House Judiciary Committee Part 1
Video
Transcript
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 5, 2026
Marshall Wright
Unverified
0:00
and maybe tell them a little bit about what y'all do and what your responsibility is or what organization you're with. So if you want to do that, go ahead and sign up and we'll get that in just a little bit. We're not going to be here very long today, committee. I just want to make a few remarks and then get to y'all. I just want to tell everybody, even though I'm the chairman of this committee, this is y'all's committee. It's not my committee. I'm here to do what y'all want me to do. I've got very thick skin, so if there's something you think you want me to do differently,
please come tell me. I don't mind at all. I want you to do that, and I encourage that. I want to thank Vines here to my left, who I know will be helping me out a lot. Patrick and Judy up here, if you all hadn't met them, please take the time to get to know them. They are excellent, and I know will do an excellent job for us. For those of you who don't know, my name is Marshall Wright. I'm from Forest City, District 49, starting my second term. What I'd like to do now is just go around the room, go around the table, the committee table.
I'll start with Vines here, basically just a brief introduction of who you are and where you're from.
Representative John T. Vines
Unverified
1:13
be here. I am John Vines, represent Hot Springs in Garland County in District 25.
Representative Mary L. Slinkard
Unverified
1:24
Well, I'm Mayor Lou Slinker. This is my third term and third time on Judiciary. I represent District 92, which is in the very northwest corner of Arkansas.
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
1:37
I'm Jim Nichols, representing District 41, which is basically Sherwood, a little bit of North Little Rock, and a little bit of Jacksonville. And like Representative Slinker, this is my third term and third time on Judiciary. and I think Representative Williams would be the other one. That would be it. I believe that we've been through them all. But it's a pleasure to be back. This is a hardworking committee and looking forward to it.
Speaker 12
2:07
I think it's your turn. Representative Matthew Shepard, District 6, Eldorado. Representative
Representative Nate Steel
Unverified
2:15
Nate Steele from Nashville. This is my second term on the committee. I'm really looking forward to this committee. We've got a good group here. I've been trying to make a deal with Shepard to switch seats because I know I've got way too many enemies behind me to have
Representative Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
2:33
my back to the room, but we'll work on that. Representative Jeremy Gillum, District 45, represent parts of White County, BB to Bald Knob.
And this will be my second term in the House and on this committee as well. I'm
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
2:49
glad to be back. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Representative Mark D. McElroy
Unverified
2:55
Representative John Walker, representing District 34 I'm Representative Mark McElroy, representing Deshea County, Chico County, and
Speaker 21
3:07
representative for District 26, Hot Spring County, Southern Garland County, Malvern, Bismarck area
Speaker 23
3:13
Steve McGee, District 72, Faulkner County. Bob Ballinger, Representative of
Representative Bob Ballinger
Unverified
3:22
District 97. That was my first term on it. 97 is parts of Madison, part of Carroll, part of Washington County, and Northwest Arkansas.
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
3:33
I'm Charlene Fite, District 80, which is Northern Crawford, Western Washington County. I'm first
Speaker 2
3:41
term. Wes Wagner, District 54, which is Mississippi and Poinsett Counties.
Representative John Baine
Unverified
3:50
John Bain, District 7, parts of Union, Ouachita, and Calhoun Counties. Micah Neal, District 89,
Speaker 29
3:56
Downtown Springdale. Thank you, committee, and I know I put him
Marshall Wright
Unverified
4:03
on the spot a little bit, but he walked in late. I'm quite certain he doesn't have any introduction, but I do just want to say thanks to Representative Williams. I know I'll be leaning on him a lot, but if you don't mind,
Representative Darrin Williams
Unverified
4:17
Darren, if you'll just briefly. Darren Williams, District 36 right here in Little Rock. I'm happy to
along with Jim and Mary Lou be serving our third and final term here in Judiciary. Y'all give us just one
Speaker 33
4:34
second. It looks like a few people are still signing
Representative Sue Scott
Unverified
4:47
up. Representative Scott Good morning I'm Representative Sue Scott District 95 that's Rogers and Pea Ridge and Bella Vista
Marshall Wright
Unverified
4:53
Representative Broadway if you want to make a brief introduction to yourself please
Representative Mary Broadaway
Unverified
5:04
Good morning I'm Mary Broadway I'm from District 57 which is Paragould in Southern Green County It looks like first on the list is David Walp.
Jeff Rosenzweig
Unverified
5:39
Yeah, please come to the end of the table. Thank
David Raup
Unverified
5:48
you, Mr. Chairman, Committee. My name is David Raup from the Attorney General's Office. I've worked the sessions for the AGs since 1995. Thank you. Brad Cazort. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Speaker 11
6:13
Members, I'm Brad Cazora. I'm an administrator with the Arkansas Crime Information Center. ACIC is the agency that's charged with maintaining all of the state's criminal history records, the sex offender registry, the scrap metal log, the pseudoephedrine and ephedrine log, and crime statistics and victim notification. Any questions you have, we're just across the street and happy to help. Thanks. Thanks, Brad. Sherry May. Thanks, Brad. Sherry May. Sorry about that.
Speaker 46
7:04
I'm Dr. Cheryl Mayham, the director of the Criminal Justice Institute here in Little Rock. We provide services statewide, education and advanced training services to law enforcement all across the state. We do programs in crime scene investigation, school safety, leadership, management. We're here. I'm here. Anytime you need me, please let me know if there's anything that I can do to help you all. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members.
Speaker 47
7:41
I am Ronnie Baldwin, Executive Director for the Arkansas Sheriff's Association. This is my first time in that role for session, but I am a retired sheriff out of Cross County with some 30 years of law enforcement experience and proud to say that Representative Wright is my legislator also. Thank you. Mark Whitmore.
Speaker 51
8:28
Jeff Rosenzweig. Jeff Rosenzweig. Okay. My name is Jeff Rosenzweig. I'm a lawyer here in Little Rock. and I'm on the Legislation Committee of the Arkansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers,
and we deal in our jobs every day with the impact of the bills that come through this committee, and we try to make sure you're aware of constitutional issues and policy issues that may come up. Deedee? Deedee Sallings. Hi. I'm Deedee Sallings.
Speaker 53
9:25
Hi, I'm Dee Dee Sallings, I'm the Executive Director of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission, have been since it was created in 1993. I work with Jeff a lot.
I'm here as a resource for you all. Any time you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call me. My cell phone is 501-251-7616, and the only time I don't answer is when I'm on my horse. I'm here for you if you need anything. Thank you. J.D.? J.D.? Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee.
Speaker 56
10:06
I do not have a horse. I'm the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, been there since 1988. We work with or for members of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, the circuit judges in the 28 judicial districts, and then the district judges that are located throughout the state. And then because we do education and training and their certification and assistance, we work with all of the employees that work for the court system, so trial court assistants
and court reporters and circuit and county clerks and district court clerks to the extent that that includes judicial functions, we work with those folks. We sometimes have legislation, not very often, the Judicial Council, which is the official body of circuit and appellate judges, will have legislation this session that deals with trial court assistance and the structure of those employees, and I am guessing, depending upon the speaker's decision, I'm guessing that that's probably going to be coming through this committee.
So to that extent, there will be legislation that we're speaking for. In most cases, we just are representing the response from judges on other legislation that's before the committee. And that usually is not in the case of speaking for or against it, but just providing information. So to the extent that you have questions about judges or about court data, we have a we're responsible for maintaining all the information on court cases that are filed in the state. And so we have a data system and regularly receive requests from legislators for information
Speaker 57
11:40
about legislation you might be working on that either impacts or is impacted by the courts. So we'd be happy to help in
Connie Hickman
Unverified
11:59
any way that we can. Thank you. Connie? Thank you, Chair and Committee. My name is Connie Hickman Tanner. I am
Speaker 62
12:04
with the AOC and one of the attorneys and the director of the juvenile division courts. In our division, we actually have some programs that I'm sure you're familiar with in your
communities, and we actually have our directors here to speak to you about those programs. But in order to serve our juvenile division courts, we actually provide the attorney ad litem program, parent counsel, and CASA, which we hope to provide better information to our courts to make these important decisions about children and families. And the legislature has been very generous about funding these programs and supporting these programs in consultation with the Supreme Court in setting those standards.
Our judges are very active in giving you comments about legislation throughout the session. So I'm sure you will be hearing from the juvenile division about legislation that affects kids and families. We keep our judges very informed about legislation. I see some of you that have been here before smiling because you hear from those judges quite frequently, as well as you will hear from your ad litems and casas because they're very passionate about the work they do and the impact on kids and families in their courts.
So you will be hearing from them as well. And we are here to help you. So if you have information requests or need information, we're here to serve you as well. Thanks. Thanks.
Renae Robinette
Unverified
13:39
Rena Robinette. Rena Robinette Good morning. My name is Renae Robinette. I'm the director of the attorney ad litem program for the juvenile division, which as Connie said is part of the AOC. To give an explanation, the attorneys ad litem represent juveniles where there's an allegation
of abuse or neglect. We represent the best interest of those juveniles in juvenile court. We will be here to provide any information to you about the impact of any legislation and how that would affect kids in our court system. Thank you. Thanks. Mary Beth?
Speaker 66
14:15
Good morning. I'm Mary Beth Louisville, and I'm director of the Arkansas State CASA Association with the AOC juvenile division.
Speaker 67
14:23
We represent local programs all across the state that recruit, train, and supervise volunteer advocates who speak up or are appointed by the judge to advocate for those young people who are in foster care. They've been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect, and the judges appoint our volunteers to speak up and advocate for their best interest. We're housed at the juvenile division of AOC, and we're here to help in any way we can. Thank you. Bob. Thank you,
Speaker 69
14:58
Mr. Chairman, I'm Bob McMahon, I'm the prosecutor coordinator, director
Agenda
No agenda available.
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Marshall Wright
Unverified
Speaker 2
Representative John T. Vines
Unverified
Representative Mary L. Slinkard
Unverified
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
Speaker 12
Representative Nate Steel
Unverified
Representative Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
Representative Mark D. McElroy
Unverified
Speaker 20
Speaker 21
Speaker 23
Representative Bob Ballinger
Unverified
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
Representative John Baine
Unverified
Speaker 29
Representative Darrin Williams
Unverified
Speaker 33
Representative Sue Scott
Unverified
Representative Mary Broadaway
Unverified
Jeff Rosenzweig
Unverified
David Raup
Unverified
Speaker 11
Speaker 46
Speaker 47
Speaker 51
Speaker 53
Speaker 56
Speaker 57
Connie Hickman
Unverified
Speaker 62
Renae Robinette
Unverified
Speaker 66
Speaker 67
Speaker 69