you that
we are doing things at a price of something in our democracy. That's why I choose not to destroy it. To put the best face on nothing. To try to manipulate no one, which I always try not to do. Just tell the truth. Lincoln said that first and best. A leader must make whatever horror exists concrete, concrete, only then will people be able to break it
apart. And for me, the thing that's concrete, our democracy can be this ephemeral thing that just hangs out there. But when we make it concrete for people, to let them know we're break in a piece of democracy, to do something that needs to be done.
That, to me, is important and is the essence of this amendment that Senator Hickey is offering. And I ask for your support.
Chair
Unverified
56:35
Senator Elliott has spoke for the amendment. Would anyone like to speak against the amendment? If not,
I have Senator Clark to speak for, and I already have a notice from Senator Hammer, who is in one of the galleries he will be speaking for after senator clark if we do not have anyone to speak against senator clark you're recognized to speak for the amendment thank you mr chair
Senator Alan Clark
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57:06
thank you members is there a crisis there is is there a reason to take action there is is it commendable that leadership has come up with a plan absolutely is it possible to do all the above and better maintain a balance between the executive and legislative branches there is it's amendment to to suggest that we can do it better is neither a lack of trust or a lack of respect one of my favorite
quotes in the world comes from the Federalist Papers, but I have to be honest with you until today, I didn't know which Federalist Paper it came from or what the subject was. It comes from Federalist Paper 51. It's at the end of the third paragraph, and the quote is, you will recognize, if men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern man, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.
What I did not know is that Federalist Paper 51 starts out with this sentence. To what extent, then, shall we finally resort for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments as laid down in the Constitution? Federalist 51 is about the balance of power between the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary branches and how important it is that we maintain it. And that quote that we're all so familiar with, that I love so much, is on that subject.
I am willing, if leadership likes, to resign from the peer committee, which I vice chair, and leadership can appoint anyone that they want because there is almost no one in this body that I would not trust to do what's best for this state in a crisis. For myself, I cannot imagine that the governor
would take actions that I would not support. But procedure is important. Precedent is extremely important because people will always look back to this day. And balance of power, which I keep telling you, is important. Senator Clark has spoke for the
Chair
Unverified
59:42
bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill or the amendment? I'm sorry. If not, Senator Hammer will be recognized to speak for the amendment.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:00:00
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe that this is a good amendment to add to a good bill. The amendment does not touch the essential components of the first bill that is mentioned. This amendment still allows for the transfer of funds to areas of need within the agencies. It does not touch the issues of constitutionality, which are also referenced in Senator Hendren's bill. It does not restrict the movement of the surplus funds for access to meet the needs created by
the COVID-19 emergency. It allows for a timely manner to respond to a need expressed by our administration. I'd just like to put a sub-point away from my notes on that. I think I've probably responded to emails quicker in the last two weeks, watched my phone more, woke up in the night looking at it, woke up in the morning looking at it, went to bed looking at it more in the last two weeks than I have ever before. So with regards to the ability to respond in a timely manner, I think our actions have proven that for the next three months and beyond, we are going to
be glued to our electronics to make sure that we don't miss anything, including what would be important, communications. The amendment does do the following things, in my opinion. Instead of creating a new temporary committee structure, it utilizes the existing peer committee and assures that the Speaker of the House and pro tem of the Senate have a seat at the table. This amendment preserves the already understood committee process and accountability factors that members, public, and the press are familiar with.
It provides for an increased legislative timely response to the administration's request for funding based on real-time needs. I would like to remind us that since the COVID-19 situation has occurred, actually some of the subcommittees have already been operating on this basis, including rules which because we could not meet was conducted over electronics. I'd also like to remind you that as senators with 30 minutes notice we all responded with the exception I think of three by my count I may be off a little bit to be on a conference call within 30 minutes notification. So history in the
last two weeks proves that the system does work. We have it in rule already that the committee can meet the electronic however that's established also in this amendment one thing I do like that is represented in the peer committee is it provide for the four corners of the central part of the state to be included in the conversation when it comes to funds being used to much-needed resources and supplies this statement is supported by the representation seen in the elected officials that are elected by the people that send us down here to make up the current peer committee membership I
do not believe I'm wrong that if you look at the peer committee of which I'm not on so I'm not advocating for a seat at the table for myself nor am I advocating for a seat under Senator Henderson bill I'm not in the game as far as the seats are concerned but when you look at the representation of the state as a whole and you think about the number of hospitals that we have as a state as a whole I think that the peer committee while a little bigger than what's in the original first Senator Henderson bill that it does expand it to a manageable level so that all areas of the state, all four corners in the central part of the state
are represented by peer. I don't know if you've had this issue but this morning I spent a good bit of time on the phone with my representative from my local hospitals who are advocating for resources and while it is also I recognize the analogy and right now in my opinion New York is probably ground zero as far as the epidemic spread hitting dramatically like it is and we don't need get in the business of managing Governor Hutchinson's team as far as where respirators or other devices would need to be sent, but I sure would like to make sure that all parts
of the demographics of Arkansas are represented, and I think PEER provides that format. It lessens the precedence of creating new avenues to address issues of pressing need when an existing structure is sufficient with mild modifications. In other words, we've got something in place with a few tweaks is going to take care of it. It addresses the growing concern this amendment does that we as legislators are yielding our responsibility
by legislating away our authority to other branches of the government. It is an existing structure already in place that people are familiar with. And in conclusion, let me begin to say, I'm not saying that the need to be able to respond more quickly does not exist. I believe that this amendment will be able to help address that concern while not having to create a new temporary arrangement to replace a long-standing structure that has proven in most recent history to work if all involved are willing to do what is required of them in this critical time.
We can't legislate our involvement, and I think we've all displayed our willingness to be involved and be responsive in this sensitive time. This is a question I ask myself in debating this issue eternally. In times like these, is it better to adjust what we know we have seen work in difficult times, although nothing compares to what we as a generation are dealing with now, or to create something new that we're not quite sure how it will really play out in uncertain times? I would prefer that you would support this amendment,
because I think it would be better to modify what we have that we know will work than to create something new. Now, I would just say this in conclusion, and that's why I really kind of hesitate to make a commitment before I come in the chamber, because as I listen to Senator Hendren's bill, I understand the value. I understand the purpose. When I go back and I listen to the rest of the debate, what's in my mind is to be able to vote yes for both of them, because then I think everybody wins. Thank you.
Chair
Unverified
1:06:03
Senator Hammer spoke for the amendment. Members, let me make a comment. uh about our process there's a another copy of an amendment being added handed out this is being treated as correction of an error and so this is still considered amendment one to senate bill two you will find as you get the new copy on the paragraph d2 that's on the front page in addition to the notification of the chairs of Peer and the President Pro Tem that it adds, and
all other members of the General Assembly, of a request for the release of funds from the COVID-19 rainy day fund. So the notification prior to a decision of all members is added, and Senator Hickey, correct me if I'm wrong, that's going to be considered a correction of an error. And so we are still treating this, the copy that you're now getting, as Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 2. That is great. Thank you, sir. All right. We are still in discussion on the amendment. Is there anyone who would like to speak against?
Senator Dismang, you're recognized to speak against the amendment.
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:07:12
So Senator Hendren, pro tem, knows that we've had our discussions about the bill that's
in front of us. And so have Senator Hickey and I. And the one thing that I kept coming back to you when I look at the bill as written, do more people need to be involved? Yes. Is it beneficial to have as many people involved in that conversation as possible? I think the answer is yes. But leaving and giving that authority to a committee that is not elected by anyone, it's appointed by our ALC chair, which is a very, very wonderful chair and a wonderful person.
But those members as individuals in that legislative body are accountable to no one else. We elected our pro tem, they elected their speaker, your caucuses elected your leaders. They are accountable to us, to you in each one of those individual roles and for me that's what I went back to as far as at least there is someone that they do have to answer to because they were elected to that position and with it that's that was my major I guess
I was rolling through a major consideration. Sounds like a question. Senator
Speaker 101
1:08:24
Dismayne, would you? Mr. Chairman, I had a question for him, if you'd take it. Would you take a question? You're recognized, Senator Rape. Senator Dismayne, and I'm wrestling with this, but I wanted
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
1:08:35
to ask just for my clarification. Just as the example that was mentioned by Senator Hendren, is it not currently the status quo that in these emergency situations these kind of emergency requests would
continue to go to the ALC executive which is just the two
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:08:55
chairs the only thing that this would alter would be these funds there are other restricted reserve funds other items that can be directly approved and there's some debate on that I even think with BLR by just the chair of ALC or the specific subcommittee first and then the chair of ALC. But you're correct. There are other funds that the governor has the ability to utilize through approval of the ALC chair because of the emergency
situation we're in in ALC currently. Am I
Speaker 170
1:09:25
wrong to conclude as I've looked at this
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
1:09:29
that we actually are not really giving away any of our authority. We are stating our authority which states that we're going to have even a greater amount of accountability with this particular group in mind.
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:09:42
Yeah, and again, that's kind of what I keep going back to. These individuals who were elected, I mean, we elected Senator Hendren to lead us as much as we may butt heads on occasion. I mean,
that's how we were, you know, that was a decision we made as a chamber. Again, there are going to be other circumstances in which Senator Bledsoe as ALC chair may have the ability to make decisions on her own or through the input of other committee members but yes on that I would agree there's some more to be said I think on expectation things that are not in writing and I'll kind of hold that if you don't mind and until later on we have further discussion depending on the outcome of this amendment Senator Bonner do you have a question Senator
Speaker 172
1:10:28
dismay? I'm not sure why, but yeah. You're recognized. Is the same,
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
1:10:40
bill in the House to pass the same bill and us get out of here. I know how the process works, but do you know whether the same movement's happening down on that end or? Senator Hickey would have to
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:10:52
answer that. I'm not sure. I have not heard of that. you
Speaker 178
1:10:58
can respond no sir not that I know nor have I solicited thank you our
Chair
Unverified
1:11:04
senator dismay spoke against the bill senator garner you're recognized to speak for the amendment you recognize thank you mr. chairman I've been
Senator Trent Garner
Unverified
1:11:20
struggling with this for the last few days on how to handle it and I had two speeches so far that gives him clarity. I think Senator Hendren spoke from the heart. I think he spoke honestly, and I appreciated what he said.
But I can say this is the first time I've been in this chamber. I've agreed 100% with what Senator Elliott said when she walked up here, and I mean that. I will push back on one part of what Senator Hendren said. During his speech, he kept saying, we would be able to do stuff with this fund. We would be able to address this issue. We would be able to do what needs to be done for the people of Arkansas. But it's not a we. It's a him and a them.
I have no voice in that first bill. The people I represent, the dozens of phone calls I've taken daily that many of you in this room have, people who are asking me to take charge and make a difference on this I have zero voice in that process as an elected official to give an example this morning a man I trust greatly a man who's a good man asked me to make sure as we start cutting funding
that his desire for funding wouldn't be cut you know what I text him I can't help you I can't make a change. I have zero voice in that process. Senator Raper brought up a good point. Didn't we do this like this before? We did. And I think that mattered and was a good process during normal emergency times.
But you've got to understand, we only have so many piggy banks to break to address this crisis. This isn't a week-long crisis. This is months ahead of us. Well, we would be addressing this while shortfalls will continue to come as more and more people are affected by this. This is affecting me. My wife was let off work. My kids can't go to daycare. And I'd like to have a voice for those 80,000 people that I represent. Senator Dismang, I know you're a good man,
but you said something a while ago that I just couldn't agree with. You said those members on that committee aren't accountable. That is not true. I am not a member of that committee, but I trust the men and women on it. We're accountable to the 80,000-plus people who elected us in every single one of our districts, the people we have to go home to and who will address us, the people who are writing us Facebook messages and texting and calling us. Now, this amendment isn't perfect. It isn't the greatest solution. I agree, time is of the essence
in any kind of emergency. But as we move $173 million of a short amount of money that we actually have the flexibility to do stuff with, having a little bit more accountability and having the majority of the senators in this building be able to represent the people that they directly were elected by, I think is important. And that's why I'll be voting for this bill, or amendment. Thank you. Senator Garner, will
Chair
Unverified
1:14:37
you take a question? Yes, sir. Senator Johnson, you're recognized.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:14:41
Senator Garner, you said you won't have a voice in this process. In the original bill, it allows you to communicate with your majority, minority, and your pro team, correct? Correct. That's an
Senator Trent Garner
Unverified
1:14:53
approval process. What if they say no?
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:14:56
Okay. I'm the one asking the question. So are you on the performance review committee? No, sir. Okay. So what would you have to do to have a voice in that? I could
Senator Trent Garner
Unverified
1:15:09
lobby multiple members, people who are from South Arkansas,
people who are close to my area. You have more diversity between that group because they could have different people with voices. The issue I see is, and this isn't an indictment on the executive branch. They are under extreme pressure and, in my opinion, has done an extremely great job of handling this unprecedented time. I did not get notification before the $1.1 million was moved. I didn't know about the $19 million that got moved to address the PED, or the $30 million that got moved for the PED. I found out, like most people in Arkansas, on a press conference.
I have written emails to the governor's office nearly daily asking for a specific thing and have not been responded to. I send text messages to his people nearly daily, and sometimes they're responding to and sometimes they're not. Once again, that is not me going after the executive branch. The governor and his staff are probably inundated by hundreds of text messages and calls right now. They are. I understand that they cannot address every single thing I do. I give them a large amount of leeway. But once we do this, the ability to have any kind of power or control over how that money is spent
or us having a voice in it, I believe, is greatly diminished. Not because I don't trust Senator Hester, Senator Henrin, or the minority leader. It's because it will be concentration of that power in a higher form, and we'd have less debate and less
Speaker 186
1:16:35
say in that process. So, procedurally,
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:16:38
your voice would not change, except for what you say, geography and the representation on that committee, rather than your leadership.
Senator Trent Garner
Unverified
1:16:47
No, sir. From my understanding, Senator Hickey's amendment, and correct me if I'm wrong, that would actually be
a semi-committee hearing, where I, as a senator, could actually partake in that, put voices, questions, ask questions to the administration, have a voice in that process. Now, I don't have a direct vote, but I would be able to participate in those meetings. Until I ask the question a while ago,
Speaker 123
1:17:07
you wouldn't have never known about the meeting. I agree. Your amendment,
Senator Trent Garner
Unverified
1:17:11
your change to amendment, I think is very appropriate, and I'm happy you caught that. I missed that myself when I signed on.
Speaker 8
1:17:18
I appreciate that. Thank you. Any other questions? Senator Stubblefield. Yes, sir. Is that true or not true? I'd have to go back and look at the specifics of the bill.
Senator Trent Garner
Unverified
1:17:48
I understand there is a process in place if somebody can't be contacted in that truncated fashion that may have approval without the four out of six majority. I believe I'm saying that correctly. But in
Senator Gary Stubblefield
Unverified
1:17:59
the case those individuals could not be contacted, what happened, Senator Henry? I'll step out
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
1:18:08
of the way. Senator Hendrick. So, Senator Stubblefield, for two hours, first off, everybody's going to be notified, not just the leadership, but every member of the General Assembly.
Then there is a two-hour period. if it is Senator Ingram for me to get a response from Senator Ingram. So it's not just I try him and I can't get him. And then after two hours, it's still not approved. Then Senator Ingram has a designee, and I have to find that designee. Now, there's not a delay on that because if I have had an hour and a half and have not been able to get a hold of Senator Ingram, I can assure you I'd be trying to get a hold of his designee saying if Senator Ingram's not available, you need to be prepared to answer this. And I want members to understand, I expect that situation to be very rarely used, but I don't want a hospital not to be able to get the equipment they need when they have an outbreak or a nursing home because I can't get somebody on the phone.
Chair
Unverified
1:19:01
And that's why the provision was put in there. Senator Garner spoke for the amendment. Would anyone like to speak against the amendment? Senator Henry,
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
1:19:16
you're recognized to speak against the amendment. I'm not going to belabor it. I want to emphasize one thing that Senator Elliott said that I think we all need to remember. We all have the same goal here. Everybody wants Arkansas to find a way through these tough times. We disagree about methodology, but we all know at the end of the day we're going to pass something
because it's important that we do. But I think we have to keep in mind what we're talking about here. A special session is somewhat unique from a regular session. You don't have to like it. You don't have to agree with it. But if you've been here a while, you know it is. And why do I say that? Because the fact is, the governor calls us down here to do something. And it is fair before he calls us down here and authorizes all the things that go along with the special session. He knows what we're going to do. That's why it's called a call.
He could have written into this call specific approval requirements in the call and then it would have taken two-thirds votes to change that. But he didn't because we worked it out with members to get to a sufficient point where people understood this is something that whether it's what we have now is six people involved in the process versus eight we have eight members appear we have three plus their designees are we really going to and the house is not on board the house has got 75 votes or better at least that's what the speaker told me as is the governor's on board I agree with Senator Bond while while we
may disagree about some of the methodology our objective here is clear we've agreed that we can accept this the governor has called us down here to do it and I think it's important that we
Chair
Unverified
1:20:49
do it. Senator Henders spoke against the amendment. Senator Sample you're recognized to speak
Senator Bill Sample
Unverified
1:21:02
for the amendment. You're recognized. Thank you and the members I like most all of you or all of you we're doing it down here to take and do what we can do for the best of the
State and a vessel of citizens. Senator A, I agree with you. You've been here longer than I, but not very much longer. And the reason I want to vote for this bill is it's taken out paragraph B on page 3, which changes the way our votes are counted. Like I say, I haven't been here as long as Senator A yet, but I've been here a long time. Your vote, if you're not here, or if you walk out of the room, or if you simply
decide to sit there and not say anything, is a no. But with the paragraph that I'm opposed to in this bill that is changed by this amendment, it takes and says, if you don't vote, you're yes and that is setting all kind of precedence and so that's the reason that i i'm voting for this amendment and i appreciate your vote thank you senator sample spoke for the amendment
Chair
Unverified
1:22:18
senator rayford you'd like to speak would anyone speak against senator rayford you're recognized to
Senator Jason Rapert
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1:22:22
speak against the amendment. You're recognized. Thank you, Mr. President. Members, I was content not to say anything, but maybe some of you have gotten the same message that I just got. It's important to share with the body. The House has already passed their bill clean without any amendments. I know we disagree on some of this situation, but this body has got a
decision to make. I certainly hope that we can decide to work together, pass a clean bill, don't keep us down here longer that's intended. The people of Arkansas are expecting us to act. I had no idea that I'd get the message that they've passed a clean version of that bill, but it's important for us to know that, that as we debate this right now, the decision's already been made on their end. What we do with this amendment will end up causing us to get out of here quickly or completely freeze us up and break down. And so in light of the situation,
I beg for compromise on this. I speak against the amendment. Thank you. Senator Rayford
Chair
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1:23:32
has spoken against the amendment. Would anyone else like to speak for the amendment? Against the amendment? Senator Hickey, you're recognized to close.
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
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1:23:43
Thank you, sir. First of all, Senator Johnson and others who caught that, I want to tell you thank you
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
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1:23:48
and I do appreciate that. And in light of what some other people have said, I do want to read who all the members
of the peer subcommittee are, and I'm going to read the House, and you'll all know basically
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
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1:24:04
where they're from. Of course, we have Senator Terry Rice, Senator Cecile Bledsoe, Senator Will Bond, myself, which much the same way as Senator Clark,
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
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1:24:14
if that's an issue, I'd already told Senator Filippo yesterday, this is so important to me that I will resign off of that committee for the rest of the fiscal year until this money's dispersed.
So I don't want anybody to think that I'm advocating to have a seat on that and Senator Hendren can appoint who he wants. So that has already been communicated by me also. So again, I want everybody to know I'm not advocating for me, but I am on there at the time. Senator Keith Ingram, Senator Ron Caldwell, Senator Missy Irvin, Senator Larry Teague, Senator Alan
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
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1:24:54
Clark, Senator Bruce Malick. On the House side, you have Representative Jim Dotson,
representative jeff wardlaw representative kenneth ferguson representative ron mcnair representative dan douglas representative charlotte fight representative ken bragg representative david fielding representative gary diffenball and representative deanne vault now the way that bill is written the
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
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1:25:20
way the amendment is written is that it's the majority of the peer plus the speaker and the pro tem which I've added so I believe that would be 22 people
and so I would assume that we would have have to have 12 12 for the quorum so that being said again I wanted everybody to know that at this point I know I truly wish and I don't care if you're for the amendment or right now if I can ever ask anything of you at this point I want you to have an open mind, because I want to tell you something, and I hope that this will start the process off right so that you'll at least think and consider what I'm saying, because
if this amendment fails here today, I will be voting for Senator Hendren's bill, and I hope others will also. We are in
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
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1:26:16
a crisis. There's no doubt about it. A lot of times whenever somebody does that, it'll give you like a breath of fresh air and say, well, is going
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
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1:26:26
to vote for Senator Hendren's bill anyway, which Senator Hendren has done the work on this. This is just a small part of the bill. So again, I want everybody to know
that. And then I'm going to continue and say that, you know, first being in politics that we all know that it's open season on us all the time. And however, you all are here available today trying to excuse me as we all know that it's open season on all of us here however you are all available today and possibly putting your life in danger lawmakers and patriots have been doing that since the inception of this state and this country so the truth is as it relates to the
as being available between now and the end of the physical year to vote on the disbursements of these funds from this account either the leadership or the members of this committee will make themselves available. And the truth is that all of us in this chamber would make ourselves available by living in our office and taking a bath in a Dixie cup to help win the battle against this virus. And each and every one of you know it. That is the truth. However, what does matter, and Senator Elliott had already alluded to this, is that we'll have many, many hard choices ahead
of us, possibly like none that any of us has seen as it relates to the legislative process. The historical legislative process or at least as much as we can retain because the truth of the matter, our normal legislative process, not only would it go to Peer, it would also go to the full ALC body for a vote there. So we're actually already taking out some of the legislative process anyway with this amendment to try to be expedient in it. And that would be the reason that
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
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1:28:26
government will be able to survive and we'll be able to get through these challenging times ahead of us. I also want to say this, this is in no way directed at leadership in a negative fashion. Senator Hendren, Senator Ingram, Senator Hesker, Senator Bond, they have all done a great job since this crisis has started and I do appreciate that. Another thing is, it is in no way
directed in a negative fashion against our governor. There's no secret in this chamber, and unfortunately I'm gonna be live streamed but
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
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1:29:04
that's the way it is, there's no secret in this chamber that the governor and I, that we have to work hard at working together. But we both know that that's just the way it is and that's the way this process is supposed to work. But I want to say this, Governor Hutchison's leadership has been past amazing in the way that he's handled
this. The way that him and our Health Department and UAMS and our other medical leaders have handled this situation is beyond anything that I dream that they could do. I would almost go out on a limb and say that there could not be any other state that could beat the way that they've handled it up to this point. So I want everybody to know, because there's been some rumors going around, that that's part of it. It's not it at all. So this is what I'm asking you all, and if you would please listen, because Senator Rapert made a
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
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1:30:03
comment? Senator Bond brought this up. This is what I'm asking you. I ask that you please pass the amendment on to Senator Hendren's bill. You also all know that the House has an identical version of the bill which they're going to send down here, which is just like Senator Hendren's bill. But what I want now is that we send this back to the
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
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1:30:30
House so the House has another option. If
the House does not pick up that bill, or if the House defeats that bill, I will be the first in this body to vote for the House bill that's coming down here that is identical to Senator Hendricks. Yes, that means the Senate bill will fail, so who cares we are in the worst crisis times of our life I just don't think that that's too much to ask so that that option is there and if this body was to pass that I would trust Senator Hendren and I would trust Senator Ingram and I
would trust Senator Hester and I would trust Senator Bond that they would get with the get with the leadership in the house explain what's happened even though they've already had an
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
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1:31:23
agreement and say well our membership wanted this here it is we are going to vote for your bill and just make the decision so with that members i would greatly appreciate a good vote on my own our amendment senator
Chair
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1:31:39
hickey's no in in closing he's closed for
his amendment close thank you members let me make a couple points of clarification make certain everyone understands where we are first of all the comment has been made that the house has passed a bill constitutionally that could not occur today the house is considered a bill that was identical to senate bill two and they have met as a committee of the whole and they did rise and report progress so they did pass that on to their calendar for tomorrow as senate as the match to
senate bill two but they have not actually voted on the bill the second thing let me make certain does everyone understand that we had a correction uh to the amendment and there was a line added and we're still voting on amendment one uh to senate bill two but it did have the corrected language in there that uh fixed an error that was left out everybody understand that
Speaker 104
1:32:37
person privilege person privilege you're you're recognized yeah i think you actually was going to make the point that you just
Senator Jason Rapert
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1:32:45
made because they have voted in a committee of the whole just as
as we have. Therefore, they have passed it out as a committee of the whole, but they can't take it up until later. I thank you for doing that. And on the personal
Speaker 93
1:33:03
privilege, I do want to say that I thank Senator Hickey
Chair
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1:33:08
for the manner he's going about presenting this, and appreciate the body and the way that they're handling it. Thank you, Senator Raper. And another thing
Speaker 10
1:33:20
I did not notice, since we've got senators that are in the galleries, I did not notice earlier that Senator Sturge had sent me a text with a possible procedural question. Senator Sturge, is it too late for you to state that?
Chair
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1:33:39
you're recognized I think Senator Hickey outlined it appropriately and that
when we get their bill technically we either do a quick committee of the whole or uh or just take it directly but it i think in this case we go because it's with the joint budget bills that originate in either house we go straight to the calendar and so they would have the opportunity to vote on the bill our bill as amended if the amendment passes and then uh we would be voting on their bill uh you know if if they both pass the governor would decide which one he wanted to side. But if they would have the opportunity and I think that it could be dealt with without
Speaker 70
1:34:20
extending the session. Senator Hendrick. I guess I would ask for Steve because in our discussion previous, the reason we did not have to have a committee of the whole was because they're identical bills. If a bill comes down here that's not identical, we are going to have to have a committee of the whole and so are they if they're different.
Chair
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1:34:44
but so there would take some committee action with you know suspension of the rules it might or might not extend the session
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
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1:35:00
because of the other members would that be
Speaker 70
1:35:05
correct Thank you, sir. All right, anything else procedurally? Now,
Chair
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1:35:22
let me mention also the rules on the Committee of
Speaker 95
1:35:27
the Whole as far as voting.
States that it will be by voice or standing, but the yeas and nays cannot be ordered. Now, I'm not going to call a vote that we're not certain of, and if we need to go to standing, we will do that to make
Chair
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1:35:43
certain we count the vote right. We also will have to consider there are some members who have proxies for other members who are not present. Now, I don't know if they can yell twice as loud, but if we get to the point where we're not sure when we do the standing, we will make certain that anyone that has a proxy for someone else, that those are all accounted for.
Everyone understand? Now, the question before the body
Speaker 95
1:36:07
is the passage of Senate Amendment 1 by Senator Hickey to Senate Bill 2. We will initially voice vote. I'll ask first all of those in favor of Senator Hickey's amendment to speak, and then all those opposed. So, all in favor of Senator Hickey's amendment to Senate Bill 2, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. No. The chair is unable to determine, and we will vote
Chair
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1:36:35
by standing, and for those that have proxies for someone else, you will need to notify us.
I think Ann has a record of that, and we'll make certain that those are all
Speaker 213
1:36:44
counted. What you want to do is... ...and a teller in the balconies to give you the vote on both sides. All right. Senator
Speaker 93
1:36:53
Rice, would you count this side? And Senator Clark, would you count this side? So we're getting ready to just tear apart our social distancing rules if we're not
Senator Jim Hendren
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1:37:04
careful here. Am I right? Are we going to actually go on to the sides of the
Speaker 73
1:37:08
chamber? They're just going to stand if they're in favor.
Chair
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1:37:12
Okay. No, they're just going to stand if they're in favor. Senator Mark Johnson, will you record the votes in this gallery? Senator Pitch, do you think you can handle your side, Senator Pitch? Do we have anybody in the VIP?
Speaker 153
1:37:35
Okay. All right. Okay. We've got Senator Teague here. All right. All in
Speaker 95
1:37:48
favor. Yes, you're recognized. I know that Senator Elliott holds a proxy for Senator Chesterfield and Senator
hester holds one for senator cooper senator hendron holds one
Speaker 217
1:38:02
for senator davis i'd move we suspend the
Senator Jim Hendren
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1:38:06
rules for the purpose of calling the roll
Chair
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1:38:11
motion made to suspend the rules in order to call the
Speaker 95
1:38:15
roll all in favor say aye opposed no motion carried thank
Speaker 64
1:38:27
on the amendment ballinger Bledsoe, Bond, Caldwell, Cheatham, Chesterfield, Clark, Cooper, Davis, Dismang, Eads, Elliot,
Aye. English? No. Flippo? Aye. Flowers? Garner? Yes. Hammer? Yes. Hendron? No. Hester? No. Hickey? Aye. Hill? No. Ingram? Irvin? No. She didn't do a proxy. Oh, I'm sorry. Did she? No. No. She didn't do a proxy. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, did she?
Okay. She's not voting. Blake Johnson? Blake Johnson? Mark Johnson? Aye. Letting? Mallett? Mallett? Pitch? No. Raypert? No. Rice? Aye. Sample? Aye. Stubbafil, Sturge, Teague, Wallace.
Chair
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1:39:52
Now, I want to make certain because of our circumstances that we're working under that we count everyone. I thought Senator Ingram was in the building. Now, I
Speaker 224
1:40:02
don't know. Okay, okay. That's fine.
Chair
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1:40:05
and did I don't know whether anybody had a proxy for Senator flowers not voting okay would anyone else like to vote or change their vote if not we will cast up the ballot by vote of 13 in favor 17 opposed the amendment fails senator
Henry you're recognized it's a property move to rise and report simply as a committee the whole at Sempy states that we will move forward with the bill that was presented and it will be calendared for the Senate calendar tomorrow. Thank you members. And Governor, would you like to assume the chair?
Is your water? Your water, Senator? Senator
Senator Jim Hendren
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1:41:08
Hendricks, recognize. Members, thank you for your compliance
with the weird circumstances we find ourselves in. I hope everybody is comfortable, but I want to again tell you, if you're not going to be here in the morning, tomorrow we're going to meet at 3 p.m. That's the same time the House is coming into a session. And then we'll have the final vote, the vote on the House bill that comes over at midnight tomorrow night.
So if you're not going to be here for either one of those votes, make sure that you fill out the proxy form and make sure that in that you know who your designee is and your designee knows who they are. And all those members that are watching online, I appreciate your staying with us and participating in the process. I've gotten texts from some of them. This live streaming turned out to have more benefits than just transparency. So 3 o'clock tomorrow as we leave here, don't make everything we've done for naught.
Don't all cram out the doors and get jumbled together. Let's try to leave here with nobody sick. Thank you all for all your help
Speaker 228
1:42:12
as we got through this. Hold up. We're adjourned. No, it wasn't going to adjourn. I was going to shut the dumb ass and read Senate Duffield the second
Chair
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1:42:25
time. Okay. Madam Secretary, will you please read Senate Bill 2 for the second time.
Speaker 78
1:42:31
Senate Bill 2 by Senator Hendren, an act to create the COVID-19 Rainy Day Fund to transfer funds to the COVID-19 Rainy Day Fund and declare an emergency.
Chair
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1:42:40
any calendar any other announcements before we adjourn anything at all please maintain your social distancing not just in here but as you leave anything at all senate is adjourned until 1500 tomorrow that's three o'clock for some of you he said three three o'clock
Unknown speaker
1:43:10
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Agenda
Call to Order
Senate Bills Considered in Committee of the Whole
Senate Bills with Senate Amendments
Adjourned
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Speaker 6
Speaker 11
Speaker 3
Speaker 15
Speaker 24
Speaker 26
Speaker 1
Speaker 30
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
Speaker 37
Speaker 4
Speaker 55
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 60
Speaker 61
Speaker 64
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
Speaker 69
Speaker 70
Speaker 72
Speaker 62
Speaker 78
Speaker 56
Speaker 77
Speaker 84
Speaker 95
Speaker 101
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
Speaker 96
Speaker 105
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
Chair (Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr)
Unverified
Senator Mark Johnson
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Speaker 126
Speaker 123
Speaker 134
Senator Joyce Elliott
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Speaker 151
Senator Alan Clark
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Senator Kim Hammer
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Senator Jonathan Dismang
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Speaker 170
Speaker 172
Speaker 174
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
Speaker 178
Senator Trent Garner
Unverified
Speaker 186
Speaker 8
Senator Gary Stubblefield
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Senator Bill Sample
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Speaker 104
Speaker 93
Speaker 10
Speaker 213
Speaker 73
Speaker 153
Speaker 217
Speaker 224
Speaker 228