Senate Floor Session

And. Well I want. With the. What we do in the prayer the pledge everything. Please take note that senator garner Senator flowers joining is virtually thank you all. Senate call while. Is gonna lead us in prayer and will allow. After she calls. Please call the roll. Ballinger Beckham Bledsoe Caldwell Chesterfield Clark Davis Dismang Eads Elliott English Flippo flowers Garner Gilmore hammer Hendren Hester Hickey Hill Ingram Irvin Blake Johnson Mark Johnson Leding Pitsch Rapert Rice sample Stubblefield Sturch Sullivan Teague Tucker Wallace thank you everyone please stand including those gallery circle. Thank you please pray. Follow just thank you that we can come together tonight again to do the business of the state we're just so thankful that you've given us a health and the ability to come together and and do your work the for the people of state of Arkansas we ask you just to be with everyone as we adjourned in a few minutes and and go back to our families to bill with this and watch over some guys and and we pray all these things in Jesus name amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. In our house any items at the desk. Where your committee on engrossed bills to whom was referred house bill 1957 represent Wardlaw compared the engrossed copy with the original find same correctly engrossed counted. Yesterday. Senator Irvin. In 1957 mess representative what on Senator Irvin concerning the enforcement of federal firearm bans within the state of Arkansas and concerning state constitutional right to serve in. Thank you members and this and present the constitution of the United States of America is to me and to many as sacred document that protects our rights as Americans house bill 1957 reflects that protection from federal over reach and more importantly secures the constitutional right of state sovereignty the Arkansas sovereignty active 2021 is to our friend and colleague senator Gary Stubblefield it is through his dedication to his constituents to our state and to the constitution that this bill is even before us here today 1957 does with the vast majority of the elected officials in the General Assembly wants us to do to protect our sovereign rights as a state and to protect our rights under the United States constitution the bill addresses the known issues and Senate bill 298 that affected the current cases that prosecuting attorneys alerted many of us to that would jeopardize their ability to hold these these criminals accountable for their crimes and to bring justice for these victims the references to past and current federal laws are removed and this bill is specific to any federal bans beginning in January 1 of 2021 this addresses the constitutionality problem and Senate bill 298 as well as the funding issues with the game and fish federal bans is clearly defined in section 16130 on page 3 top of page 4 of the bill this definition section is in addition to provide clarity as well as again referencing the start date of January one twenty twenty one the next section is specific to the firearm at the second amendment of the U. S. constitution and the Arkansas constitution article 2 section 5 which clearly defines the intent of this legislation in protecting our citizens right to bear arms declares state sovereignty and rejects any and all federal actions that infringe upon these rights further it describes the persons who are prohibited from enforcing or assisting federal agencies are officers. In the enforcement of any federal statute executive order or federal agency directive that is in conflict with the Arkansas constitution or Arkansas loss losing qualified immunity was a big concern for our law enforcement officers and sheriffs and Senate bill 298 this bill preserves qualified immunity that provides a different mechanism of punishment that is just as serious and provides the enforcement for this bill and elected officials such as a share of prosecuting attorney constable who is in a constitutional office and who is not as certified law enforcement agent would be subject to an unclassified misdemeanor a law enforcement agent that is a violation of this law would be subject to decertification as a law enforcement officer the enforcement of this law falls to the prosecuting attorney the supervising prosecuting attorney and or to the C. L. E. S. T. board the next section is the enumerated rights protection under article 2 of the Arkansas constitution the change from Senate bill 298 is that all rights are covered with a reference to the constitution versus a list of some of the rights creating lists that leave out any rights would be problematic in protecting each and every rights this section brings into focus the intent of the bill being a true state sovereignty bill the last section clarifies that cooperation between state and federal law enforcement agencies should and must continue on cases related to all crimes to help bring justice for victims and enhance sentencing under federal law except in any law enforcement activity related to a federal ban or the investigation of a violation of a federal ban as defined in this section 16103 the second sheriffs association voted to not oppose this bill I'll be happy to answer any questions any questions anyone would speak against and we speak for Senate. Is closed I'm doesn't say this last thing And closing I believe it is our intent everyone who's named on this bill as well as the sponsors and Senate bill 298 to represent the citizens of Arkansas and to maintain our ability to be protected under the tenth amendment of the United States we have seen unprecedented actions by the federal government that have left many of our citizens turning to us as the elected officials of Arkansas as their line of defense against an overreaching federal governments we are come we are a country based on freedoms and when our freedoms are threatened we must take action through the tools within our U. S. constitution and our Arkansas constitution to protect those freedoms I want to thank you all Senators for your graciousness with me and was representive lord Wardlaw and all the legislators that works through this issue without I'm close and I appreciate a good vote. Your call the roll. Don't roll call the roll. I've already said that. I've already asked me if I want to speak no one said anything if you don't say that so we don't want to speak the center closed call the roll please. We have stairs this desk. Senator Sturch D. A. Senator Ingram may. Senator English yes a center Chesterfield may. Ballinger. Beckham. Bledsoe. Caldwell. Chesterfield is 9 Clark. Clark. Davis. DISMANG. Eads. Elliott. English is yes. Flippo. Flowers. 9:00 hours no. Garner. Garner. Gilmore. Gilmore. Hammer. Hendren. Hendren. Hester. Hickey. Health. Health. Inger mismo Irvin. Blake Johnson. Mark Johnson. Leding. Page. Rapert aye. Rice. Sample. Stubblefield. Stubblefield. Sturch. Sturch. Sullivan. Teague. Teague. Tucker. Wallace. Yes this. Garbage. All. Wish to vote or change their vote Senator Hill aye. Body else over here. Over here. Sir Clark is president Senator Teague is hi anybody else Senator Gilmore the actually County is anybody else over here. Everybody voted. Cast of if you leave don't do that cast up the ballot 26 J. 6 days 2 not voting one present the bill is passed Senator. Which are the House senator. Hickey. Any announcements Senator Hickey wants to be the last the announcmenet NO Senator Hickey is recognized. Thank you members of. I want to say thank you for a while letting me serve as your protium during this first regular session. Your such a fun easy nice loving group the office I'll just make my job or to breeze as a walk in the park so anyway we came into this thing say intern sharpens iron. I don't know about you all but I feel a little bit sharper and I feel that to each one of you has grown and we've all grown together so before before we do go in our extended recess what I would like to do is a thank our staff one more time because as we said the other day none of this works without them and that is true a state. And I wrote it also arguable head be lieutenant governor. Being here. That is where does. We thank you. With that members I move that the center injured enter into an extended recess pursuant to law language in house concurrent resolution 1015 and remain in recess until called to reconvene by the joint proclamation. I haven't.