State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs- House
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Bills discussed (7)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1372
Act 272
· 3 mentions in chapter, agenda, transcript
Matched: “HB1372 Bryant TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING CAMPAIGN FINANCE; T…”
|
TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING CAMPAIGN FINANCE; TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING CARRYOVER FUNDS; AND … | Bryant | Notification that HB1372 is now Act 272 |
|
SB172
Act 151
· 3 mentions in chapter, agenda, transcript
Matched: “SB172 G. Leding CONCERNING RECORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS KEPT BY THE ST…”
|
CONCERNING RECORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS KEPT BY THE STATE CRIME LABORATORY; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | G. Leding | Notification that SB172 is now Act 151 |
|
SB227
Act 148
· 3 mentions in transcript, chapter, agenda
Matched: “…your bill. Thank you, committee. Next on the list, we have Senate Bill 227. Representative Hawks, I believe you're going to run these…”
|
CONCERNING THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF THE PAROLE BOARD, THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, AND THE SECRETARY … | Rapert | Notification that SB227 is now Act 148 |
|
SB228
Act 152
· 3 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “…or Rayford's bill. Okay. Next on the list, you can start on Senate Bill 228.”
|
TO MAKE TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO STATUTES GOVERNING THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE DIVISION OF CORRECTION AND … | Rapert | Notification that SB228 is now Act 152 |
|
HB1373
Act 505
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…OF CARRYOVER FUNDS FOR AN OFFICE WITHOUT AN ANNUAL SALARY. HB1373 A. Collins TO AMEND THE LAW TO REQUIRE THAT PERSONNEL OF PU…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW TO REQUIRE THAT PERSONNEL OF PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINTS OR DISPATCH … | A. Collins | Notification that HB1373 is now Act 505 |
|
SB118
Act 379
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “AGENDA (Revised 2/9/21 @ 11:20 PM) Removed SB118 & SB119 House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS PUBLIC SERVICE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM; AND TO ESTABLISH EXTRA HELP POSITIONS FOR … | D. Wallace | Notification that SB118 is now Act 379 |
|
SB119
Act 573
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “AGENDA (Revised 2/9/21 @ 11:20 PM) Removed SB118 & SB119 House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs…”
|
TO AMEND THE UNIFORM ATTENDANCE AND LEAVE POLICY ACT; AND TO AMEND THE CATASTROPHIC LEAVE … | D. Wallace | Notification that SB119 is now Act 573 |
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Chair
Unverified
0:00
All right, committee, my time says, my clock says it's time to start, so chair sees a quorum. We'll get this meeting underway. Committee, I want to remind you all that today is the last day to file a constitutional amendment, So if y'all know anybody that has those out there, tell them to get them in by the end of business today.
And I spoke with Representative Tosh Monday, I guess, and he plans on being back in here next week. He's doing good, still getting around good. Pain's mostly gone, so praise the Lord for that. All right, let's get started on this agenda. house bill 1372 representative bryant you are recognized to present your bill
did did you have anyone you wanted to bring up to the table with you just just you okay you're
Speaker 3
1:13
welcome again anytime it's just me thank you mr chair uh members of the committee i first apologize i i was made aware last night that uh the the bill i submitted was a little too narrow and didn't give a lot of context to to the issue that that i'm trying to address here my name is representative bryant from ben county i spent four years as a justice of the peace before taking this position as elected official down here in the state
and there's a little bit of concern over carryover funds as it relates to certain positions that are elected um if you look at statute 7-6-203 that's really the bulk of the meat that that concerns the use of carryover funds um it talks about how to acquire them how to and how to dispose of them it goes in depth how to handle if you're unopposed nonpartisan partisan and it really makes no distinct distinction between which office you seek as far as county state federal
so it gives real clear guidance on what to do with your carryover funds it's not until you go backwards in the statute to 201-3a do you realize that you have to have an annual salary to be able to be eligible to carry over these funds so what the bill i've proposed does is really just gives a means for offices that that get paid on a meeting per meeting basis So JPs meet, they might meet for committee, they definitely meet for committee of the whole, they definitely meet for quorum court.
And they get a salary that's got a cap to it, but is set by within their own court. So they get annually, so a J.P. up in Benton County, if he attends all meetings, will get probably between $8,000 to $10,000 a year in income, taxable income. but if he raises funds throughout the throughout his campaign cycle at the end of that year he's got to give them back to those that gave it or he's got a dispose of it according to the statute in 203 so what this bill will do is just
allow it allow them to carry over up to three thousand dollars so they can use it on the next campaign cycle with that I'll
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
3:30
take any questions okay Representative Beck, you're
recognized for questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So just to help me clarify this a bit, this would only salaries,
not per diem, or would per diem be considered salary? Well, this would just cap it.
Speaker 3
3:49
Right now it's only salaries that the statute applies to. Right. So if you're seeking the office of county judge and the salary is $100,000, you can carry over funds up to that. It has nothing to do with a per diem or any basis like that. This would just basically give a cap to an amount, whether you earn it through per diem or you earn it through, it's not really an earned basis, it's just a cap to what you can carry over on what you've got donated to your campaign. All right, thank you. Representative Love, you're recognized.
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
4:22
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and Representative Bryan, thank you for the bill because I will tell I work as a county employee. I'm an appointee by the county judge, and my Cornport officers are always talking to me about this. So this is a pretty good bill. I just wanted to ask you, do you think $3,000 is a large enough cap? I mean, as a JP, when you're out there running and you can only, I guess, carry over $3,000,
If you were to tell a state representative that you could only carry over $3,000 in your fund, I think most of us would be upset, angry, and, you know, we'll run you out of the capital. But we're saying JPs, we're only setting the limit to $3,000 for
Speaker 3
5:12
a JP. I debated that. In fact, BLR's original draft had $5,000. And as a JP in second largest county, I really never raised that much capital for a campaign, even though up there most of your campaigns are in the primary cycle.
I would say $3,000 for me is a good number. Somebody pointed out to me that's also the filing fee for a state rep position, and that's the door we're opening, which, hey, that's democracy. I think that's great. So I'm open to suggestions, but like I said, JPs, not a lot of people know what they do or really understand the position. So however it is obviously a partisan position, so it does have election consequences. So that's worth $3,000. It really just is a number I said as far as it's really.
Speaker 14
6:01
Well, I appreciate your bill. Thank you. Thank
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
6:10
you, Mr. Chair. Representative Bladyman, you're recognized. Representative Bryant, just to interest, and I'm just interested in this question, the Association of Counties, did they have any input on this bill at
Speaker 3
6:20
all? Not directly. I asked Josh Curtis with it, and he just kind of gave me a thumbs up. He didn't have any official response to it.
Chair
Unverified
6:31
Any other questions from committee? We don't have anyone signed up to speak for or against this bill. Anybody in the audience want to speak for or against? Representative Bryant? Representative Beck,
it's looking like you might have a question. Are you good? yep just motion at the appropriate time okay representative bryant are you closed for your bill yes mr chair okay
representative beck which what's your motion motion do pass okay have a motion do pass on the table any discussion on the motion seeing none all in favor say aye
all opposed eyes have it congratulations represent bryant you have passed your bill thank you next on the agenda we had 1373 representative collins had notified me that he is not quite ready to run that. He's still working on amendments. So I guess I would like to move that back to the referred bills. I think that will give him time to give the committee notice that he can bring that back up at a later date. So next on the list, Senate
Bill 172, which was Senator Letting's bill. If you would just introduce yourself
to the committee and y'all may begin. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and
Representative Ashley Hudson
Unverified
7:59
thank you, committee. I'm Representative Ashley Hudson from District 32 here in West Little Rock, and I'm here
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
8:05
today with Secretary Graves from the Department of Corrections.
Senate Bill 172 is an update and a revision of 1212-312, which deals with records and photographs kept by the state crime lab and access given to prisoners in the Department of Corrections system. Following passage of the original statute back in 2019, the Secretary was made aware of some concerns that were being raised by prosecutors and other law enforcement regarding the access that some prisoners had to certain crime scene photographs,
in particular victim photographs, that were being used for purposes other than legal defense. So based upon those concerns, Senator Letting went back with the Department of Corrections and with the assistance of the defense bar and the prosecutors to come up with a solution that allowed for prisoners to maintain their rights to prepare for any appeals or any sort of legal action, but also protected some of those very graphic photographs from being
distributed to prisoners and to the population in prisons. And so what this bill does is a couple of changes. If you look on page 1 at line 35, it has added the Attorney General's Office as one of the offices that is allowed to have access to these photographs. That was an omission last time, and the Attorney General's Office, of course, handles some of these appeals and needs access to those photographs. The other big change, if you go to page two, at the very last line on line 36 is where the big changes occur,
and that is an entirely new section three that says that a defendant is not entitled to a photograph that depicts the crime scene or victim or the autopsy. It does not deny access to those photos to the prisoner's attorney, and it does not deny access to the prisoner to the rest of the file from the crime lab. So what they are trying to do is very narrowly tailored to ensure that these very sensitive and graphic photographs are not being distributed and shared in
the prison populations and to make sure that they are being handled appropriately for legal purposes. And I've
Representative Ashley Hudson
Unverified
10:34
got Secretary Graves here to fill in any gaps and we're both
Speaker 26
10:42
happy to answer any questions as well. Representative Graves, did you have anything you wanted
Speaker 28
10:50
to add to that? I don't know if I promoted you
Representative Jim Dotson
Unverified
10:54
or promoted you. I just want to publicly thank Senator Letting and Representative Hudson
and Representative Underwood for sponsoring this bill for us. Last session, the General Assembly ran a good bill, But this is simply about plugging a hole that keeps pictures that are intended to be used as trophies out of our facilities and
Chair
Unverified
11:19
re-victimizing families. Okay, we have several questions from committee members.
Representative Dotson, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the main question I have on this is if someone needs to see the evidence against them, they can still see that.
They just can't have possession of it and take it
Representative Jim Dotson
Unverified
11:46
with them under this. Is that what I'm understanding? This would absolve the crime lab responsibility of providing those photographs as part of the record. They still will provide a copy of the narrative autopsy report, which we have no objection to. And as a department, we are completely supportive of a criminal defendant's ability to mount a vigorous defense, whether at trial or on appeal.
This is simply about taking pictures that are intended to be used as trophies out of our facilities. If a court still wants to order that they receive the photos, then that is the right of the court. This bill clearly states that their attorney of record can still have access to the full file inclusive of the photos. This simply keeps these photos that are intended to be used as trophies out of the hands of inmates in a correctional facility. So if
Chair
Unverified
12:42
the attorney has access to the full file and they're meeting with their client,
then they would have access in that attorney meeting but not necessarily have possession of the photograph to take back into the facility? Yes. Okay. So they would have the ability
Speaker 33
13:00
to lay eyes on the photo at some point in time? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you.
Representative Marcus E. Richmond
Unverified
13:12
Representative Richmond, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I'm going to ask a what-if question just to understand. I hate these kind of questions, but what if the attorney, the individual's attorney, gives them those photographs and lets them keep those photographs? What if that happens? What can you
Representative Jim Dotson
Unverified
13:32
do or not do concerning that?
In that situation, it would be treated as contraband, and we would take those photos from the inmate's possession. Thank you, sir. Thank
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
13:45
you, Mr. Chair. Representative Bladyman, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just had a question about the language here, and I'm looking at line 36. It says this section does not require the laboratory. uh so that means that they're not required to provide it but they could provide it i mean is
is the point here to stop them from providing it if it is it seems like it would read not allowed
to provide uh i'll i'll take that just from a statutory construction standpoint um if you go down into page three um you know since we read the statute as a whole what when you go to line nine that says that it doesn't, or line 6 rather, the section doesn't deny access to an attorney or prohibit the court from ordering it. The language on line 36 of page 2 saying does not require
read in concert with that other language shows that this is not a full-on ban on the lab providing these documents if these other circumstances arise. So if an attorney requests it or if a court orders it. Any other questions from committee members? Seeing none, we don't have anyone to sign
Chair
Unverified
15:00
up to speak for or against this. Anyone in the audience would like to speak for or against this? Seeing none, Representative Hudson, are you closed for your bill? Yes, yes, we're closed for
the bill. Thank you. Okay, what's the will of the committee? Motion do pass. We'll have a motion do passed, excuse me, by Representative Richmond. Any discussion on the motion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Congratulations. You have passed your bill. Thank you, committee. Next on the list, we have Senate Bill 227. Representative Hawks, I believe you're going to run these for Representative Rapert or Senator Rapert. Man, I'm messing up bad this morning. I need more coffee or something.
Anybody can request it. If you would, Representative Hawks, just have your guests introduce themselves for the record. Y'all may begin. Okay.
John Phelps
Unverified
16:19
All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members.
My name is John Phelps. I'm chairman of
Speaker 55
16:30
the Arkansas Parole Board. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative Spencer Hawks. And if I remember correctly, I think somebody tried to run some of these bills the other day, and there were some questions. I think the primary question was, does the department approve of these bills? And, yes, these are department bills. These are cleanup bills that I'll be running today from the transformation, relatively simple bills,
changing language as far as what the secretary can do in exercising their duties and who they can consult with and what consultation is and is not. And I'm open for any questions. yeah i'll start
Chair
Unverified
17:18
off with a question um so when it's describing consultation on page one line 35 and on on through line or on through page two
says that consultation does not include approval but then if you read on down before you run any legislation it does require approvals it seems like that kind of takes quite a bit of authority away from y'all.
John Phelps
Unverified
17:49
Are y'all okay with how that's written? Yes, Mr. Chairman. I would say that this is supported wholeheartedly by the parole board and also by the secretary's office. Basically, like any parole board across the United States, we depend on our independence
as a board to make determinations of parole based on fact-based and also independence that we might have through best practice, and our primary purpose is just to make sure that as we go about our daily process that we're not influenced by outside forces to say you must release these people, you must keep these people, and that we can rely, again, continually on our best practice and, again, keep that autonomy as a board.
Chair
Unverified
18:41
Okay, thank you. Representative Love, you're recognized. Thank
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
18:45
you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for that question, because now I've got to think
about some things. All right, so the parole board is now under the Secretary of Corrections, is that correct? That is correct. Okay, so if the chair of the parole board was to consult the secretary, and then they had... Wait a minute, let me ask you this first. is the chair of the parole board
is that a position that's chosen by the governor or chosen by the secretary I am appointed by the governor you're appointed by the governor I don't have
Chair
Unverified
19:31
any other questions thank you any other questions from committee members seeing none we have no one to sign up to speak for or against Rep. Hawks, are you closed for your bill?
I'm closed for my bill. I'll make a motion to do pass. Okay. I'll have a motion to do pass on the table. Any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Congratulations. You've passed Senator Rayford's bill. Okay. Next on the list, you can start on Senate Bill 228.
Speaker 55
20:07
All right, I would like to have Ms. Lindsay Wallace come and join me at the table.
Speaker 63
20:16
Good morning, committee members. Thank you for having me. I'm Lindsay Wallace, Chief of
Speaker 55
20:24
Staff for the Department of Corrections. Senate Bill 228, again, is a cleanup bill from the transformation. A lot of it is just language correction. And you guys can look through there. If you have any questions about any of that, I'd be open to answer that this time.
Chair
Unverified
20:50
Let's see. Any questions from committee members? Representative Richmond, you're
Representative Marcus E. Richmond
Unverified
21:01
recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the confidence that you sounded off with on that particular thing. I withdraw my question. Representative Ladyman, you're recognized.
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
21:16
Representative Honks, if I feel in for you again, do you have Ms. Lindsay here to help me out?
Speaker 69
21:25
I would have been here Monday if I'd known you were going to run into
Speaker 50
21:32
my apologies. Seeing no more questions, we don't have anybody to sign up to speak
Chair
Unverified
21:36
for or against. Representative Hawks, are you closed for your bill? I'm closed for the bill and make a motion to pass. All right. I have a motion to pass. Any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Congratulations. You have passed Senator Rapert's other bill. Thank you. Committee, we have no other business on the agenda, so we are adjourned.
Agenda
REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle
HB1372 Bryant TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING CAMPAIGN FINANCE; TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING CARRYOVER FUNDS; AND TO ESTABLISH A MINIMUM AMOUNT OF CARRYOVER FUNDS FOR AN OFFICE WITHOUT AN ANNUAL SALARY.
HB1373 A. Collins TO AMEND THE LAW TO REQUIRE THAT PERSONNEL OF PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINTS BE TRAINED IN TELEPHONE CPR.
SB172 G. Leding CONCERNING RECORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS KEPT BY THE STATE CRIME LABORATORY; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
SB227 Rapert CONCERNING THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF THE PAROLE BOARD, THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, AND THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; AND CONCERNING THE VOTE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PAROLE BOARD TO ACT.
SB228 Rapert TO MAKE TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO STATUTES GOVERNING THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE DIVISION OF CORRECTION AND THE DIVISION OF COMMUNITY CORRECTION.
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS- HOUSE, Feb 10, 2021 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 3
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Speaker 14
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
Representative Ashley Hudson
Unverified
Speaker 26
Speaker 28
Representative Jim Dotson
Unverified
Speaker 33
Representative Marcus E. Richmond
Unverified
John Phelps
Unverified
Speaker 55
Speaker 63
Speaker 69
Speaker 50