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Exactly as spoken.

House State Agencies and Govt'l Affairs Committee

March 29, 2011
Video Transcript

Bills discussed (7)

Bill Title Sponsor Status
SB990 · 6 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB990”
Pre-2017 bill
HB2209 · 3 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HB2209”
Pre-2017 bill
HB1039 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1039”
Pre-2017 bill
HB2089 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB2089”
Pre-2017 bill
SB881 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB881”
Pre-2017 bill
SB882 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB882”
Pre-2017 bill
SB883 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB883”
Pre-2017 bill

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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 0:01
Rep. Roba, you have something? Yes,
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Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck Unverified 0:04
sir. Yes, sir, Mr. Chair and members. I have a special guest
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 0:08
here today. We can't really hear you, Rep. Roba. Let's
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Speaker 5 0:15
make sure. Is it on? Hello. Hello. It's on. Mr. Chair and
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Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck Unverified 0:21
members, I have a special guest today. Sherry Kelly from Arkadelphia. She's on our quorum court and is also Our radio girl, we wake up with her every morning with the Sherry Kelly show. So please help me
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Speaker 10 0:38
welcome Sherry Kelly. Welcome, Sherry. We don't allow advertisements. I'm sorry. Political advertisements are not
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 0:48
allowed. Okay. Have we got them
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Speaker 17 0:55
yet? We're ready to
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Speaker 18 0:57
go. We have the paperwork.
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 1:05
We're going to start with Representative Slinker. Are you ready to continue on your SB 990? Is that the
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Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified 1:16
one we're working on? No, Mr. Chairman. This is a bill by Senator Hendren that I was going to run today. I want to pass over 2181 and 2077. Hold on. Move to deferred. Caller's number
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Speaker 26 1:34
is out again. 2077 and 2181.
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Representative Tracy Pennartz Unverified 1:43
Mr. Chair? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Chair, may I ask my esteemed colleague a question? Yes, ma'am. Representative Slinkard, you know I had a special interest in 2077 because of the constituents calling about that issue. Has
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Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified 2:02
that the issue been taken care of? Yes, Representative Penard. My 2077 was incorporated in another bill that has passed out. Is that Mr. Johnson's bill?
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Representative Tracy Pennartz Unverified 2:14
That was Mr. Johnson's bill? Mr. Johnson's bill, yes. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for that allowance. What
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Speaker 38 2:20
are we doing? I've got a list. What's the bill? What bill are we on?
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 2:26
Representative Snaker, we're trying to get our paperwork straightened out up here. We have you down on Senate Bill 990 for Senator Hendren that you were going to run. What was the other two that you
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Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified 2:42
had on your agenda? Twenty-seven. The other two with my name was 2077. Okay. And 2181, I wish to move those to deferred.
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Speaker 22 2:54
Both of them? Yes. Without a
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Speaker 43 2:57
suggestion, we will move them to deferred. Thank you. Now we're going to get to
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Speaker 22 3:04
SB 990. Yes, Mr. Chairman. You're ready to
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Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified 3:07
present your bill, Senate Bill 990. That is correct. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members. This is a very simple bill. It changes one word from above to the word below. It has to do with when there's a measure or initiated act on the ballot. It sets out now where those words shall be, and now it will say that they have to vote on the amendment by placing the appropriate mark below the amendment, either for or against. in current law it says above and we're changing that and I'd appreciate a good vote on this. Thank you. Will you take questions? I will take questions. Representative Cheatham? I just have a
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Speaker 22 3:46
motion to the proper time, Mr. Chair.
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Representative Tracy Pennartz Unverified 3:51
Representative Bernard? It's been a while since I voted so this morning? Yeah, yeah on a button. Yeah, on a button. But this is where you're marking a ballot. Could you tell me how it is that
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Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified 4:12
people, are they getting confused about what they're voting for? Well, possibly confused. I know that in the placement, sometimes those initiated acts or those measures that are on a ballot are quite lengthy. And if it's above that, then some voters might miss it. So we're just asking that those for and against be below the question. So they have to read through the entire question and then vote yes or no? No? Yes. I mean, the entire measure, whatever is on the ballot. So they're reading through X, Y, Z, and
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Representative Tracy Pennartz Unverified 4:47
then they get the end of it after they've read it, then they vote yes or no?
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Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified 4:54
That is correct, because it will have for Initiated Act or for the question of a sales tax or whatever it may be, whatever that question is, and then against, and it will be below the wording of
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Representative Tracy Pennartz Unverified 5:07
the measure. Well, have the county clerks, is the county clerk association or do we have some people, is this just a whim or is there some valid reason other than just
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Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified 5:18
Senator Hendren wanting to change it? I think this was brought to him, I'm not even sure who it was brought to him by, but it's my understanding that, yes, it does make common sense for that question to be below the measure. So did the County
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Representative Tracy Pennartz Unverified 5:37
Clerk's Association endorse this bill? I'm not aware that
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Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified 5:43
they have. I don't have anyone here right now. Or the Secretary of State endorsed the bill? I believe so. I had someone here a minute ago, but I don't see them now. I'm sorry.
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Representative Tracy Pennartz Unverified 5:57
So do you know, Representative, whether the Secretary of State endorsed this bill or not? I don't know at this time.
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Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified 6:06
I will say, Representative Penault, from my experience in dealing with ballots over the years, it has been a problem when people have overlooked when that for and against is above the wording of the measure. This puts it below that so that after they know what the measure is, they know to vote for or against it. It's just below the measure language. Thank you. Any other
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Speaker 43 6:36
questions from the committee? Anyone from Representative Klemmer? I was just going to say somebody from the Secretary of State's office came in. With your indulgence, Mr. Chair
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Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified 6:46
and Committee, I have Martha Adcock from the Secretary of State's office. State your name and who you're with. Please
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 6:51
stand for the record. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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Martha Adcock Unverified 6:54
My name is Martha Adcock, the Director of Elections for the Secretary of State. This was not our bill, but it is one that we think would help eliminate some confusion so that voters would know that it's a consistent, they would read the measure and then know are they for or against it. And that was the purpose of it. It was brought by another member. Any questions? Any questions
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 7:17
from the committee? Is anyone in the audience who can speak against this bill? Representative, are you ready to close for your bill, the bill? I'm closed, Mr. Chairman. What's the will of the committee? Representative Cheatham? We have a motion due to pass. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say no. You pass Senate Bill 990. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Without a decision, we're going to let Representative Bell go to the end of the table to have a little cleanup that he needs to take care of. If you would, take
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Speaker 59 7:53
it's HB 2209, Representative Bell. Are you ready to explain your bill? Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have an amendment. That's correct. Passing out the amendment now as we speak. Is there any, and it adds, all this does is add co-sponsors? That's correct, Mr.
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Representative Nate Bell Unverified 8:11
Chair. This is just an amendment to add co-sponsors. I'd appreciate the involvement. What's the will of the committee?
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Speaker 59 8:17
We've got a motion to do pass on. In favor, say aye. You've passed
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Representative Nate Bell Unverified 8:22
your amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair. What I'd like to do at this time, due to the complexity of the bill and lateness in the session, I'd like to ask the committee to just direct this bill to interim study.
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Speaker 59 8:35
What's the will of the committee? We have a motion to House Bill 2209 to go to interim study. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? Thank you, Representative Bell. Good luck. Thank you. Now we're going to Representative English. Are you here? I'm here. Representative English, you're taking up which House Bill? 10-39? That's correct. You're welcome to explain your bill. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
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Speaker 67 9:05
Do you have an amendment? I
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Speaker 59 9:07
do have an amendment. We're passing out an amendment as it is now, and it adds co-sponsors. And
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Representative Jane English Unverified 9:14
it removes the Arkansas Lottery Commission and the Department of Higher Education. Which will the committee? Motion to pass.
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Speaker 59 9:24
All in favor say aye. Aye. say no. You've amended your bill. Representative English, you're ready to talk on your
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Representative Jane English Unverified 9:33
bill. Thank you. 1039 is an act providing for the review of state agency performance by the Joint Performance Review Committee and to ensure efficient agency operations. I think when all of us were elected to our offices here, one of the things that we promised our constituents was that we were going to take good care of the state's money and their taxpayer dollars. And one thing I think most of us realize as we go through this budget process with 48 new members in the House and many new members in the Senate, that many times we do not have any idea what we're voting on. One of the handouts that you have there is an appropriation bill for the career education, for adult education and their literacy programs. The second handout you have there is one of the things that they are doing is their adult education and GED testing. One of the things that's happened with this organization is that over time, where they were set out to be only working with adults to get their general education diplomas, It's now gone to 16-, 17-, and 18-year-olds that are getting those GEDs as well. So we have over 5,000 of those kids who are now getting those GEDs. They're lacking for money to be able to do that. But I think one of the things that this shows is that we really, as an organization, as a legislature, really don't have much idea of what it is we're voting on and what the programs are inside of these agencies. And what my bill suggests is that the Performance Review Committee look at state agencies and pick programs to determine their cost effectiveness and efficiency and if they're still with the same mission they were when they started out and how long have they been in business and are we really getting good worth for the taxpayer dollars. This doesn't require any new resources. This is the JPR committee. It's the legislative research folks doing the work. And basically most of this stuff can come on an Excel spreadsheet and analyze by legislative research from these agencies and then put on a web page that legislative research already has, which we all look at every day. But it certainly would give all of us better information as we're trying to make decisions on the budgets, and it certainly would help and would be complementary to the open checkbook.
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Speaker 74 12:22
I'll take questions. Representative Robot. Thank
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Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck Unverified 12:27
you, Mr. Chair. Representative English, I noticed that you're changing the structure of the Joint Performance Review Committee. What's your rationale for that? It was only
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Speaker 71 12:37
to make sure that we have all the kinds of people on the committee.
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Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck Unverified 12:43
So you're actually putting, I mean, it's becoming political. You're saying four members appointed by the majority party leader of the House, four members appointed by the minority party of the House, and then four members appointed by the majority party in the Senate, and four members appointed by the minority party in the Senate. Why
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Representative Jane English Unverified 13:05
do we need to worry about that? Well, maybe we don't. Maybe that is the way the committees are selected. Maybe the Joint Performance Review Committee is already selected where it's
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Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck Unverified 13:18
equally divided. Well, that's not the way it's currently selected, so I guess I'm asking why are you changing the way it's selected? Why are we asking that the political parties, the majority and the minority party leaders?
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Representative Jane English Unverified 13:33
I just wanted to make sure that there was representation on this committee. It'll be a lot of work. It will be a lot of work for the folks who are on it. And I think we need to make
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Speaker 80 13:44
sure that everybody is having an equal look at it. Do you know what
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Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck Unverified 13:48
the breakout is now on the joint performance review of Republicans and Democrats? I have no idea. Can I ask another question, Mr. Chair? Yes, ma'am. Okay, so on top of everything we're asking Bureau to do, we're going to add all this other for Bureau to do.
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Speaker 6 14:08
Do you know how many more hours this is going to take
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Speaker 67 14:15
to have these annual reports? We're not doing annual reports. What we're asking, and legislative research has already agreed to all this, and they feel like they can do
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Representative Jane English Unverified 14:25
it. What we're asking is to go into agencies and look at specific programs, not all the programs, specific programs inside of an agency, just like in career education to look at the adult education program to see how that's operating how it's working and at the end of the day what we'd hope to find out is whether or not we have the resources that are being delivered to that that organization and also I think one of the things even with one of the bills I was working on Dr. Kimbrell was quite surprised to find that there are this number of 16- to 18-year-olds that are in a GED program. He had no idea. And that the schools, I mean, there is no real money out there for that. So there are all kinds of things. I've been in state government almost 20 years, which a lot of you may be. And I've seen that in many cases we've got programs that have been out there for 50 years, and we don't know whether they're working or not. And I think we have an obligation to the people to the people that sent us here to make sure that we really are doing a good job and that we're not just passing laws. I don't think that's our foremost job. Our foremost job is watching out for the money and making sure that services are delivered in a timely and efficient manner to the people in the state.
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Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck Unverified 15:47
Follow-up, Mr. Chair? Yes, ma'am. When you say that it's not an annual report, I call attention on page 3, Representative English. As you say, each state agency shall file with the Joint Performance Review Committee by November 1, 2011. And then it goes on to talk about what that report will include. And that can be on an Excel spreadsheet. But it is
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Representative Jane English Unverified 16:13
every year? Well, I think as we're doing agencies, not every single agency, but the programs inside of these agencies. And then hopefully by 2016, we will have gone through most of the big six agencies, and we will have looked at some of the boards and commissions to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of all those groups. Okay, we're going back to my earlier question.
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Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck Unverified 16:33
I think it is an annual report, or maybe even more, but I'd also like to point out that the Joint Performance Review Committee can bring any program before that committee right now and review that program. Is that not true, Representative English? Could be, but I think
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Representative Jane English Unverified 16:49
this probably makes it more official that that is, in fact, going to be done rather than just as somebody brings an issue to the table.
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Representative Jim Nickels Unverified 17:04
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Nichols. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative English, it seems like last fall during budget hearings and the initial days of this session, we were talking about cutting down the task forces and things of that nature that we had a tendency to develop legislatively, I guess, and that the Bureau was concerned about that from a workload standpoint. And your legislation here, with a quick read of it, which is about the best most of us can do, it kind of looks to me like what you're trying to accomplish could be accomplished under our House rules or joint rules in that manner, and some of these areas could be the responsibility of a subcommittee of this committee that we could look at these issues. Would you agree with me that what you're – because I noticed that you said we're not here just to pass laws, but couldn't we do the same thing that you're requesting here for us to do by law by the current structure we have as far as developing our House rules and joint rules? May I answer? I think one
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Speaker 71 18:29
of the things for lots of folks in this room who may have been around for
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Representative Jane English Unverified 18:37
a while, we've gone through a – had a law passed on a Sunset Commission to look at all the state agencies, and that kind of went by the wayside because it was a lot of trouble. And even when Governor Beebe was a senator, he helped push through performance-based budgeting. That went by the wayside because it was too much trouble. And I guess what I'm suggesting is that we have the resources to be able to do these kinds of things. It doesn't mean we're going to look at every single program and every single agency, but I think looking at a number of programs to be able to help all the legislators make a a better decision about and be able to ask questions. Who in the world has a question to ask when it's time for the budget hearings because nobody knows what the agencies do? And so this gives the opportunity. So what I'm saying is left to just a committee to maybe pick it up, I don't think it'll ever happen. But I do believe in today's world, when we're looking all over the United States at lots the state's doing exactly the same thing, I think it behooves us to make sure that we're doing the same things for the citizens of the state of Arkansas. I can't see why anybody would be bothered by being able to look at statistics and look at data from different
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Representative Jim Nickels Unverified 19:53
agencies. My question, Representative Inglis, was couldn't we do everything you're asking for for us to do by law, couldn't we do it with our current structure that we have? And so since you're saying we're not here just to pass laws, why can't we just take care of it through our current committee structure and deal with it that way?
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Representative Jane English Unverified 20:14
That's my question. We probably could. I just think past history is what we have to go
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Representative Jim Nickels Unverified 20:22
on. Well, I'm not quite as old as Senator Malone, but I
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Representative Jane English Unverified 20:29
seem to . Even he was around for all
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Representative Jim Nickels Unverified 20:34
these things. He's been here, too. I go back to when Dale Bumpers was governor, and there was a movement across the country to combine agencies and sunset legislation, I believe, that if you're not reauthorized, then you die, but that was just kind of the fad at the time. So I have problems with passing something that we can already do under our current structure. I
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Speaker 67 21:01
think those sunset things are very punitive, and the performance-based budgeting was very punitive,
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Representative Jane English Unverified 21:06
and that's not the intention of this. The intention is to gather information and data, and the Bureau of Legislative Research has all the software that can produce all the kinds of data that we need and can be able to put it up on a website, and so the resources are here. The matter is do we have the will to be able to go and look at what we're spending money for and whether or not citizens of the state of Arkansas are getting
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 21:46
the best bang for their buck. Representative Nichols, was you through with your questions? Yes, Mr. Chairman. Yes, thank you. Representative English,
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Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck Unverified 21:54
just to clarify for me, currently in the House, the chairman of that committee is a member of the minority party. It's Representative Garner, currently. That's correct, right? Right. And then also the minority party has six members. So just to clarify, under your bill, if we did not want to do any more than that, there could just be four members from that minority party. Is that correct? MS. That's absolutely correct. MS. Okay. Thank
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 22:25
you. Representative Bernard, I'd like to remind the committee I think we have an education meeting meeting shortly, and we're going to lose half of our members. We probably will not have a quorum. So if we could, let's kind of a motion for immediate consideration. Well, that's a pretty good motion. Now, in favor, say I have to have a motion on the floor. I have to have a motion before I can accept that. I have to have a motion to adopt before I can accept, isn't that right? That's correct. I have to have a motion to adopt before I can accept any consideration. To do pass. I do pass or do not pass, but I've got to have a motion before I can accept immediate consideration. That's the rules of the House. We have a motion to do pass. Motion for immediate consideration. Motion for immediate consideration, non-debatable. All in favor say that. I say aye. For immediate consideration. All opposed, any opposed, say no. Motion passed. We have a motion on the table for a do pass motion on House Bill 1039 as amended. All in favor say aye. All opposed say no. Representative English, I apologize, but apparently you have not been successful today. Thank you. We now have Senator Malone coming up. We've got three of Senator Malones, and then we've got Representative Westerman is going to follow him. Senator, you are ready to present your...
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Senator Percy Malone Unverified 24:01
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I think you're all going to like this bill. It's an effort by a lot of us to get some of the authority back that the legislation
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 24:13
should have. Senator, may I ask you first, which one
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Senator Percy Malone Unverified 24:16
are we going to talk on first? I'll start with the 881, then 882. In order, okay. We're going to start with 881. Yes, sir. Anyway, after serving on Rules Committee, we call it Rules and Regs, we found that a lot of agencies, and this will apply to every bill I'm getting ready to do, has been pretty lax in obeying what the rules of the law is. And they have passed regulations or rules that would either raise fees or have put some regulation in place without statutory authority. So this is an attempt to try to rein them in a little bit, where the legislature can have a little bit more control over what we've given away to the executive branch. So the first one, when a rule is passed by the agency or some division of the government, that they must wait 30 days before they can make that rule effective. Because what we found on some occasions is that they will go ahead and implement the rule before it's published or maybe something in between. So this clarifies that it does not go into effect until a certain time
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Speaker 11 25:44
frame. Appreciate a good vote. Take questions, Senator.
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 25:48
Yes, sir. Representative Roba. Motion to pass. No, I'm sorry. Representative Lee was ahead
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Speaker 105 25:55
of you. I apologize. Representative Lee, I apologize. I move do pass. After I sat through rules and regs during the interim, it was obvious that this was badly needed.
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Speaker 18 26:07
Absolutely. We have any other questions from the committee? Representative Nichols. Immediate consideration. We
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 26:14
have a motion for immediate consideration. All in favor say aye. Any opposed say no. on the motion. We have a motion due pass on Senate Bill 881. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? Senator,
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Speaker 59 26:28
you've passed your bill. All right. Number 882, you have an amendment. Yes, sir. Is this
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Senator Percy Malone Unverified 26:34
a friendly amendment or is your sure? It's Representative Vine's amendment, but it's somewhat friendly, but we caught a few folks in our net, and they're coming in now saying, would you please give us time to get our house in order? And so that's what this is going
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 26:53
to do. I need a motion on the amendment. Representative Vines makes a motion due pass. All in favor say aye. Any opposed
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Senator Percy Malone Unverified 27:00
say no. You ready to talk on
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Speaker 108 27:02
the bill as amended, Senator? This does not allow them to raise fees or assess penalties without statutory authority. Appreciate a good vote.
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 27:10
Any questions? Representative Roebuck? We have a motion due pass. Yes, Representative Pinaris? A motion for immediate consideration. We have a motion to be a consideration on the motion as amended. All in favor say aye. Aye. On the motion on the bill as amended, all in favor say aye. Aye.
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Speaker 109 27:31
Any opposed? You passed 882. 883,
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Senator Percy Malone Unverified 27:34
Senator. Thank you, members. We found that on occasion that an agency would abuse the power to have an emergency rule, and they would stack those times. that have one emergency rule before it expires that do another one. This stop set, it makes them have at least
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Speaker 108 27:49
a 30-day break between invoking the emergency clause. Appreciate a good vote. Representative Nichols? Move,
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Speaker 59 27:57
do pass. We have a motion, do pass. Any questions from the committee? Representative Tyler? Committee, I'm sorry to do
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Representative Linda S. Tyler Unverified 28:07
this, but I think we have some agencies who may need an emergency rule from time to time, like public health and other agencies like that. We're
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Speaker 45 28:16
in no hurry. That's what you ask questions about. Yes, sir.
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Representative Linda S. Tyler Unverified 28:20
So I guess, Senator Balloon, I'm a little concerned that we may put ourselves in a bind where we may need an emergency reaction in the state. Well, that's a good point. And
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Senator Percy Malone Unverified 28:32
the current law gives them that they can do that for 30 days. It does not give them the legal authority to do 30 days and then come back and do another 30 days. We're not affecting that 30-day period. So it's just that some are taking the liberty to take a 30-day and stack a 30-day and stack a 30-day. The other thing is, this committee meets at least once a month. And if there's ever an emergency that they need, all they've got to do is let us know when we'll meet and look at their rule. Okay. Thank you, Senator. You bet. Any other questions from the committee? Motion
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 29:14
for immediate consideration. We don't have a motion yet. You made a motion. We have a motion for immediate consideration to face the majority of the quorum. All in favor, non-debatable. All for it, say aye. Any opposed? No. On the motion, no amendment. On the motion, all in favor, say aye. Any opposed? You passed your
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Speaker 59 29:34
Senate bill, Senator. Thank you. And if it ever should be a non-controversial
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Senator Percy Malone Unverified 29:37
bill going to the House or Senate, this would be it. Give us some of our authority. Remember that when we
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Speaker 59 29:44
send some down your way. I vote for all your old good bills. Representative, are you ready to discuss your
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 29:57
bill? I'm ready, Mr. Chairman. 20-89? 20-89. We're taking up 20-89. You're
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Representative Bruce Westerman Unverified 30:02
ready to explain your bill? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't want to slow down a good head of steam you've got going here. This bill is a bill to change the way that cost for school district elections is calculated. It was an idea brought to me by my local county election commission. It was discussed at the Arkansas County Election Commission's Association, and Susan Inman is here today and says they're in support of this bill, and I've also got A.J. Kelly here with the Secretary of State and says they are in support of the bill. It simply just provides more fairness in the way schools pay for local elections right now. They take the number of votes at each school and divide it by the total votes and take the total cost and ratio it that way. What this bill would do is change the calculation method where you take the number of polling sites at each school, divide by the total number of polling sites, and that's the bill that goes to the school. And we feel like this would be a much fairer way to charge those costs. There's a fiscal impact statement done that says there's no revenue
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Speaker 96 31:14
impact. On the counties? On the state treasury
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Representative Tracy Pennartz Unverified 31:19
is what the fiscal impact. Any questions? Representative Bernard? What, Mr. Westerman, I'm no expert in school elections, but what is the basic difference between the formula that's used that you've struck and the formula now that you're using? The formula
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Representative Bruce Westerman Unverified 31:34
that's used now that's been struck, you take the number of votes cast in the particular school election and you divide it by the number of votes across the county, and that gives you the ratio for the cost. The new method would be you take the number of polling sites at each school and divide by the total number of polling sites. So you're actually paying per polling site rather than per vote cast. MS. Rather than the number of votes cast. MR. Right. Which that's
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Representative Tracy Pennartz Unverified 32:04
where the real cost is, is in setting up a polling site. MS. That was my question because, I mean, you may have a large number of people at one polling site, but let's say maybe 50 to 100 at another one, but the basic cost is the same to set it up, correct? MR. That's correct. MS. Okay. difference would be just the number of volunteers that maybe are at the larger site that volunteer
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Representative Bruce Westerman Unverified 32:28
their time. Or the, I believe some of those election people are paid for those sites, too. Right.
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Representative Tracy Pennartz Unverified 32:37
They're paid, but whatever it is, it's, you know, pitiful. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Westerman. We have Rep.
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 32:44
Schlenker, and I want to remind anyone in the audience, this is probably the last bill we're going to hear today because I have other meetings I have to attend so if you have another bill you want to run we need to be back here tomorrow at our regular scheduled time representing a slinker your question thank
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Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified 33:04
you mr. chairman representative Westerman current law provides that the school districts will reimburse the county for these costs but I noticed that that has been omitted, I'm not sure how this could work. If the schools are going to be responsible for the cost, that's fine, but if you take out the language about them shall reimburse the counties for those costs, I'm a little confused. I think that perhaps the county has to bill for the school cost, but if you take out the language regarding the reimbursement to the county, who puts up the upfront cost is what I'm trying to get to. I understand, I think, I understand your intention here is to make each separate school district just have their own specific cost. Is that correct? Based on
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Representative Bruce Westerman Unverified 34:08
the number of polling sites in that district. Yes, sir. And my understanding is that last paragraph C, the county shall bill each school district for school-relation costs, that that covers that the schools reimburse the county. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions?
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 34:34
Committee? No other questions? Committee. Representative Clammer? Move to pass at the appropriate time. We so noted.
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Speaker 22 34:46
Is anyone from the audience like to speak against this bill? For this bill? Are you ready
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Representative Clark Hall Unverified 34:52
to close for your bill? I'm ready to close, Mr. Chairman. Are you closed, sir? Yes, sir. We're closed for the bill. We have a motion to do pass. Rep. Clemmer, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say no. You passed your bill. Thank you. Congratulations. Ladies, we'll meet tomorrow. We adjourn until tomorrow morning at our regular scheduled meeting.
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Agenda

Call to Order

0:00

SB990

3:08

HB2209

7:57

HB1039

9:06

SB881

24:18

SB882

26:34

SB883

27:33

HB2089

29:47

Adjournment

35:12

Documents

No documents posted.

Speakers

Representative Clark Hall Unverified
28 segments
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck Unverified
17 segments
Speaker 5
1 segment
Speaker 10
1 segment
Speaker 17
1 segment
Speaker 18
2 segments
Representative Mary L. Slinkard Unverified
18 segments
Speaker 26
1 segment
Representative Tracy Pennartz Unverified
14 segments
Speaker 38
1 segment
Speaker 22
4 segments
Speaker 43
2 segments
Martha Adcock Unverified
2 segments
Speaker 59
11 segments
Representative Nate Bell Unverified
2 segments
Speaker 67
3 segments
Representative Jane English Unverified
24 segments
Speaker 74
1 segment
Speaker 71
2 segments
Speaker 80
1 segment
Speaker 6
1 segment
Representative Jim Nickels Unverified
8 segments
Senator Percy Malone Unverified
13 segments
Speaker 11
1 segment
Speaker 105
1 segment
Speaker 108
2 segments
Speaker 109
1 segment
Representative Linda S. Tyler Unverified
3 segments
Speaker 45
1 segment
Representative Bruce Westerman Unverified
9 segments
Speaker 96
1 segment