March 8, 2013
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (30)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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HB1411
· 4 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “bill. Read House Bill 1411. House Bill”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1477
· 4 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HB1477”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB331
· 4 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB331”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1476
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HB1476”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1404
· 2 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “Bill 1404. House Bill 1404, Representative House, to amend the criminal law concerning”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1025
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…r committee on city, county, and local, to whom is referred House Bill 1025 and House Bill 1566.”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1056
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1056”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1131
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1131”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1154
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1154”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1303
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1303”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1316
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1316”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1317
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1317”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1329
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1329”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1351
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “to whom was referred House Bill 1351. Beg lead report we had the same under consideration. Herew…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1406
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1406”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1413
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1413”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1463
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1463”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1518
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1518”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1531
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1531”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1554
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1554”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1565
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1565”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1566
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…county, and local, to whom is referred House Bill 1025 and House Bill 1566.”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1572
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…ur committee on insurance and commerce, to whom is referred House Bill 1572, House Bill 1635, Senate Bill 263, Senate Bill 277, and Sen…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1575
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1575”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1620
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1620”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1635
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…nsurance and commerce, to whom is referred House Bill 1572, House Bill 1635, Senate Bill 263, Senate Bill 277, and Senate Bill 377. I b…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1672
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1672”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB263
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…erce, to whom is referred House Bill 1572, House Bill 1635, Senate Bill 263, Senate Bill 277, and Senate Bill 377. I beg to lead the re…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB277
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…referred House Bill 1572, House Bill 1635, Senate Bill 263, Senate Bill 277, and Senate Bill 377. I beg to lead the report. We've had t…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB377
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…572, House Bill 1635, Senate Bill 263, Senate Bill 277, and Senate Bill 377. I beg to lead the report. We've had the same under conside…”
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Pre-2017 bill |
Machine transcript
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Speaker 1
0:00
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I come before you and I thank you for this day and for letting us just see your mercy, grace, and love this morning, which is new toward us. Father, I come to you and as I said before you, all these men and women, Father, they've been given a great responsibility to have a great part in leading the state of Arkansas. And Lord, with such great responsibility, Lord, decisions have to be made and answers must be had. And, Father, I just ask that you help them through every choice they have to make today.
It's true, Father, that there are some things that every man and every woman in their humanity do not have answers or a solution for. But we've been given the opportunity to come before you who does have all the answers and who can guide us with your wisdom. Lord, may your wisdom rest upon them. And, Lord, may as you seek what is good for us, they seek what is good for the state of Arkansas. So, Lord, bless their families, be with them, and, Lord, just thank you for the work that they do. May everything we do today be to honor and glorify you.
Speaker 2
1:04
In Jesus' name I pray, amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Members,
Chair
Unverified
1:25
please indicate your presence by pushing your yellow present button. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk.
Cast at the valets for 93 members present. The chair sees a quorum. Are there any requests for leave?
Representative Meeks, you're recognized. I would like to request leave for Representative Hobbs. Leave granted for Representative Hobbs. Representative McLean, you're recognized. Leave Representative Altus. Leave granted for Representative Altus. Representative McGee, you're recognized. Leave Representative Thompson. Leave granted for Representative Thompson. Leave is granted. Any other requests for leave?
Representative Debra M. Hobbs
Unverified
2:24
Representative James L. Ward moves we dispense to the reading of the previous day's journal. No objections, so order. Are
Speaker 14
2:31
there reports from select committees or are there reports
Speaker 15
2:34
from standing committees? Read the reports, Mr. Clerk. Mr. Speaker, we are your committee on state agencies
Chair
Unverified
2:40
to whom was referred House Bill 1351. Beg lead report we had the same under consideration. Herewith return the same with recommendation that do pass, respectfully submitted Representative Butch Wilkins, Vice Chair. Mr. Speaker, we are your committee on city, county, and local, to whom is referred House Bill 1025 and House Bill 1566.
Beg the lead report. We had the same under consideration. Herewith return the same with recommendation that do pass. Respectfully submitted Representative David Fielding, Chair. Mr. Speaker, we are your committee on insurance and commerce, to whom is referred House Bill 1572, House Bill 1635, Senate Bill 263, Senate Bill 277, and Senate Bill 377. I beg to lead the report. We've had the same under consideration. Here we have to return the same with the recommendation that they do pass. Respectfully submitted Representative Tommy Wren, Chair.
Is there any unfinished business? Are there any executive communications? Members, at
this time, I'd like to welcome our doctor of the day, Dr. Jim Ciddy from Searcy. Representative Baird, moves we place Senate Bill 331 back on second reading for the purpose of amendment. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? The House have a motion carries. Read the amendment, Mr. Clerk.
Amendment number one is Senate Bill 331. Representative Baird, you recognize to explain
Representative Duncan Baird
Unverified
4:15
the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members, this is simply an amendment to add me on as the House sponsor. Appreciate a good
Speaker 4
4:21
vote. Representative Baird has explained the amendment. Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment, for the amendment? The motion before
Chair
Unverified
4:31
the House is the adoption of Amendment No. 1 to Senate Bill 331. All in favor say aye.
Any opposed? The ayes have it. Motion carries. The morning hour has ended. Mr. Clerk, read House
Bill 1477. House Bill 1477 by Representative McLean to allow curriculum frameworks for multiple courses to be combined or embedded
in a single course. Representative McLean, you're recognized to explain the bill.
Representative James McLean
Unverified
5:07
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 1477, a part of the Arkansas Department of Education's legislative package. This bill would allow public schools that are engaged in our STEM curriculum to embed curriculum into other curriculum. An example would be we have some high-level physics and math courses, small groups. They work in teams. What this legislation would do is they oftentimes take their findings or projects and present
them to peer review groups, whether that be retired professors, maybe physicists, advanced level math professionals. So essentially, you are getting an oral communications credit in conjunction with maybe a physics or advanced math credit. What we're doing is we're extending the waiver process, leaving it open so these schools don't have to come back every year to ask for it. I'll answer any questions, Mr. Speaker, and I'd appreciate a good vote.
Speaker 7
6:07
Representative Bell, for what purpose? Question. You recognize? Representative
Representative Nate Bell
Unverified
6:11
McLean, as I understand this, this would allow schools, public schools that aren't necessarily becoming public charter schools but are using project-based learning type courses to continue to do so. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Appreciate the clarification. With that, Mr. Speaker, I'd
Chair
Unverified
6:30
appreciate a good vote. Representative McLean has explained the bill. Does anyone wish to speak against the
bill? For the bill, if not, the question before the House is the passage of House Bill 1477.
Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Cast the ballots to 93 yeas, 0 nays, and 0 present. You have passed the
bill. Read House Bill 1476. House Bill 1476 for Representative McLean to amend various provisions of the Arkansas Code Title VI concerning
public school transportation and academic facilities.
Representative McLean, you're recognized to explain your
Representative James McLean
Unverified
7:18
bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members, this is a clean-up bill. It describes what school buses are to make it coordinate with federal legislation. I do want to direct you to page two of the bill. Excuse me, page three of the bill. It also deals with facilities, specifically tornado shelters. Let me give you an example of some things that have been happening. There is
federal grant money available for schools to build tornado shelters. Specifically, they're incorporated into schools as reinforced rooms or hallways. The feds will fund these up to 75% of the project costs. The State Facilities Partnership will also help fund these facilities, and that's specifically based on need, i.e., free or reduced lunches, lunch programs in the district. That's the formula that they use. There has been some examples. If a reinforced room or tornado shelter costs $100,000, the feds would kick in $75,000, and the state
may kick in $50,000. There was a $25,000 overage there. What we're trying to do is make sure the state's portion of the grant does not exceed the project cost. With that, Mr. Speaker, I'll answer any questions. Representative McLean, does it explain
Chair
Unverified
8:39
the bill? Does anyone wish to speak against the bill, for the bill? Not the question for the House is passage of House Bill 1476. Prepare to machine, Mr. Clerk.
Has everyone voted? Cast with the ballots to 92 yeas, 0 nays, and 2 present. You have passed the
Chair
Unverified
9:10
1411 by Representative Mayberry to protect the health and well-being of students in public schools by ensuring adequate and appropriate health care workers on the site
Speaker 37
9:18
to attend to the students' needs. Representative Mayberry, you recognize,
Representative Andy Mayberry
Unverified
9:23
to explain your bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This bill, we've got a House Bill 1411, addresses an issue with disparity in our nursing situation
and medical care situation in our school districts across the state. I'm fortunate to live in a school district where each of the campuses has a nurse on site at each campus. As many of you know, I have a child with special needs, and I don't know that I would feel comfortable with her being on a campus that did not have a nurse readily available. Unfortunately, we have some other school districts that are not as fortunate. They have perhaps one nurse who covers multiple campuses, maybe three, four, five campuses, and some of these campuses may be 20 or 30 minutes apart.
And so if there is a medical situation that arises, it may be quite some time before someone with proper training can adequately address that issue. We also have a disparity in terms of the facilities that a nurse may have available in terms of whether she even has a nurse's office. If she does have an office, is it properly equipped with the facilities needed to store medicine, so forth, so on. We have 272 school districts in the state, of which about 60 of those school districts report health information regularly.
So about 22% do we actually have data from. But from those 22%, out of those 60 school districts, we know that more than 1,800 children have life-threatening allergies. Not just allergies, but life-threatening allergies. More than 8,000 of those have asthma, 764 with seizure disorders. Unfortunately, more than 1,600 are known cases of child abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect cases.
Even more unfortunate, 61 suicide attempts with six actual deaths resulting from that. What this study will be, it's pulling in administrators, educators, nurses, just a very wide range. And I'm not going to go through and read the entire list because I'm certain each one of you have read the bill in its entirety and you've already seen what that list is. So with that said, what they're going to do, this would be a study, a year-long study, where these individuals work on their own individually to assess where we are right now.
Because like I said, only 60 of the 272 school districts actually report this information right now. So we're going to assess where we are, put together an idea of where we ideally would be, and then put together some suggestions, some proposals on how we achieve that. One of my old mentors, Jim Pickens, used to say that if you don't know where you are and you don't know where you're going, then how in the world are you going to know when you get there? So that's what this is. We're identifying where we are, we're identifying where we're going, and then we're going to figure out how to get there.
There is no measurable fiscal impact to this. They will meet quarterly, and some of those can be done via video if that's applicable in their particular area. And they will all work on a volunteer basis. They would be eligible for an expense reimbursement. I'd appreciate a good vote. And it is constitutional. Representative Mayberry has explained the bill. Does anyone
Speaker 4
12:47
wish to speak against the bill, for the bill? If not, a question before the House
Chair
Unverified
12:54
is the passage of House Bill 1411.
Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Has
everyone voted? Cast the ballots with 84 yeas, 0 nays, and 0 present. You have passed the bill. Read House
Speaker 26
13:21
Bill 1404. House Bill 1404, Representative House, to amend the criminal law concerning
Chair
Unverified
13:26
the sale of certain tickets in excess of regular price.
Representative Douglas House
Unverified
13:30
Representative House, you're recognized to explain the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've got a three-acre tract of land that I live on. mow about an acre and a half of it with a tractor and occasionally there's little mounds of dirt that appear. I have learned you do not go up and kick those mounds of dirt because there's more underneath them than meets the eye. Ticket scalping. Back last April I heard about a Supreme
Court case that our Supreme Court rendered. It was an advisory opinion to the United States District Court in Little Rock, and it had to do with ticket scalping. Now, having practiced law for some 30 years, I know how much a Supreme Court opinion costs the taxpayers of Arkansas when it's a legitimate dispute. But my first reaction was, why are we litigating this? Why is this a legal issue if it's not a contract? Well, as it turns out, had to do with ticket
scalping. The opinion is not particularly important for this bill. So I began to think about this. We're talking about April of 2012. My wife and I went to a concert, Lady Antebellum, at the arena over here. And I happened to have two extra tickets, electronic tickets, and wasn't trying to make any money off of them. And they asked us, you don't want to move out down the way to sell these two tickets. But as I was standing there, and I think I got 75 cents
on the dollar, which was fine, no big deal, no problem. I watched an undercover police officer work from person to person, seeing how much they were charging for their tickets. An undercover police officer. Then I got to thinking about this young lady, and somewhat of a straw man argument, but I think you'll understand the point. The young lady that gets a couple of tickets to a Rihanna concert or a Taylor Swift concert, and she finds out that it's a sellout crowd and she can make an extra $500 a ticket to make her car payment
or to pay off her credit card. And instead of going to the concert, she chooses to sell those tickets and make a nice profit. Well, she's just committed a crime under Arkansas law. Now, if you think that's so far-fetched, I checked this morning on a website. George Strait and Martina McBride, thank you, tickets are going for $1,238 on the website. Now, this is not some fly-by-night website.
This is a website, I believe it's called Tickets Unlimited, and it's affiliated with USA Today. They're located in another state where Arkansas law can't touch them, no matter what they sell these tickets for. I think USA is probably a fairly reputable company. They don't sell counterfeit tickets. They don't make promises they can't keep. But the arguments in favor of this particular law is that the arenas, the coliseums, the auditoriums, the stadiums, are besieged by counterfeiting, fraud, customer dissatisfaction, and inflated prices.
One of my favorite series on TV, my wife and I just finished it, was called Boardwalk Empire. A lot of you, I'm sure, have seen it. You've also seen gangster movies. The opening scene of the opening play was a bunch of bootleggers sitting around in a nice building, nice home, paneled walls, kind of like we have behind Mr. Speaker. And they were talking about how glad they were going to be and how much money they were going to make when Prohibition
came in on January the 1st, 1920.
They were going to make a killing. They were all in favor
of probation. And, of course, the series goes on and tells about all the corruption and the crime and the greed, the counterfeiting,
the customer dissatisfaction, the overpricing. You see, this law creates the very problems that our arena operators are trying to prevent. As long as you make something illegal to possess or illegal to do that people are going to do anyway,
then you're going to have fraud, counterfeiting, overpricing, corruption.
Speaking of corruption, anybody can go on the website and look at our financial disclosure statements. This house, the one down the other end of the building, and the offices in between. Yeah, there's tickets going out to different folks. I found a few. Oh, and by the way, not everybody's filed their financial disclosure statement. I'll mention that to you. No name's name today. why
are there ticket shortages where do these tickets come from there's a lot of evidence out
there not from ticket scalpers or fly-by-night operations there's an there's an organization called uh the name escapes me just for a moment but it's an association of arena operators And they publish concert sites, ticket sites, ticket prices, events all over the country. This is the one that's affiliated with USA Today.
And it turns out that somewhere around 60, 70, 80 percent of concert tickets are wholesaled
by the performer, the promoter, the agent, the operator, to people like credit card holders, ostensibly
for the use of their card holders, credit card companies, for ostensibly for the use by their card holders,
by the performers in their fan clubs so that their fans can get good seats at good prices. But it turns out that these tickets don't go to the fans. It turns out that these tickets don't go to the credit card holders. or the members of this club or that club or some other special interest group. These get wholesaled off to some of these people that are located in California, located in Connecticut, and New York.
When I filed this bill, I had a little lady or a young man in mind who had a chance to sell a couple of tickets and make a few hundred bucks to catch up on their car payments. But the deeper I dug and the more opposition I got, I realized I'd done kicked a hole in the top of a fire ant mount. And there's a lot of parts
working. Over a billion dollars. Our law keeps scalpers off the streets of Arkansas.
Oh, and by the way, it's okay, it's legal, perfectly legal to scalp tickets to professional athletic events, tractor pulls, circuses, dog shows, flower shows. It's only illegal to scalp tickets to musical entertainment events. So I guess if a
comment comes to town and it's a sellout crowd, it is legal, in fact, to scalp those tickets.
So it turns out that there's a lot more to this than meets the eye. Many of you have told me you're not going to vote for the bill. That's okay. I understand. And I appreciate your honesty and candor with me, and I hold no grudges whatsoever. Both sides of the aisle, if you will. Please vote as your constituents have asked you to do. But on each and every one of your desks, you will see some issue papers. And one of them is from Arkansas Advance Institute.
Thank you, Advance Arkansas Institute. It talks about the government interfering with a free market enterprise. a willing buyer who legitimately owns a piece of property called an admit-one ticket to
a willing purchaser at an arm's-length transaction at a price they both agree on. And the state
sticks its nose into that business.
If you've ever told people that you're in favor of limited government,
this is your big chance. because this is socialistic and paternalistic and corruption-creating piece of legislation. We've had 20 years' experience with it. So I would ask you to take that document and go back home and talk with your constituent and say, you know, I did as you asked. I voted against that bill today, but I want you to understand something. God willing and his voters decide House is going to be back in two years with this,
And I'm going to have a whole different outlook about this because you're creating your own problem. You're bootlegging the tickets to the scalpers, and
that's why there are shortages, and that's why the price goes up. I will take your questions.
Chair
Unverified
23:43
Representative Alexander, for what purpose? Question. Recognize your question. Thank
Speaker 50
23:49
you, Mr. Speaker. Representative House, my only
Representative Randy Alexander
Unverified
23:52
question has to do with what you just mentioned.
The folks that are opposed to this, one that contacted me, says this bill would pave the way for ticket brokers to freely enter the market, setting up physical shops as well as websites for tickets priced well above face value. And then the real concern for me that she raised says one of the biggest customer service issues we face is the deceptive practices of many ticket resellers or brokers. Many brokers create websites that are carefully designed to replicate the venue's site or allude to affiliation with the venue.
When people search for a show, they may inadvertently find this site and pay more for the ticket than they otherwise would. I agree with the principles you've outlined here, but what would you
Representative Douglas House
Unverified
24:41
respond to this? The law causes
those people to set up shop outside of the state of Arkansas where we can't touch them. Fraud and counterfeiting is prohibited under our law in several places. So we've got laws against that. But as long as they're in places like Connecticut and California and places in between and selling those tickets, we can't touch them because we don't know who they are or where they are.
If you decriminalize it, yes, they will set up shop in town. We have Ticketmaster here in Little Rock, for instance. But see, if they commit a fraud or counterfeiting, there's a civil remedy. There's somebody you can go to and get the problem fixed or call the law on them. But as long as we have this law, they will continue to operate out of state, and they
Speaker 52
25:32
will continue to create the corruption you just mentioned. Yes, Representative Gene, for
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
25:37
what purpose? Question. You recognize? Representative House, you mentioned professional events.
In fact, professional events, this is legal. professional ball games? Yes, sir. You can scalp all
Representative Douglas House
Unverified
25:47
the tickets you want to under Arkansas law if it's a professional athletic event, yes, sir, but not schools. This bill
doesn't touch schools or colleges. I think it
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
25:57
was 2003, the miracle on Markham. Do you remember that ball game, college ball game, University of Arkansas, LSU? That's a good ball game. Yeah. I got scalped that day.
Representative Douglas House
Unverified
26:16
for college? It's actually illegal. College athletic tickets are not touched by this bill. There's a whole other set of issues with student tickets and things like that. So college tickets will not be affected
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
26:27
by this game whatsoever? No, sir. Okay. Thank you. Representative
Representative Marshall Wright
Unverified
26:35
Wright, for what purpose? Question? Recognize. I was just wondering what your reasoning is in not applying this to a college athletic event.
You know, when I was a student at the University of Arkansas and we had just won the national championship, I could have made some good money.
Representative Douglas House
Unverified
26:53
So, well, the same principles not apply. It's actually legal for the colleges to scalp their own tickets. If they have
a price, a face value of X number of dollars, the colleges can say, wait a minute, we've got a lot of demand for this game. And they can jack the prices up. It's only the initial sale. It's only the secondary sale that's covered by this law. The initial sale, you can sell them for whatever you want to.
I considered this and left them out of the bill. The colleges provide
student tickets at a very low rate of price, and they're trying to accomplish, among other things, student cohesion, student safety, and three, building an alumni
support base. So when I consider the fact that they do give deferential treatment to student tickets and their supporters that contribute a lot of money to their operation,
I figure that's something that they ought to prey over their own goat before the state legislature gets involved maybe in two years. But I'm not going to take that on. Representative Hammer, for what purpose? Question, please. You
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
27:56
recognize. I just want to clarify that I'm going to be voting right, so if you don't mind,
If I'm an industry and I buy a big block of tickets and I'm out of state, I understand you're right that they can sell those tickets for whatever they want. We can't touch them. Is that correct?
Representative Douglas House
Unverified
28:16
If the way I understand the practice is, and maybe I hope I'm answering your question, they will buy a block of tickets. They will offer them to their cardholders or their club members. And if they don't sell them all within a particular time, they will wholesale them at a small profit or at a profit to somebody like StubHub or Ticketmaster or somebody else. Is it legal? If they did it in Arkansas law, in Arkansas, it would be illegal. It's not illegal in other places, so our law can't touch them.
And therefore, I'm the guy that goes and buys
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
28:52
two tickets. I can't make the concert. So I send them down with a friend, and I say, hey, face value is $25, but if you can get $50, get $50, just free market enterprise, and they sell them for $50, and there happens to be an under-the-curve agent that detects that, my friend could get arrested for that the way it currently
is. Is that correct? He could look forward to a badge, a gun, and a ride downtown. Yes, sir. All right, and if I've got $500 in my pocket and those tickets cost $100 and I've got my 14-year-old daughter beside me saying,
I'm going to scream all the way home if you don't spend it, I can't satisfy her by giving that $500 because, to
me, they're worth $500 at that time. It's not legal for me to be able to do it. As I read the
Representative Douglas House
Unverified
29:34
law, and that's a good question, I don't think a purchaser commits an offense. By buying it, it has to do with selling it. but I'm denied the privilege of purchasing
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
29:45
those tickets by the fact that the law penalizes me on the other side and denies me that opportunity, a free market, to be able to buy them at whatever price the person and I negotiate.
Very well put, sir. Yes, sir. Because I don't want my daughter screaming anymore. Thank you very
Representative Darrin Williams
Unverified
30:03
much. Representative Williams, for what purpose? You recognize? Mr. House, just in follow-up to Mr. Hammer's question, I want to clarify something. Are you aware that the Attorney General's office has filed suit and entered into cease and desist orders with out-of-state vendors who sold tickets in-state for above face value? Yes, sir. Because your previous answer, I thought, was that Arkansas law doesn't touch them.
So in that respect, when the AG's office actually has brought lawsuit and been successful, the AG using Arkansas law has been successful in stopping out-of-state actors. Is that not correct? Then let
Representative Douglas House
Unverified
30:37
me clarify. Arkansas criminal law doesn't touch folks where this act is appropriate. Civil law, a whole other subject. Thank you very much. Representative Talley, for what purpose? I have
Speaker 75
30:51
a question. You recognize? Representative House, my young daughter
Representative Brent Talley
Unverified
30:54
would love to go to the concert, but unfortunately we didn't buy our ticket the day of the event.
Now those tickets are so expensive the day we get there we can't afford them. How does, because of these prices, because someone in Arkansas, small businesses come in, bought all the tickets the day they went on sale, and now they've marked them up to the price that we can't afford them. How does, because of this law, now you can raise that price to whatever amount. How does, is that
Speaker 76
31:23
true? Would that happen? Yes, sir. The real question is, why does the
Representative Douglas House
Unverified
31:27
state of Arkansas, or why do the taxpayers care how much you may or may not want to pay for a ticket?
And if you do buy one or sell one, then you could face imprisonment. But ask yourself the more fundamental question, who sold the tickets to begin with? Who created the problem of price inflation to begin with? The folks that don't want this bill passed.
Representative John W. Walker
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31:59
Jefferson Walker, for what purpose? Question. Recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Let's assume that the Southeast Conference Basketball Championship locates an all-tell arena. And you have volumes of people coming, many of whom have an interest in staying the whole time, but who know that they will be here only for one or two games. Is it, under your bill, prohibited for one local institution from buying as many tickets as it can and then reselling them?
Speaker 49
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They may resell them, but under our current law,
Representative Douglas House
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they would not be able to resell them for more than face value, is the scalping law. And it would not affect collegiate sports, collegiate athletics. My bill doesn't
Speaker 49
32:58
touch that. Well, let us assume that it is a concert, a Rihanna concert. Different
Representative John W. Walker
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33:06
story. Could a local entity buy all the tickets and then sell them for what they
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want under the free enterprise system argument that you make?
No, sir, they may not. Without committing a crime, each ticket sale is a separate violation. So nobody from out-of-state or in-state can make a profit beyond what the arena charges? Out-of-state, yes, sir. They're making millions. Under your bill,
Representative John W. Walker
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33:33
you keep the out-of-state enterprise from being able to make a profit, just as an in-state business would be prohibited from making.
Representative Douglas House
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33:41
No, sir. Under my bill, in-state businesses may do what out-of-state vendors are doing now, and then we would be able to get the advantage of the taxes, sales taxes.
Folks operating in California and Connecticut are going to do it anyway. This would allow local folks to do exactly
Representative John W. Walker
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34:01
the same thing. Now tell me, how much revenue has Arkansas lost in the last two years? I mean, do you know, first of all? And then what is the amount of revenue that has been lost in the last
Speaker 49
34:16
several years because of failure to enact a law like this? I don't know. I can give you
Representative Douglas House
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34:23
a couple of quick statistics. I know that six folks have been charged in Pulaski County Circuit Clerk.
There's a cost there. I know that North Little Rock Police Department has arrested two people. The time I've had available when that question was posed to me, I was able to find out that. How much revenue has the state lost? I don't know. They say, some of the industry people that I've read say that as many as 90% of the tickets to local events actually wind up in the hands of out-of-state
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scalpers. I don't know that that's true.
I haven't investigated it that deeply. Purpose and lead for
Speaker 52
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a purpose. I have a motion, sir. Representative Lane, for what purpose?
Speaker 89
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Motion. Let me hear what your motion is. Immediate consideration. Representative
Chair
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35:51
House still has the floor, so until he gives me the—until he relieves the well, then I'll come circle back to you. Representative Viviano, for what purpose? Question. You recognize? Representative
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House, under the current law, how many people are currently prosecuted on an annual basis?
Representative Douglas House
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36:13
I don't know that, sir. Representative Gillum asked me that
question last week. I've called the local police departments, I've called the police departments in Fayetteville, in Sebastian County, in Crittenden County, and they don't want to tell me. I did find out from North Little Rock they've arrested two, and I know six have been charged in the circuit court of Pulaski County. I'm sorry I can't give you better information than that. Thank you.
Chair
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36:45
Representative of the House has explained the bill. Does anyone wish to speak against the bill, for the bill? If not, the question before the House is passage of House Bill 1404,
prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Has everyone voted? Cast with the balance of 28, 65 nays, and zero present. the bill has failed. Read
Speaker 26
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House Bill 1672. House Bill 1672, we represent as Ferguson
Chair
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37:25
brought away in Douglas to require that denials of dental claims be decided by
licensed dentists and to declare an emergency. Representative Ferguson, you're recognized to explain the
Representative Deborah Ferguson
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37:38
Bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a really, I think a really simple bill. It just says that dental insurance companies, if they deny a claim for medical reasons, not just a clerk's denial, that the person who reviews the claim and denies it has to be a dentist. An example
would be if you came into the office and you had a broken tooth and we took an x-ray, sometimes an x-ray is just a side view and you really can't tell how much damage the tooth has and they might say, oh, well, we think you should have done a filling and we just want a dentist with a degree to review that kind of claim and support the dentist filing for a crown or periosurgery might be another thing if we did surgery and they said we thought you should have done scaling it's really a patient-friendly bill because it assures that the dental insurance company
He pays the amount of the claim that they should so the patient is not out a lot of extra money. Blue Cross and Delta Dental are good
with it, and there's no objection in committee. I appreciate a good vote. Representative Viviano,
Chair
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38:46
for a purpose. Representative Ferguson has explained the bill. Does anyone wish to speak against the
bill for the bill? If not, the question for the House is passage of House Bill 1672. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk.
You're voting on the bill and the emergency clause.
Has everyone voted? Has everyone voted? Cast at the mallets with 85, 86 a's, 2 nays, and 0 present. You pass the
bill and the emergency clause. Read House Bill 1413. House Bill 1413, Representative Ratliff, to regulate the liability of limestock owners, limestock activity sponsors, livestock facilities, livestock auction markets with respect to livestock activities.
Representative Ratliff, you're recognized to explain the bill. Thank you,
Representative James Ratliff
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39:39
Mr. Speaker. This is an act that we've extended, the Equine Act that we passed several years ago. All this is going to do is going to help our FFA and 4-H and fairs and parents and livestock auctions keeping somebody from walking back there and getting kicked or run over by a cow and being where they didn't need to be. I appreciate a good
Speaker 52
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vote. Representative Ratliff has explained the bill.
Representative Mayberry, for what purpose? Question. You recognize. Has Arkansas Farm
Representative Andy Mayberry
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40:09
Bureau taken a position with regards to this? They're fine with it. Thank
Chair
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40:13
you. Representative Ratliff has explained the bill. Does anyone wish to speak against the bill, for the bill? If not, the question before the House is passage of House Bill 1413. Prepare the machine, Mr.
Clerk. So to have voted, cast the ballots, 89 yeas, 0 nays, 0 present, you pass the bill, read
Speaker 26
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House Bill 1406. House Bill 1406, Representative McGee,
Chair
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40:50
concerning the seal of a county court and a circuit clerk. Representative McGee, you're recognized to explain
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your bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, this bill just is supported by the County Clerk's Association and the Association of Counties, and basically all it does is when they use their stamp to emboss, it has to be reproducible photographically.
That's important now. Most of them do it, but there are still occasions where they don't, and I'd
Chair
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41:22
appreciate a good vote. Representative McGee has explained the bill. Does anyone wish to speak against the bill or for the bill? Not the question before the House is the passage of House Bill
1406. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Cast out the ballots to 93 yeas, 0 nays, and 0 present. You pass the bill. Pass over House Bill 1668.
Speaker 26
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1329, Representative Lee, concerning the fee associated with an application for a concealed carry license,
Chair
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42:00
providing for a reduced fee for certain persons in order to allow more Arkansans the opportunity to protect themselves and to declare an emergency. Representative Lee, you're recognized to explain the bill.
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning, everyone.
Speaker 111
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Sometimes we're asked to come down here and do things for our constituents, and this is an example of what I'm doing today. I know this bill is controversial. I'm not going to pretend it's not. But I was asked to do this, and I'm doing it. This bill is very simple. What it does is it takes the fee that's nonrefundable that Arkansas State Police currently is imposing to get a concealed carry permit, and it cuts it in half for everyone.
For those over 60, or for those who have been honorably discharged from the military, it drops it further to 25. Most importantly, what this bill does is it waives the Arkansas portion, the $100 non-refundable fee, it waives it for those with a current order of protection. Yes, it has a fiscal impact. The state police and I met. They were not in committee. They did not make it to committee to speak against the bill when this ran.
We met, and we disagree on what that final fiscal impact is going to be. They did ask me to amend the bill, though, to make it a current order of protection, and I did that for them. it's tough when you're down here and you know there's a lot of people against your bill i'm sure there are going to be people that want to speak against it and um and i'm just going to give them an opportunity to do that at this time representative lee has explained the bill does
Chair
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43:55
anyone wish to speak against the bill representative catlett you recognize speak against
Representative John Catlett
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the bill Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Madam Chair, members. I come to you with hopes that you will not vote for this bill, and let me tell you why. It will take $1 million right out of the budget of the state police. This passage of this bill would possibly impact the state police's ability to have a yearly troop school,
Troops could allow ASP to keep up with troopers' attrition, retirements, and terminations. You know, statutorily over the years, the state police have been given responsibility for several different types of jobs. And the reason why they do get these jobs is because they have such high integrity. They do a good job. And some of these statutory requirements don't come with money. and we have to use other funds, other
line item budget issues to fund these statutory requirements.
The state police, they weren't at a committee the other day and I was pretty upset that they weren't there. Being a retired state trooper, they should have been there. But after I thought about it, I realize now why they weren't there. They have such respect for the political process. They have such respect for Madam Chair. It's hard for them to come and speak against any of us. And sometimes it is for me even now after being retired, a lot of you.
So I ask you to please vote against this bill. Thank you. Representative Gillum,
Chair
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45:52
for what purpose? Question. Representative Catlett has left the well. Representative Catlett has spoken against the bill. Does anyone wish to speak for the bill? Representative David Meeks, you recognize, speak for the bill. Thank you,
Mr. Chair. Yeah, they say that the economic impact may be a million dollars,
but I think the old adage applies here that if you want less of something, you tax it more. If you want more of something, then you lower the taxes. We know that the fee right now is prohibitive for some people to actually go and get their concealed carry license. And I think that by lowering the fee that you will encourage more folks who haven't been able to afford to pay for the fee to actually go and get their concealed carry license. So I think in that aspect, you're not going to actually lose a million dollars.
I think when we actually go, we have more people that are able to afford and able to pay the fee. They'll get their concealed carry license. But I think it's also more important as well to understand that folks who currently are not protecting themselves because they don't have a concealed carry license, poor folks, maybe even some women, will be able to now afford it and will be able to protect themselves against criminals or other people who might do them harm. So I'm asking that you please vote for this bill. Thank you.
Representative Wilkins, for a purpose. Question. Representative
Chair
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47:23
Meigs, will you take a question? You're recognized for
Speaker 124
47:32
a question. Good morning. Good morning. Are you suggesting that even though you know there's a million-dollar potential impact on the budget of the state police, that you're supporting a measure which would cause that to happen
but not making arrangements in some other way to replace those funds in order to make sure that we still continue to have a state police operation in Arkansas that we
Speaker 125
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can be proud of and that's ranked as one of the best in the nation. What I'm saying is,
is that by lowering these fees, again, you will have more folks, I believe, that will apply and will get their concealed carrier license. So the impact may not even be a million dollars.
It may be that we actually raise money, more money. It's a positive impact because you have more folks getting the concealed carrier license. So
Speaker 123
48:35
you're suggesting that there might immediately, overnight, be twice as many people getting concealed carry license? I don't know. I don't have
a crystal ball. But what I am saying is that to say that there's going to be an impact of a million dollars is false because we don't know that for sure. What I am suggesting is that if there happens to be a shortfall of funding as we go and as we can see it,
we as a legislature can do a supplemental appropriation to make sure that we make up for any lost funds for the police. And I am willing to do that in order to make sure that we maintain the services that the police provide. So you
Speaker 123
49:13
do want to make sure that we cover the funds that would be lost
by the state police? I would be willing to do that, yes, sir, because, again, this is the Second Amendment we're talking about here, And I believe that we need to make sure that we support the Second Amendment and allow those who want to conceal carry to have the ability to do so.
Speaker 124
49:35
Well, and I'm not arguing that that point. I mean, we you know, we want to make sure that people can take their guns to church and
Speaker 127
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everywhere else. I'm just excited about that as a pastor. And I'm excited about that as a as a parishioner. I'll be carrying two on
Speaker 124
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Sunday morning. But I just, I'm concerned that we don't do anything that has an adverse effect on what the state police are able to do. And we get very few complaints about the work of Arkansas State Police because they do an excellent job.
Speaker 123
50:12
So why not let's find another way to make sure that we take care of them?
We could. And I would be open to any suggestions that
Speaker 60
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you have, sir. All right. Thank you. Representative Gillum, for what purpose? Eric, can
Representative Jeremy Gillam
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50:26
I ask for a question? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative Meeks, I want to thank you for staying in the well. I was going to ask this question to Representative Catlett, but I'll ask it of you instead. Okay. You might be able to help me on this here. There was a comment made about the state police and how they have respect and don't normally try to get in our business and everything.
But we do have these impact statements that were on all of our desks, And I was curious to know, did this come from the state police or DF&A? Do you know? I
Speaker 134
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have no idea. It was on my desk, and it didn't say from who, so I don't know who put that on the desk. Were you by chance in committee when this bill was presented?
Representative Jeremy Gillam
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51:01
No, I was not. I was curious as to whether or not DF&A had actually done an impact statement on this
Speaker 60
51:07
or if this was an internal document. I'm sorry. I couldn't answer that question. Thank you, Representative Meeks. Representative Wilkins, for what purpose? Question, please.
Representative Butch Wilkins
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51:14
You recognize. Representative Meeks, I heard. Representative Lee say that she was running this in favor of the constituent. But has there been an outcry of the public to do this? Because I've never heard anyone say the concealed handgun permit is too high. Well, I can tell you again, from my
constituent's standpoint and viewpoint or whatever, they're definitely in favor of this. You know, I've had people post on, you know, some of the Facebook groups and everything that I monitor, you know, that they would be for this reduction in a concealed carry fee.
So I have heard some feedback. One more question, sir. I'm not
Representative Butch Wilkins
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51:55
a fan of concealed carry. I mean, I think the Second Amendment speaks for itself. I think I don't believe concealed carry is necessary, in other words. I've never believed that. I believe the Second Amendment stands alone. And without that, I think we've created probably more problems with it than we've solved. But let
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the question is, would you agree? Yes, Mr. Speaker, I absolutely agree. Thank you. Well, at least
Chair
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52:30
you're honest about it. There you go. All right. Representative Bain, for what purpose? For a question. Representative Meeks has left the well. Representative Meeks has spoken for the bill. Does anyone wish to speak against the bill? Representative Nichols, do you recognize to speak against the bill?
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
52:52
The reason that I rise to speak against this bill is because I was here two years ago, and one of the biggest issues we had was how to fund the state police retirement program. And we came up with a mechanism to do that. And some of us took a lot of political heat for doing that, but we wanted to make sure that the state troopers had a viable retirement program. And this bill, taking a million dollars out of that budget, in my view,
will impact all the programs of the state police. And that's just not an agency that I want to go after to reduce their fees. And I don't necessarily agree with my colleague, Representative Meeks, that supply-side economics will work on the fees to carry a gun. I don't think it's going to increase the number of folks out there who want to have a concealed carry permit.
But my main concern is the retirement program that a lot of us took a lot of political heat for last time in making sure that that was funded. And now, two years later, we're actually reducing the funds that go to that agency, and some of that funds are used for retirement. Representative
Representative Kim Hammer
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54:17
Hammer, for what purpose? Question, please. Recognize. Representative, I was wondering if you could educate me
as to when this all first started, How was the price determined in the first place?
What benchmark was used as to, okay, this is where we're going to start and this is how much we're going to start charging? I'm not sure. Okay. And do you happen to know if the individuals that offer the course have any skin in the game or are we just asking for the price to be reduced at the state police level or are the actual instructors out in
Representative Jim Nickels
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54:51
the field giving up anything in this? All I'm dealing with is the amount that goes to the state police, that fee amount. Okay, and
Representative Kim Hammer
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54:59
one last question, if I may, Mr. Speaker.
And to that point, if we have been doing this for a while, there's a large number of the population of Arkansas that already have the concealed permit. permit, you don't have any insight as to how many more may be willing to do this or would be influenced by the change in price as far as their final influence of
Representative Jim Nickels
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55:29
their decision, would you? I don't have any knowledge on that.
I think it's in a five-year license fee, and then there's a renewal aspect of it. sure how this bill impacts that renewal i don't recall okay thank
Speaker 60
55:46
you thank you mr speaker represent wilkes for purpose question recognized thank you
Speaker 124
55:52
representative nichols um you're aware that the the fee currently is a hundred dollars yes and that the renewal is 35 dollars okay and
that it is for a five-year period yes of which um the initial fee 100 do you know how much it costs
Speaker 125
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for a family of four to go out for dinner on a friday night
Speaker 150
56:23
know how much it costs to get a haircut for me or you
Speaker 124
56:45
are free. In other words, Representative Nichols, the question that I'm asking you really is that at $100, I guess I'm asking you if you feel that that's an unreasonable amount for the application fee to get
Representative Jim Nickels
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57:03
a concealed weapon. I don't think so. If you're serious about this and there are expenses, you know, have to be paid, take staff time, the state police, I think it's reasonable that if you're not willing to put up $100 to carry your weapon, then I think it's a reasonable fee.
I mean, we all have fees that we end up paying for different activities, so I don't have a
Representative Jim Nickels
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57:38
is a reasonable fee? I think so. I think our biggest problem as state policymakers is some of these agencies who go around establishing fees without the real authority to do
Speaker 128
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that. I wish we would focus on that. Are you aware that the people who teach the classes that are required actually get
Speaker 125
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more financially out of teaching the class than the state police get from the application fee?
Representative Jim Nickels
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58:03
I would not be surprised that if you're in the business of providing the service training and you're, I would assume, you'd need to be certified to provide that training, then you're going to, again, that's going to be market rates probably. It seems like I recall we had a member of this body that would provide the training for us if we chose to.
Speaker 150
58:25
So would you agree that perhaps if we're trying
Speaker 124
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to affect the cost of this, that maybe we ought to look at some other avenue in doing so?
Representative Jim Nickels
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58:34
I just want to make sure we're not impacting the state police as an agency when
Representative Mark Biviano
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58:40
they are in such a precarious situation, even today, with their
Speaker 60
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retirement program. Thank you. Appreciate it. Representative Harris,
Representative Justin T. Harris
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58:51
for what purpose? You recognize? Just a quick question, Representative Nichols. Just last year I had five constituents take the concealed carry licensing, one being a man, four being a female, three being single moms that cannot get their concealed carry because they can't afford the $135.
So then I ask the question to you, is that a reasonable fee for these single moms, one having a family, a large family of four children at home to protect themselves? Is that
Representative Jim Nickels
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59:24
a reasonable fee? Well, if you're asking should there be a means test in that the lower income you are, the lower amounts you pay, and the higher income, the higher fee you could pay, I could justify that type of structure.
Or if you are of low income and cannot afford it and you can justify requesting that the fee be waived, I could
go with something like that. Okay, thank you. Representative Nichols has spoken against the bill.
Chair
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59:58
Does anyone wish to speak for the bill, against the bill? Representative
Lee, would you like to close for your bill? You recognize to close for your bill. Thank you, Mr.
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Speaker, and I appreciate everyone taking questions for me.
Let's remember something here, the word potential. It has the potential to have an impact. I disagree with the numbers that were given me by the state police. As legislators, you have an opportunity to find funds to put into an agency, just like you have an opportunity to find funds to take out of an agency. This does not affect the retirement fund. That is a separate issue. I respect Representative Catlett as a retired trooper coming down here. I totally understand that completely.
Let's remember it only affects those applying for a new license. It does not affect renewals. This past year, one other thought. The state police are currently at a record pace for new licenses right now. We're only in March, and they are on a record pace for more of them. I'd like to see state agencies and DFA start using dynamic scoring. I think it would be helpful and answer some of our questions.
Their carryover fund, and this is data provided to me, their carryover fund from 2012 to 2013 was $4,682. Their carryover fund for 2012 was $5,165,000. They're on track for a $4,682 carryover for next fiscal year. Also remember, they were not in committee.
That's not their fault. The bill was on the agenda for a while, as we all know. I did meet with them. I don't fault them. This is a bicameral legislature. They have an opportunity to be in committee down in the Senate and testify down there for it. Again, I recognize, well, one more thing I want to say. No. I recognize this is a tough vote. I'm not going to pretend it's not, and I just appreciate you go with me and my constituents.
Chair
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1:02:19
Thank you. Representative Lee has closed for a bill. The question before the House is passage of House Bill 1329. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Has everyone voted? Cast the ballots to 31 yeas, 52 nays, and two present that you failed to pass the bill. Read House Bill 1463.
Representative Catlin moves for the clincher. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed, nay. No. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. everyone voted
Speaker 14
1:03:25
sir everyone voted 36 yeas 37 yeas 46
Chair
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1:03:29
nays and one present cast the ballots Mr. Clerk 37 yeas 46 nays and one present the clincher motion fails read House Bill
Speaker 26
1:03:47
1463 House Bill 1463, by Representative Armstrong, concerning
Chair
Unverified
1:03:52
the filling of vacancies in certain municipal elective offices.
Representative Armstrong, you're recognized to explain
Speaker 37
1:03:59
your bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members, this is a real simple bill for local municipalities. It simply allows for certain municipalities to fill vacancies of mayors or aldermen or women in the event of an emergency immediately following that vacancy at the next city council meeting in any local municipality. Max, we're a favorable vote. Thank you. Representative Armstrong has
Chair
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1:04:24
explained the bill. Does anyone wish to speak against the bill for the bill?
If not, the question before the House is passage of House Bill 1463 for the
machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Has everyone voted? Cast the ballots for 90 yeas, 0 nays, and 0 present. You have passed the bill. Read
House Bill 1565. House Bill 1565 by Representative Alexander to commemorate Thomas Paine Day.
Representative Alexander, you're recognized to explain your bill. Thank
Representative Randy Alexander
Unverified
1:05:05
you, Mr. Speaker. I understand from talking with some of you this will also be a controversial bill, so I'd like to take just a moment to talk about why I'm submitting this. I'm doing it initially on the request of one of my constituents, who I believe has done this in the past. If we pass it, the effect that it will have is that the governor will issue a proclamation on Thomas Paine's birthday every year.
There's no funds involved. So that's what the bill does. One reason I support it is up until a few years ago, I was not politically active. I voted and I watched the news on TV and that was about it. I didn't really do anything. But when I became politically active, I began reading for myself about the founding of this nation and the history. And I was very surprised to learn how many things I did not know, some of which maybe I just wasn't paying attention in class, but some of which I'm quite sure were not taught.
And I was frankly stunned by some of the things that I learned about the founding of this country. I think it's dangerous for a nation to lose the knowledge of how it came about because that tells us who we are. And we've reached the point where I think we've just lost a lot because we don't understand the founding and not having that understanding leads us to decisions that we may not have made if we were aware of it. Thomas Paine helped inspire the American Revolution
and was given the title Father of the American Revolution. In common sense, Paine said the colonists should aim for complete independence from Britain. Before Paine published Common Sense, most colonists did not see their quarrel with Britain as one that would lead to separation. But after publication, Edmund Randolph of Virginia reported that the public feeling, which a few weeks before had shuddered at the tremendous obstacles around getting independence, in their minds now leapt every barrier.
Common Sense was hailed by George Washington as working a powerful change in feelings toward Britain. It prepared Americans for the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Payne had the ability to take some complex concepts and state them in a clear, concise manner. And that's a skill that I know many of you are praying fervently that I will quickly develop. But I want to share a couple of quick quotes from Common Sense.
Small islands not capable of protecting themselves are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care. But there is something very absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island. Another short quote. For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have had the right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others forever. And though himself might deserve some decent degree of honors of his contemporaries,
his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them. Some quotes about Thomas Paine. A journalist, Herbert Kaysen, said the real man back of the American Revolution was the man who had the ideas and not the man behind the guns. The ideas came from the pamphlet Common Sense, written by Thomas Paine, published January 10, 1776. It turned the hostilities that only sought reconciliation of grievance into a war for independence.
John Adams said, without the pen of pain, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain. And finally, Benjamin Franklin said, you, Thomas Paine, are more responsible than any other living person on this continent for the creation of what are called the United States of America. I believe this achievement is worthy of our remembrance and our commendation, and I'd be happy to take questions. Representative Steele, for what
Chair
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1:09:16
purpose? Question. I was just curious to know
Speaker 4
1:09:20
why we're doing this in bill form and why we didn't just run a resolution to the agent.
Speaker 173
1:09:26
Well, actually, we have had resolutions in the past. In 2006, Governor Huckabee did issue a proclamation. The thing about a resolution is it's
Representative Randy Alexander
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1:09:32
for one year, and this is perpetual. Pain would be added to the list of other individuals who are recognized on an annual basis through a proclamation from the governor. Thank you. Representative Dickinson, for what purpose? Speaker, I have a question. You're recognized. Thank you.
Representative Jody Dickinson
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1:09:56
Representative Alexander, you know I posed this in committee, and I had a reason. and I've heard it brought up before, and as many of you here have also. And your quotes were very selective. But among those quotes, do you have quite a few that are, if we all heard them, very negative and insulting to our ears? There are some.
Representative Randy Alexander
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1:10:27
I think you're alluding to quotes that he has made about
religion. And my response to that is this. Thomas Paine was an agnostic. He spoke positively about there being a supreme being, but he made a lot of hostile comments toward organized religion. And as a result, he lost a lot of friends, and that's part of his record as well. But I guess my response to that is all of our founders had flaws.
You know, the God that he probably didn't believe in, I think, gifted Mr. Payne with some skills that God was able to use to advance freedom, which is one of our inalienable rights. And I'm willing to applaud the positive things he did and not refuse to do that because of the fact that
there were clearly some things that I disagree with. Thank you. One more, Mr. Speaker.
Representative Jody Dickinson
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1:11:34
I asked this to you earlier, and you don't have to
Speaker 178
1:11:37
answer it, but do you think that he possibly believes in that God
Representative Randy Alexander
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1:11:43
now? I'm pretty sure he does. Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 96
1:11:48
Representative Hammer, for what purpose? Well, I've got a question, but it's hard to
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:11:54
follow that one up, but I appreciate that. You recognize. Do you think that perhaps this gentleman, in his overall view of life, whether it was about government or about religion,
helped formulate any of the opinions that we as a society today or as a government body today are being challenged by with regards to the view of religion as it interacts with government? Yes. I think
Representative Randy Alexander
Unverified
1:12:22
probably his views, like the views of a lot of people who
support what you're talking about, have had an impact on that. I think the greater impact, though, on some of the issues we face today
is our ignorance as a nation of
the history of the founding of this country, including the religious underpinnings of that. So, yes, that's true. But I
also believe, based on what I've read, that the actions of Mr. Payne are one of the reasons we have the freedom to stand here and
debate this. And I would agree that iron
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:13:01
sharpening iron, you have to be, you know, look at both sides in order to be able to bring out the gold tried by fire, sort of say.
I just wonder if today as a society we deal with issues because we memorialize or elevate individuals to a status, and that allows people to enamor themselves to them as a defense to take their positions of which we are challenged with today. Would you
Speaker 181
1:13:28
agree or disagree? I think that may be true, yes. Okay. Thank you. On both sides of issues. Representative Wilkins, for
Speaker 124
1:13:39
what purpose? Question. You recognize. Thank you. And it's been indicated that Mr. Payne was not a religious man.
You believe that it's okay to lift up the value of a person who helped to make this country a reality, notwithstanding the fact that he was not a religious person? I do. and it was stated earlier that he made some negative comments about Christians. But you feel it's okay to lift up a person who might have made negative comments about Christians?
Representative Randy Alexander
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1:14:23
He made negative comments not only about Christians but about organized religion in general, not just
Speaker 124
1:14:30
Christians. Well, I appreciate that. And as a pastor, after every church board meeting, I make negative comments about
Speaker 128
1:14:40
Christians. So I'm. Reverend Simon Linderman, you
Speaker 52
1:14:48
recognize. Well, for what purpose? You recognize for a question.
Representative Homer Lenderman
Unverified
1:14:54
Question. Mr. Alexander, would this require all of the state agencies to put on their calendars and those kind of things to commemorate Thomas Payne Day if this bill was passed? That's a good question. I
Representative Randy Alexander
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1:15:09
don't know that. The only thing that I'm aware it requires is a proclamation from the governor.
It doesn't create a holiday or anything like that, and I'm not knowledgeable about what the state agencies put on their calendars.
Representative Homer Lenderman
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1:15:24
I have not got to hear the testimony about this, but have any of the state agencies given you any testimony as to their position on
Speaker 52
1:15:34
this? No. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
1:15:38
Wilkins, for a purpose. I'll try to remember this time, Mr. Speaker, but Mr. Alexander, do you know of other states that commemorate Thomas Paine? Yes. Okay. You know how many? Mr. Alexander.
Representative Randy Alexander
Unverified
1:15:51
I read that figure, but I don't recall the exact number.
My recollection, it was approximately half.
Speaker 77
1:16:10
Thank you. Representative Walker, for what purpose? Comment. It's in the nature of
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
1:16:16
a question. Recognized for a question, Mr. Walker. Thank you. Thank you. When Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense and spoke in behalf of the American Revolution, was he mindful of the fact that many of the people who came and fled England were opposed to the religious persecution of that nation at that time?
Speaker 23
1:16:40
Yes, he was. Representative Alexander has explained the bill. Does anyone wish to speak against the bill, for the bill? Representative
Speaker 186
1:17:01
Alexander, would you like to close for your bill? Yes, Mr. Baker. I can
Representative Randy Alexander
Unverified
1:17:07
ask to close. Payne's words not only moved the people toward independence, they also inspired Washington's army to victory.
We're all familiar with the famous picture of Washington crossing the Delaware, where he's standing in the boat and the wind and the snow is swirling about him. But most of us probably don't know the context. It was Christmas Day, 1776. After many defeats, Washington's army is now completely demoralized. They were hungry, they were exhausted, and they were freezing. As the soldiers boarded the small boats to cross the Delaware River, Washington had Paine's words from another pamphlet the American crisis read to them.
This is what they read. These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country. But he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. Tis the dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods, and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly regarded. Days later, these words inspired the Army to a victory and a surprise attack at Trenton, which became an important turning point in the war. I ask for a good vote.
Chair
Unverified
1:18:50
The question for the House is the passage of House Bill 1565. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has
everyone voted? Has everyone voted? Cast the ballots to 28 yeas, 44 nays, and 2 present. You fail to pass the bill. Read House
Speaker 26
1:19:19
Bill 1518. House Bill 1518 by Representative Hammer to ensure that veterans are provided documents under the Veterans Preference Law
Chair
Unverified
1:19:25
and to clarify the Veterans Preference Law to ensure compliance. Representative Hammer, you recognize to explain the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:19:33
afternoon or morning, ladies and gentlemen
of the House. First of all, on House Bill 1518, let you know that some of this bill involves cleanup language, such as taking he, she, and replacing it with the word applicant, which is just simple cleanup language. But I want to focus more on what the purpose of this bill does for our veterans. First of all, this bill will help assist the veteran in assuring that the veteran's preference law
is applied in the hiring process or was applied in the hiring process whenever they interview for a job. Second of all, it helps to assist the veteran in identifying areas of potential improvement that they may need to make, having become exposed to the veteran preference law application in their hiring or lack of hiring process. The third purpose that it serves is to assist the veteran in assuring them that the veteran's preference acts was applied as required by federal law. Currently in state law, it is not required, and that is kind of the thrust of what this bill is all about.
And the fourth is to assure that the requirements of state agencies, institutions of higher learning, and with the passage of 1517 school districts to comply with the Veterans' Preference Law are being enforced. What this bill does not do, it does not give the veteran any information about any other candidates or any other Privacy Information Act about anyone else. It does not give the veteran any preference outside of the existing law, and it does not step outside the boundaries of the current Veterans' Preference Law. And why is this law needed?
It's needed to provide the veteran a way to assure that the Veterans' Preference Law is being complied with in the hiring process for the job which they've applied for. And it's also to assist the veteran who is not hired to better prepare themselves for future opportunities by knowing where they came or where it fell in the hiring process. And I'll be glad to answer any questions.
Chair
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1:21:33
Mr. Speaker. Representative Hammer has explained the bill.
Does anyone wish to speak against the bill for the bill? Representative Hammer, can I close
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:21:42
for your bill? This bill actually comes because of the request of several constituents that I have with regards to those who are veterans and they go and apply for a job. They are told they did not get the job, but as it is in the state agencies, in the institution of higher learnings, with no state law to enforce it, they are not really compelled to provide the veteran with any information to show where the Veterans Preference Act, which is a federal law, was applied in the hiring process.
So they are really at a disadvantage, number one, information is being withheld from them that federally is required, but also, number two, more importantly, if they don't get the job, they don't know, well, where is it that I fell short or where was it that this was actually applied in the process, and it's just kind of like they're left hanging out to dry. And to the emotional side, I would say this. Anybody that goes and serves our country the way they do, yes, I do think that they are entitled. I do think that they deserve the right to know where the veterans law was applied in the hiring process,
and currently that is not being done. And this piece of legislation will give them what I think is the right and decent thing to do. So I would appreciate a good vote for our veterans and for
Speaker 96
1:22:53
this bill. Thank you. Question for the House is the passage of House Bill 1518. Prepare to machine,
Chair
Unverified
1:23:04
Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Has everyone voted? Cast the ballots to 79, yea's, 0, nays, and 0. Present, you have passed the bill. Read House Bill 1575.
House Bill 1575 by Representative Scott, an act to permit a private employer or local government employer
to have a voluntary veterans preference employment policy. Representative Scott, you're recognized to
explain the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, my colleagues. On Wednesday of this week, our speaker announced in the VIP gallery Corporal Aaron Menken. You all recognized his presence with a standing ovation. I kindly ask today that you give all veterans in the state of Arkansas another standing ovation by voting yes for my bill, Bill 1575.
This bill will allow employers on a totally voluntary basis to have employer preference policies for our veterans. Let's say thank you to our veterans and let's help them get the good jobs they deserve and the good jobs they want. May God bless our veterans, and may God bless each of you. I'd appreciate a good vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. And I will entertain questions. Representative Hammer, for what purpose?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognize for a question.
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:24:27
A quick question, if I may. I just want to clarify something, make sure I understand. If I'm an employer and I voluntarily want to put it out there to the world that I do apply the veterans' preference law in my hiring process, I'm doing that voluntarily, and I would imagine, and this is what I want you to clarify, it might be with the intent that they could draw a good quality of veterans to their place of employment to make sure that that law is going to be applied. Is that a fair assessment of what this
bill will do? That is very fair. It is correct also.
Chair
Unverified
1:24:58
Okay. Thank you very much. Representative Scott has explained the bill. Does anyone wish to speak against the bill, for the bill? Representative Scott, would you like to close for
your bill? I'd appreciate a good vote. Thank you.
Chair
Unverified
1:25:14
Question before the House is passage of House Bill 1575. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Has everyone voted?
Cast up the ballots with 82 yeas, 1 nay, and 0. President, you have passed the bill. Read
House Bill 1620. House Bill 1620, Representative Gossage, concerned a criminal background check in cases of child custody
and visitation. Representative Gossage, you're recognized to
Representative Bill Gossage
Unverified
1:25:51
explain the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, I will be brief. This is from ACIC. There is a portion of state law that conflicts with federal law and FBI protocol.
Currently, Arkansas law allows the sheriff's office to run criminal records check in a child custody case. That will be stricken out of the language because, again, that's a violation of federal law and FBI protocol. Representative Gossage has explained the bill. Does anyone wish to speak
Chair
Unverified
1:26:21
against the bill, for the bill? If not, the question before the House is the passage of House Bill 1620. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Has
everyone voted? Cast the ballots for the 87 yeas, 0 nays, and 0 present. You have passed the bill. Read House Bill 1531.
Speaker 26
1:26:47
House Bill 1531 by Representative Lee to ensure the long-term funding of certain health care programs
Chair
Unverified
1:26:52
by encouraging in-state purchases of certain tobacco products. Representative Lee, you're recognized to explain the bill. Thank you. I went to my seat, and
Speaker 113
1:27:00
Representative House congratulated me that I got more votes than he did. Never good to run two bills on the same day. Guys, this is a simple bill. I ran it two years ago. It passed out
Speaker 111
1:27:11
of here with 85 votes. Got down to the Senate, but it was at the very end of the session, and they were not able to hear it in the revenue and tax.
So I'm asking for the same thing to happen this time. Basically, House Bill 1531 is a small business bill. It's going to help capture state revenue that has been leaving the state of Arkansas to online sales of cigars. It's going to help your small group, if any of you have shops like this in your town, it's going to help the small group of local businesses by encouraging customers to buy locally instead of going and buying online. Several other states have enacted the same 50-cent cap to battle online sales. Oregon, Washington, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan.
This bill keeps in place the 2% wholesale tax that funds UAMS Fund Breast Care and Meals on Wheels. Currently, 50 to 75% of cigar sales occur online. By encouraging in-state purchases, we will, in fact, have the opportunity to increase these funds. Again, dynamic scoring. I'd appreciate a good vote. Representative Lee has explained the bill. Does anyone wish to speak against
Chair
Unverified
1:28:17
the bill, for the bill? If not, the question before the House is the passage of House Bill 1531.
Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Has everyone voted? Cast the ballots with 87 yeas, 1 name, 0 present. You have
Speaker 26
1:28:43
passed the bill. Read House Bill 1554. House Bill 1554 by Representative Slinker to amend the law concerning statements of
Chair
Unverified
1:28:49
financial interest and to require district judges to file the Statement of Financial Interest with the county clerk. Representative Slinker, do you recognize to explain the bill?
Representative Mary L. Slinkard
Unverified
1:29:01
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, this is my first time down here this session, but this is a little old bill. But it is an important one. What has happened in the past, before we had district court judges, Those municipal judges were required to file their statement of financial interest in January with the city clerk. Once we became a district court judge, then we have to file, or we're asking then, that those district court judges file with the county clerk because that's where they filed their petition for nominations.
Anyway, that's basically all it does is just say that the district court judges now will file with their county clerk in the county where they file their petitions for nominations. Thank you. I appreciate a good vote. Thank you. Representative Slinkert has explained the
Speaker 4
1:29:52
bill. Does anyone wish to speak against the bill, for the bill? Not the
Chair
Unverified
1:29:58
question before the House. This is the passage of House Bill 1554. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk.
Has everyone voted? Has everyone voted? Cast with the ballots with 86 shades, 0 nays, and 0 present, and you have passed the bill. Move to the yellow budget calendar. Representative Baird, moves we place House Bill 1056 back on second reading for the purpose of
amendment. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Read the amendment, Mr. Clerk. Amendment number one to House Bill 1056.
Representative Duncan Baird
Unverified
1:30:37
Representative Barrett, you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members, if you look on your yellow budget calendar, the first five items are amendments to budget bills. We're looking at HB 1056. This is an amendment to the Department of Environmental Quality. It adds $2.5 million in appropriation to the Solid Waste Performance Bond Program. It adds $150,000 in appropriation to the Asbestos Control Program. It adds a new Water Performance Bond Program appropriation to the bill. This was a governor's letter that was sent to the committee.
We approved the governor's letter and approved the amendment. So if we approve the amendment here today, it will go back to committee with the bill. So I'd be happy to answer any questions. Appreciate a
Chair
Unverified
1:31:21
good vote. Representative Baird has explained the amendment. Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment, for the amendment? If not, the question before the House is adoption amendment number one, House Bill 1056. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed, nay. Aye. As have it, motion carries. Representative Baird moves to replace House Bill 1154 back on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
All in favor say aye. Any opposed, nay. Read
the amendment, Mr. Clerk. House Amendment No. 1 to H.B. 1154. Representative Baird,
Representative Duncan Baird
Unverified
1:31:54
you recognize to explain the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is another amendment also in your packet. It amends the DF&A disbursing officer appropriation. It simply makes a name change. It changes a code reference, and these are related to the Fire and Police Pension Relief Fund
and the Pension Guarantee Fund, and so there's some special language in there to make the transfer once we change those names. So I appreciate a good vote on this. Representative Baird has
Speaker 4
1:32:24
explained the amendment. Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment, for the amendment? If not, the question before the House is the adoption
Chair
Unverified
1:32:31
of Amendment No. 1 to House Bill 1154. All in favor, say aye. Any opposed, nay. The ayes have it. Motion carries. Representative Baird moves we place House Bill 1303 back on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
All in favor, say aye. Any opposed, nay. Ayes have it. Read the amendment, Mr. Clerk. Amendment
No. 1 to House Bill 1303. Representative Baird, you recognize to explain the amendment. Thank
Representative Duncan Baird
Unverified
1:32:56
you, Mr. Speaker. After House Bill 1303, this amendment adds one position to their appropriation. They had a position that was approved in the interim. It was too late to be included in their appropriation, so we're simply coming back around and adding that position in. This was a letter that was sent from the Department of Higher Ed and was adopted by the Budget Committee.
Speaker 4
1:33:17
So I appreciate a good vote. Representative Baird has explained
Chair
Unverified
1:33:21
the amendment. Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment for the amendment? If not, the question before the House is adoption of Amendment No. 1 to House Bill 1303. All in favor, say aye. Any opposed, nay. Ayes have it. Motion carries. Representative Baird moves we place House Bill 1316 back on second reading for the purpose of amendment. All in favor, say
aye. Any opposed, nay. Ayes have it. Read the amendment, Mr. Clerk. Amendment No. 1 to House Bill 1316. Representative Baird, you recognize to explain the amendment.
Representative Duncan Baird
Unverified
1:33:49
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. members, this is an amendment to House Bill 1316. If you're looking at the amendment, it moves some positions around. It deletes a position, adds it back in. Then it deletes two positions, adds those two back in. The big change is it adds $1.7 million in appropriation only for the nanotechnology center at UALR. So it's appropriation only, and I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Speaker 4
1:34:20
I appreciate a good vote. Representative Baird, does he explain the amendment? Does anyone wish to speak against the amendment, for the
Chair
Unverified
1:34:26
amendment? If not, the question before the House is the adoption of Amendment No. 1, House Bill 1316. All in favor, say aye. Aye. And oppose, nay. Ayes have it. Motion carries. Representative Baird moves. We place House Bill 1317 back on second reading for the purpose of amendment. All in favor, say aye. Aye. And oppose, nay. Ayes
have it. Read Amendment No. 2, Mr. Clerk. Amendment No. 2 to House Bill 1317.
Representative Barney recognized to explain the amendment.
Representative Duncan Baird
Unverified
1:34:56
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members, if you look at this amendment, this simply adds some language to Henderson State's appropriation bill. There's an agreement between them and College of the Ouachita's. College of the Ouachita's has the same language in their appropriation. We're simply adding this in to Henderson's appropriation. So I appreciate a good vote. Does anyone
Chair
Unverified
1:35:17
wish to speak against the amendment, for the amendment?
If not, the question before the House is the adoption of Amendment No. 2 to House Bill 1317. All in favor say aye. All opposed nay. As have it, motion carries. Read
House Bill 1131. House Bill 1131 by Joint Budget Committee, an act for the Department of Finance and Administration, Revenue Services Division, Appropriation for the 2013-14 fiscal year. Mr.
Baird, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Representative Duncan Baird
Unverified
1:35:52
This is House Bill 1131. This is the appropriation for the DF&A Revenue Services Division. There's no major changes in this bill. I'd be happy to answer any questions about it. Appreciate a good vote. Does anyone wish to speak against the bill,
Chair
Unverified
1:36:07
for the bill? Not the question before the House is the passage of House Bill 1131. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clair. Voting on
the bill and the emergency clause. Has everyone voted?
Has everyone voted? Cast up the ballots for the 87 yays, 0 nays, and 0 present. You pass the bill and the emergency clause. Representative Baird, you're
Representative Duncan Baird
Unverified
1:36:34
recognized. After the announcements, reading of the bills, placing the calendars on the desk, amending members' own bills with their own amendments, members withdrawing their own bills, finalizing resolutions, reading communications, and any remaining committee reports. I move we adjourn until 1.30 on
Chair
Unverified
1:36:48
Monday. Proper motion. All in favor say aye. Any opposed, nay. Aye. Motion carries. Any announcements? Representative Alexander, do you recognize for an announcement?
Representative Randy Alexander
Unverified
1:36:56
Members, if you could pay attention to this one. This morning in Aging Youth, we heard a resolution for a young woman in Sheridan, Arkansas, named Tiffany Easter. What she has been doing, she learned about human trafficking, and she and her sister set up a business fundraising event, and she actually sends the money to an agency that buys the freedom of women and their families in Africa. She's raised approximately $6,000 and purchased the freedom of approximately 60 women and children.
We would like to, when this bill comes before the House and she is here to be recognized, we would like to present her with a check. So if you would like to contribute to that effort, if you would make the check out to Beauty for Ashes, that's like ashes in a fire, Beauty for Ashes, and give that check to either Mike Holcomb, Sue Scott, or myself, we will make sure that she gets that. And I will also send an email out to remind you of that. Thank you.
Representative Malone, we recognize for an announcement.
Representative Stephanie Malone
Unverified
1:38:04
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House rules will meet immediately upon adjournment in Big Mac B.
Chair
Unverified
1:38:09
Representative Viviano, you're recognized for an announcement. Announcement.
Representative Mark Biviano
Unverified
1:38:11
I want to remind everybody we have the Communication and Technology Committee meeting Monday at 10 o'clock, room 151. We need all members and alternates there in order to run some bills. Representative
Shepard, you're recognized for an announcement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a reminder to all members, if you have specific questions on the super project, get those to myself or Representative Hodges.
Thank you. Representative Gillum, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues,
Representative Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
1:38:37
for those that are going to be participating in the basketball game, we have been graciously afforded the opportunity to have a gymnasium on Sunday afternoons before the game. Due to the presence of some senators in our chamber and around the day, I'm not going to announce the location, but Ms. Kay and Kyla have the directions of the gym and contact information, so we would appreciate if you could come and practice a little bit so that we could actually win the game.
Chair
Unverified
1:39:04
So thank you. Are there any other announcements? Read the reports,
Speaker 15
1:39:11
Mr. Committee reports, Mr. Clerk. Mr. Speaker, we, your Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred, House Bill 1633,
Chair
Unverified
1:39:17
begs the lead report, we had the same under consideration, herewith return the same recommendation, that do pass as amended, respectfully submitted, Representative Matthew Shepard, Chair. Mr. Speaker, we, your Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred, House Bill 1704, House bill 1705 and house bill 1767 beg lead report we had the same under consideration here with return
the same recommendation they do pass respectfully submitted representative matthew shepherd chair mr speaker we're your committee on age and children youth to whom is referred house bill 1684 house bill 1706 house resolution 1023 house resolution 1027 house resolution 1028. House resolution 1029. House resolution 1030. House resolution 1034. Beg to lead to report we've had the same under consideration.
Herewith return the same with the recommendation that they do pass. Respectfully submit to Representative
David Meeks, Chair. Read the bills, Mr. Clerk. House bill 1830. State agencies. Objection. Read the bill the second time. House Bill 1830. State agents. House Bill 1831. Without objection, read the bill second time. House Bill 1831. Eddie County local. House Bill 1832. Without objection, read the bill second time. Bill 1832. Agri. House Bill 1833. Without objection, read the bill second time. Bill 1833. Judiciary. House Bill 1834. Without objection, read the bill second time.
House bill 1834. Transportation. House bill 1835. Read the bill a second time. House bill 1835. Education. House bill 1836. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House bill 1836. Rules. House bill 1837. Without objection, read the bill a second time. 1837. Education. House Bill 1838. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House Bill 1838. Education. House Bill 1839. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House Bill 1839. Judiciary. House Bill 1840. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House Bill 1840.
state agency. House bill 1841. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House bill 1841. Insurance and commerce. House bill 1842. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House bill 1842. Public health. House bill 1841. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House Bill 1843. Revenue tax. House Bill 1844. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House Bill 1844. Judiciary. House Bill 1845. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House Bill 1845. Revenue tax. House Bill 1846. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House Bill 1846. Public health. House Bill 1847. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House Bill 1847. Judiciary.
House bill 1848. Without objection, read a bell second time. House bill 1848. Aging children and youth. House bill 1849. Read a bell second time. House bill 1849. Aging children and youth. House bill 1850. Without objection, read a bell second time. House bill 1850. City, county, local. House House Bill 1851. Without objection, read the bill a second time. House Bill 1851. Judiciary. House Bill 1852. Without objection,
Representative John Charles Edwards
Unverified
1:43:12
read the bill a second time. House Bill 1852.
Agri-Forest and Economic Development. Upon completion of items named in the adjournment resolution, the House will remain adjourned until 1.30 Monday.
Agenda
Prayer & Pledge
Committee Reports
SB331
HB1477
HB1476
HB1411
HB1404
HB1672
HB1413
HB1406
HB1329
HB1463
HB1565
HB1518
HB1575
HB1620
HB1531
HB1554
HB1056
HB1154
HB1303
HB1316
HB1317
HB1131
Announcements
Reading of the Bills
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Speaker 1
Speaker 2
Chair
Unverified
Representative Debra M. Hobbs
Unverified
Speaker 14
Speaker 15
Representative Duncan Baird
Unverified
Speaker 4
Representative James McLean
Unverified
Speaker 7
Representative Nate Bell
Unverified
Speaker 26
Speaker 37
Representative Andy Mayberry
Unverified
Representative Douglas House
Unverified
Speaker 50
Representative Randy Alexander
Unverified
Speaker 52
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
Speaker 56
Representative Marshall Wright
Unverified
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
Representative Darrin Williams
Unverified
Speaker 75
Representative Brent Talley
Unverified
Speaker 76
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
Speaker 49
Speaker 86
Speaker 89
Representative Deborah Ferguson
Unverified
Representative James Ratliff
Unverified
Speaker 108
Speaker 110
Speaker 111
Representative John Catlett
Unverified
Representative Andy Davis Chair
Unverified
Speaker 124
Speaker 125
Speaker 123
Speaker 127
Speaker 60
Representative Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
Speaker 134
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
Speaker 77
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
Speaker 142
Speaker 150
Speaker 83
Speaker 128
Representative Mark Biviano
Unverified
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
Speaker 173
Representative Jody Dickinson
Unverified
Speaker 178
Speaker 96
Speaker 181
Representative Homer Lenderman
Unverified
Speaker 23
Speaker 186
Representative Sue Scott Chair
Unverified
Representative Bill Gossage
Unverified
Speaker 113
Representative Mary L. Slinkard
Unverified
Representative Stephanie Malone
Unverified
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd Chair
Unverified
Representative John Charles Edwards
Unverified