House State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs Committee
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Bills discussed (1)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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SB871
· 4 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB871”
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Pre-2017 bill |
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Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
0:00
Senator Thompson is ready to run the bill. Welcome, Senator. You have the floor, and you're ready to run your bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Committee.
Speaker 3
0:20
I assume that you all have a copy of the amendment and the map that's associated with the
Speaker 4
0:25
amendment in front of you. All the committee members do.
Speaker 3
0:31
Yes, sir. This is the Senate Bill 871 is the bill that came out of the Senate yesterday. And let me say, I'll say what
Speaker 4
0:44
I told my colleagues in the Senate. This is my attempt at a compromise bill. It's not my first choice of maps. It's an attempt to address some of the concerns that we had in the Senate with Representative Hall's map.
I should say my first choice of the maps that I have seen was Representative Hall's map, and I voted for it in committee, but it did not make it out of the Senate State Agency's committee, and that's where it still is. So I attempted to draw a map that incorporated much of Senator Hall's ideas and where I, based on his testimony and committee, where I thought he was going on his bill that came out of the House.
So if you look at Senate Bill 871, if you look at the map, it splits two counties, Pope and Searcy. It includes that part of Pope that includes the city of Russellville. It includes all of the counties of the Arkansas Delta along the river and also Ashley County in southeast Arkansas. The deviations on the bill, the first district is negative 188. the second district is plus 213, the third district is plus 254, and the fourth district is negative 279.
I don't split any precincts or boxes, so all the precincts are held intact. I think we've looked at a lot of these maps. We are pretty familiar with all the issues, and beyond what you've got in front of you, I'll be happy to take any
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
2:33
questions. Is there any questions from the committee? Any questions from
Speaker 11
2:42
the committee? Representative Lee. Well, of course, being from Pope, I need to ask. Did you use any geographical lines as you were doing this,
or was it purely done by voting boxes as you split up my county? Well, okay. I'm just channeling Tiffany right now. Okay. I was just going to say, my
Speaker 14
3:03
map split hers, so I respect this. Okay. What I did with Pope County was I tried to
Speaker 4
3:11
keep all the boxes in the city of Russellville within the same district, which in this map is the fourth district. So while I did split up Pope County with this map,
I tried to make sure that all the boxes in Russellville were included so that municipality itself is not split. Follow-up? Yes, ma'am. Thank you, sir. In the
Speaker 11
3:35
numbers you gave us, your raw numbers, you have the fourth district is negative 279, and the third is plus 254. Did I write that down correctly? That's correct, yeah. What was the thinking there since?
Speaker 14
3:55
Well, I mean, the thinking on all these,
Speaker 4
3:58
you slice it so thin, is just get as close as you can to zero. I mean, we assume, and I think it's a fair assumption that, based on growth patterns, that the counties in the third district will continue to grow and that the counties in the fourth district will not continue to grow at the same pace as those in the third district. But, you know, whether a 250-some-odd vote difference is going to make much difference,
I could easily add another box in Polk County and probably flip those if that's a concern. I don't think that will address my
Speaker 23
4:40
very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative Chatham. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Go
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
4:44
back to Representative Lee's talking about Polk County. What's the population of that county, Mr. Thompson? You know, remember, off the top of
Speaker 14
4:53
your head? I think it's about 60,000 people. I've got that somewhere here.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
4:58
That's $60,000 in the entire county, or is it $60,000 what you have in the
Speaker 14
5:03
third? I believe it's $60,000 for the county. I think I've got about $30,000 in this map. Let's see.
Speaker 2
5:13
About $30,000. Pope County is $60,597. Okay. Do you
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
5:16
think you have about $30,000 in the third? About, thereabouts. You could just about swap Ashley County
Speaker 27
5:21
for that, couldn't you? plus a few well you could but as you know
have you ever been to Ashley County Mr. Thompson it's been
Speaker 3
5:38
a long time you ever been to Chico County my
Speaker 4
5:40
dad was born and raised in McGee in DeShay County
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
5:43
so I have spent some time in southeast Arkansas you know there are no similarities between Ashley and Chico Ashley is strictly pine timber country Chico
Speaker 27
5:53
is row crop Well, you're an expert on that. I'll concede that. It is hard. It's hard to draw a map because we tried on one case and people on this committee have tried.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
6:02
But, you know, I got a lot of comments from the chair here about calling the fable finger up there. But it looks like you've got a little boot down here on the bottom. So I
Speaker 3
6:18
guess we both kind of like oddball things, don't we?
Speaker 4
6:22
Well, I'll tell you, with this map, I think one benefit of this map is that I only split two counties. I mean, I think that is something that is beneficial about this map. If you don't want Ashley County going to the first district, then I will concede you're not going to like this map.
As you know, Representative Cheatham, simply swapping out counties or parts of counties in one district won't get the job done. If you do that, you wind up
Speaker 2
6:46
redrawing the whole map. That's correct. Every time you make a move, it moves
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
6:50
something somewhere else, doesn't it? Right. Thank you. Thank you, Senator. Any other questions from the committee? Is that a
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
7:03
question there, Representative Clemmer? It's about to be. You're recognized.
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
7:09
I am asking permission of the Chair to propose an amendment to this bill. You have an amendment ready? Yes,
Speaker 37
7:16
sir. Would you have it up here? I believe
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
7:23
Sherry has it. We'll pass it out. I'm not sure if this is the appropriate time.
Is this the new map that you're proposing?
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
7:44
This has... Your name on it? This has my name on it, I believe. I was not the map drawer.
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
7:56
You was not the map
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
7:58
drawer. I was not the artist of the map, the designer of the map. But I have embraced it after hearing
some of the concerns of my
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
8:09
fellow colleague, Representative Cheatham. Everybody have a copy of the proposed amendment?
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
8:18
You ready to explain your amendment? I certainly don't want to say anything before Senator Thompson is
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
8:35
You put all of Polk County in. Mr.
Chair? Yes. Yes, Representative Bernard, I'm sorry. I was trying to find you. Yes, ma'am.
Representative Tracy Pennartz
Unverified
8:48
I'm a little confused, if you could help me out, so is Senator Thompson closed for his map? So she has offered an amendment to
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
8:58
his existing bill, which is proper. So is it friendly
Representative Tracy Pennartz
Unverified
9:06
or unfriendly? I would have to
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
9:09
ask the senator to make that determination. Is this a friendly amendment or a hostile amendment, Senator? Well, I
Speaker 4
9:16
hate to call any amendment hostile because I like Representative Clemmer
and I don't consider her to be a hostile person. I think she's a friendly person. I appreciate that this is not my map it's not my amendment I don't want it on my bill I would prefer that my bill rise and fall on its own merits and if a member of this committee has a map that he or she thinks is appropriate I would appreciate it if you would attach it to your own bill and let that bill rise or fall on its own merits so I do not want this amendment on my
bill and And if it is put on my bill, I'd like my name taken
Speaker 21
9:56
off the bill. Thank you. I think we have your answer, Representative Bernard. Do you want to follow up?
Representative Tracy Pennartz
Unverified
10:05
I assume, sir, based on Senator Thompson's remarks, respectful remarks, that this is an unfriendly amendment. Is that correct? I would assume, based on what I've heard, that that is
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
10:15
a true and accurate statement. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, sir. That answers my question.
We have an amendment that has been proposed by Representative Klemmer. Representative Klemmer, do you want to make some comments? Absolutely. You're open to make comments? Yes. Do I
need to go to the end of the table? I'm going to allow you
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
10:40
to stay where you're at. I actually have a colleague here that would like to be a part of this amendment
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
10:48
that I'm presenting, if that's allowed. I can do it. I think it would be proper if you just would present your amendment where you're sitting
and let's see if we can get the committee to agree or disagree with your position. Okay.
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
11:04
I'm okay with that. It's just hard to make eye contact from this position. But you're so much closer to us. It's true. My amendment has the map that is red, blue, green, and yellow in front of you and should be differentiated from Senator Thompson's, whose map I basically think is an improvement,
but I think mine is an improvement on an improvement. First of all, this map splits only one county. It offers more contiguous boundaries than other maps. It is more compact, in other words. It moves only six counties. It moves, just if I can start with the first district, it moves Marion to the first
district from the third. It moves Deshaies from the first to the first from the fourth.
It moves Chico to the first from the fourth. So it accomplishes keeping those river counties together, but it does not take in Ashley County. The second district, does everyone on the committee have a copy of the existing congressional district that we have now? I had asked Sherry to bring
those if she has them. We will pass it out. That's good
for everybody so they can see the existing map.
So if I could continue then, it moves in the second district, it moves Yale County out of the second district to the fourth. The third county loses Pope but makes it whole, but loses Pope to the fourth. The third district loses Johnson to the fourth, and the third district picks up half of Logan County. That's the county that is split. But the 4th District, this will somewhat be repetitive here, but the 4th District then loses one half of Logan.
It loses DeShay and Chico to the 1st, and it gains Pope and Johnson from the 3rd and Yale from the 2nd. I know that's a lot, but if you see the current map, essentially the counties that are moved, Marion, DeShay,
and Chico, Yell, Pope, Johnson, and splits half of Logan, so it moves Logan.
The numbers, the deviation is in the first district, it is up 176. Second district moves up 213. The third district is minus 258, and the fourth district is minus 131. I also have the numbers of voting age population and minorities.
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
14:16
We don't. That is not appropriate. Okay. I have that information. For the
federal election rules. Senator Thompson, would you like to make a rebuttal to that presentation
Speaker 4
14:36
Representative Clemmer showed this to me very shortly before the committee meeting today. And, again, if this is a good map, then I think it could be put on Representative Clemmer's bill
or a bill of another committee member, but I don't like, I'll use hostile as a term of art rather than a pejorative term, but I don't like hostile amendments and I don't want to put on my bill. And when that's happened in the past, I've always proposed it. There are some things I don't like about this bill, and I don't want this on my bill. I understand. What is the will
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
15:13
of the committee on the amendment? Can I move? Do you pass?
We have a motion. Do you pass on Representative Clemmerer's amendment. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. Noes have it. Representative
Clemmerer. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for the chance to present it. Senator Thompson, it is back in your court. Are you closed for your proposal, or would you like to refresh the memories of the committee?
Speaker 2
15:41
I'll be happy to take any questions, but I'm closed for
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
15:45
my bill. Senator Thompson has closed. Is there any questions from the committee? Any other questions from the committee?
Representative Debra M. Hobbs
Unverified
15:52
Representative Hobbs. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Senator Thompson. And if this question is outlined, I'll be happy to withdraw it. But I noticed that Representative Cheatham was concerned about Ashley County moving into their first district. Could you, I mean, would you mind telling me what you do not like about the other map? You said there were several things you did not like. That
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
16:19
would not be appropriate. Okay, that's what I wanted to do. You should have asked those questions at the proper time when Representative Klemmer was representing her amendment.
Okay, I withdraw that. Thank you. Any questions from the committee pertaining to Senator Thompson's bill? Is there anyone in the room who would like to speak against Senator Thompson's bill? Anyone for Senator Thompson's bill? Having seen none, what is the pleasure of Representative Clemmer? I'm
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
16:55
going to make a motion to pass to mending fences with
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
16:58
the senator who I might have offended.
Representative, we will get to that shortly. Since there's not anyone in
the room or on the committee who has another request or a question or wants to speak for or
against this bill, Representative Clemmer, do you have a motion? Move, do pass. We have a motion, do pass, and Representative Clemmer is on Senate Bill 871. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? No. Senator, you have failed your bill.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we are adjourned until Monday when this session takes up at 1 o'clock. Thank you.
Agenda
Documents
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Speakers
Representative Clark Hall
Unverified
Speaker 3
Speaker 4
Speaker 11
Speaker 14
Speaker 23
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
Speaker 2
Speaker 27
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
Speaker 37
Speaker 50
Representative Tracy Pennartz
Unverified
Speaker 21
Representative Debra M. Hobbs
Unverified