House State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs Committee
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (4)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1187
· 2 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “…bers of the committee appreciate the opportunity to present house bill 1187 to you this is a bill that actually introduced the bulk of…”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HB1311
· 2 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “…my mic off please excuse me okie dokie we're gonna move to House Bill 1311”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
SB215
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB215”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HB1313
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1313”
|
Pre-2017 bill |
Machine transcript
May contain errors. Verify important quotations against the official video.
About transcript accuracy
- Source
- Whisper
- Model
- ggml-large-v3-turbo.bin RTX5060
- Processing date
- October 4, 2026
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
0:00
represented bill you're recognized for 1187 thank you madam
chair members of the committee appreciate the opportunity to present house bill 1187 to you this is a bill that actually introduced the bulk of this text back in the 2011 session and have been working on it for quite some time to get it in in a form that was ready to be presented in this first opportunity I've had to present
it to a committee so appreciate that opportunity basically what this bill does in a nutshell is it makes it illegal in the state of Arkansas to use taxpayer funds public funds to influence the outcome of a ballot measure election and I'll just explain it this way if you're if your county sheriff wanted to pass a local tax to help fund a new jail and at the same time your county judge decided to dip into the county road fund to buy advertising opposing that because
he had a road millage he wanted to pass instead and knew that the voters had only passed one or the other most of us would probably agree that that's not appropriate there's a draft constitutional amendment running around here now that would require the lottery to devote a specific percentage of their revenue to scholarships if we were to choose to refer that amendment to the people and the lottery management decided to spend a few million dollars
opposing that amendment instead of sending it to scholarships that's currently legal I believe it's a safe bet from but that most of us to say that's wrong we probably say the same thing if our county sheriff spent a big percentage of his patrol budget opposing the school millage why is it because we
believe it's wrong to use public funds to post something that many taxpayers support is it wrong because it's just obviously a misuse of taxpayer money I believe most of us know in our hearts that something's just wrong with taking public funds and using them to influence the
outcome of an election this this is something that doesn't apply to all states so it's difficult when
you look at what other states do to find a good straight-line comparison not all states
have initiative and referendum elections. According to what data I could find through NCSL and another organization called the Initiative and Reform Council, I believe it is, or Initiative and Referendum Council, there are about 23 states that allow initiative and referendum elections. There are two or three more that allow referendums only, and there are two that just permit referendums on constitutional amendments. So Arkansas is a bit unique in how many of these votes we actually put in front of the people most all the states that do this are in
the western half the United States west of Mississippi with only one or two exceptions state most of states east of Mississippi make all those decisions by the governmental entity with one or two notable exceptions of the states that have initiative and referendum allowances in their governmental structure virtually all of them on some level or another prohibit the practice of using public funds to eliminate or to influence the outcome of the election
what my proposal would do is make it a class a misdemeanor to do so and it would come with an immediate dismissal from that position of trust the that's That's a much lower penalty than set in many other states. Iowa makes it a felony. Many states make it a felony. I believe Oregon also, I believe it's also a felony. I know for certain in Iowa it is.
There are a number of states that set a much higher penalty than what I've provided for in this. But the bottom line is it's to ensure the integrity of our elections, to ensure that people don't have their money used to advocate for an issue that they might be opposed to. With that, Madam Chair, I would just like to take any questions that the committee has about maybe the mechanics of the bill or anything else. We have worked closely with the Highway Department. They had some concerns about making sure that this didn't get in the way of employees acting within the normal course of their duties.
And we have added an amendment that makes that expressly clear. If you will take a moment to read through the bill, you'll notice that we've been very careful to make sure that no one's constitutional rights to take a position or to speak out are barred simply expenditures of funds and funds and we've also exempted incidental expenditures of funds if somebody accidentally makes a copy we're not looking to play gotcha here we're looking to say if you go down to kinko's
and print 5,000 copies of something now we have a problem so I again I've this is a bill that I've worked on for quite some time I feel confident it's a good piece of legislation has been vetted by a lot of folks and because I take your questions
Speaker 11
5:50
you weren't singling out kinkos I'm assuming no ma'am all
Speaker 10
5:55
right representative Kerr I have a motion at
Representative Denny Altes
Unverified
6:04
the proper time madam chairman represented Thank You representative Altus Thank You madam chair I have several questions I was looking on page 5 and it
under a code 7-9-4 12 says all this is repealed and it says the part that's repeal that says that any funds appropriated for opposing a ballot measure basically should exceeding $100 should be reported to the Legislative Council but it doesn't doesn't say what all happened after that do you do you remember or do you know you have any idea
representative also that's a very good question and I did my best to research this both with BLR and with various other state agencies what the best that I can tell this is almost never reported I checked with the ethics who most of these reporting requirements are directed to and they indicated that there have actually been two reports since 2003 when that statute I believe was enacted and those were one was White County I believe the county judge
reported use of funds and I believe that was following an ethics complaint I think there was an ethics complaint filed and that report was filed so and as a response to the complaint there was one other one and I do have that on my laptop here I don't remember specifically where it was but it was it was I believe a school district that indicated their use of funds but it's it doesn't appear at least on the legal front to be a widespread practice but
anecdotally I've heard from a lot of people around the state who indicate that it's happening but apparently it's not being reported I
Speaker 19
8:09
think it is it is a widespread factors where I've come from but what how is your bill going to make how is your bill going to change things and make people report these things because you know I know they do it all the time back
where I'm from senator the idea of repealing a reporting requirement is we're making it illegal to take the
action so we certainly don't believe that people who aren't currently reporting an action that is legal are going to content are going to report an illegal action so just repealing the reporting statute the reporting statute becomes unnecessary when we make the action itself illegal so because of that it's going to be more more people
Representative Denny Altes
Unverified
8:51
are going to report these things you think I mean I don't I don't believe
people are going to report them at all I think
what we've done is placed a criminal penalty on people who choose to do it and provided a mechanism for the folks who choose to engage in such a practice to no longer be in the public trust. Okay,
Representative Denny Altes
Unverified
9:16
I'm sorry, I'm a little slow here. Who is going to prosecute these people? Who is going to report this and who is going to prosecute these people? It would be the same as any other criminal act. Like the police will see an advertisement and they'll track down where the money came from?
This falls under Code Section 7, which deals with elections. And if you go back to the reporting mechanism for reporting the misdemeanor violations, it says that anyone who observes these type of infractions is to report them to their county election commission. The county election commission then is mandated, and the language actually used there is shall, that they shall convey that to the prosecutor for investigation impossible possible prosecution so anything any complaint that a person observes that
they believe this this has been violated whether that person is law enforcement or an individual citizen would be
referred to the Election Commission and then immediately referred to the prosecutor sounds good
Representative Denny Altes
Unverified
10:24
on page three line 10 it says he or she shall be removed from employment who's going to do that the police or the Election Commission
or senator it would depend on
this bill applies to all public servants so it would depend on who the supervisory authority responsible for implementing the law the law relative to that person would be it would this would but based on the language we used here would would clearly constitute an infamous crime so if they were an elected official it would be grounds for removal if they're an employee the person supervising that employee would be responsible for complying with the law okay I like your
Speaker 35
11:10
bill if it if it'll work you think it'll work senator I've
just certainly done my best to make it work and I and we've vetted it carefully with a lot of folks who are a lot smarter than I am and
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
11:31
understand the law far better than I do okay sounds great to me thank you representative climber representative bill what is the law currently do you know regarding use of public email to lobby is that is that is
that prohibited currently that's not addressed in this bill and you know some of my colleagues have seen the
responses that I send to folks who lobby me from public emails, and I'm not very friendly to that practice. Well, I knew
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
11:52
that, Representative Bell. That's why I was wanting you to elaborate a little bit. But that's
not within the context of this bill because it would be that incidental use that wouldn't violate this law. I apologize for getting us off a little bit. I
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
12:06
have read your bill, and I didn't see anything in there about it, but I just wanted to... It's not within the scope of
Speaker 44
12:14
this legislation all right thank you representative Wagner thanks
Representative Wes Wagner
Unverified
12:23
madam chair representative Bell can you expound on the seems like the penalty is pretty harsh but I agree with it if they are knowingly and willingly spending the public funds but can you speak more to the incidentals or is it just a just a blanket penalty I
can read this specific language that we put in that covers it specifically and that it's redundant throughout this that we exempted incidental use of funds let me find the right page here I'm I've got my
pages out of order there are actually two locations that this is in the bill if you go to page two let's begin at line 23 and I'll just kind of read through there briefly this section does not limit the freedom of speech of a public servant or government body including without limitation verbal expressions of views supporting or opposing a ballot measure does not prohibit a government body from expressing an opinion on a ballot measure through a passage of resolution
or proclamation does not prohibit the incidentally use of state resources by a public servant including without limitation travel costs when speaking at an event in which a ballot measure is discussed if the subject matter of the speaking engagement is within the scope of the official duties and responsibilities of the public servant or does not prohibit the dissemination of public information at a speaking engagement and the incidental use of state resources in the analysis and preparation of that public information if the subject matter of the public information is within the scope of the
official duties and responsibilities of the public servant so we've done our best to just make that clear that you know if it's your job to take a position and speak on how it would affect an agency etc that you're clearly protected in your ability to do that but you're not permitted to go by advertising to advocate that position
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
14:41
I'm assuming by that long pause you're finished hey I didn't know if you were thinking of a follow-up please excuse me representative Wagner okay we've got
a couple more on the list Kerr thank you madam chair representative Bell to representative Altus's question previously would wouldn't a lot of the policing on this the subject matter be covered in audits in other words if
money is spent public money is spent audit should pick it up correct
well that's actually interesting and that
was what you would assume here's the problem it all goes to categorization and some of you received an email last night but for example when we looked at representative Roebuck when we were looking at the interim study on this which we didn't get to fully process but I did respond to some individual member questions about it I asked BLR
to research her question was our schools doing this I asked BLR to look at it and they decided it was impossible to determine because advertising is all lumped into one category and so this is the case pretty much across the board that it is all this stuff disappears into other categories is virtually impossible to detect in an audit thank you madam chair thank you representative
Representative John K. Hutchison
Unverified
16:13
Hutchison thank you madam madam chair I'm a freshman is everybody in here knows And I guess my question is, I'm reading
this, and I'm sorry I'm not a little bit more up on it, but I'm in agreeance with you on everything on this, but would this include, would this have to be reviewed through the Ethics Commission? This would not. This becomes a law.
And the Ethics Commission administers ethics rules and a few laws specific to it. This becomes a criminal offense. Okay, one more.
Representative John K. Hutchison
Unverified
16:53
Would all of us, like as candidates, would this pertain to anything like to us on this bill? Well,
Speaker 65
17:02
Representative Hutchinson, you're no longer a candidate today.
You're an elected official, and elected officials are specifically exempted. Candidates wouldn't fall under the scope of this law either, as they are not public servants.
Representative John K. Hutchison
Unverified
17:17
It wouldn't. even though a public servant might be accused accused of candidates on that still wouldn't pertain
Speaker 51
17:28
to this that's correct okay thank you thank
Representative Denny Altes
Unverified
17:34
you mr. representative Hobbs thank you representative Altus thank you madam chair that brought up another issue thank you John Hutchinson let's say I'm a I'm an elected state representative and a A ballot measure comes up, for instance, term limits.
Speaker 69
17:51
Am I prohibited from speaking to the Rotary Club about term limits?
No, sir. That's specifically why we exempted elected officials so that you, in the course of your duties as a state representative, our jobs are unique, and for most elected officials, they're unique in that they are political. and so to limit you and the ability to take a political position would bar you from the full performance of your duties okay thank you
Speaker 13
18:25
you're back on representative Hobbs thank you
Representative Debra M. Hobbs
Unverified
18:28
madam chair and I was interested in the fact that you excluded public serve or elected officials in your definition of public servant but do our ethics rules do they pretty much cover elected officials in regards to these situations pretty
much the way it still
we had we would we would have probably a slight bit more latitude than
some non-elected public servants but by definition our jobs are political so it It would probably need a little more latitude in that situation. The other thing, as all of you know, is for at least members of the legislature, we don't have a dramatic ability to use state resources to do this sort of thing. It would be pretty tough for us to go find a way to divert state funds,
to go buy radio advertising, to advocate that type of thing. you know I guess through appropriation authority we could do that but you know our everything we do subject to public scrutiny anyway through a variety of different routes and so it's it's it's it's almost a completely different animal in this situation I guess is the way I would say it thank you thank you madam chair are there any questions
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
19:53
from the public representative Kerr I'll recognize you for that motion now thank you madam
chair motion do pass motion do pass all those in favor aye aye all opposed congratulations your bill passed
thank you and I do want to say thank you to Rita Looney from the highway department for working with me to get
Speaker 79
20:24
this thing amended to make a better bill I'm getting better at it
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
20:31
okay I need to turn my mic off please excuse me okie dokie we're gonna move to House Bill 1311
right now and representative Wilkins is going to handle that thank you madam chair representative Lee will
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
20:46
you take the end of the table and you are recognized thank you sir I'd
Speaker 36
20:57
like to invite some people up here to help me present would you could please come
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
21:04
to the end of the table and for the for the sake of the
record please identify yourself and who you represent my name
Lindsay Bailey
Unverified
21:16
is Lindsay Bailey and I'm a law student at the Bowen law school and I'm also here at the Association
Speaker 78
21:28
of Arkansas counties this is this is one of those simple cleanup bills folks and basically what it does is
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
21:34
it adds ballot stubs to what can be destroyed after a certain period of time
you're all studying it faithfully I'm sure and you
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
21:45
have questions okay any questions will the audio from the panel committee and clamor representative clever representative
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
21:56
Lee would you just tell us the rationale for this legislation I
mean I think I think that I'm aware of what can be destroyed and cannot be destroyed and just give us a 60 second 90 seconds however long you
want to hear the chair sorry not right now well yes not at the moment sorry representing Wilkins and at any rate would you give us some background on why this is necessary gladly and I'm gonna
Speaker 45
22:23
let Lindsay do that if that's all right with you sorry
Speaker 87
22:33
this is my first time this is actually just
Lindsay Bailey
Unverified
22:37
can you hear me now okay this is a cleanup bill it's long been the job of the county treasurer to be
custodian of the ballot stub boxes and in 2009 there was a cleanup act what was supposed to be a cleanup amendment that actually confused things more and this bill simply reinstates and makes clear that stub boxes should be delivered to the county treasurer and not to the Election Commission for storage and destruction and that is just to retain an appearance of to so that there's no
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
23:21
appearance of impropriety because the as you know the ballots go one place the steps go another well um this was discussed oh goodness where's Jeff I think it was about four years ago it was brought before a state agencies committee then as well discussing what we needed to do about this so Lindsay's been working interning with the AAC and has come up with this cleanup language represent Valdez you have
Representative Denny Altes
Unverified
23:51
question Thank You mr. chair like how does this in the
future like my county uses all computers there's no hard copies of anything so congratulations that's I mean that's that's how many of them are moving but there
Speaker 78
24:09
are still several that deal with a lot of paper ballots okay so so do you have any idea that I know this it's
Representative Denny Altes
Unverified
24:17
not in your bill your bulletin addresses what do they do with when you have all computerized it just goes out in the cyberspace I cannot answer that question okay thank you committee any more any
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
24:32
more questions from the committee anyone in the audience want to speak for the bill against the bill. Seeing none, Representative Lee, you want to close for your bill? I'm closed, sir. Motion. Representative Hobbs, I recommend you do pass. Any discussion? If not, all in favor say aye. Opposed? Congratulations. Madam Chairman, you pass your bill.
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
25:08
next bill on the list or we're going to go back up to Senate bill 215 representative Miller you're going to present that for
Speaker 9
25:27
senator Irvin I understand you can stay where you are go down there whichever is best
Representative Josh Miller
Unverified
25:44
senator thank you madam chair members of the committee distinguished guests and everyone this bill is a pretty common sense bill it's amazing to me that after 150 plus years of government we have not already addressed this issue Senate bill 215 simply says that you can only file to run for one municipal office at
a time this eliminates people from running for city council and mayor and dog catcher and trash pickup and everything else are there any questions seeing none I would appreciate a good vote if it only worked that easily you know this is
Speaker 78
26:32
one of the this is one of those bills you read and you think seriously someone could
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
26:39
have done this in the past it's interesting are there any questions from the committee members are you just looking at me or did I am
okay well that's nice good morning representative Bell did I see you raise your hand sounds good all right is there anyone from the public that
Speaker 106
27:06
would like to speak to this represent a bill
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
27:09
do pass thank you all those in favor aye all those opposed nay congratulations representative Miller you've passed your bill all right representative Cozart was wanting to run a bill is he here I'm not
seeing him representative Williams representative Wilkins Hank Wilkins and I representative house if everyone could stay for just a second representative Cozart texted
Speaker 36
27:40
me he's in another committee presenting a bill can I see if he's coming over please if you'd indulge me thank you perfect timing sir you're recognized at the end of the table representative
Representative Bruce Cozart
Unverified
27:58
Cozart thank you madam chair I'd like to ask Tim Humphries from to join me please you're
Speaker 36
28:10
recognized please but you say your name into the microphone for the
Speaker 112
28:16
record election commissioners Tim Humphreys with the State Board of Election Commissioners
Speaker 36
28:19
thank you you're recognized for your bill representative Cozart
Representative Bruce Cozart
Unverified
28:31
we are trying to find all my notes because I wouldn't really ready I'm sorry anyway we're have a bill to require an act for me now that's a different one I'm sorry I did 1313 yes ma'am I have it now I had the other one on front I'm act to me in the law regarding polling places for city elections and other purposes and what this does this is cities of the first class are currently required to
have one poll per ward some areas are needed to some areas need to consolidate these polling places because of difficulty of finding access will polling sites in each ward and to concentrate training experience of capable polling workers and fewer sites this bill will allow the County Board of Election Commissioners discretion and to decide the number of polling places for the cities of first class this is already allowed in cities of second class and towns of rural areas so we'd like to have this happen also in the cities of first-class any questions from the members
Representative John K. Hutchison
Unverified
29:54
representative Hutchison thank you madam chair what's the difference in the first and the second place let
Speaker 112
30:04
Tim answer that one I believe the cutoff is it's 2,500 2,500 people so first-class cities are 2,500 and more second-class cities are 500 to 2,500 and incorporated towns are under 500 thank
Speaker 116
30:15
you very much I learned something today
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
30:23
any other questions from committee members please
excuse me representative Clemmer motion do pass I'll accept that motion just a second is there anyone from the public wishing to speak for against this recognize your
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
30:39
motion pardon me madam chair I should have said at the
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
30:45
proper time yes move do pass all those in favor aye okay guys all those in favor aye there we go all those opposed
congratulations represent Cozart your bill passed I'm seeing no other business before us I'll accept a motion to adjourn all those in favor I'm sure
Agenda
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Representative Allen Kerr
Unverified
Representative Nate Bell Chair
Unverified
Speaker 11
Speaker 10
Representative Denny Altes
Unverified
Speaker 19
Speaker 35
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
Speaker 44
Representative Wes Wagner
Unverified
Representative John K. Hutchison
Unverified
Speaker 65
Speaker 51
Speaker 69
Speaker 13
Representative Debra M. Hobbs
Unverified
Speaker 79
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
Speaker 36
Lindsay Bailey
Unverified
Speaker 78
Speaker 45
Speaker 87
Speaker 9
Representative Josh Miller
Unverified
Speaker 106
Representative Bruce Cozart
Unverified
Speaker 112
Speaker 116