City, County & Local Affairs Committee- House
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Bills discussed (2)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1025
Act 60
· 3 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…OF PAYROLL TAX PAYMENT AND RETIREMENT SYSTEM CONTRIBUTIONS. HB1025 Watson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE TRAINING OF CORONERS…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE TRAINING OF CORONERS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | Watson | Notification that HB1025 is now Act 60 |
|
HB1036
Act 312
· 3 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…Rep. Richard McGrew REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle HB1036 Tosh TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS COUNTY ACCOUNTING LAW OF 1973 TO…”
|
TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS COUNTY ACCOUNTING LAW OF 1973 TO REQUIRE COUNTIES TO PROVIDE PROOF … | Tosh | Notification that HB1036 is now Act 312 |
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Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
0:00
You prepared to run House Bill 1036. You may proceed. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker 2
0:10
Chair. And at this time, I'd also like to introduce at the table with me. Can y'all hear me okay? I'd like to introduce Mr. Chris Lines with the County Association. And do you have any comments at this time? I
Speaker 6
0:25
do. Thank you, Representative. I'm so sorry I couldn't come and be with y'all last week. I know Mark Hayes over at the Municipal League and I both think it's very important to
come by and meet with this committee. City, county, local is the most important committee to us and we pass a number of bills through this committee and get a lot of help from you all and we appreciate your dedication to local government and so I stand ready to assist with anything you need from cities and we're with counties man marques the the same way with cities but we look forward to working with you and when i close i want to say one thing uh lanny fight uh representative
fights a great friend of mine i talked with him today we've known each other for a number of years and i know he's really tired today but his spirit's upbeat so uh he and and representative nix and Representative Slave are all in our prayers, and hopefully we'll get things back to normal soon. This is the first time in 20-plus years I've come to a committee, and three committee members have been out with a virus, and we have a capable chair today in former Judge Holcomb. Well, thank you, Dad.
And we're glad you're here, and you've got experience to back it up, but we're glad to be here. This is the first time I remember this happening in over 20 years. So thank you
Representative Dwight Tosh
Unverified
1:50
all very much. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Chris. Committee, I'm here today to present a bill to you. And what this bill does is we're going to try to put in a place with this bill, enact a law that puts in a process that every county across this state will follow in the handling of the county money.
And let me give you a little background, and I'll make this quick, as to why this bill is necessary. And it's sad to say what brought this to our attention and why we got together with the county association and decided we need to address the issue. was back last fall, well, not last fall, last spring, a guy that was a dear friend of mine that was a county clerk there in Crickhead County was accused and arrested for moving money out of the county fund over into his personal account,
probably to the tune of about, what, $1.4 million, $6 million. It was really a lick to the county. It was the county employees' payroll taxes that he was using other money for their retirement and things of that nature so it really really hit them hard the problem is when we got to looking at it and working with the county association there in that particular county he was the only person the only person that was responsible for that account at the bank where that money was held and it's been that way for years but you know you
never think about something like this happening in no way is this bill an attack on the integrity of the county or local elected officials across this state because we know that probably most every one of them are good law-abiding citizens that take their oath seriously and they're good public servants but in this case somebody decided to cross the line and go to the dark side and what happened was there was no there was nothing in place i mean he was so without getting into the
details of that what this bill will do and and what and what county association and my good friend chris flyers what they did they looked at what some of the counties across this state were doing and so they put and it was working for them they had three people in each county that every month that checking account would come to each one of them and not like what happened up there in Crickhead County with us where it only went to this one person, made it too easy. So now it's going to go to three people.
If the treasurer's the one that handles the money, that's fine. The county clerk and the county judge will see that account. If the county clerk handles it, that's fine. The treasurer and the county judge will see it and so forth. You get the picture. But we've got two more sets of eyes looking at it. I think we owe this, especially this transparency, and we owe this to do something to make sure this doesn't happen again. And I think with this process in place, where you've got more eyes looking at it,
it's going to make it more difficult for someone to, if they've got criminal intent on their mind, to be able to cross that line and commit that criminal act. So hopefully this will deter that criminal activity or anyone thinking about it. So we sure hope it does. We're trying to do what we can to make sure it doesn't happen again. I applaud the county association for reaching out and us working so hard together on this. This is a great bill and it's going to serve the people of Arkansas just the way, in a great way.
And I would appreciate your, I'm closed, Mr. Chair, and I would appreciate a good vote. Okay, any questions from committee members? Motion to go
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
5:38
there. We have a motion on the floor. Representative Ryle, you have a question? No, sir, I have a second. We don't have to have a second on the House side. Okay, we don't have any questions. Are you
closed, Representative Tosh? Do what? Are you closed? I'm closed. Yes, I'm closed. Representative Dahlbe, you recognize? Motion to pass.
I have a motion to do pass. All in
favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Same like sign. Congratulations. Representative Tosh, you will pass it. Thank you, committee.
Speaker 9
6:07
I appreciate y'all that appreciate it a lot.
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
6:13
Thank y'all very much. Representative Watson, are you prepared to run House Bill 1025? You may proceed.
Speaker 23
6:18
Yes, sir. There are a couple of people for work that signed up. Okay. Kevin Clegghorn.
Representative Danny Watson
Unverified
6:36
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's okay. I'm going to pull this off for just a minute. Thank you, committee members. Governor's House
Representative Carol Dalby
Unverified
7:09
Bill 1025 was brought to me, discussed actually several months ago, actually around April or May, forewarning me potentially that the coroners are going to need some help if COVID should go on and on.
And with my sense of humor, I said, well, I don't think it's going to be needed because I understand in the morning it's going to be over with. Well, needless to say, that joke and sarcasm did not come into effect. But we need this. There's 75 counties here in Arkansas. They need some help on the coroners. Coroners is very much like a commissioned law enforcement officer. The law reads within 12 months of hire date that they have to complete a minimum amount of certification, a minimum amount of training, a minimum amount of hours. And that's what's going on right here.
Many deputy coroners, I'm really not sure how many deputy coroners Pulaski County has, but I guarantee you it's more than two or three. We have four or five down in my Hempstead County and about the same in Nevada County. So basically, that's what this, and it's also emergency clause. At this time, Mr. Chair, if you'll allow him to recognize himself, the executive director of the Arkansas Corners Association, it will speak a little bit more on the gist of this potential legislation. Okay, any
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
8:26
questions from committees at this point?
Representative Carol Dalby
Unverified
8:28
Representative Dalby, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Watson, in your bill on page one, line 24, and at the very end it says, as a deputy coroner after January 1st, 2020, 2021, I just, can you explain the two dates? Is that, or is that a, I mean, are we after 2021 or after 2020?
I just wasn't quite following the
language. Okay. With that comment, I'm going to ask Mr. Cleghorn, if he will be able to. Okay. Kevin, introduce
Representative David Tollett
Unverified
9:09
yourself and go ahead and help him with testimony.
Kevin Cleghorn
Unverified
9:13
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Kevin Cleghorn. I'm the president of the Arkansas State Coroners Association. I'm also the Saline County Coroner. Representative Alvey, the original bill, Act 238, that was passed in the last legislative session actually read that the certifications for deputy coroners were supposed to be completed by January 1 of 2021,
and that I think the 2020 is what should have been stricken from that as far as that goes, because they have one year from the date of hire, if hired after the law passed, to obtain that certification. So what we're asking is, obviously, because of COVID, our trainings were all put on hold. Alita was not able to travel. We weren't able to travel. We couldn't have the meetings with more than so many people, and facilities were not letting us come in to hold these classes.
We are asking that the Act 238 be extended from January 1 of 2021 to January 1 of 2022 is what we're actually looking for. To give that extra year, I got word from Alita this week that they have been authorized, their instructors are authorized to travel again, and we can actually begin holding these classes to get us caught back up where we should be. it's been a huge success thank you guys for for everything that y'all have done to support us in
the past we have well over 100 120 deputy coroners around our state that are already certified we still have a long way to go and it and it's making a huge impact in our communities especially in dealing with the the pandemic that we're dealing with and doing you know more comprehensive investigations to determine the causes of death, it's making a huge impact. So I hope that answered your question. Representative Dalby, you recognize for a follow-up? It does. Just, you know, we're
Representative Carol Dalby
Unverified
11:15
having to look on our own devices and the strike-through just didn't come through. So it should read after January 1st, 2021. I believe that's, yes, ma'am. Great. Thank you. I appreciate that. Is that correct?
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
11:32
Yes. Any other questions from committee members? Okay. I have, I have Mark Whitmore signed up to speak for the bill. I don't have anyone signed up to speak again. So, Ms. Whitmore, do you want to speak? I hope you don't mess the bill up. Okay. Okay. You're fine.
Okay. Any other questions for, from the committee members? What's the pleasure of the committee? Representative Toilette, you recognize? Motion do pass. I have a motion do pass. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed, same
Representative David Tollett
Unverified
12:08
like sign. Hearing none, congratulations. Your bill passes. Thank you, committee. Thank you very much. Kevin, I'd like to see
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
12:15
for just a minute after the committee meeting, if you'll hang around just a minute.
Yes, sir. I believe that concludes all of our
Speaker 29
12:25
business for today. Okay, we stand adjourned. I probably forgot to tell you.
Agenda
REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle
HB1036 Tosh TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS COUNTY ACCOUNTING LAW OF 1973 TO REQUIRE COUNTIES TO PROVIDE PROOF OF PAYROLL TAX PAYMENT AND RETIREMENT SYSTEM CONTRIBUTIONS.
HB1025 Watson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE TRAINING OF CORONERS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — CITY, COUNTY & LOCAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE- HOUSE, Jan 21, 2021 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
Speaker 2
Speaker 6
Representative Dwight Tosh
Unverified
Speaker 9
Speaker 23
Representative Danny Watson
Unverified
Representative Carol Dalby
Unverified
Representative David Tollett
Unverified
Kevin Cleghorn
Unverified
Speaker 29
Speaker 46