House Rules Caucus April 18, 2012

1. A 2. A 3. A 4. A 5. A 6. A 6. A 7. A 7. A 8. A 9. A 10. A 10. A 10. A 1-0-0-1 of the House Rules Caucus has some updates, and certainly House Rule 82 is of significant importance for addressing the reapportionment of our House seats in relation to our four House caucus districts. House Resolution 1001 is the only vehicle used to bring the updates before you. All of the changes today require 67 votes. Since these updates in House Resolution 1001 were unanimously recommended by the House Rules Committee, we can vote on all the proposed updates in the resolution at one time. However, for explanation purposes, we can take the proposed updates one at a time by opening up for any questions on any particular area. After the questions, we will vote on all the changes in H.R. 1001 at once. All right, are there any questions amongst the members on procedure? All right, I don't see any questions on procedure. If not, I'm going to recognize Representative Ingram, Chair of House Rules, to explain House Resolution 1001. Representative Ingram, you are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, members of the House. I present to you some proposed modifications of the House rules. This proposal was filed with the chief clerk on April 2nd, was reviewed by the Rules Committee on April 4th. It received from the committee unanimous support and a recommendation that it do pass. I will be happy to answer any questions that anybody might have regarding any of the proposed rule changes. I believe those are at your desk. If there are no questions in, Mr. Speaker, I would ask for a good vote. All right, members, you've heard an explanation of the resolution. Anyone wishing to speak against the resolution or the resolution? Now, if not, the question for the House is passage of House Resolution 1001. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Everyone voted? Everyone voted? I cast that ballot. Voted 63. Yay. One day, one present. Failed to adopt a resolution. As I indicated, it takes 67 members to approve an amendment to House rules. all right members uh the house is going to stand in recess until two o'clock we're going to see if we can round up the rest of our members get in here so we can take care of our business we'll stand in recess until two o'clock Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. What you up to? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, members, if you will, please take your place at your desk. The House caucus meeting will come back to order. Members, I'm going to ask you to indicate your presence by pressing the yellow present button. Pair of the machine, Mr. Clark. Mr. Clark. All right, members, everybody indicated you're present. Cast up the ballot. Chair recognizes 69 members present. Members, what we're going to represent? Representative Wren, what purpose? What purpose? Leave. Leave for him. Representative McLean. Leave for Representative McLean. Leave granted. Anyone else leave? And still, what purpose? Question. What's your question? Uh, Mr. Speaker, since we're a little shorthanded today, uh, would it be okay if we go ahead and swear in Representative Elect George McGill from Fort Smith? He has no opponent. We, we need it. I believe we're going to take that one under advisement. Thank you very much. Anything else? All right, here's what we're going to do, members. There are obviously some members that are present now who were not with us for the recess. Representative Ingram, I'm going to recognize you. Members, if you all have a copy of the rules for you on your desk, I want to remind you that it takes 67 votes to pass our rules. And I also want to remind you, I think you're all aware of this, that certainly I think without question, the most important thing before us is reconfiguration of our caucuses pursuant to the census and our reconfiguration of our congressional districts. Now, the way this thing worked out miraculously was that every member, their home currently in the proposed rule changes is within the boundaries of the new congressional district within which they reside. If we do not pass the rule today, if we don't ultimately pass the rules, what will happen, as you know, the caucuses are composed by House district numbers. So there's some amongst you who are even running in a new district number. So suffice it to say that if we don't change the rules, there are going to be members scattered all over, and their House caucus will not be related to their congressional district, be the bottom line. So that will be the end result. But it does take 67 votes to do it. So since there were members that were not here, or any other members who may have questions, Representative Ingram is going to come back to the well and entertain any questions that you may have. So with that, Representative Ingram, you are recognized for questions, if there are any questions. As the great philosopher Yogi Berra said, it's deja vu all over again. I will be happy. This, for those of you who are not here, these are proposed modifications of the House rules. This proposal was filed with the chief clerk on April 2nd. It was reviewed by the Rules Committee on April 4th. It received from the committee a unanimous support and a recommendation that it do pass. Are there any questions? Representative Lee, what purpose? Question. You recognize? Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was unable to print out an e-mail earlier. Is it okay if I read the e-mail, please? What are my questions? Specifically, page 15, lines 15 through 19. You talk about a bill needing to be physically in the committee. Is that the jacketed bill? Have we voted on bills that weren't physically in our committee? What drove that rule change? I assume you're directing that at me? Yes, sir. I think that we've had in the past, in some haste, that they wanted to take up some items in committee that the bill wasn't physically there. I'm not personally aware that we've ever voted on it, but it has arisen. Okay, and so the reason for changing that is just logic? Well, if I may say so, all it is is a clarification. We've been going by that all the time anyway, not acting on bills unless you have the official document in hand. The reason for that is because there have been some attempts to consider bills because somebody from New York needed to come down tomorrow and that was the only day he or she could come. And so they said, well, let's just hear this bill. But if they don't have it, it may have been in the morning hour on bill on amendment, which we put it on two calendars at one time. All this does is clear up that before you handle a bill, it must be in the possession of whoever's handling it because a certain amount of documentation is necessary. by these clerks on the bill jacket, without that in your possession, those documentations cannot be made. All this is a safety measure to have the bill in the proper order when it's finished. That makes sense. Thank you, Mr. Parliamentarian. Then referring to page 25, line 31, where we're saying that a bill is considered on the desk if it's sent there electronically, how does that jive with the previous discussion? Well, I think what you're referring to are two separate items. I think that, one, we have considered, and it came up in this last fiscal session, that you have considered that the bill has been sent to you when it has been electronically transmitted, and this is a clarification of that. Okay, so would it not be the same? I mean, I'm trying to follow the logic then. So it doesn't have to be physically in our possession. It just has to be sent out there to an email. You're dealing, again, with two separate issues. One is acting on a bill in committee without the bill physically being there. As you know, the bill goes down. It can be amended, whatever. That's an issue. I'm aware of amending bills. Intimately. Unsuccessfully, but I know you're aware. Not only successful when someone else amended me out, correct, sir. Then, secondly, we are dealing with the aspect of bills being physically, electronically. Once they've been transmitted to you, you have that bill. So that in voting on it here, in this chamber, you have possession when it has been electronically sent to you. Could you define electronically sent to me, please? When that bill, and Tim, when the bill is answered, and then it is transmitted to you, it has been electronically sent to you. When the bill has been introduced, it's scanned into the system, and so that is considered electronically before you because it goes into your computer along with the other 99 members. So you have a copy of the bill in your computer. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions that anyone might have regarding this? Again, if I could just add one more thing. All of this stuff, as far as I'm concerned, and I help with all of it, is designed to be better clarification, for our constituents to know what's going on when that bill is in the computer. It's also available to your constituents the same way. And so all this is designed to help the constituents and you have a better understanding of the bill. And there are not any tricks involved in any of these at all. 99.9% of them are clarification. Any? A question. I was also a little bit concerned about the electronically. Could you just explain, disregard what we've just said, but just tell me why this is required. Tell me what has necessitated the physically or electronically line 31 on page 25. We can't take up in the House floor, we can't take up a bill unless it is physically on the desk. For 100 years here, you had to get a copy of a bill and have it on your desk. With the advent of technology now, we electronically transmit to computers that are provided by the state the bills as well. You know, you're too young to remember, but I'm old enough to remember when by the end of the session you had a bill journal that a prized show dog couldn't jump over. And so that's the reason that this is a new format of transmitting electronically to people. and that's what we've had our rules, this is just a simple clarification of that. My question then, will all bills now be electronically transmitted to us? Are we not going to have a physical bill journal? No, you will have the bill physically, but you've been receiving both. You've been receiving electronic and a paper copy. Nothing will change with that. But if you remember, Representative Nichols had a question in the fiscal session about a bill and he had received it electronically, which met the criteria of the rules, but obviously we hadn't done a good job in rules of making people aware that you had received it, that we could take action up on it without this copy being there. So this is a clarification of something we've already been doing? Yes, ma'am, it is. I guess I just wanted to make sure because if we're saying electronic submission in a building that we can't get Wi-Fi in yet, everywhere, you know, how will we – I don't want to vote on something I haven't had a chance to look at. I don't want to be expected to vote on something I haven't had a chance to look at. 99% of the time, you're going to have the paper, again, in the fiscal session. You know what we ran into right then, but you had received it electronically, and, you know, you'll have to take that up about the electronic part. I understand. If someone wished to, I presume the rules would allow us, could a member request to delay? Sure. You and this body, these are just rules that we go by. You always have the right to object, and if you want to hold it up, then there could be a lot of people that didn't get it or feel the same way. Thank you. Thank you for answering those questions. Yes, ma'am. Any other questions regarding anything else that's in here? All right. If not, I would ask for a good vote. Thank you, Representative. Before I hear from anybody I want to speak before again, just as a follow-up on your question, Representative Klemmer and to other members of edification, we are in the process of ensuring that Wi-Fi will be available all over the capital. We're going to have our own version of it down here, and it certainly will be in effect before the 89th General Assembly. I don't know whether June or July is the targeted deadline, but within the next few months, that will not be an issue. Okay, members, you've heard an explanation of the resolution. Anyone wishing to speak against the resolution, for the resolution, if not, to question for the House caucus, us this passage of House Resolution 1-0-0-1, up here in the machine, Mr. Clerk. Everyone voted, everyone voted, cast up the ballot by a vote of 68, yea, 0, nay, 0, present. We've adopted the rules. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. All right. Members, are there any announcements? I need you to stay in your seats, if you will, just a moment here. Representative Pierce, come up here a moment, please. please. Members, I would advise you that, once again, that we're having girls and boys of state will be meeting in here in the first couple of weeks of June, and so you need to make sure your desks are clear and so forth, and leave your, I don't think anybody does that, I believe your key and your boating machine so we can utilize that facility. Mr. Speaker, you recognize me. Thank you, Mr. Chair. uh mr parliamentarian i'd like you to come down and join me please we uh billy yes sir yeah i don't do it i don't do anything without having you by my side here um well a couple of things i came from france i'll tell you i'll remember that there's some things well i won't go there We want to take a few minutes to do what numerous legislators and individual members have done for a number of years, and that's to say thank you to our parliamentarian. First of all, I want to tell you, Mr. Parliamentarian, this is not a farewell. Thank you. And members, I want to ensure you this is not a farewell. Well, thank you, because we hope that circumstances and the totality of your life events are going to allow you to continue contributions to the House of Representatives for a long time to come. But we have a little something special that we wanted to add to the many thank yous and accolades that have been passed on to our parliamentarian previously. first of all for those of you don't know uh obviously uh you can look at this young fellow i told him he looks like he's getting ready to go on a survivor trip here uh but uh you know tim been around for a long time and to set it in perspective um i was uh got some information I know Representative Vines was born in the year that our parliamentarian, Mr. Massinelli, came to work for the House of Representatives. I know Fred Love, you started this world a couple of years after he went to work. So it just shows our parliamentarian has a lot of seniority. There's a guy downstairs named Mike Beebe and yours truly, who were just finishing up their business in law school by the time that Tim started to work here. At the time he started to work, Dale Bumpers was the governor and Richard Nixon was president. Now, that sets it in perspective. So 1973 was the year that Tim came to work for the House of Representatives. He came on, actually, Justin, as a sound clerk, so maybe it foretells the future for you here. But Tim came to work as a sound clerk, and in 1975, the then parliamentarian, a fellow named Armitage Harper, died during the course of the session. And a longtime friend of a lot of us here in the House, Cecil Alexander, was the Speaker at that time and promoted Tim to a position of Parliamentarian, which he has held for the past 38 years. He's given sage advice and friendship to 19 Speakers and 7 Governors and over 1,000 House members. We know that his contributions weren't valuable from the beginning, but with the advent of term limits in 1992, things really changed dramatically, because before then, the person that sat up in the big chair up there usually had been around so long they had been involved in writing the rules, so perhaps they didn't have to call on Tim as often as it has occurred since 1992 for those of us who, you know, have four years under our belt when we have the privilege of sitting up there. And from yours truly, as you all well observe, when Tim's not up there, I'm not nearly as happy about the situation as those long hours that we've spent together up here. He's been a true friend for many, many years and certainly a great friend in the past year and a half that I've had the privilege of being your speaker. Even though his knowledge of parliamentary procedure has been applauded and written about in state and national journals, his contribution, his knowledge in that area is only a part of what he brings to the House because, as each one of us knows, it's his friendship, his dedication to the House of representatives as an institution and to each of us as members wanting us to excel individually regardless of party affiliation and certainly and more importantly collectively in our duties as members collectively of the House of Representatives. The special nature of what we're doing here today and I'm going to make a presentation here in just a minute but I want A recognized person, a long-time, lifelong friend, pretty much. Well, it can't be lifelong because I make it too old. But a long-time friend of Tim's, a long-time friend of mine, long-time friend of most of you in here. Bob Smith, Bob, who's up in the gallery. Bob, would you stand up? The matter that I'm getting ready to tell you about, Bob was the person that has been the brainchild and the leader and done the work to make the events of the day occur. And so without a lot further ado, I want to kind of bring this into perspective on what we're going to do here today with a quote from President Clinton when he served as governor of the state of Arkansas. And in talking about our parliamentarian, Mr. Massinelli, the governor then said, In the toughest legislative battles, he was calm, did his duty, kept his sense of humor, and always knew what was really going on. When he could do so consistent with the duty to the House, he would even tell me what was going on. So I thought that was a pretty good, befitting tribute and very true, as I've had occasion to observe that over the last year and a half. Tim's wisdom is always appreciated and very often necessary the key ingredient to having things move along appropriately. So it was, and President Clinton concluded that remark by saying we need more people with his dedication to public service. And, boss, that's what we need. With that in mind, we can think of no better way to honor his legacy here than helping other young men and women with a love for politics help achieve their dream. And that is why we are pleased to announce the establishment of the Tim Massanelli Endowed Scholarship for Political Science. The scholarship will be used to provide assistance for any education-related expenses for students pursuing a degree in political science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Tim, I want to present you this plaque. In recognition of decades of public service to the state of Arkansas, we commemorate the establishment of the Tim Massinelli Endowed Scholarship for Political Science. This scholarship will provide assistance for any education-related expense for students pursuing their degree in political science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock done this April 18, 2012. Thank you, thank you, thank you very much, thank you very much, my words will be inadequate to demonstrate the kind of feeling that I have for the House of Representatives. I have battled for statesmanship and for ethical situations and all, and by and large, you all have lived up to them, and that's a source of pride for me in hopefully in my own mind accomplishing what we need because we need the integrity of the members who are here and you've shown us that. So you've all been kind to me. I have let personalities aside. I have let partisan politics aside. I see a guy standing outside the door there, Preston Bynum. He was a member of a minority party. He was down to one during his time. And he's my beloved friend and Say hi to it. This is a very difficult moment for me. Again, thank you. And I knew this kid here when he was just a kid. I knew his father very well. I knew his mother. And I have made thousands of friends throughout the United States. I mean, and the state basically two. Some of you have asked me about my beard. And since I'm retired, my income has been cut drastically. And so I'm giving some consideration to being a Santa Claus at Walmart. And they have two criteria. And one of them is a beard. And I'm working on that. I've already developed a second one. I don't need to work. I don't need to work on this one at all. I got it made. So I'm just kidding. I'm not going to be working at Walmart. I appreciate the speaker asking me to come out and help with the fiscal session. I appreciate Bill Stovall and Buddy. We communicate almost daily on happenings here and my background and some of the things as they went on. So I love every one of you all. I leave here with a glad heart and I'm going to be as available as I can be whenever I'm asked and whatever. So this is a complete, wonderful, total surprise here because I couldn't think of anything better that I'd like to have to see a scholarship going to someone who has a focus on the legislature and the kind of things that all of you all do. So God bless you all. Thank you for all that you've done to me, every one of you. And Preston, sit down. You're going to fall. Thank you. God bless you all. Thank you. Thank you, Bob. Hang on, hang on just a second. I got one, got one more. Tim, I got one more little matter. We found out you had just enough room on them walls for two plaques, not one. So we wanted to fill it up. We wanted to do something just strictly on behalf of the 88th General Assembly because we know that you have had substantial challenges this year in your family. Tim, we love you and appreciate you. And I personally want to thank you for your commitment when I started out on this journey to sticking with me all the way through. You've been with me every day, and you've been a friend beyond measure of anything I could ever say. And on behalf of the 88th General Assembly, I was presented to Tim Massinelli, House Parliamentarian, in appreciation for your friendship, wisdom, and dedication to the Arkansas House of Representatives, 1973 to present, by the members of the 88th General Assembly. We love him, my friend. Thank you, y'all. Thank you very much. Okay, members, any announcements, any further comments? I want to represent Cowling, and I don't need you to get out of here today. You got something else on your mind? Mr. Baker, I was just going to tell the members that we're going to have Country Caucus tonight. We're going to cook some catfish out there from the Red River in South Arkansas. We all would like to come out, but we'll feel free to come. That's a good announcement. I don't think I can accept that now that you didn't have a tie on. I'm going to take that back. Members, once again, I want to thank you for your cooperation throughout the process. Special thank you today. and no further business, the House Caucus meeting will stand in adjournment.