Senate Convenes
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (28)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
SB99
Act 97
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB99 Bledsoe TO REGULATE STEP THERAPY PROTOCOLS.”
|
TO REGULATE STEP THERAPY PROTOCOLS. | Bledsoe | Notification that SB99 is now Act 97 |
|
SB155
Act 837
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB 155 Davis - TO ESTABLISH LILA'S LAW; AND TO PROHIBIT DISCRIMINA…”
|
TO ESTABLISH LILA'S LAW; AND TO PROHIBIT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES REGARDING ACCESS TO … | B. Davis | Notification that SB155 is now Act 837 |
|
SB264
Act 493
· 2 mentions in transcript
Matched: “…ing fire trucks. Senate Joint Resolution 1. State agencies. Senate Bill 264 by Senator Irving. Renaming the correctional school system”
|
RENAMING THE CORRECTIONAL SCHOOL SYSTEM OPERATED BY THE DIVISION OF CORRECTION THE "ARKANSAS CORRECTIONAL SCHOOL … | Irvin | Notification that SB264 is now Act 493 |
|
SB265
Act 497
· 2 mentions in transcript
Matched: “Senate Bill 264. Education. Senate Bill 265”
|
TO REORGANIZE THE RIVERSIDE VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL SCHOOL INTO THE CORRECTIONS SCHOOL SYSTEM. | Irvin | Notification that SB265 is now Act 497 |
|
SR5
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SR5 T. Garner TO COMMEND THE WORK OF MR. JOE WILSON AND OTHER S…”
|
TO COMMEND THE WORK OF MR. JOE WILSON AND OTHER SUPPORTERS AND TO SUPPORT STEAKS … | T. Garner | Sine Die adjournment |
|
HB1058
Act 219
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “do pass. Calendar. Committee on Judiciary to whom was for House Bill 1058 by Representative Dalby, recommend do pass as amended numbe…”
|
TO PERMIT A JUROR TO DONATE HIS OR HER PER DIEM COMPENSATION AND MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT … | Dalby | Notification that HB1058 is now Act 219 |
|
HB1100
Act 556
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…umber two. Calendar. Committee on Judiciary to whom was for House Bill 1100 by Representative Evans, recommend do pass as amended numbe…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING INDIVIDUALS LISTED AS MANDATED REPORTERS UNDER THE CHILD MALTREATMENT ACT. | Evans | Notification that HB1100 is now Act 556 |
|
HB1109
Act 86
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…Calendar. Committee on Revenue and Taxes, who was deferred House Bill 1109 by Representative Eubanks, recommend do pass.”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE DEPOSIT OF FUNDS BY THE UNCLAIMED PROPERTY ACT. | Eubanks | Notification that HB1109 is now Act 86 |
|
HB1121
Act 88
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1121 Dotson Ballinger AN ACT TO CREATE CONSISTENT LANGUAGE FOR A…”
|
AN ACT TO CREATE CONSISTENT LANGUAGE FOR ALL STATE ENTITIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION STATE DEPARTMENTS, … | Dotson | Notification that HB1121 is now Act 88 |
|
HB1155
Act 345
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “whom was deferred House Bill 1155 by Representative Leidyman, compare the engrossed copy with…”
|
TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO THE RELEASE OF DATA IN THE ARKANSAS CENTRAL CANCER REGISTRY TO … | Ladyman | Notification that HB1155 is now Act 345 |
|
HB1211
Act 94
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1211 Bentley Hammer TO REQUIRE THAT RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS ARE…”
|
TO REQUIRE THAT RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS ARE PROTECTED DURING AN EMERGENCY; TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | Bentley | Notification that HB1211 is now Act 94 |
|
HB1222
Act 129
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…o pass. Calendar. Committee on Judiciary to whom was furred House Bill 1222 by Rep. Dalby, Recommend”
|
CONCERNING THE POSITIONS AND SALARIES OF SUPREME COURT LAW CLERKS AND COURT OF APPEALS LAW … | Dalby | Notification that HB1222 is now Act 129 |
|
HB1229
Act 447
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “you, Governor. I have a request to re-refer House Bill 1229 from Senate Tax and Revenue to state agencies. This is a bi…”
|
TO AMEND THE PROCEDURE BY WHICH THE COMMISSIONER OF STATE LANDS SELLS TAX-DELINQUENT LAND; AND … | Bentley | Notification that HB1229 is now Act 447 |
|
HB1230
Act 92
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1230 Richmond B. Johnson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE ARKANSA…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE ARKANSAS NEW MOTOR VEHICLE QUALITY ASSURANCE ACT; AND TO … | Richmond | Notification that HB1230 is now Act 92 |
|
SB109
Act 100
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…Health. We are committee on joint budget whom was deferred Senate Bill 109 by joint budget, recommend due pass. Calendar. Committee on…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE BUREAU OF LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL APPROPRIATION FOR THE … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB109 is now Act 100 |
|
SB118
Act 379
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB118 D. Wallace TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS PUBLIC SERVICE INTERNSHIP…”
|
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 chapter
Matched: “SB119 D. Wallace TO AMEND THE UNIFORM ATTENDANCE AND LEAVE POLICY…”
|
TO AMEND THE UNIFORM ATTENDANCE AND LEAVE POLICY ACT; AND TO AMEND THE CATASTROPHIC LEAVE … | D. Wallace | Notification that SB119 is now Act 573 |
|
SB162
Act 20
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…ures from the regular session of the 93rd General Assembly. Senate Bill 162, Act 20. Senate Bill 157, Act 21. Senate Bill 144, Act 22.…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE TERMINATION PERIOD REQUIRED FOR RETIREMENT UNDER THE ARKANSAS PUBLIC … | B. Sample | Notification that SB162 is now Act 20 |
|
SB172
Act 151
· 1 mention in chapter
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 |
|
SB189
Act 444
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “can we release Senate Bill 189 to the House? Thank you. Without objection.”
|
TO AMEND THE ASSESSMENT FEE AND PROGRAM ON MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION PROVIDERS WITHIN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID … | Teague | Notification that SB189 is now Act 444 |
|
SB202
Act 102
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…ed to pass. Counter. Committee on Drunk Budget Tune was for Senate Bill 202”
|
AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT PINE BLUFF APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2021-2022 FISCAL … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB202 is now Act 102 |
|
SB217
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…We are your Committee on Engrossed Bills whom was deferred Senate Bill 217 by Senator Tucker, compare the engrossed copy with the orig…”
|
AN ACT TO CLARIFY, CREATE ACCOUNTABILITY AND UNIFORMITY FOR, AND SIMPLIFY ABSENTEE BALLOT PROCESSES; TO … | C. Tucker | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB227
Act 148
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB227 Rapert CONCERNING THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF THE PAROLE BOARD…”
|
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
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB228 Rapert TO MAKE TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO STATUTES GOVERNING T…”
|
TO MAKE TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO STATUTES GOVERNING THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE DIVISION OF CORRECTION AND … | Rapert | Notification that SB228 is now Act 152 |
|
SB236
Act 154
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…one. Calendar. Committee on Revenue and Tax to whom was for Senate Bill 236 by Central Dismang, recommend do pass. Calendar. Committee…”
|
TO EXEMPT UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BENEFITS FROM INCOME TAX DURING A CERTAIN TIME PERIOD; AND TO … | J. Dismang | Notification that SB236 is now Act 154 |
|
SB90
Act 38
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “Senate Bill 90, Act 38. Sincerely, Asa Hutchison, Governor. Violet. We are…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2021-2022 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB90 is now Act 38 |
|
SB93
Act 27
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “Senate Bill 93, Act 27. Senate Bill 92, Act 28, Senate Bill 91, Act 29, Se…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE AUDITOR OF STATE - OPERATIONS AND UNCLAIMED PROPERTY PROGRAM APPROPRIATION FOR … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB93 is now Act 27 |
|
SJR1
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “Callender. Senate Joint Resolution 1 by Senator Clark. A constitutional amendment providing that…”
|
A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROVIDING THAT A MUNICIPALITY MAY INCUR SHORT-TERM FINANCING OBLIGATIONS MATURING OVER A … | A. Clark | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
Speaker 7
6:00
Senate will come to order, Madam Secretary, please call
Speaker 9
6:25
Bledsoe, Caldwell, Chesterfield, Clark, Davis, Dismain, Eads, Elliot, English, Flowers, Garner, Gilmore, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson,
Letting, Pitch Rayford, Rice Sample, Stebafield Sturge, Sullivan Teague, Tucker Wallace Everyone please rise for the prayer including those
Chair
Unverified
6:58
in the gallery including those in the gallery Senator Tucker
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
7:16
Open our lips, O Lord, and our mouths shall proclaim your praise. Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew a right spirit within us. Cast us not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from us. Give us the joy of your saving help again. Please, Lord, give us the strength and courage to do what is right by the people we represent, the people of the great state of Arkansas. Watch over our families and all those who support the work that we do here
and give us the wisdom to do the work that we were sent here to do. Amen.
Speaker 21
7:47
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for
Speaker 6
7:53
which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Any announcements? Senator
Chair
Unverified
8:06
T, please come on down. You're the next. And
then I think Senator Stubblefield has an announcement. Senator T. Mr. President, Madam Secretary,
Speaker 25
8:17
can we release Senate Bill 189 to the House? Thank you. Without objection.
Speaker 26
8:25
He wants to release the bill that he held yesterday. Okay. Senate
Chair
Unverified
8:42
Bill 189. Transmit to the House. Senators Stubblefield, do you have an announcement, sir?
Speaker 35
9:01
Senator Stubblefield has an announcement and a football. Thank
Speaker 36
9:09
you, Governor. There was about six of us in the elevator
Senator Gary Stubblefield
Unverified
9:17
a while ago, and I've got claustrophobia. It's an honor for me to come up and make this announcement. Senator Hammer and Representative Lady had talked to me about this earlier, about scheduling, the rescheduling of Arkansas Razorback football,
a new schedule that's coming out, where Arkansas, University of Arkansas has announced that it will be playing Arkansas State in 2025. We'll also be playing University of Pine Bluff in 2021-2023. So I want to thank those two, and, of course, Stephanie Flowers, who's from Pine Bluff, and Senator Sullivan from Arkansas State. And let me just give you, some of you may not know this,
this is a football that was signed by, when I played for the Razorbacks in 1969, this was a football that was signed by all the players that year, including Senator Bozeman. I went up the same year that Joe Ferguson did, and we played together. But I want to tell you just a real short story. I went to the university on an academic scholarship in 1969. done. I stayed in a fraternity that was really close to the football stadium, and I walked by the practice field every day and watched them practice. That was the year that Chuck Dykus,
Bill Montgomery, and Bill Burnett, all those guys were playing. They'd always been heroes of mine. I watched them practice for, you know, sometimes an hour, and I prayed about it, and I always, my dream had always been and I knew it was a dream that probably would never be fulfilled but was to play for the Razorbacks so one day I decided that I was going to try out so I went down to the locker room and told the two guys I said I'd like to check out my equipment and he said well
you'll be number 24 Stubblefield there's 24 walk-ins that year in 69 well after about two weeks there was about three of us left me and a boy named Hiram McBeth from Pine Bluff, by the way. The others got tired of holding dummies for blocking. And so we worked through that fall. We played Texas for the Nationals Championship. Most of you are familiar with that game. And I was dressed down on the sidelines. We had President Nixon.
We had Billy Graham and some other distinguished gentlemen there. Most of us could care less. We were watching the cheerleaders. and played that game and went on to play Ole Miss with Archie Manning in the Sugar Bowl that year. Following year, in the first red and white game we had in Fayetteville, I had worked my way up to the second team right cornerback position and I had intercepted two passes in the first red and white game and that was back when we played two red and white games, one in Little Rock and War Memorial and one here
and I had another pass on the five-yard line in the game out here at War Memorial and was on my way for a 95-yard run back and dropped the ball. So, but anyway, the rest of that year, we had a tremendous year. In fact, the last game I played in War Memorial was against Texas, whom we beat. And then that year, we played in 1971 in the Liberty Bowl and got beat by Tennessee 13-14.
And I meant to bring my Liberty Bowl ring and forgot it. But I tell you all, I have to tell you this. One day on the practice field, the defensive backs were down on the practice field, and I saw our defensive back coach coming out of the locker room and walking straight towards me. I had never told anyone on the team, they never asked me, where I had played high school football. They had me listed in the program from Prairie Grove. I had never told them that I played for Prairie Grove. I had no idea where they got it.
I really never looked at the programs. We weren't interested in the programs. Most of us players were just interested in playing ball. But my defensive back coach walked up, and he said, County Line. And I thought, they've done some checking. Because you see, I graduated from County Line. County Line never had a high school football team. County Line never had a junior high football team. In fact, when I walked on, I didn't know how to put the pads in the pants. I didn't know what a thigh pad was, a hip pad was.
So I kind of, and I kept that quiet because I didn't want anybody to know that I'd never played football. And when Coach Bennett came up and he said, County Line, I thought the worst. I thought, you know, this was it. And I'm thankful to this day for Coach Frank Burles because I had a long talk with him. And he told me, he said, Stubblefield, we'd rather have somebody who comes up here that doesn't know nothing that we can teach them what we want them to know
than some of these guys that come up here and think they know everything and we can't teach them anything. And you know what? Sometimes that applies to the legislature. That also works in the legislature. So I want you to know, I told you that story to tell you that nothing's impossible. Nothing is impossible. So thank you, and I look forward to these next few years with Arkansas playing these in-state teams, keeping that revenue inside the state of Arkansas. It's good news for Pine Bluff, Arkansas State,
and the University of Arkansas. We will have a resolution being drawn up. If you wish to sign on that resolution, get in touch with me, and we'll put your name on it. Thank
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
15:09
you very much. Thank you. Senator Mark Johnson. Mr. President, I should know better than to follow Senator Stubberfield when he has a prop. I remember the time he had the eye patch. I think you all remember that one. But it was great, and thanks for that story, Senator.
Just a quick note. Yesterday, our lieutenant governor mentioned that we need some kind of signal for if you're voting present. And I want to propose that you just tap yourself on the head if you're voting present. That way you're saying, I'm here, but you might not want to express yes or no. So I'm just throwing it out as a suggestion. I don't know American Sign Language. That's the best I could do. Thank you,
Speaker 26
15:48
Mr. President. Thank you. Any other announcements? Any items to be read across the desk?
Chair
Unverified
15:55
Yes. Dear Mr. President, this is to inform you that on February 2, 2021, I approve the following measures from the regular session of the 93rd General Assembly. Senate Bill 162, Act 20. Senate Bill 157, Act 21. Senate Bill 144, Act 22. Senate Bill 135, Act 23. Senate Bill 133, Act 24. Senate Bill 98, Act 25. Senate Bill 96, Act 26.
Senate Bill 93, Act 27. Senate Bill 92, Act 28, Senate Bill 91, Act 29, Senate Bill 79, Act 30, Senate Bill 53, Act 31, Senate Bill 52, Act 32, Senate Bill 48, Act 33, Senate Bill 47, Act 34, Senate Bill 46, Act 35, Senate Bill 44, Act 36, Senate Bill 36, Act 37,
Senate Bill 90, Act 38. Sincerely, Asa Hutchison, Governor. Violet. We are your Committee on Engrossed Bills to whom was referred to Senate Bill 155 by Senator Davis, compare the engrossed copy with the original and find the same correctly engrossed. Let me see, Public Health. We are your Committee on Engrossed Bills whom was deferred Senate Bill 217 by Senator Tucker, compare the engrossed copy with the original and find the same correctly engrossed. State agencies. We are committee on engrossed bills
whom was deferred House Bill 1155 by Representative Leidyman, compare the engrossed copy with the original and find the same correctly engrossed. Public Health. We are committee on joint budget whom was deferred Senate Bill 109 by joint budget, recommend due pass. Calendar. Committee on Drunk Budget Tune was for Senate Bill 201χ. Be joint budget recommended to pass. Counter. Committee on Drunk Budget Tune was for Senate Bill 202
by Joint budget recommended to pass. Calendar. Committee on joint budget Tune was for its December 210 by Joint budget recommended to pass. Calendar. Committee on Judiciary to whom was furred House Bill 1222 by Rep. Dalby, Recommend
do pass. Calendar. Committee on Judiciary to whom was for House Bill 1058 by Representative Dalby, recommend do pass as amended number two. Calendar. Committee on Judiciary to whom was for House Bill 1100 by Representative Evans, recommend do pass as amended number one. Calendar. Committee on Revenue and Tax to whom was for Senate Bill 236 by Central Dismang, recommend do pass. Calendar. Committee on Revenue and Taxes, who was deferred House Bill 1109 by Representative Eubanks, recommend do pass.
Callender. Senate Joint Resolution 1 by Senator Clark. A constitutional amendment providing that a municipality may incur short-term financing obligations maturing over a period of or having a term not to exceed 10 years for the purpose of acquiring fire trucks. Senate Joint Resolution 1. State agencies. Senate Bill 264 by Senator Irving. Renaming the correctional school system
operated by the Division of Correction, the Arkansas Correctional School District,
Speaker 63
19:47
Senate Bill 264. Education. Senate Bill 265
Chair
Unverified
19:54
by Senator Irving. To reorganize the Riverside Vocational and Technical School into the corrections school
Speaker 16
20:04
I'm missing out on education 265 symbol 266 by joint budget
Speaker 63
20:16
Department of Human Services Division of County Operations Reappropriation symbol 266 joint budget symbol 267 by joint budget an act for the Department of Finance Administration dispersing officer reappropriation, symbol 267. Joint budget. Symbol 268 by joint budget. An act for the Arkansas Agriculture Department reappropriation, symbol 268. Joint budget. Symbol 269 by joint budget. An act for the Department of Transformation and Shared Services, Building Authority Division reappropriation,
symbol 269. Joint budget. Symbol 270 by joint budget. An act for the Department of Finance and Administration reappropriation, symbol 270. Joint Budget. Symbol 271 by Joint Budget, an act for the Department of Transformation and Shared Services, Arkansas Geographic Information Systems Office reappropriation, symbol 271. Joint Budget. Symbol 272 by Joint Budget, an act for the Department of Education, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education reappropriation, symbol 272.
Joint Budget. Symbol 273 by Joint Budget, an act for the Arkansas Public Defender Commission, Reappropriation, Symbol 273. Joint Budget. Symbol 274 by Joint Budget, an act for the Department of Commerce, State Insurance, Department of Reappropriation, Symbol 274. Joint Budget. Symbol 275 by Joint Budget, an act for the Department of Health, Reappropriation, Symbol 275. Joint Budget. Symbol 276 by Joint Budget, an act for the Department of Education, Educational Television,
Division Reappropriation, Symbol 276. Joint budget. We're going
Chair
Unverified
21:54
to start with the business agenda. Senator Eades, Senate Rules Committee report. Thank you, Mr. President.
Senator Lance Eads
Unverified
22:11
Colleagues, we were brought a proposed Senate rule update to Senate Rule 24 from the Ethics Committee that says any proposed amendments to Senate Rule 24, which is the ethics committee,
code of ethics, shall be referred to the Senate Ethics Committee. The ethics committee shall review any amendments to Rule 24 and report the committee's recommendations to the full Senate for consideration. So we'll just move this so that all these items will run through the ethics committee here in the Senate. I appreciate a good
Speaker 79
22:41
vote. Any questions? All those in favor say aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Rules committee report is adopted. S.R. 5, Senator Trent Garner.
Speaker 83
22:55
Senator Garner. Thank you, Mr. President. As many of you know, Pine Bluff lost one of
Senator Trent Garner
Unverified
23:05
his finest members last year. Detective Kevin Collins was killed in the line of duty in October of last year. Detective Collins wasn't a man I personally knew. But you can see from the outpour of support and love from this community that he was both well-respected and that his loss had a real deep impact.
My opponent in the election, Keidra Burrell, said she went to church with him and wrote a touching Facebook post about his life. He was the driver of the mayor of Pine Bluff. At a memorial service, many people spoke of him in such a way that you could just feel the joy and love, including representative flowers in the house. As impactful as it was at
Speaker 85
23:50
the community at large, you know it had to have the impact on the police department.
Senator Trent Garner
Unverified
23:56
I never served in law enforcement, but I can tell you from my military experience, when you lose a member of your brotherhood, it hurts in a special way, especially if, like the Pine Bluffs Police Department, you had to immediately
go to work to apprehend the criminal and to do your job back on it. It was during that time a wonderful organization stepped up to make a difference. And
how did they help? They did what we know in the South always works when you're coping with pain and suffering.
They broke bread and they fellowshiped. To be more specific, they brought the stakes. Steaks for Sheepdogs is a non-profit designed to foster a sense of community and support first responders by hosting steak dinners and feeding police officers, firefighters, and emergency technicians. As of
Speaker 90
24:53
today, they have cooked over 3,000 ribeye
Senator Trent Garner
Unverified
24:56
steaks for our first responders. When they came to Pine Bluff, they came out there and they brought these big, huge rigs that were professional competition rigs and cooked steak and all the fixings for the law enforcement officers were there.
I got to go to the event, and the thing I remember most is they set up a special table for Detective Collins' family. And while I wasn't in there, I could see it through the glass. person after person came up and hugged and cried and laughed with that family. So if we can, they've done a lot more as well. They fed the people after the tragic death, Officer Carr in Fayetteville, and they've done other events as well.
Will you take a minute today and join me giving a virtual applause to this wonderful organization and all they do for our first responders in the state of Arkansas. Mr. President, I am closed for my bill.
Speaker 26
26:06
The senator is closed on the resolution. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Resolution is adopted. Moving on to Senator Bills.
Speaker 55
26:16
Senate Bills, SB 99, Senator Bledsoe. Senator Bledsoe, if
Speaker 98
26:26
you would just suspend, hold for a second. Senator Garner did not read the
Chair
Unverified
26:32
full text of the resolution, so Madam Secretary is going to do that, and we'll go right to your bill after that. Senator Resolution 5 by Senator Garner
Speaker 52
26:44
to commend the work of Mr. Joe Wilson and other supporters and to support steaks and sheepdogs.
Speaker 26
26:50
Before the resolution is adopted, SR5 by Senator Garner.
Chair
Unverified
26:59
Right before Senator Blutzer, Senator Stubblefield, do you have a quick announcement? Yes, thank
Senator Gary Stubblefield
Unverified
27:08
you, Governor. I have a request to re-refer House Bill 1229 from Senate Tax and Revenue to state agencies. This is a bill that went to state agencies in the House, on the committee and the floor, passed unanimously.
Speaker 26
27:28
And I'm asking to re-refer it to Senate state agencies. Any
Speaker 102
27:38
questions for the senator? Senator Ingram. What does this bill deal
Speaker 42
27:41
with, Senator? I'm sorry. This bill deals with tax. It deals with the land commissioner's office, tax delinquent property, and putting that property online with the option to put it online? Was this the one that you were attempting to amend? Yes, Senator Ingram.
And I can tell you what the amendment is, if you would like to know. Yes, sir. All right. The amendment is to make sure that no
Senator Gary Stubblefield
Unverified
28:10
foreign buyers are allowed to come into the state and buy this tax-to-lingual property without a state agent here in the state. Thank you. You bet. Any
Speaker 104
28:24
other questions? Senator Sample? Senator Stafford? Yes. This is definitely a bill that should go through revenue and tax, so I'm going to oppose your
Speaker 106
28:31
motion. Okay, we're still in questions. Anybody? Senator Hester has a question. It's
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
28:44
to revenue and tax and what he thinks about committee Steve why did you send this bill to revenue and tax you want to address that question
Speaker 111
28:56
Steve yeah tell me address the chair you want to know why
Chair
Unverified
29:04
you said this bill are you familiar with which one okay why don't we why don't we move on to Senator Bledsoe and you confer with Steve on this and then we'll revisit. Is that okay, Senator? That's good.
Speaker 58
29:22
Okay. Senator Bledsoe. SB 99. Senate Bill 99 by Senator Bledsoe to regulate the step therapy protocols. Senator Bledsoe. All right. Thank
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
29:36
you, Mr. President. Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, as you know, step therapy is when a healthcare provider writes a prescription for a patient, but the patient's insurance company won't honor that prescription until a patient first tries and fails a different medication chosen by the health plan. That is why a lot of people call step therapy fail-first therapy. This bill was drafted to ensure that step therapy protocols are based on widely accepted medical and clinical
guidelines and to create a clear and timely process to request a medical exception by requiring a response by the patient's health plan with 72 hours for non-emergency and 24 hours for an emergency. And also, this bill was drafted to provide circumstances for a patient and a provider to request an exception to the step therapy protocol when the drugs required under the
protocol, drug required under the protocol, is contrary and dictated or will cause an adverse reaction or physical or mental harm to the patient. And also, it is expected to be ineffective based on the patient's clinical characteristics. And when it was previously tried and discontinued due to the lack of effectiveness, diminished effect are not in the best interest of the patient based
on medical necessity. And also, if the patient is stable on a medication prescribed by their physician, why would you change? And this bill was drafted to provide circumstances for a patient and provider to request an exception to step therapy protocol when the drug is not in the best interest of the patient based on medical necessity. These again are circumstances for a patient and the physician to request an exception to the step therapy protocol. Now this bill gives
the meaning of exceptions on page six, starting line six through page eight, line 13. You can read again why this is necessary and why we drafted this bill. And on page eight, line 14, you will read that this bill does not prevent a healthcare insurer or any other entity from requiring that a patient participate in step therapy, but to give exceptions of the step therapy protocol
when indicated by the circumstances we have just discussed, and to do it in a timely manner, not weeks and not months, as some people have had to wait. Now, you have heard from people that are against this bill, and some of these people have been frightened, these small businesses and large businesses even, when people come up, a large insurance company comes up and says that this will raise the cost. And of course, that's not
something we want to do. But we've asked that company in committee to identify those costs, and they could not or did not. And then we also ask about the number of patients that would be included in this particular step therapy, and they said the number was small. So, they just, they haven't provided the reason, the true reason, why they are against this bill.
They've said it's about a cost increase, but let me say this. Ladies and gentlemen, the surrounding states of Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. That has not been true. In fact, I have a physical impact statement from Oklahoma and Texas, and both of them say that this will not affect the insurance rates. And Louisiana, when looking at this from Oklahoma and Texas, they said that's good enough for us, and they passed their bill. And these bills were similar. In addition, according to the
Kaiser Foundation, 19 states with the strongest step therapy reform laws have essentially the same premiums as those without step therapy. In other words, no cost increase to the insurance companies as a result of step therapy reform. And in the rate, this is another important, I believe, statement. In their rate filings, this large insurance company and others have not used
step therapy reform as a basis to request premium increases. And ladies and gentlemen, this is not about taking step therapy away or just, you know, saying we're done with it. This is about reform and I'm going to tell you one just story and I'm hoping I know there are a couple people in here who have faced some of these same things and I hope you would testify for this but this if I call this person's name you would know him but he sent me a text and he said I hope your
bill passes but and you're welcome to use my story but don't use my name so anyway he said that he was diagnosed with a very painful form of arthritis and his physician put him on a certain medicine. He went to the pharmacy to get his medicine and found out that the insurance company would not pay for that medicine and wanted him to be on another medicine. That medicine caused his joints to swell and he had a lot of pain. Now he has waited. I believe this is an exception and I
even hesitate to tell you how long he's waited but he's waited 18 months and he said my doctor and I have given up and I guess that I'm going to have swollen joints and pain the rest of my life and so I just tell you that it is only a small group of people but they do need a way of getting some kind of help and to do an exception would bring them a lot of a lot of good health and I believe it's the right thing to do, and I'd be glad to take questions. Any questions for Senator
Chair
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36:06
Bledsoe? Senator Elliott, and then Senator Caldwell next. Senator Elliott. Thank
Speaker 122
36:14
you. Senator Bledsoe, I've been asked some of those questions that you mentioned, and
Senator Joyce Elliott
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36:20
I've read this and tried to put it in language for the average five or six people who have, five or six people who have texted me and asked about the exceptions. And obviously in here, I can see this list of exceptions,
but what was the reason that you were driven to put exceptions
Speaker 125
36:45
in the bill? What was the reason for the exceptions?
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
36:56
Uh-huh. It's to alert the insurance company that exceptions are needed and to just. I'm looking at page six where they
Speaker 122
37:04
are, I think. Okay, let me go to that. Okay.
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
37:19
If you look, I guess you're looking at line six. These are exceptions, and what it is, it's about a patient and prescribing health care provider, in other words, your doctor. It says that they shall have access to a clear, readily accessible, and convenient process to request therapy protocol exceptions. And the reason it's there is because it's not really being done.
Patients face a denial most of the time. And so when we put this in there, we just said that they shall do these things. They shall give these exceptions if, like we talked about, if indicated. It doesn't force them to, but it makes the process easier. And it also says that you have to give the patient and the physician an answer within so many hours, 24 hours for an emergency and 48 hours, I believe it is, for a non-emergency.
Some people wait weeks and months. And that was part of the
Speaker 135
38:33
bill. Okay. I get that. Thank you for that. And the other question I've had that I've
Senator Joyce Elliott
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38:40
not had a good, the other question I've had that I've not had a good fluid answer for that I'm dependent on you to help me with is the question about who's impacted by this bill, who is benefiting, who's not benefiting. Like this person asked me, would the average patient be benefited by this?
Speaker 125
39:00
Who is, or if there's somebody who won't be, you want
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
39:04
to know that too. Okay. Well, again, it's a small number that asks for an exception. And most of those people are, I mean, we have 13 groups that are behind this bill because, you know, some of them are the rheumatology group from Arkansas. You have just, in fact, I have all the groups. In just a second, I can read those groups.
But they're patients that are desperate. it. These drugs that the insurance company wants you to try, they're not working for some. And while they're trying them, it is, their health care is really diminishing. And many times to a point that they either give up or they become worse and worse. So, but I will find that in just a minute. That's fine.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
39:55
I mean, I just kind of wanted to give clarification to the person who
asked me about this was, is there anybody who's negatively impacted, and are most people positively impacted? And that's what they were asking me about. Right. So, if it's, I think I get the gist of what you're saying.
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
40:16
Well, it is a positive experience for those that are eligible for the exemption. I mean, it's like the person that I told you about. He is a young man. I've known him since he was uh in junior high and he is an attorney and certainly has um enough ways to
try to look at the law and see if he would not be accepted for this but he is not he's the one that's been waiting 18 months so there has to be there has to be something done and this is just reform to get those patients who really need this this type of help all right thank you senator Thank you. And I do want to just say again, states with laws highly similar to Senate Bill 99, Minnesota, Kentucky, Oklahoma, I said, Virginia, Washington State, California, Colorado, and it goes on and on.
There are 20 other states that have bills similar to this. And ladies and gentlemen, I'm closed for that. Well, Senator Caldwell has a
Speaker 6
41:30
question. Oh, I'm sorry. Do you still have a question,
Chair
Unverified
41:32
Senator Caldwell? No, she answered my question. Thank you. Okay, any other questions? Anyone wish to speak against, speak
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
41:39
for? We have the senator closed. The senator's closed. I just want to say this. This bill gives the right medicine to the right patients at the right time.
Speaker 9
42:00
vote. Any objection to rolling the vote? Please roll the vote.
Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, Sullivan, Teague, Tucker, Wallace. You don't want to change their
Speaker 79
42:30
vote. 35 yays, 0 nays. The bill is passed. Transmit to the House.
Chair
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42:42
by Senator Wallace to create the Arkansas Public Service Internship Program and to establish extra help positions for the Arkansas Public Service Internship Program.
Speaker 148
42:55
Senator Walsh. Governor, fellow members, this is a good bill. It's a good bill because it expands the scope of the OPM Internship Program, and it's going to allow our undergraduates and our graduate students to come up here and work a summer in government. They're going to come up. They'll be working in extra help positions and paid a minimum of $12 an hour by the department of which they are assigned.
There's no cost, extra cost, to the government. And the departments have the option of participating or not participating. And the way it will help us is it will become, I believe, a very powerful recruiting tool for our state government. and it will allow young folks still in college to see what we do in government and to perhaps seek a career in government down the road. And I'm going to repeat again, there's no increased physical impact with this at all.
Speaker 109
44:01
And with that, I would ask for a good vote. Any
Chair
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44:09
questions for the senator? Anyone wish to speak
Speaker 7
44:16
against? For? Any objection to rolling the vote? Please roll
Speaker 9
44:20
the vote. Is the senator closed? I think he is. I am closed. He's closed. Please roll the vote. Ballinger, Beckham, Bledsoe, Caldwell, Chesterfield, Clark, Davis, Dismayne, Eades, Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Gilmore, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson,
Leading, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubbefield, Sturge, Sullivan, Teague, Tucker, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote? 35 yays, zero nays.
Speaker 79
44:52
Bill is passed. The emergency clause is adopted.
Chair
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44:57
Transmit to the House. Senator D. Wallace, SB 119. Senate Bill 119 by Senator Wallace
Speaker 153
45:07
Leave Policy Act and to amend the Catastrophic Leave Program.
Speaker 147
45:13
Senator Wallace. Thank you, Governor. Members, this bill will allow government entities like BLR, like the General Assembly, to establish a catastrophic leave bank. Currently,
Speaker 148
45:26
BLR and some of our other agencies don't have that type of leave bank. It removes any reference to the shared leave program, which was appealed in 2017.
Speaker 147
45:41
And it requires the employee to use up all their leave, all their compensatory time,
before he or she can receive this type of leave. The
Speaker 148
45:54
department benefits because it reflects a common sense application of leave. The employee benefits, for obvious reasons, if they run out of leave, than they'll draw from their peers. Again, there's no physical impact. And I believe
Speaker 147
46:13
it reflects a practical application of our leave policy.
Speaker 106
46:18
And with that, any questions for the senator? Senator
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
46:28
Irvin has a question. Thank you. Senator Wallace, does this
do anything, though, to undo what we did previously in combining all the catastrophic leave banks into one so that can be administered under DF&A? There were some entities
Speaker 148
46:43
that were left out of that. Right. Like BLR. So it does not affect what
Speaker 162
46:49
we've done before, but it just gives the other entities like BLR the same advantage.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
46:56
Right. So those listings are still there, but it doesn't mess with the combining those from different agencies. No matter. So I see
Speaker 101
47:09
the list, but we're not. Okay. All right.
Speaker 165
47:13
Thank you. Senator Ingram. A follow-up on Senator Irvin's question. didn't we create
Speaker 101
47:19
where we could pool time that people could donate leave time for somebody that has a catastrophic disease?
Speaker 148
47:31
that was established in the ASIS. It's still in effect and it does not affect that at all. But there were some entities, and that's on page two, that were left out. Okay.
Chair
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47:47
Any other questions, Senator Starch? Thank
Speaker 166
47:52
you, Mr. President. Senator Wallace, I'm on page one, where it's redefining what a catastrophic
Senator James Sturch
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47:56
illness is. Is that then when you add that line as far as compensatory time,
are we just allowing then comp time to be also included in catastrophic illness so that they could donate all their sick and accrued leave and then comp time? What lines are you on, Senator? Page 1, line 32, 31 and 32, where it adds comp time.
Speaker 147
48:35
And would you ask your question again,
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
48:38
please? Sure. The reason I ask is because it seems to me like then we're redefining what catastrophic time, or the bank would be, so they can do their accrued leave time, sick time, and then any comp time that they've earned would be also put into
Speaker 175
48:52
that bank. Is that right? No. Okay. No. Just their leave time.
Chair
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48:59
Just, okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Anyone wish to speak against or for?
Speaker 140
49:05
Senators closed? I'm closed. Any objection to rolling the vote on this? Please roll the vote, Madam Secretary. when you get back. Wherever you are. We'll blame it on Coral. Please roll the vote.
Chair
Unverified
49:35
Ballinger, Beckham, Bledsoe, Caldwell, Chesterfield, Clark, Davis, Dismaine, Eads, Elliott,
Speaker 9
49:45
English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Gilmore, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubbafield, Sturge, Sullivan,
Teague, Tucker, Wallace. Anyone wish to
Speaker 79
50:11
change their vote? Cast up the ballot. 35 yays, zero
Chair
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50:16
nays. The bill is passed. Transmit to the House. Senator Letting. Senate Bill 172 by Senator Letting.
Concerning records and photographs kept by the State Crime Laboratory and declare an emergency. Senator Letting is recognizing there's an emergency
Senator Greg Leding
Unverified
50:34
clause on this bill. Thank you, Mr. President.
Colleagues, this bill comes from the Department of Corrections. Under current law, incarcerated Arkansans rightfully have access to materials and evidence related to their cases for the purposes of the defense. Unfortunately, we've learned that some enterprising inmates are abusing this ability and they're gaining access to photos, often grisly photos, not for the purposes of defense or any kind of appeal, but to collect as trophies. So we've worked with the Department of Corrections, defense attorneys, the attorney general's office to close that loophole while preserving the right for attorneys to access these materials if there is a defense happening.
Happy to take any questions. Otherwise,
Chair
Unverified
51:16
I'd appreciate a good vote. Any questions for Senator Letting? Anyone
Chair
Unverified
51:27
Senator has closed. Any objection or roll
Speaker 9
51:31
in the vote? Please roll the vote, Madam Secretary. Ballinger, Beckham, Bledsoe, Caldwell, Chesterfield, Clark, Davis, Dismain, Eades, Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Gilmore, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin,
Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Pitch, Rafer, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, Sullivan, Teague, Tucker, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote? Cast up the ballot. 35 yays, 0
Speaker 79
52:01
nays. The bill is passed. Emergency clause is adopted and
Senator Greg Leding
Unverified
52:08
transmitted to the House. Senator Raeper. Senate Bill 227 by Senator
Chair
Unverified
52:15
Raeper. Concerning the respective duties of the parole board and the Department of Corrections
and the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and concerning the vote requirements for the parole board to act. Senator
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
52:30
Raeper. Thank you, members. This is really basically technical correction type bills that you've got before you on both of these. These are department bills. The operative language in the first one on 227 is basically stating that when there is any legislation related to the parole board, that they shall do that in consultation
with the secretary of the Department of Corrections.
Speaker 77
52:56
Any questions? Senator Chesterfeld has a question.
Speaker 189
53:01
Thank you, Senator. Thank you for taking my question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. On that second page, it
Senator Linda Chesterfield
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53:08
says the Department of Correction shall review and approve. That's right. If the secretary does not approve it, then that's dead as far as the Department of Correction is concerned. Is that
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
53:21
what it is? Well, Chairman Feltz was there because to discuss.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
53:27
I don't have a problem with
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
53:30
it. Yeah, I'm going to respond. I was letting him finish there, Senator. Finish beating on the dead. So, Senator, Chairman Phelps was there to speak to that, you know, there to be independent so that they can handle their duties as a parole board. But since they've been put under in the transformation that they have the secretary, which is Solomon Graves, obviously, that's now the secretary, they wanted that provision. So basically that they are in consultation with them because it does have a relation.
what they do and how that they change things does have an effect on people that are coming out of the corrections program. So they don't have any problem with this at all? Didn't have any
Speaker 193
54:14
objections to the bill whatsoever, and both
Chair
Unverified
54:17
Chairman Feltz as well as Secretary Graves was there to be supportive of the bill. Thank
Speaker 140
54:24
you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Any other questions? Anyone
Speaker 9
54:29
wish to speak against or for? Senator Riper, have you closed on this one? I'm closed for the bill. Any objection to rolling the vote on this one? Madam Secretary, please roll the vote. Ballinger, Beckham, Bledsoe, Caldwell, Chesterfield, Clark, Davis, Dismaine, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Gilmore, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson,
Letting, Pitch, Rayford, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, Sullivan, Teague, Tucker, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote? Cast up the
Chair
Unverified
55:04
bill is passed and transmitted to the House. Senator Rayford. Senate Bill 228 by
Speaker 53
55:11
Senator Rayford. to make technical amendments to statutes
Chair
Unverified
55:14
governing the administration of the Division of
Speaker 196
55:18
Correction and the Division of Community Correction.
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
55:21
Senator Reckman, for recognizing. Thank you, members. Very similar to the previous bill, this is actually a bill on behalf of Secretary Graves and his department. My understanding is that this was some language that needed to be addressed post-transformation, which was the huge bill that everybody went through last session and made all those changes. So a lot of what you see there are simple things, such as changing department to division that you see through there, and correction to corrections. That's all that you see there. I'd be happy to entertain questions.
Chair
Unverified
55:51
Any questions? Anyone we should speak against or
Speaker 140
55:59
for? Any objections? Senator Klose? Klose. Appreciate
Speaker 9
56:04
a good vote. Senator Klose, any objections are rolling the vote? Madam Secretary, please roll the vote. Beckham, Bledsoe, Caldwell, Chesterfield, Clark, Davis, Dismaine, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Gilmore, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson,
Letting, Pitch, Rayford, Rice, Sample, Stubbefield, Sturge, Sullivan, Teague, Tucker, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote? 35, cast up the ballot,
Chair
Unverified
56:37
35 yeas, 0 nays. The bill is passed. Transmit to the House. Senator Davis, Senator Davis, recognize her motion.
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
56:46
Thank you. Members, I'd like to make a motion
to suspend the rules and add Senate Bill 155 onto the calendar today for third reading and final passage.
Chair
Unverified
57:01
Any questions on the motion? All those in favor, say aye. Senator
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
57:10
Hickey. 155. I only added co-sponsors on, and some of the paperwork got mixed up, so it didn't show that it had passed out of committee. And the amendment that I made was literally just adding co-sponsors. And so I'd like to go ahead and run it today. I'm sorry, what?
Speaker 203
57:32
If there wasn't a mistake, would it have been here on the calendar?
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
57:35
It should have been. Yeah, it should have been here today on the
Speaker 177
57:42
agenda. All right. Any other questions? Senator Starch. Thank you, Mr. President. Senator Davis, was it not on the calendar just yesterday or the day before? Yes, to add the co-sponsors. And
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
57:53
you didn't run it at the time. Okay. Yeah,
Chair
Unverified
57:55
because I was adding co-sponsors, yes. Thank you. Any other questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it.
Speaker 53
58:02
Motion's carried. Senate Bill 155 by Senator Davis to establish Lila's
Chair
Unverified
58:09
Law and prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities regarding access to organ transplant. Senators
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
58:16
recognize. Thank you, Mr. President. This bill
prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in regards to getting an organ transplant. This bill is also known as Lila's Law. Lila is a seven-year-old Arkansan who was born with Down syndrome.
After she was born, her parents were told by her doctors that she had a rare hole in her heart, in fact, one they had never seen before. They were going to have to do open-heart surgery, and the doctor said, you better hope that this works, because if it doesn't, she'll need a heart transplant, and because she has Down syndrome, she's not qualified to have one. That was the only reason. Lila was otherwise a healthy girl. There was no other reason to not have her be eligible for a heart transplant.
So why this bill is needed is really there are a few different reasons that people with disabilities are denied an organ transplant. The main one being that doctors don't think that they're able to manage complicated post-op care. They do not oftentimes take into account that that person has a strong support system at home that can help them with the post-op care, but they don't take that into consideration. Another reason is just that the bias that the quality of life is
not the same, the value of life is not the same, and that maybe they're not making contributions to society that we think are worthy of having them be eligible and be in line in front of other people for an organ transplant. So what this bill does is prohibits a medical provider from being able to deny someone a transplant based on their mental or physical disability alone. They can't, like I said, deny them. They cannot deny services related to the transplant.
They cannot refuse to refer them to a transplant center for evaluation, which is oftentimes where the discrimination is occurring. It's not at places like UAMS or Children's. It's with their pediatrician or primary care doctor that's not referring them in the first place to even be evaluated for a transplant. Refusing to place them on a wait list, placing them at a lower priority on the wait list, or declining insurance coverage for the procedure. This bill prohibits those things based on a disability alone.
It also requires reasonable modifications for a person with a disability. So, you know, if maybe an easy example I would say is if maybe you're blind, they have to provide you documentation in Braille and not just a piece of paper so that you can read things about your post-op care or your therapy. And the hospital also has the right to say that, you know, it can go too far and it would fundamentally alter the care of the patient.
And in that case, they have a path to deny transplant. This also ensures that a qualified individual's inability to independently comply with post-op care cannot be taken into account if the individual has the necessary support system to help them comply with post-op care. And most importantly, I think, it provides a speedy legal path for individuals who allege a violation. Right now, there's no speedy legal pathway, and they can just sit in the court system for years waiting on a life-saving transplant
and sometimes die in the course of waiting. So what this bill does not do is it does not require referral, recommendation, or performance of a medically inappropriate organ transplant Individuals with a disability must still meet the essential eligibility requirements that typical people have to meet. There are 15 other states that have passed legislation like this, and I hope to see Arkansas be the 16th state. With that, I'll take any questions.
Chair
Unverified
1:02:15
Any questions? Anyone wish to speak against or for? Senator Clark would like to speak. No, just a question.
Speaker 109
1:02:23
Oh, you have a question. Senator Clark has a question. So
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:02:28
Senator Davis, although I certainly think you can roll the vote on this, I hope you won't. I hope no one is not in the room that will miss voting for it. I think it's too important to
Speaker 109
1:02:42
roll the vote. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions?
Anyone would speak against or for if the senator is closed? I am asked
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
1:02:50
for a good vote and we can do roll call. Can we do that? Yep. Yeah. That's great. Thank
Speaker 88
1:02:55
you. Do not roll the vote, if I understood you correctly. Please call the roll. Senator Flowers.
Speaker 176
1:03:07
Senator Flowers. Yes. Just want to make sure you're present for, we're about to call the roll. Thank you. Ballinger. Aye. Beckham. Aye.
Speaker 9
1:03:17
Bledsoe. Bledsoe. Aye. Caldwell. Aye. Chesterfield.
Chair
Unverified
1:03:25
Aye. Clark. Aye. Davis? Aye. Dismang? Aye. Eades? Aye. Elliot? Aye. English?
Speaker 212
1:03:37
Aye. Flippo? Aye. Flowers? Aye. Garner? Yes. Gilmore? Aye. Gilmore? Hammer? Aye. Hendren? Aye.
Speaker 9
1:03:45
Hester? Aye. Hickey? Aye. Hill? Aye. Ingram? Aye. Irvin? Aye. Blake Johnson? Aye. Mark Johnson? Aye.
Speaker 63
1:04:01
Letting, Pitch, Rapert, Rice, Sample, Stubbeville, Sturge, Sullivan,
Speaker 9
1:04:11
Teague, Tucker, Wallace. You don't wish to change the vote. Cast up
Chair
Unverified
1:04:24
the ballot. 35 yeas, 0 nays. The bill is passed. Transmit to the House. Moving on
Speaker 111
1:04:33
to House Bills, HB 1121, Senator Ballinger.
Speaker 53
1:04:37
House Bill 1121 by Representative Dotson and Senator
Chair
Unverified
1:04:40
Ballinger, an act to create consistent language for all state entities, including without limitation, state departments, agencies, boards, and commissions regarding the Equal Employment Hiring Program. Senator Ballinger. Thank you. This bill is really pretty basic
Speaker 217
1:04:58
and straightforward. If you look, the substance of the bill is on the second page, and all it basically does is require all the state handbooks, employee handbooks,
to have language that's consistent with the federal law when it comes to discrimination. So if you look, you read that last from line 13 through 15. That would
Chair
Unverified
1:05:24
just be included in the handbooks throughout the state. And
Speaker 140
1:05:27
if there are no questions, I appreciate a good vote. Thank you. Any questions? Anyone wish
Chair
Unverified
1:05:36
to speak against? Four. The senator has left the podium and has closed. Any objection to rolling the vote? Please roll the vote, Madam Secretary. Ballinger, Beckham,
Speaker 9
1:05:47
Bledsoe, Caldwell, Chesterfield, Clark, Davis, Dismayne, Eads, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Gilmore, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill,
Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Pitch, Rayford, Rice, Sample, Stebafield, Sturge, Sullivan, Teague, Tucker, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote? Cast up the ballot.
Speaker 141
1:06:15
passed. Return to the House. Senator Hammer, HB 1211. House Bill
Chair
Unverified
1:06:23
1211 by Representative Bentley and Senator Hammer
to require that religious organizations are protected during an emergency and declare an emergency. Senator Hammer is recognized. Thank you,
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:06:38
Mr. President. In short, what this bill does, it will codify what recently the U.S. Supreme Court rulings put in place on federal level so that the lower courts, as in the Arkansas Supreme Court or any other court, do not infringe upon our First Amendment rights when it comes to the freedom of worship. I'll be glad to answer any questions.
Chair
Unverified
1:06:58
Any questions? Anyone wish to oppose, speak against? Senator Tucker is going to speak against.
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
1:07:15
Thank you, Governor. and I wish we could phrase it differently than speak against because I'm totally for the purpose underlying this bill. I absolutely believe in the free exercise of religion and if the government's
going to restrict that in any way, it's got to be as rare as possible. It's got to meet the strict standard outlined by the Supreme Court of the United States for a compelling government interest and it has to be the least restrictive means possible. And I'm not trying to convince anybody to vote against that because I support that. My goal here today is really to try to fix some issues that I see in the bill before we pass it out here. Obviously, this is a House bill, so this is the last step in the process. And I'm not going to go through the whole bill. I'll just really give one primary example of what I'm talking about. If the governor or the
State Board of Health does something that is in violation of this section, of this bill, than a church or a religious institution can bring a lawsuit. Now, this bill authorizes injunctive relief, which I think is entirely appropriate. That should be in there. It also authorizes compensatory damages and attorney's fees. I think it needs to be spelled out very clearly how that would happen. The bill seeks to waive immunity related to those lawsuits.
And so I'm just going to go into a little bit of detail about this. Right now, the Supreme Court of Arkansas has said that the state legislature doesn't have the authority to waive sovereign immunity. So I think there's a problem with that right there. There's two kinds of immunity, really. One is, and I'm just going to use the governor as an example because the governor is what's set forth in this bill. It says you can sue the governor if the governor violates this section. Now, if you sue the state or the governor in his or her official capacity, then you're recovering money from the state. That's what the Supreme Court of Arkansas has
said, the legislature right now does not have the authority to override. Now, the bill also seeks to overturn qualified immunity. Qualified immunity is when you're suing someone in their individual capacity. Now, I don't think any policymaker down here ought to be able to be sued in their individual capacity for something they thought was in the best interest of the people that they represent. Right now, in the law, the only way to overcome qualified immunity is if someone acts with malice. And the way I read this bill is that we're waiving that, and the governor could be sued
if the governor does something in conflict with this in the governor's individual capacity. I think that's problematic. Somebody in this room probably will be governor someday, and I don't want you all to be sued in your individual capacity for something you do that's in the best interest of the people of Arkansas. I mean, you know, another issue is, let's just say that the claims for money damages go to the Claims Commission. That's not spelled out clearly in the bill, and I think it should be. But if that's the case, then you are going to have to have multiple
lawsuits under this, because the Claims Commission doesn't have the authority to issue an injunction for anybody in the executive branch, whether that's the governor or a state agency. So you would have to file a lawsuit in court seeking the injunction, and then a claim in the Claims Commission seeking the compensatory damages. And that may be the intent of the bill, but that's not spelled out in the bill. You can't file a lawsuit right now in circuit court to seek money damages against the state of Arkansas for something that someone does in their official capacity. So again, that's really the biggest example that I spot. I think there are other
issues in the bill that could be cleaned up. I'm totally supportive. We had a discussion about this in committee yesterday. Senator Raper made a comment that we may have a philosophical difference. I was thinking long about that last night, Senator Ray Perry, and I don't think we do because I am 100% supportive of the notion behind the bill. The free exercise of religion in the government should not restrict that only when it's extremely necessary and under the guise of strict scrutiny if and when that happens. So I'm with the purpose of the bill on that front. But we were
having another conversation yesterday afternoon, Senator Hill and I, and you know, sometimes these bills move through awful fast. And most of the time that's appropriate. But when there's a bill of significance, sometimes they just need a little work. And I include my own bills in that category. And that's why we're down here. So I'm going to vote present today because I support what the bill is trying to do. I just think it
can be worked on a little bit before it's passed in its final form. And that's what I'm asking the body to consider. Thank you very much.
Speaker 79
1:11:53
Thank you. Just to clarify, the senator spoke against the bill. Who wants to speak? Should someone speak in favor of the bill? Okay. Senator Ballinger wants to speak in favor of the bill. thank you mr
Speaker 216
1:12:12
governor um just in short i i think that the senator tucker's um arguments are not not unfounded but
Speaker 217
1:12:17
one thing i just want to make sure first off before you ever get to the question liability there actually has to be an action to try to limit churches and and shut them down
limit their ability to meet i don't think we'll ever get there i mean i think honestly this is like you all know sometimes i have a hard time with the governor but one thing that we did a lot of states didn't do is we kept our hands out of churches for the most part. We gave them guidance, but we never directed them to do anything. So I think that, you know, the idea is to dissuade that type of activity. So I don't expect any of that to ever happen. The other thing is, you know, right now we do have high levels of immunity that the courts have already said we can't waive. I mean, that's legitimate. But who knows whether or not we may amend the Constitution. Like every year I threaten to file a constitutional
amendment to make it where the legislature can waive our immunity. If we do, maybe maybe that'll stand. If not, we're exactly where we are today. And today, if you want to have money damages against the state, what do you do? You go to the claims commissioner. If you want to have an injunction against the state, what do you do? You file a suit in court. That's exactly the way it works today. After this bill passes, it'll be the way it works. I'm happy to answer any questions, even though I may not have answers. Senator Ballinger,
Speaker 77
1:13:23
will you take a question from Senator Mark Johnson? Yeah, I'd be happy to do. Senator Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Gregory.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:13:30
Senator Ballinger, I'm not a brilliant lawyer like you and Senator Tucker, so I have to depend on you. No, he's a brilliant lawyer. I'm just, I'm hard. But I want to ask this just from a legal standpoint. We have severability on our legislation. If there's a clause or something that ultimately becomes problematic constitutionally or otherwise, then that clause that potentially he pointed out could be problematic
would be severable and would not affect the remaining parts of the legislation. Is that correct? That is correct. And
Speaker 217
1:14:08
I don't even necessarily think, I think the question would be whether it's enforceable. It's not even, like, I don't know that you really would count it as, like, striking down part of the legislation. It's just when a person brings a lawsuit, you bring this up as a defense, the sovereign immunity as a defense, and the courts will say, yeah, we have sovereign immunity, or the courts will change their mind and say, look, that's too broad of an interpretation. Previous courts have made it too broad. It should be narrowed. In this case, we don't.
But either way, your point stands is the bill will
Speaker 216
1:14:36
still exist regardless of how the courts treat immunity. Thank you
Speaker 25
1:14:41
very much. Anyone wish to speak against the
Chair
Unverified
1:14:44
bill? For the bill, Senator Raper is recognized. Thank you, Mr. President.
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
1:14:51
Members, I have two points on this. I think you well understand the tenets of the bill. You well understand what Senator Hammer and Representative Bentley are
trying to do. I want to talk to you about a real-world experience. I got a call just, I guess it was two weeks ago. I had a pastor in a church in Vambier in Arkansas. It's actually not in my district, but I know these people. They called me. I had spoken to them earlier in the year because was they had gotten a call from the Department of Health. They actually named the doctor that they spoke with. And it was an uncomfortable call because in that call, basically the whole line of questioning in that went to questioning the church and their practice of singing.
And it was just a constant drone of, do you sing in church? And don't you know that's problematic? And I just think it's very offensive because, look, we all have shopped and we have to go do things and we've got box stores in our state where there are many more people than any of the churches. People going and coming to and fro doing things and you know what? I don't have a problem with with those essential businesses at all but it's particularly offensive. So they got the first call. They get the second call again and I actually reached out to the governor and I want to compliment the governor. He responded
that he would check on this. I have not heard back on his conversation on this item yet but the second call the church got was have you made any changes are you continuing to sing well just realize that if you do that and you violate the governor's order we may have to get back in touch with you and it was basically a threatening tone and I just think it's wrong it's very offensive to do that and so I believe that we need this protection here for obvious
reasons. The second point I have, which is unusual to me, but last night after we got done with this bill, I get sent an article that I want to speak to because if it's affecting the way any of you vote, you need to hear my perspective. The American atheists sent out a national press release saying Christian nationalist Jason Rapert fast tracks Arkansas's church super spreader bill, disregards COVID-19 infections and deaths. I'm not going to read the text of what they sent,
but I want to stand before you in this body and tell you this is part of what's wrong in America. You have heard me personally talk about the fact I was in the hospital with COVID-19. The only thing that didn't happen to me is go on a ventilator. I was six days in that place. I got the remdesivir in my arm. I got the shots in my stomach to prevent blood clots, and I'm very grateful to have gotten out of there. I lost a grandfather within two weeks of getting out of there to COVID, and I lost a distant cousin. We can disagree on issues, but to spread this kind
of garbage around and say that people don't care about human beings and accuse us of those things are wrong. And I'll tell you, I'll be glad to vote for any bill against somebody who would stand up and write this
Speaker 98
1:18:09
kind of trash, and I hope you'll vote for the bill. Thank
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:18:15
you, Senator. Anyone wish to speak against the bill, for the bill? I wanted to know, I had a question as a
Chair
Unverified
1:18:23
result of the discussion. I'm sorry, Senator Elliott.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:18:26
You have a question for Senator Hammer as a
Yes. Okay, Senator Hammer, will
Chair
Unverified
1:18:31
you take a question? Okay. It's hard to hear in here, particularly with masks and walls and all this other nonsense. Not nonsense, legitimate stuff.
Speaker 176
1:18:44
Senator Raper, it's not nonsense. One word choice. Senator
Speaker 236
1:18:51
Hammer. Okay, I'm unmasked for that. May I
Speaker 176
1:18:55
proceed? Please, Senator Elliott, speak with vigor. Senator,
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:18:59
I guess I remember my question. Senator Hamer, after all that discussion, I was just wondering if you would share with us if something in particular has happened to cause us to need further legislation because I was toiling under the impression that, you know, that something like this was not needed.
That's what kind of what I felt like when I read it. So will you please help me get some understanding of what is it that moved you to decide the church was not is not already covered and has a lot of ability to to operate as they see fit? unless it's a case, I guess, that the health department is trying to weigh that right, you know, to operate as you do as a church and the health interest.
If you would just talk to me about that, that
Speaker 238
1:19:56
would be helpful. All right. And I'm going to repeat the
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:20:03
question back just to make sure I heard through the echo effect. All right. What I heard you ask me is, what is it that has caused us to, or me, or Representative Bentley and I and all the sponsors on this bill, to rise to the occasion that we feel this is necessary at this time? Is
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:20:21
that accurate? That's right, and I said especially because I might have been mistaken in thinking that the church is already protected
unless the health department decides there is some compelling reason to weigh health and the church's, quote, rights to operate as it sees fit, okay? Sure. Okay. I think my answer to that question would be I probably
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:20:42
would have never thought in my lifetime we'd even be having this discussion, But given the effects of some of the movements, especially to the liberal side, that even pushed this issue before the United States Supreme Court, that now states have to individually take a position to be proactive and to put into place in their individual state legislature things that are necessary or to protect that First Amendment right and that freedom that we enjoy.
That would be my answer
Speaker 25
1:21:17
to the question. Okay, thank you. You're
Speaker 101
1:21:20
welcome. Senator Ingram, I have a question for Senator Hammond. Yes. I understand everything that you're saying, but yet we
Speaker 165
1:21:28
have a duty to protect the public. We do know that the overall health of the public is on the same level, obviously, as our churches. And we know that statistics have shown us that through June or July, over 700 cases can be traced back to church events.
I mean, we had one in Greer's Ferry that ended up that there were, I think, 34 cases that were linked to that event, and that led to 26 additional cases in the community that tested positive. So how do we balance that with protecting our religious freedoms versus protecting the health of the people of the state of Arkansas? Fair question. I think probably the
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:22:16
response I would give to that is that as a pastor of a church,
I would cite you personally and pray to God I don't have to eat my words come Monday morning, but we have been, as a church for the last year meeting, In fact, we actually voluntarily closed down for two months, and we have exercised probably more precaution than I've seen in big-box stores, which I won't call them out individually. In fact, when my wife got COVID, we're pretty sure she got it because she was in a big-box store and casinos, and when you talk about the schools and all the other things,
I think if we're going to ask that question of the churches, we have to ask that question of all of them. But remember what the argument is about here. The argument is about protection of the First Amendment right, and it would not be a discussion had it not been for the fact that churches were put in the Supreme Court to have to defend
Speaker 232
1:23:18
themselves. Any one who wishes to speak against for
Chair
Unverified
1:23:23
Senator Mark Johnson speaking for the bill?
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:23:27
Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to say to my friend Senator Hammer, it was probably my fault, but I had intended to tell Representative Bentley I'd be a co-sponsor of this bill as her senator, but I thank you for all the others that are co-sponsors. The reason the First Amendment is first, it's the most important one in the Bill of Rights. And the first thing in the First Amendment talks about religious freedom. That puts it above every other constitutional sanction.
It means it's the most important. I don't think I could make a
Chair
Unverified
1:24:03
better argument than what— Senator Johnson, we used to spend for a second. I had a couple senators who can't
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:24:13
hear. Please give Senator Johnson his due attention. But I appreciate Senator Hammer's comment in response to the question from Senator Ingram. We have to set some priorities, and we have to recognize that church is not a recreational activity. It is important to our faith, and that's why we go to church, and that's why we sing, and we do those things.
Now, I could be absolutely thinking we need to shut everything down, but if there's no head counter at the door of Walmart, then I don't think we're at a point where we can start pointing fingers of who infected and who didn't. The statement of the casinos and other things that were allowed to stay open when others weren't, I think we need to treat every gathering with some kind of fairness, but the number one protection
needs to be, even above health, as important as health is, is the First Amendment and the first paragraph, first sentence in Amendment 1 to the U.S. Constitution. And I... Do you have a question for me, Senator
Chair
Unverified
1:25:21
Stovey? Senator Stovey feels recognized. Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Governor. Senator
Senator Gary Stubblefield
Unverified
1:25:25
Johnson, in your opinion, and I'm sure you couldn't answer this personal experience, but would you say that it's much easier to contract COVID in a strip club than
Speaker 252
1:25:36
in a church? Let me think about that one, Senator. In all seriousness, Senator Johnson, there are states
Speaker 104
1:25:47
that left strip clubs open and closed their churches down. I think Nevada did that. Would you agree with that? I would say that you make a very valid point.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:26:01
Can you explain the logic behind that? I would think you probably are much more susceptible to contracting all kinds of diseases in the strip club than you would be in church.
I think that's a fair statement. I'll stipulate to that, Senator. There's
Speaker 26
1:26:18
no other questions. Thank you, Senator. I'm done. Thank you. Senator's done. Anyone we speak against for Senator
Speaker 257
1:26:32
Clark will speak for the bill. We know we
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
1:26:36
haven't changed anybody's minds, and we know that we all very much support the First Amendment.
Senator Hammer, Representative Bentley, I very much support you bringing this bill. I appreciate you bringing this bill. Senator Tucker, I appreciate you having the courage to present the points on the other side. That's not an easy thing or popular thing to do. And I know that you support the First Amendment and religious freedom as much as I do. The reason, you know, I have been both critical and complimentary of our governor during this emergency pandemic.
we should not have to depend as we have watched the things that have happened across this country that have ended up in the supreme court we should not have to depend on the goodness of the governor and that's the reason that this bill is here it's not just because of this senator and representative it comes from the people it very much comes from the people that said we want the freedom we don't want to be told we don't want to have to ask a health department we want to be treated as intelligent human beings that can decide that
can take advice that can look at the situation that can be advised what's going on and decide what we will and won't do especially when it comes to worship and when you look at the spiritual side of man, because we don't just have a physical side, we have a spiritual side that is alive and needs nourishment, and we have an emotional side, and we have young people. One of the things that I warned from March is that the suicide rate among young people was going to
skyrocket, and it has, and so the health department looks at one thing, and they don't look at the other thing and pastors and others do. And so I don't need the health department and I don't need a governor. And that's what the people of Arkansas are saying to tell me what to do. I'll decide because I told elderly people, this is a dangerous virus. If I were you, I wouldn't go. I'd stay at home. But they should have the right to make up their mind. The pastor should have the right to make
up their mind, not the state of Arkansas. Tell them. And that's why they bring they're
Chair
Unverified
1:29:03
bringing this bill. Thank you. Thank you, Senator. Anyone we should speak against? Four. Senator Chesterfield is recognized to speak against. Four. Senator Chesterfield is speaking. Four. Thank
you, Mr. Chair. Senator Chesterfield. Please make sure we can hear her. Senator Chesterfield, we
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:29:27
want to hear you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the reasons I'm speaking is because we have decided in the society that we're going to put each other into silos and decide that if one person
is for something, then everybody is going to be for that, or somebody is against it, then everybody is going to be against it. I quite firmly believe in the First Amendment, as does everybody in this room. And so this is not a for or against. What Senator Tucker pointed out was some technical difficulties he saw with the bill. That is to be respected. I'm going to vote for the bill because I think people have the right to decide
whether or not they want to kill themselves or not. I believe my church is closed down and we're having services virtually every Sunday and rejoicing with each other every Sunday because we love the Lord. No one party has a decision about our faith. Everybody that I know in this chamber believes in God and believes in faith and service.
and we need to stop siloing people and deciding on whether or not they have as much faith as the other. I was
Speaker 262
1:31:01
serving God before most of you discovered America. And so
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:31:08
let's stop siloing and let's speak for or against the bill based on the merits of the bill. I support the First Amendment as adamantly as many of you support the second amendment and the right to worship in one's
own way is tantamount to a society. And so I'm for the bill. But I would not question the motivation of others as to why they oppose the bill or have technical difficulties with the bill that's why we're here thinking leading the citizens of this state in debate about what is best for our citizens what is best for our country i would appreciate a good vote thank you
Chair
Unverified
1:31:58
thank you senator anyone we should speak against speak for senator hammers recognized to close Thank you, Mr. President,
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:32:09
and I appreciate the good, healthy debate. All I'm asking is that we secure the same freedom to have this debate and to express thoughts and opinions in the church house without any infringement. I'm part of the government, and I appreciate the dialogue today. I also want to publicly thank Senator Clark, because on the way here, he said,
I want you to know that I'm going to speak against the bill, but it wasn't because of the intent of the bill. It was because of his questions from a legal mind of maybe some things that could be better in the bill. I find myself caught between two attorneys, which is not always a pleasant place to be, between him and Senator Ballinger, but I would just say this to put your mind at ease, and that is this bill was heavily reviewed by attorneys outside of the Bureau as well, and it comes with the full effect of people
that are smarter than me in the legal world And based on the comments shared
Chair
Unverified
1:33:07
today by many, I would appreciate a good vote. Thank you, Mr. President.
Speaker 9
1:33:19
Senator has closed. Can I see if there's any objection to rolling the vote? Raise your hand. Please roll the vote. Ballinger, Beckham, Bledsoe, Caldwell, Chesterfield, Clark, Davis, Dismaine, Eads, Elliot, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Gilmore, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin,
Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Letting, Pitch, Grapert, Rice, Sample, Stubblefield, Sturge, Sullivan, Teague, Tucker, Wallace. Anyone wish to change
Chair
Unverified
1:33:53
their vote? Senator Elliott, present. Senator Elliott, present. Senator Letting, present. He hit his head. Senator Ingram is present as well.
Anyone else that I'm missing? Don't want to miss anybody. Okay? Thank you all. Cast up the ballot. 31 yays, zero nays. The bill is passed. the emergency clause is adopted. Return it to the House. Senator Blake Johnson is recognized for his bill. House Bill
1230 by Representative Richmond and Senator Johnson to amend the law concerning the Arkansas New Motor Vehicle Quality Assurance Act and to amend the definition of
Speaker 266
1:34:44
motor vehicle. Senator Johnson. Members, I bring this for Representative Richmond and And not to cause any kind of truck-size envy in the body, but I want to explain this. This will change our lemon laws. And a Class 1 truck is above 6,000 pounds. That would be like an F-150. This addresses a Class 3 truck, which is a medium-duty truck. And then that goes from 10,000 to 14,000 federally.
And the largest class size in a heavy-duty truck goes from $26,000 to $33,000. So this is addressing a medium-sized truck, and what is covered under our lemon laws is just over $13,000 and is outside the federal scope. So this brings our state into the federal class size. I'd appreciate a good vote. Any questions for the senator?
Speaker 140
1:35:52
or for? Senator, have you closed? Senator has closed. Any objection to rolling
Chair
Unverified
1:36:01
the vote on this bill? Please roll the vote, Madam Secretary. Ballinger,
Speaker 9
1:36:08
Beckham, Bloodsoe, Caldwell, Chesterfield, Clark, Davis, Dismain, Eades, Elliott, English, Flippo, Flowers, Garner, Gilmore, Hammer, Hendron, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Ingram, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson,
Letting, Pitch, Raypert, Rice, Sample, Stebafield, Sturge, Sullivan, Teague, Tucker, Wallace. Anyone wish to change their vote, cast
Chair
Unverified
1:36:32
up the ballot, 35 yeas, zero nays. The bill is passed. Return to the House. Senator T, I've got Senator Flippo here about to recognize, and I'll come to you, unless it's an emergency.
Thank you, Mr. President. I was recognized for an announcement. Thank you for coming down to the well, as appropriate. Quorum
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
1:37:03
is important to me, sir. Thank you. I
know it is. I know it is. So, members, I have up here in the gallery Dr. Timothy Payton. Dr. Payton was my childhood physician, and certainly he was able to identify some things that were wrong with me at a young age, but obviously not everything. We won't hold him responsible. Dr. Payton, welcome to the Capitol. Happy to have you.
Senator Larry Teague
Unverified
1:37:26
Thank you. Senator, could you share a lot of that comment about nonsense from the players over there earlier? I can't. I'd say, could you share a lot of your comment about nonsense from some of the comments? I'll get you a dictionary. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you, sir. i've got a lot of senators
Senator Greg Leding
Unverified
1:37:50
recognized for announcing doc i don't know about you you
Speaker 21
1:37:57
either perform malpractice or he's beyond repair so i'll take it he's beyond repair senate ag will not meet tomorrow senator mark johnson thank you mr president i move that senate
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:38:13
re-refer senate bill 243 from public health to city county local any questions it's a it's a it's a
Speaker 235
1:38:30
bill that deals with he has a question
he wants to know what the bill will
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:38:36
do does it's a bill that deals with central arkansas water and their relationship with the city of little rock and which was for it was formerly the little rock municipal water works so they need some clarification on health insurance for their employees
Chair
Unverified
1:38:52
it's a technical cleanup bill any any other questions for the center all those in favor say aye aye
Speaker 194
1:38:58
opposed eyes have it motion's carried any anybody else
Speaker 98
1:39:04
Senate is adjourned until 1 o'clock tomorrow, subject to the clearing of the desk.
Agenda
Call to Order
Roll Call
Prayer
Pledge of Allegiance
Announcements
Report on Senate Rules, Resolutions and Memorials Committee
RESOLUTIONS FOR THIRD READING AND ADOPTION
SR5 T. Garner TO COMMEND THE WORK OF MR. JOE WILSON AND OTHER SUPPORTERS AND TO SUPPORT STEAKS FOR SHEEPDOGS.
SENATE BILLS FOR THIRD READING AND PASSAGE
SB99 Bledsoe TO REGULATE STEP THERAPY PROTOCOLS.
SB118 D. Wallace TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS PUBLIC SERVICE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM; AND TO ESTABLISH EXTRA HELP POSITIONS FOR THE ARKANSAS PUBLIC SERVICE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM.
SB119 D. Wallace TO AMEND THE UNIFORM ATTENDANCE AND LEAVE POLICY ACT; AND TO AMEND THE CATASTROPHIC LEAVE PROGRAM.
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.
SB 155 Davis - TO ESTABLISH LILA'S LAW; AND TO PROHIBIT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES REGARDING ACCESS TO ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION
HOUSE BILLS FOR THIRD READING AND PASSAGE
HB1121 Dotson Ballinger AN ACT TO CREATE CONSISTENT LANGUAGE FOR ALL STATE ENTITIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION STATE DEPARTMENTS, AGENCIES, BOARDS, AND COMMISSIONS, REGARDING THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT HIRING PROGRAM; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
HB1211 Bentley Hammer TO REQUIRE THAT RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS ARE PROTECTED DURING AN EMERGENCY; TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
HB1230 Richmond B. Johnson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE ARKANSAS NEW MOTOR VEHICLE QUALITY ASSURANCE ACT; AND TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "MOTOR VEHICLE".
Announcements
Adjourn
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Speaker 7
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 9
Speaker 16
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
Speaker 21
Speaker 6
Speaker 25
Speaker 26
Speaker 35
Speaker 36
Senator Gary Stubblefield
Unverified
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
Speaker 63
Speaker 53
Senator Lance Eads
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Speaker 79
Speaker 83
Senator Trent Garner
Unverified
Speaker 85
Speaker 90
Speaker 55
Speaker 98
Speaker 52
Speaker 102
Speaker 42
Speaker 104
Speaker 106
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Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
Speaker 111
Speaker 58
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
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Speaker 122
Senator Joyce Elliott
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Speaker 125
Speaker 135
Speaker 142
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Speaker 109
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Speaker 153
Speaker 147
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Speaker 162
Speaker 101
Speaker 165
Speaker 166
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
Speaker 175
Speaker 140
Senator Greg Leding
Unverified
Speaker 77
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
Speaker 189
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
Speaker 193
Speaker 196
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
Speaker 203
Speaker 177
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
Speaker 88
Speaker 176
Speaker 212
Speaker 217
Speaker 141
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
Speaker 216
Speaker 236
Speaker 238
Speaker 232
Speaker 252
Speaker 257
Speaker 262
Speaker 266
Senator Scott Flippo
Unverified
Senator Larry Teague
Unverified
Speaker 235
Speaker 194