State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs- House
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Bills discussed (4)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1342
· 4 mentions in transcript, agenda, chapter
Matched: “…nk you. Next on the agenda, we have Representative Godfrey, House Bill 1342. Members, this is another bill we've already heard that's c…”
|
PERMITTING NONIMMIGRANTS LEGALLY ADMITTED TO THE UNITED STATES UNDER A COMPACT OF FREE ASSOCIATION TO … | Godfrey | Died in House Committee at Sine Die Adjournment |
|
HB1017
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript, agenda
Matched: “HB1017 Rye CONCERNING DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME; AND TO ADOPT DAYLIGHT…”
|
CONCERNING DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME; AND TO ADOPT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME PERMANENTLY. | Rye | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB227
Act 148
· 3 mentions in agenda, transcript, chapter
Matched: “AGENDA (Revised 2/7/21 @ 2:55 PM) Added SB227 & SB228 House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental…”
|
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, agenda, chapter
Matched: “run SB 228 first. Is that acceptable? Yeah, that's fine with me. Witho…”
|
TO MAKE TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO STATUTES GOVERNING THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE DIVISION OF CORRECTION AND … | Rapert | Notification that SB228 is now Act 152 |
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Chair
Unverified
0:00
Chair sees a quorum, so we'll get this meeting started today and try to run this one on time. Members, this may be a very short meeting. I know Representative Hawks is running late, so he may or may not make it to run Senator Rapert's bills, but we might as well get started anyway. House Bill 1017, Representative Rye, you're recognized to run your bill. okay thank you committee uh tried this
Representative Johnny Rye
Unverified
0:42
one last week we had a few problems especially
on the the borders of our state i think that was the biggest problem that we had and basically what we've done the federal government's in charge of the daylight saving time and regular time too but this uh the amendment actually makes this to where we do not go in on daylight saving time totally until all surrounding states uh are with us on it
Chair
Unverified
1:13
okay any questions from committee members
seeing none we have nobody signed up to speak for or against this bill Representative Lateman do you have let's hear
your motion motion do pass I have a motion do pass any discussion on the motion Representative Love
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:39
you're recognized for discussion on the motion thank you Mr. Chair Representative Ryan from the last oh yeah that's right
Mr. Chair I guess from our last discussion, I thought we were saying that we already had this bill passed. Is that not correct? No,
Speaker 13
2:05
session there was something similar to this that we heard through
Chair
Unverified
2:13
the House. I did not keep up with the progression
of it through the Senate. Okay. All right. Thank you. Representative Cozart, you're
Representative Bruce Cozart
Unverified
2:26
recognized to speak to the motion. Mr. Chair, I'm pretty sure that we have a bill that already does the same thing. And it was Representative Capran last session. I believe it does identically the same thing. All this bill will do is just float along beside it if
Speaker 14
2:46
we pass it. Okay. Any further discussion on the do pass motion?
Chair
Unverified
2:51
Seeing none, all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? No. Ayes have it. Congratulations. You passed your bill. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have Representative Godfrey, House Bill 1342. Members, this is another bill we've already heard that's coming back that's in an amended version. Representative Godfrey, you're recognized to present your amended bill. Thank you, Mr.
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
3:14
Chair. Thank you, committee. I do just want to say this is an amendment based on the committee's feedback last time
to House Bill 1342, the Marshallese Law Enforcement Act. That part in Section 4, to clarify, was just inadvertently and unintentionally left off. And so thank you to the committee for kind of bringing that to my attention, and I was happy to make that change. Just to kind of recap some of the highlights, this bill would allow individuals who are here under the Compact of Free Association, most likely Marshallese here in Arkansas to serve as law enforcement officers in their communities. It's been a collaborative effort by Marshallese and by law enforcement has broad
support in communities all across Arkansas, and I'd be happy to answer any additional questions you
Chair
Unverified
4:03
have. Any questions from Representative Ladyman? You're recognized for a
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
4:10
question. Representative Godfrey, just for clarification, I'm not clear. So does this bill allow them to be state police, or does it allow them to be local, city, and county police? I mean, are they qualified to be state police now, or can they be any kind of police now?
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
4:28
Can you kind of address that? Sure, I can address that. So it was, the bill was originally a collaboration from local police officers, from my chief of police and from my county sheriff, with the focus of being city and county officers. So that is addressed in the bill. But because the Department of Public Safety and sheriffs and police chiefs were so supportive of the bill, we expanded that eligibility to any law enforcement officer, including, as we talked about last time, auxiliary officers.
Chair
Unverified
5:00
Thank you. Representative Speaks, you're recognized? Yes, my question. Okay. Any other questions from
Representative Marcus E. Richmond
Unverified
5:14
committee members? Yeah, Representative Richmond, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Very quickly, could this not, if it's going to be done basically for local, and I think that's the intent, could this not
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
5:26
be done with a rule change? I'm not sure. In my conversations with Secretary Cook, she was very supportive of the change being made legislatively.
I think just to reflect the will of this body, I think, too, we did need a statutory change both for state police and auxiliary. And so just for consistency's sake, we thought that legislation was appropriate mechanism for the change. Thank you, Representative
Chair
Unverified
5:53
Godfrey. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. so just to clarify on that the the only thing in statute now preventing police officers or preventing non-citizens from being police officers is in state police which is addressed
at the top of this bill in the auxiliary police which were addressed at the bottom anything preventing the city and county was just in a rule change or just a rule by Arkansas law enforcement training academies just clarification there any other questions by committee members okay seeing none oh I'm sorry
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
6:30
representative Beck you're recognized thank you mr. chair I
have a question does this allow like a are they
Is this allowing them to join an existing, like the state police, maybe the, I mean, excuse me, the state police or the, or like the local, local existing police staff? So it doesn't create a new one or anything? That's correct. It doesn't create a new one. So that would just be part of, like, I'm just, does this
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
7:06
city have its own police department? Right, so this would just expand eligibility to any existing police department or sheriff department for individuals here under that Compact of Free Association.
It's not creating any new departments or any
Chair
Unverified
7:23
new jurisdictions. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Representative Beck, even if there were a new jurisdiction created, they would still have to follow the rules of Arkansas Law
Enforcement Training Academy, so it would still be subject
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
7:38
to their rules. Representative Love, you have a question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Godfrey, I believe in the testimony that was given. Can you, I guess, expound or answer this?
I think that the Council of Generals said that they're able to serve in the military. Yes. Is that correct? That's correct. But individuals under the Combat to Free Association
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
8:00
can enlist and serve in the U.S. military. I think that's why, and that was, you know, one of the advantages of having individuals from these communities who are, you know, well-trained and are able to protect our country use those skills and be able to protect their communities. Okay. All right. Thank you. Any other questions from committee members?
Chair
Unverified
8:23
Okay. Seeing none, we have no one to sign up to speak for against this bill.
Representative Love. You have a motion? Motion do pass. Representative Godfrey, are you closed? I'm closed, and I appreciate a good vote. Okay. All right. Committee, we have a motion do pass on the table. All in favor, say aye. I'm sorry. I about skipped the discussion. Thanks, Representative Payton, for stopping me there. Okay. Discussion on the motion. Representative Payton, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Representative John Payton
Unverified
8:54
And I appreciate Representative Godfrey amending this bill. But the more I've thought about it, I can't get comfortable with it because I heard the testimony at the end of the table where this community doesn't trust outsiders, and yet we're asked to trust them with police powers. I've seen other examples around the nation and in foreign countries where people form sex in their own little area of town where they try to shut out local police and form their own jurisdiction.
And I don't like the precedents it sets. I think we all love this community and appreciate them. And if I felt like it was just dealing with them and would never become any broader, I might could support it. But I see a precedence that we're setting here, letting non-citizens serve as state police and auxiliary that I can't get comfortable with. So I'll be voting no. Representative
Chair
Unverified
10:01
Love, you recognize for discussion on the motion.
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
10:05
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And piggybacking off of the comments of Representative Payton, I think he just made the argument for why it's so important that we pass this bill. And the reason being is that if we were to incorporate citizens into the police department of Springdale or wherever, then you would have persons that could communicate. And I think that was one of the – and that's why I asked Representative Godfrey to kind of comment on the military services because I thought that when he testified, the consulate general testified, they were saying that the language barrier was an issue.
And so why they incorporated them into the military is because of the language barrier. And I believe that's why you find such a distrust, because if I cannot communicate with you, then how am I to be able to trust you and what you're saying? Not the fact that the mistrust is because of the fact that they just don't trust the police, but it might be because of the language barriers and different things like that. And so I believe that incorporating some of those citizens into it makes the police force more effective in the job that they do, because as we know, police is where they're there to protect and serve.
And if you have a language barrier to where you cannot communicate either written or verbally with someone, then you cannot effectively serve them. And so I think for that reason, and many more, I think that it is a good piece of legislation, and we need to incorporate those citizens so that we can have a police force that's reflective of that community. Thank you. Thank you. Representative
Chair
Unverified
12:02
Richmond, you're recognized for discussion on the motion.
Representative Marcus E. Richmond
Unverified
12:05
Thank you, Mr. Chair. You know, I think that the argument that we need somebody to communicate, be able to communicate with this committee or this community puts it in a situation where we actually need those folks, if they're going to be part of law enforcement, that they be there in the community. And because of that, this could simply be done with a rule change. And a rule change is, in my opinion, more appropriate than changing the whole law in this particular case. So that's the
Chair
Unverified
12:38
reason why I'll be voting no. Representative
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
12:47
Beck, you're recognized for discussion. Representative Love brings up a good point, but if you could look
at that the other way, could there be a communications issue the other way? So these people are not joining that community's law enforcement. They're joining a larger community's. So there could be a communications issue the other way, right? That the Marshallese would not be able to communicate someone the other way. So I'm not saying for or against this bill. It just seems
like that's, you know, that point could be
Chair
Unverified
13:18
made either way. Representative Love, you
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
13:20
recognize for further discussion. So the thing about it is if you, if you are, because I'm familiar with the Marshallese, the reading, the reading communication does not translate. And so it It makes it more, you know, the written doesn't translate. Just like if it was Spanish, it would be a little different because the Spanish language translates the English language and the fluency there.
But it's not so much as with the Marshallese. And so the language barriers are really the issue and why it's so vitally important that we incorporate this community within the police force so that we're able to effectively communicate with them. So that's, I mean, it's not that they're choosing not to. is that there are just some real gaps in the service that they can provide.
Chair
Unverified
14:23
Okay. Representative Whitaker, you recognize for discussion on the motion. Thank
Representative David Whitaker
Unverified
14:33
you, Mr. Chair. If this were a situation where the Marshallese could somehow become citizens and then their barrier to service would be wiped away, this would be a different discussion. But for the most part, most members of the Marshallese community and, indeed, most people subject to these compacts
are not even allowed to seek citizenship. So what happens here is, unless you carve out a spot like this, their opportunity to serve at all simply won't exist. And the truth is, they do serve in our armed forces. As a six-year member of the United States Air Force, I knew people from both the Marshall Islands and from, we have a similar arrangement with the Philippines. They raised their right hand. They swear on the same Constitution we do when they come to serve.
They choose to serve. Under the compact, they're allowed to live here their whole life. Many of them, indeed, from childhood have. And if we don't do this, we foreclose their opportunity to serve our communities. I'll be
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
15:50
voting yes. Representative Ladyman, do you recognize for discussion on the motion? Thank
you, Mr. Chairman. Well, you know, I don't want to get in the discussion between Representative Payton and Representative Love.
You know, I feel like people that have a lot in common can communicate better, so that's not really an issue for me. What is an issue, the Secretary of Public Health was here last week and basically said that this could be handled at the state level through the state police training, and I think her comment was that it already is, but this would just solidify that. So I don't know why we can't just make a change by rule
to add this group in what's already there. And, I mean, I support what you're doing. I do support that. I think a better way to do it is with a minor rule change, because Representative Godfrey, with the discussion in here, there's a big chance that this may not make it all the way through the four hurdles that it has to go through five, basically counting the governor. So I think what you're wanting to do would be much easier to do in rules, and it could be done there much simpler, and it would accomplish the same thing.
So for that reason, I'm going to vote against it here, but in
Chair
Unverified
17:20
rules, I would definitely vote for
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
17:25
it. Representative Beck, you're recognized for discussion. No, I promise. But the statement of Representative Whitaker brings up another point. If you do the root cause analysis on this, The problem is not that we need to make them where they can join the police office.
They need a path to citizenship. If they had a path to citizenship, then they could join the force. So really, this is a Band-Aid. I appreciate the intent of the law. I think it's a good, and we should, but this is the path they need is a path to citizenship, to full citizenship in this country, not Band-Aids around being a full citizen because they're not. I just think that for that reason, we should look at the other side of this,
is how do we get them to where they can be full citizens, full members of this
Chair
Unverified
18:22
country? Thank you. Just to answer that, I think the compact itself is what restricts them from becoming citizens, so it would take an amendment to that compact of free association to do that, and I have no idea what that would require to get that done. Okay, seeing no further discussion, we have a motion to do pass on the table. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? No.
Ayes have it. Congratulations. Need two hands. Okay, call the
Speaker 55
19:02
roll. Representative Meeks. Representative Meeks. Representative
Speaker 56
19:07
Jean. Representative Love. Yes. Representative Duffinball.
Yes. Representative Wardlaw. Yes. Representative Kozart. Yes. Representative Dotson. Representative Dotson. Representative Miller. Representative Miller. Representative Whittaker? Yes. Representative Payton? No. Representative Ladyman? No. Representative Gray?
Yes. Representative Beck? Representative Beck? Representative Speaks? No. Representative Richmond? No. Representative McCollum? Representative McCollum Representative Johnson Representative Johnson Representative Hawks Representative Hawks
Chair
Unverified
20:29
For lack of votes, this bill has failed. Thank you. Committee, Representative Hawks was supposed to run Representative Rapert's bills in here today. Okay, Representative Ladyman, you're recognized to run Senate Bill 227.
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
21:03
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I could, I'd like to
run SB 228 first. Is that acceptable? Yeah, that's fine with me. Without objection, we'll take up Senate Bill 228. You may proceed. The
reason I want to do that, that looks like an easier one because I haven't had much background on this. But this bill basically is just technical changes. If you read through that, down there on line 4, on I think that's page 2, it talks about the Secretary of the Department of Corrections, refers to a different code.
And on down, it changes department to division, a couple places. It changed correction to corrections, secretary. So it's basically just a technical update. I don't believe it does anything else that I could find in the bill. So if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer those or try to. Representative Wardlaw, you're recognized
Chair
Unverified
22:09
for questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Where's
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
22:12
the department at on these two bills? Are they in favor or are these their bills?
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
22:18
According to Hawks, there's no opposition that he knows of. I talked with him earlier. Representative Gene, do
Chair
Unverified
22:27
you have to be recognized for questions? Well, do you
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
22:30
know if the department supports these bills is what we're trying to find out. I didn't ask
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
22:36
him that question specifically, but I asked him if there were any issues with the bills, and he said no. Representative Vordog,
Chair
Unverified
22:44
you're recognized for questions. Mr. Chairman, I'd make
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
22:46
a request that we hold these two bills so we can talk to the department.
I just don't feel comfortable with this type of language changes without the department present to tell us one way or the
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
23:00
other. Okay, yeah, that's reasonable. Okay, so you're... So
Chair
Unverified
23:06
I'll defer to Representative Hawks. Okay, we'll just hold these two bills until the next meeting. They'll be on Wednesday's agenda then. We also have a pretty full agenda Wednesday, so y'all come prepared to work. Also, if y'all know of any bills out here that should go on the consent agenda that we can pick up at any time,
if y'all get with me, we can get those added on. If y'all keep up with what bills are being referred here, help me out with that. And keep these agendas going, I would greatly appreciate it. Seeing no further business, we are adjourned.
Agenda
REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle
HB1017 Rye CONCERNING DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME; AND TO ADOPT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME PERMANENTLY.
HB1342 Godfrey PERMITTING NONIMMIGRANTS LEGALLY ADMITTED TO THE UNITED STATES UNDER A COMPACT OF FREE ASSOCIATION TO BE A CERTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER; AND TO BE KNOWN AS THE "MARSHALLESE LAW ENFORCEMENT ACT".
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 8, 2021 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Chair
Unverified
Representative Johnny Rye
Unverified
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Speaker 12
Speaker 13
Representative Bruce Cozart
Unverified
Speaker 14
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
Representative Marcus E. Richmond
Unverified
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
Representative John Payton
Unverified
Representative David Whitaker
Unverified
Speaker 55
Speaker 56
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified