2025 Boys State House Meeting
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (2)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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HB1001
Act 3
· 7 mentions in transcript
Matched: “please read HB 1001. House Bill 1001 by Representative Ross. To create the, the…”
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AN ACT FOR THE ARKANSAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATION FOR … | House Management | Notification that HB1001 is now Act 3 |
|
HB1002
Act 1
· 3 mentions in transcript
Matched: “…sent, the bill is passed. Mr. Clerk, please read House Bill HB 1002. House Bill 1002 by Representative”
|
THE GENERAL APPROPRIATION ACT FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1002 is now Act 1 |
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Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
0:00
I invite the members, staff, press, and guests in the galleries to stand to be led in prayer by the House Chaplain E.J. Moore and to remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance to be led by Representative Lex Gamble or
Speaker 4
0:22
Representative Perry. If you will, bow your heads. Dear Heavenly Father, as we come to you today in this prestigious place, Let us all gather around, have a good time, enjoy where we're at, and realize that this is an honor.
This is a privilege that we all get to share with each of our brothers and sisters here. Thank you so much for allowing us to have this opportunity and let us go far in life and do things in your name, Lord. You are possible of all great things, Lord, and we know we can accomplish anything with you on our side. In your holy name I pray, amen. Amen. To the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Speaker 3
1:20
Members, please indicate your presence by pushing your yellow present
Chair
Unverified
1:41
button. Prepare to machine, Mr. Clerk. Thank you.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:59
Cast up the ballot, Mr. Clerk. With 79 members present, the chair sees a quorum. The chair appoints the following committee to notify the Senate that the House is organized and ready for business, which would be Noah Bradford. The chair appoints the following committee to notify the governor that the House is organized and ready for business, which would be James
Representative Rebecca Burkes
Unverified
2:33
Willett. Typically at this time when you've been appointed by the speaker, the gentleman that was appointed
would go to the Senate and report that the House is assembled and ready for business and also the person that was appointed to address the governor. And I don't know, Representative Hawke, are they doing that? Okay. Okay. See if they're going to if they are. If not, we'll roll right into legislation. All right, we'll
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
3:05
move on to the House bills. Mr. Clerk, please read HB 1001.
Speaker 24
3:15
House Bill 1001 by Representative Rose. To create the Privatization of Education Act to repeal the Arkansas Children's Educational Freedom Account Program and to declare an emergency. Representative
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
3:34
C. Rose, you are recognized to explain the bill.
Speaker 30
3:56
thank you mr. speaker for addressing me and I'll begin
Speaker 31
4:05
now representatives I love Arkansas but you know what I love more our state's future and that future starts with education specifically public education what we need to
Speaker 32
4:15
understand right now as our state is our government is supporting these privatized schools such as private schools and giving them our public school's money. So in the status quo in the state of Arkansas, we see that if you choose to go to a
private school, you can get these things called vouchers, which take out right now $6,800 per student that uses a voucher from public school funds to go directly into private school's pockets. However, the big issue of this is $6,800 isn't enough to pay for a private school tuition in itself. So the people that are using these vouchers are people rich enough to already go private schools and are just getting more money to just getting money to throw on top of it and the big issue right now is that the entire state wants to like Christianize schooling and that's a huge problem the founder of these programs
Milton Friedman declared this as a war on public education what we need to understand is that right now in the state of Arkansas we're seeing a war on public education by funding private schools and defunding public schools the only way to fix this issue and fix each and every one of our education and the future education of the state is to get rid of these voucher programs so we can focus on our students and focus on the public education systems thank you I'm ready for questions representative Andrews
Chair
Unverified
5:37
so my question about this my question about this bill
is will this bill take away from Arkansas teachers salaries because I do want to specify that it is known that Arkansas teachers are the highest paid in
Speaker 32
5:49
the country no this bill literally just defunds private schools and private schools aren't held to any uh like funding like any like mandates for pay rates thank you yeah any further questions representative McCullum for what
Speaker 44
6:09
purpose trying to clarify it would this
specifically just get rid of the vouchers so when
Representative Rebecca Burkes
Unverified
6:21
the speaker or not speaker but the bill presenter takes questions process is you stand and I apologize for this but you stand speaker say for what purpose you'll say question he'll say representative Unger you're recognized and go from there if If the speaker leads the well, or not the speaker, but the presenter leads the well,
you don't get to ask your question. You've gotta be recognized by the speaker before you launch
Speaker 3
6:57
into the question. - Representative Rose has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
7:06
against the bill? Representative McCollum, you're recognized for speaking against the bill.
Representative Austin McCollum
Unverified
7:14
So I'm neither speaking for or against the bill, but I just wanted to clarify my question
Chair
Unverified
7:19
that I was unable to ask. I was wondering whether you were specifically just getting rid of vouchers or how you intend to defund or allocate funds more towards public schools rather than private schools. Would anyone like to speak for the bill?
Representative Mitch? Representative Lynch, you are
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
8:14
recognized. To speak for the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the House, public education is the backbone of our society. Education is the most powerful tool that we have. And we have to make sure that every citizen of Arkansas has access to a high quality of education.
Many of us come from public schools. I, myself, come from Little Rock Central. It's a school rich in diversity, and that is something that is often lacking in private education. So that is why we need to allocate more funding to public education while still recognizing that we still do need to put more effort into ensuring that such funding is appropriately allocated towards programs that ensure that we will build a better future for Arkansas. Thank you.
Speaker 60
9:04
Representative, I have spoken for the bill. Are there any representatives wishing
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
9:12
to speak against the bill? Representative Anker, you are recognized to speak against the bill.
Speaker 64
9:34
uh so private schools um while they do contain a lot of people of the middle class and higher there are still those who cannot afford to go there and uh in those counties the schools may not be the best the regular public schools and i mean we can allocate funds there all day but But I do believe that right now the children of Arkansas need to
Representative Brandon Achor
Unverified
10:02
be supported by those private schools, and the government should help with that.
Speaker 3
10:08
So, yeah. The representative has spoken against the bill. Are there
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
10:20
any representatives that would like to speak for the bill? Representative McAllenden, you were recognized to speak for
Speaker 68
10:37
the bill. public education is something that's
Representative Mindy McAlindon
Unverified
10:39
necessary i mean without it there is just private education
and that goes back to the times before we even had america where the only way to get teaching was if you already came from a wealthy family or a you got lucky really public education stops that and it helps make it to where it's more accessible to everyone and it allows all of us to go to college, get a good education and make our way through the world. So defunding public education for private education doesn't help anyone. It only defunds the only thing that helps a majority of Americans get anywhere in life.
Speaker 3
11:18
The representative has spoken for the bill. Are there any representatives wishing
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
11:21
to speak against the bill? Representative Brown A., you're recognized to speak against
Speaker 73
11:36
the bill. I would just like to say that I feel we have made an unfair assumption that all people going to private schools are already well off enough to attend those schools. There are some families that are just getting by that maybe that $6,800 does help, and I feel it would be unfair to them.
I know that there's some people in here that share my similar beliefs as a young Christian, and maybe those parents don't want their children going to public schools that preach evolutionary theory, and I feel it's unfair to them. The representative has spoken against the bill. Are
Speaker 3
12:08
there any representatives wishing to speak for the bill? Representative Mayberry,
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
12:15
you are recognized to speak for the bill.
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
12:22
Hello. Okay. So I would like to point out that many states have tried this VADRA thing and have failed. If you want to look that up, that is a fact. Also, the fact that schools are preaching scientific facts and it goes against your moral beliefs or your faith kind of doesn't matter because it's a public school. And the people that want to go to private schools that can't afford it, that's why we have public schools. That's the whole point of them. It's that they can afford it and have a good education that teaches
fact instead of faith, which is something completely different and against our First Amendment right. Okay. And it's kind of, I don't know how to explain it. We shouldn't be teaching Christian morals or faith in a public school, because that is against the First Amendment and the Constitution. Thank you. This representative has spoken for the
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
13:14
bill. Are there any representatives wishing to speak against the bill? Representative Richardson, you are recognized to speak against the bill.
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
13:29
I'd like to start by saying what this
Speaker 78
13:33
bill does well. Arizona, the great state of Arizona, has a similar program. And in 2023, 52.4% of students that used their voucher program were already private school students. And the year after, 71.2% of students that used their voucher system were previously private school students.
The voucher system mainly benefits wealthy students that can already afford private education. The $6,000 that is allocated from public school budgets is simply not enough to afford a private education. So students will, I believe, in a universal pre-K system like the great state of Oklahoma. There was a 2006 study that was conducted that would estimate that universal pre-K would cost the government $226 million,
and adjusted for inflation, it would cost $350 million annually. There was another study that was conducted that said that universal pre-K would benefit the Arkansas public by bringing in $2,490 million in total benefits by 2050. I look at universal pre-K like an investment in our Arkansas students and something that's very necessary for the future of our great state.
Speaker 79
15:14
I'd like to start by reading a speech that I prepared on this matter. In the context of many public platforms, key policy parameters involve not
Speaker 78
15:25
just how, but whom, which populations should be eligible for benefits. This is evident in recent policy proposals at the federal level in the United
Speaker 79
15:35
States, which depart from the targeting characteristic of much U.S. policy to expand benefits to all individuals who meet broader eligibility criteria. Even when many could be infra-marginal
for the goods or services in question, central to the rhetoric behind such proposals, such as Medicare for All or universal child care, is that access to some services is a basic right, not a privilege, for those who can afford it. Another rationale is that programs for the poor are poor programs. That means tested programs end up underfunded due to a lack of broad-based political support. But can universal programs be justified on efficiency grounds? In theory,
there are clear efficiency rationales for targeting. By targeting benefits on difficult-to-change characteristics correlated with how levels of human capital, policymakers can reduce moral hazard, keep costs down, and redistribute towards those most in need. On the other hand, the greater number and political power of stakeholders in the universal programs might hold public goods providers more accountable, raising the productivity of public spending
relative to a targeted program. Practically, in cases where there are more direct interactions across programs, beneficiaries, universal access may also allow for human capital spillovers that increase the productivity of public spending for an implicit target population, such as disadvantaged children. It is nevertheless difficult to gain empirical traction on this question. In the very least, it requires the same kind of program that can be observed
under widely different conditions of access. A situation that rarely arises in practice. Preschool education in the United States may provide a rare approving ground. Perhaps nowhere today is the variation in programs across more striking. In 2015 to 2016, not all states funded pre-K programs. But among the 43 states that did, there was great cross-state variation in eligibility rules.
Some state programs are universal, serving all four-year-olds that meet age eligibility requirements. Others are more targeted, meaning that they are also means-tested or target-enrolled based on other factors. In the first part of this speech, I take advantage of the rich cross-state variation in rules governing eligibility for state-funded pre-K to compare universal and targeted programs on the same basis using the same data and research design.
Despite a large literature on preschool education spanning disciplines, such an exercise has yet to be carried out. A mature body of research explorers targeted preschool programs, most famously the federal Head Start program. and the model, preschool interventions of the distant past. There is also an emergent research on state-funded pre-K. Both streams of literature tend to conclude that the benefits of preschool exceed the cost.
Yet it is difficult to compare the findings of universal and targeted preschool programs directly due to the differences across studies in methodology, outcomes, timing, and contribution enrollment patterns. I address this gap in the literature by working with, ah, never mind. Okay, I find substantial positive effects of state-funded pre-K on the test scores of four-year-olds in states with universal pre-K eligibility. It improves the average four-year-old's standardized reading and math scores
by a significant 12%, 60% of a standard deviation. I cannot rule out equal effects of universal pre-K attendance by family income, but low-income children experience substantially larger test score gains. Pre-K attendance impacts for children in states with targeted programs are significantly smarter. Effect sizes vary, but this basic set of results is robust to changes in the estimation sample,
including changes the range of ages or the set states considered. It also arises for another outcome, parent reports of their four-year-old's kindergarten readiness, albeit with less precision. Supporting a casual interpretation, my preference especially also does not yield similar patterns of impact for a measure of mental development at age 2 or host of other child observities.
A key feature of the universal and targeted pre-K programs under study is that per-pupil costs are actually quite similar. The larger test score gains for universal programs alone thus suggests that they are more cost effective, but this conclusion could be hasty since some other characteristic of states with universal programs, rather than the program's access itself, could generate the same pattern of attendance impacts. For example, universal programs were relatively more likely to require small class sizes,
which have been rigorously shown to improve early test performance. States with universal programs may also have more populations more likely to benefit from formal preschool in general, or university programs may be more likely to draw their enrollees from informal or parental care. I rigorously explore these possibilities in the second part of this paper and find little supporting evidence. I also show that consistent with access in the casual mechanism, the impacts of universal
pre-K look qualitatively similar to those of universal public kindergarten with the ECLSB, which I estimate by exploiting age eligibility rules for kindergarten entry using an RRD approach. The evidence is thus consistent with universal pre-K being relatively cost effective in the third and final part of this paper. I monetize the test score gains for a tentative cost-benefit analysis even under conservative assumptions on key parameters
like the magnitude of the association between early life test scores and earnings. Universal pre-K delivers a benefit-to-cost ratio well above one, much like universal kindergarten, while significantly less precise than the difference in test scores' effects of universal and targeted pre-K for poor children. The magnitude of the difference and the benefit to cost ratios across programs
Speaker 92
23:08
is substantial. Speaker, if you could, on that point. I call for the relevance of this speaker talking about pre-K.
Speaker 78
23:25
topic because this bill is about education reform, and so I will continue to read my speech. Okay. Speaker,
Speaker 25
23:31
if you could speed up your speech so that we can get to the other business on hand. I have 68 pages,
Speaker 25
23:45
allotted time. Speaker, if we could wrap it up,
Speaker 79
23:49
that would be greatly appreciated. The paper proceeds as follows. The next section describes the landscape of state-funded preschool in the United States and the state-funded pre-K programs of study in this paper. Section 3 outlines the research design. One, employ the estimate of casual impact of these programs on age 4 test scores. And Section 4 introduces the data and presents an explanatory assessment
of whether the design identifying assumptions hold the ECLSB. Section 5 gains the main impact, estimates for universal and targeted pre-K. Along with a series of specialization checks on these estimates and their differences, Section 4 explores potential alternative expectations for their larger impacts of pre-K attendance on state... Representative, if you could wrap up your speech very
Speaker 98
24:45
quickly, that would be greatly appreciated.
Speaker 79
24:48
I have 30 minutes of allotted time, and I'm going to use my 30 minutes of allotted time. Thank you very much. Okay. Along with
Speaker 103
24:56
the series of specification checks on these estimates and differences, Section 4 explores potential alternative... Sound clerk, if you
Speaker 83
25:01
could kill his mic. Thank you, Representative. You may take your seat.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
25:28
Representative Crawford, for what purpose? On that motion?
Speaker 3
25:46
for immediate consideration. That's a proper motion, and it is not debatable. The question before the House is
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
25:52
immediate consideration of HB 1001. All in favor, vote aye. All opposed, vote no.
Unknown speaker
25:59
Prepare to machine, Mr. Clerk. Thank you.
Speaker 13
26:46
Has everyone voted? Cast up the ballot,
Speaker 52
27:11
Mr. Clerk. The vote of 64 yeas, the motion has passed.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
27:16
The question before the house is the passage of HB 1001, prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Has everyone voted?
Cast up the ballot, Mr. Clerk. With a vote of 65 ayes and 14 nays and 0 present,
the bill is passed. Mr. Clerk, please read House Bill HB 1002.
Speaker 24
28:20
House Bill 1002 by Representative Hendricks to create the Mental Health Omnibus Act. Representative Hendricks, you are
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
28:26
recognized to explain the bill. Thank you.
Chair
Unverified
29:07
So, mental health is on a decline, especially for young
children. What this bill is designed to do is eliminate the use of e-cigarettes, provide a suicide prevention grant program, and establish fines for potentially selling e-cigarettes or tobacco to minors.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
29:37
Representative Hendricks has explained the bill. Are there any questions? Representative Long, for what purpose? I have a
Speaker 95
29:59
question. Proceed. You're recognized. Is this bill only specific to e-cigarettes or all nicotine-use products? All nicotine. Thank you.
Speaker 110
30:11
Representative Burks, for what purpose? I have a question.
Speaker 128
30:17
Proceed. You're recognized. What's the
Chair
Unverified
30:23
purpose of abandoned tobacco and e-cigarettes? It's to
eliminate improper use and provide mental health support and peer groups for young children who suffer from anxiety suicide and provide suicide prevention programs because essentially
nicotine doesn't really help in a sense, but it
doesn't really solve problems. Representative Beattie, for what
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
31:01
purpose? Question. You are recognized. If selling nicotine
Speaker 132
31:06
products to minors is illegal already, what's the point in banning it?
Chair
Unverified
31:17
It's to crack down on future abuses of nicotine products in young children. Representative Eubanks, for what purpose? You are recognized.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
31:28
How would the banning of nicotine products to minors affect
Representative Jon S. Eubanks
Unverified
31:35
the use of products like nicotine patches and strips for the purpose of waning off of an addiction? Some people can't immediately stop, and so doctors and other medical professionals will allow them to use nicotine strips and patches to slowly get themselves off the addiction.
Chair
Unverified
31:55
That is where the peer groups come in, and just to provide support for those children who do suffer and need help progressing and getting off of those products, we're just offering a better way to use those products. Representative Brooks, for
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
32:19
what purpose? You are recognized. So, would this bill
Chair
Unverified
32:24
enact a person or aid to
those who suffer with mental health, such as a therapist, for those who suffer with mental health?
Representative Keith Brooks
Unverified
32:38
Can you repeat that? So, would this bill provide aid, such as a therapist, for any children or anyone who deals with mental health?
Speaker 146
33:02
Yes. Representative McClare, for what purpose? I want to have a motion to limit debate time for and for and against to five minutes.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
33:13
Just on this bill or in general? On every bill. So four minutes on? Five minutes. Minutes for each side? Yes, sir. That is
a proper motion and is not debatable. question before the house is immediate consideration of a limit of debate to five minutes all in favor say aye all opposed say no the motion fails
Representative Rebecca Burkes
Unverified
33:47
all right gentlemen here's what just happened when we vote voice vote we voice vote motions we've
got to have more than just you got you got to let it be known that vote threshold is a little bit higher it's a two-thirds vote threshold typically we would put that on the board but we're hoping for the for expediency purposes we could just roll with it point being is on these when you come to the well to speak for and against speak on the topic speak on the bill we don't typically don't go down there and read prolonged speeches and
prolonged comments from other places you need to be concise and to the point so that you prove your point because what happens is in a situation with our our General Assembly if Representative Childress goes down there and and talks for a lot at a time extended time he tends to lose a little bit of credibility as far as going forward with his bills and his points and perspective so you won't be concise and to the point if we want to limit debate that's well within your ranks but right now you probably won't want this to play out a little bit because you only have a few bills but you can bring that motion
back but when you do vote voice vote be heard because it's the call of the chair whether that motion is adopted or
Speaker 152
35:05
not the representative has presented the bill are there any representatives wishing to speak against the
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
35:14
bill. Representative Barnes, for what purpose? You are recognized.
Speaker 154
35:38
I'm here to speak against the bill that was previously presented. I think that the banning of e-cigarettes and nicotine products is actually kind of counterintuitive. After all, in the United States, we banned hard drugs like crack, cocaine, all of that, and there's still plenty of use. And in my opinion, I think that if people really wanted to use nicotine, they will find a way.
Illegally or legally, they will find a way. So, that's it. This representative has
Speaker 3
36:16
spoken against the bill. Are there any representatives wishing to speak for the
Speaker 146
36:31
bill? Representative McClure, you're recognized. So I just wanted to clarify this bill. I'm a co-sponsor on it. We're not banning the nicotine products. We are just so a lot of teachers when they see a student using nicotine, sometimes they don't report it. We are wanting to enforce harsher penalties on those teachers. And we're wanting to enforce harsher penalties on the people who sell these nicotine products to minors. So like maybe a larger fine, a suspension, but I wanted to say we are not banning them.
We don't want them banned. We want to enforce harsher penalties for those who sell them or for those who don't report them used in schools. Thank you. This representative
Speaker 156
37:09
has spoken for the bill. Are there any representatives wishing to speak against the bill? Representative Anchor, you are recognized.
Speaker 64
37:29
thank you mr. speaker in this bill it talks a little bit here about adding on to mental health programs in schools and my issue with that is that schools are already struggling to keep up financially especially instead of Arkansas and some of the more rural communities. And with that, unless we, you know, I don't see
in here about grants for that, so that kind of falls on them. Also, with the harsher punishments to selling to minors, a lot of those minors have fake IDs, and that could easily put a small business out of business because they got arrested and can't do business and so that could be a hit to the economy
Speaker 40
38:34
of Arkansas thank you this representative
Speaker 3
38:42
has spoken against the bill those wishing to speak for the bill please
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
38:47
please rise. Representative Wray, you are recognized. You
Speaker 157
39:01
speak for the bill. I want to focus on
Representative David Ray
Unverified
39:04
just the second part of this, especially on that second page. On Section 2E, the Department of Health shall establish and administer a grant program providing
Education to minors, school personnel, and mental health professionals specializing in suicide prevention. This is not the e-cigarette bill. It's a mental health bill. It is literally titled the Mental Health Ominous Act. It's not e-cigarettes. The end goal is not to end the use of e-cigarettes. It's the end of the constant suicides that we have going on, not just in this state, but in our entire country.
Mental health is a huge issue, and they are using e-cigarettes as an outlet. We need to change that outlet to something that's going to be beneficial. The funding, part of the aspect would be potentially taxpayer money and grants, as it mentions. I am one of the representatives on this bill, along with the financial assistance to mental health organizations in the state so that we can reach more people, especially in the rural areas.
I've seen this from a personal aspect because I lost my best friend about a year ago and I tried to take my own life, along with 12 others that thought about it and two others that tried and another person that was successful. This is a bill not to eat cigarettes. It's to end suicide and to get them help. This representative has spoken for
Speaker 156
40:45
the bill. Are there any representatives wishing to speak against
Speaker 3
40:49
the bill? Representative Maddox, you are recognized to speak against the bill.
Speaker 159
41:05
Hello. I would just like to bring to your attention that second page, line 4, it specifies that school personnel shall not report the illegal use of an e-cigarette by a minor, and I don't think that would be much of a crackdown on the use of nicotine if school officials would not be able to report it legally, and I believe it could definitely cause more issues than good.
Speaker 156
41:29
Thank you. This representative has spoken against the bill. I am now looking for representatives
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
41:36
wishing to speak for the bill. Representative Collins, you are recognized to speak for the bill.
Chair
Unverified
41:45
- I would like to motion for immediate consideration of this bill. - That is a proper
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
41:51
motion, it is not debatable. The question before the house is in the immediate consideration of, what was
the motion? Of the immediate consideration, All in favor, say aye. Aye.
All opposed, say no. No. Thing is, it is unclear. We're going to clerk open up the-- prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. We'll go on to a machine voting. Has everyone voted? Cast up the ballot, Mr. Clerk.
By the vote of 57 yeas, 18 nays, and two present, the motion has passed. The question before the House is the passage of the item HB 1002. Prepare to machine, Mr. Clerk. For voting on
Speaker 49
43:22
the bill, we're voting on HB 1002, the Omnibus Bill, the Mental Health
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
43:27
the omnibus act. Has everyone voted? Cast up the ballots, Mr. Clerk. By a vote of 43 yeas, 33 nays, and 3 present, the bill is passed.
representative mcclure for what purpose motion on that motion you're recognized every bill to take a total
of 10 minutes total of 10 minutes of
Speaker 167
44:15
debate what total of 10 minutes yes sir that is a proper motion it is not
Speaker 3
44:24
debatable the question before the the House is to limit debate to 10 minutes per bill.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
44:30
All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, say no. No. The ayes have it.
Speaker 3
44:42
This motion has passed. The debate will be
Speaker 108
44:56
limited to 10 minutes per bill. Mr. Clerk, please read item HB 1003.
Speaker 24
45:08
House Bill 1003 by Representative Mercer to reduce the usage of tobacco in Arkansas and to increase funding for future legislation. Representative Mercer, you
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
45:20
were recognized to explain the bill. Good morning,
Speaker 168
45:31
my fellow House of Representatives. Today, I come
Chair
Unverified
45:35
to you with a bill, a bill about health and about funding for our government and our legislation.
Arkansas has received a B, 1C,
and 3F grades in American Lungs Association's latest report on the state's tobacco prevention and cessation. The B was from the use of tobacco products, while all the F grades are from the taxation and how little it is compared to the rest of the nation. How many people are suffering from our tobacco usage?
People are suffering. 6,000 Arkansans die every year due to tobacco usage. We are sixth ranked in the nation for how many people use tobacco products. Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined. Tobacco is a big problem, a big health problem that we must solve. And the economics of it are also a problem.
Our cigarette tax is $1.15 per pack versus the national average, which is $1.93. three. We are much lower in every percentage. Our tobacco is so much far lower taxed in our state. For this, lots more people are able to access it. Lots more people are able to suffer from it. Our economy may get revenue from this, but this taxation increasing it will give us more revenue
because we'll be getting more money for legislation, but it will also reduce the amount of people that are taking in these tobacco products and suffering. Legislation has been passed on this before, and it's restricted, not allowed minors to be able to buy tobacco products or anyone under the age of 21, but they are able to still access it. Tobacco products are a problem, a problem that must be solved and handled with efficiently and now.
e-cigarettes are a big problem in schools vaping is a huge problem all over the state tobacco products plague our nation and we must deal with this by increasing the taxes which does not ban it as we had talked about in the last bill banning it causes problems with people who are suffering from addiction but this will give them a way out it will reduce the
amount of people who use tobacco products. This is our way of fixing this problem. Thank you.
Speaker 171
48:25
Representative Johnson, for what purpose? Question. You are recognized. Is this
Chair
Unverified
48:36
a tax on just cigarettes or all tobacco products? This is a sales
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
48:43
tax on all tobacco products. Okay, thank you. Representative Womack, for what purpose? Question?
Speaker 172
48:50
You are recognized. Is that all the methods that will be used to ban tobacco? Can you repeat that?
Chair
Unverified
48:56
The methods used to ban tobacco and keep it from students and minors? So that's not exactly what this bill is handling. It's handling
more of the average people who just go in and buy tobacco products. It's a sales tax
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
49:12
trying to reduce them. okay. Representative Hall,
Speaker 177
49:18
for what purpose? Question? You're recognized.
Speaker 178
49:23
So this 40% tax, if a doctor prescribes a patient tobacco, will this patient be forced to pay that tax,
more money for the tobacco
Chair
Unverified
49:34
they were prescribed? This bill covers buying tobacco at like shops and any store that's put up, not necessarily a prescription because a prescription drug is something that is prescribed by doctors,
Speaker 176
49:45
professionals who understand the need for this. So, no, not necessarily. Representative Meeks, for
Speaker 126
49:51
what purpose? Question. You are recognized. Should we consider
Speaker 180
49:56
that the crime rate might go up because of the increase in tax for people that can't afford it anymore
Chair
Unverified
50:04
that are struggling with addiction? That is something to consider. However, taxes go up all the time, and crime rate is something that will have to be dealt with. But think of the crime rate that comes from tobacco being used as a drug. That is something that can fuel crime, and the crime that might go down from that
Speaker 176
50:25
might level out the thing that you just
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
50:28
mentioned. Thank you. Representative Dalby, for what purpose? Can you hear me?
Speaker 179
50:34
Question. You are recognized. So, this bill has to do with tobacco products, but as far as I can see, it doesn't have anything to do with maybe e-cigarettes or any liquid form of nicotine. Is that a correct assessment? So, e-cigarettes and vaping and
Chair
Unverified
50:52
all that is considered a tobacco product under the law and under the U.S. government's definition. Thank you. Representative Beattie, for what purpose?
Speaker 132
51:07
question you're recognized um what would stop why how would the tax taxes stop uh addiction like someone who's addicted to it why not just pay the extra 40 more cents for the product so if you're addicted you're trying
Chair
Unverified
51:23
to get out of it but you just can't but maybe there's a bit more money you have to pay now and while it may be just 40 more cents for one thing are they really just going to buy one thing and that adds up eventually eventually it becomes more of a cost
a way more of a cost and so not only can your heart say no to it but your wallet's starting to say no to it as well so there's two factors there that cause you to want to get out of that addiction you have more telling you this isn't the right choice representative
Speaker 186
52:02
shepherd for what purpose question you are recognized how much would the tax increase be be a forty percent tax increase on
Speaker 176
52:08
tobacco products and forty percent um from the manufacturer thank you
Speaker 5
52:11
representative eves for a purpose question you're recognized so in the
Speaker 190
52:25
bill in the subtitle of this bill it says it is also has the purpose to increase funding for future legislation can you
Chair
Unverified
52:33
expound on that a little bit yes so um while the main purpose is to reduce tobacco usage and increase the health of the people if people are still to buy tobacco products with that tax there
is further funds that can go towards helping people with addiction or other legislation for any of the problems we have discussed here today and will discuss later on thank you representative collins for what purpose i would like
Speaker 162
53:02
the motion to reconsider that is not a proper motion it is
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
53:18
representative mayberry for what purpose question uh you're
Speaker 105
53:22
recognized thank you um so you said that there was going to be
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
53:25
a 40 increase on tobacco products do you realize how much that is yes i do okay that's a lot so most people who that use tobacco products they're not just going to quit they're just going to be angry at you are you prepared for that repeat that again please the people who use tobacco products they're not going to just quit they're going to be angry at at you? Are you prepared for that? I am prepared for that because it's the health of the people
Chair
Unverified
53:51
that I care about. It's the health of our state, health of our counties, and I'm prepared to have people angry, but I'd rather people be mad at me than people die because of them suffering from tobacco. They're just going to be mad at you. I support this bill.
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
54:06
I want you to know that, but it's going to be hard to pass this, and there's going to be a
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
54:12
lot of people that don't support you. I understand that, but I'm willing to take
Chair
Unverified
54:17
this challenge and I'm willing to move forward so we can push for more health, more people to be the betterment of the people, the betterment of our societies.
Speaker 3
54:26
Thank you. Representative Milligan, for what purpose? You
Speaker 159
54:33
are recognized. May you please explain Section 2, Section C, where— Representative Milligan, Representative, I've gone off the mail. There are
Speaker 156
54:40
no more questions for this speaker. Would anyone like to speak against the bill?
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
54:56
Representative Perry, you're recognized. To speak against the bill.
Speaker 197
55:09
I rise today in opposition to this act, Not because I support tobacco use,
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
55:14
but because I support smarter policy. While the intention behind this bill is admirable, reducing tobacco use and protecting our youth, the execution is deeply flawed, and it raises a lot of concerns about fairness, effectiveness,
and even an impact that's going to last in the long term. First and foremost, this bill proposes a 40% increase in the existing tobacco tax, a move that disproportionately burdens lower-income Arkansans. Let's be honest, the wealthy will not feel this tax, but working-class individuals, many of them who are already struggling to make ends meet, will. Tobacco addiction is a public health issue, yes, but it is also a socioeconomic issue, and punishing the poor under the guise of reform is not good governance.
It is legislative overreach. Second, let's talk about effectiveness. If our goal is to reduce youth tobacco usage, then why are we taxing existing tobacco users instead of investing directly into education, to prevention programs, and cessation support? Increasing taxes does not stop addiction. It drives it underground, encouraging illicit trade, and reduces the trust in government. We should be focused on creating better support systems, not slapping on another tax and calling it progress. Third, the bill vaguely states that it will increase funding for future legislation.
What does that even mean? Where are the guarantees that this funding will actually go towards anti-tobacco programs rather than being funneled into unrelated projects or lost in bureaucratic red tape? And finally, the tax has a sunset clause. Three years. If the goal is to discourage long-term tobacco use, then why such a short-term measure? This isn't a reform. This is a quick revenue grab disguised as moral action. Let me be clear. I am not defending big tobacco. I am defending smart, fair, and effective policymaking.
This bill fails to strike that balance. Instead of punishing people for an addiction, let's focus on compassionate, evidence-based solutions that uplift rather than penalize our communities. Seeing as the time has elapsed, we'll proceed on to a
Speaker 108
57:28
vote. Prepare the machine. Representative Mercer, you are recognized to close
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
57:35
your bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to all of you for hearing my bill out.
Chair
Unverified
57:42
I'm here to present a bill that has legislation for the people, a legislation for health, a legislation for life. I'm here for people to stop suffering, not for a quick cash grab, but for the people. I understand the concerns that we have raised, but I hope that you'll all vote yes, and I would be very thankful if you would vote yay on this bill, because this bill is for life, this bill is for health, this bill is for the betterment of people. Thank you.
Speaker 52
58:13
Representative Mercer has closed the bill. The question before the House is the passage of HB 1003. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone voted? Pass up the ballot, Mr. Clerk.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
58:47
By a vote of 24 yeas, 54 nays, and two present, this bill has failed. Mr. Clerk, please read House Item HB 1004.
Speaker 24
59:18
House Bill 1004 by Representative Potts. An act to create the Arkansas Sustainability System, to create an income tax credit for the production of renewable energy sources, And to incentivize energy production. Representative Potts, you are recognized to explain your bill. Just an address
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
59:33
to the chamber, let's try to keep all these speeches
pretty short and brief so that we can get to as many speakers as possible.
Speaker 204
59:52
Hello, everybody. The idea of House Bill 1004 is to
Speaker 205
59:57
incentivize the adaption of clean and renewable energy across our business sector and reduce a collective carbon footprint. This is in order to position our state as a leader in sustainable development because, to be honest, the state of Arkansas, while we are trying to progress towards having cleaner renewable energy we're
not quite where we should be in my opinion but essentially what this bill is going to do is it's going to give a 20% tax credit to businesses that use solar panels and that implement solar panels into their businesses and I believe that this would this would end with long-term economic growth and lower
energy costs because I'm from El Dorado which if you don't know is in the southern part of the state, and the oil company, the oil business around there is very prevalent, and I think that we could do a lot better than using crude oil, and yeah, that's pretty much it. We'll now move on to questions.
Speaker 3
1:01:29
Representative Allen, for what purpose? I have a question. you're recognized I agree with you that
Speaker 207
1:01:35
we should use clean energy and you mentioned solar energy but what about other forms of energy like
Speaker 205
1:01:43
nuclear or wind so so essentially what I'm understanding is that you're thinking this is too narrow and that we need to expand into other yes the bill focuses on solar energy because it's the most acceptable accessible and it's the most scalable um it's rapidly deployable technology for business um that being said it doesn't exclude
future legislation so they're in the future we can implement other forms of clean energy but essentially i just want to get i just want to get the ball rolling and i want to lead the way so we can have more forms of clean energy but it's not
Speaker 206
1:02:21
going to happen all at once representative of long for what purpose question you're
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:02:27
recognized where will the where will we get the
Speaker 94
1:02:31
land to put these solar panels and will it take away from struggling farmers in the state of
Speaker 208
1:02:38
arkansas um the land that most of the solar panels will in my head the the
Speaker 205
1:02:50
land that the solar panels will be built on would be where the business owns so say for instance there was a supermarket that wanted to get in on this and they decided to use solar panels it would be either on top of their store or around their store on land that they already own i don't see this
Speaker 211
1:03:16
encroaching on other farmers. Thank you.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:03:25
Representative Richardson, for what purpose? Questions? You're recognized.
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:03:31
In Arkansas, the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit currently
Speaker 78
1:03:35
offers its 30% tax credit on the cost of installing solar panels. My question is, you mentioned 20%. Are you in favor of decreasing the current tax credit by 10% or increasing it to 50%?
If you are in favor of increasing it to 50%, where do you believe the money
Speaker 205
1:04:01
will come from? To be honest, I had not heard of this bill beforehand. I just came up with this idea when we were coming up with the bills. but I would neither decrease it by 10% or increase it by 50% or increase it to 50%. I feel increasing it to 50% would be too much of a tax credit for other companies or for businesses.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:04:29
Yeah. Representative Brown, for what purpose? Question.
Speaker 216
1:04:38
You are recognized. Under Section 3, 2D, is your intention for the expiration after 20 years, would they be allowed to file once again, or are
Speaker 205
1:04:52
they limited to one time? My intentions with this is that you can renew this bill, seeing I basically just see how it increases our renewable energy sources.
And if it's good and we should keep it going, then yes, we should renew the bill. And if it's not
Speaker 206
1:05:13
working, maybe we should rework it and
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:05:21
try something different. Representative Moore, for
Speaker 218
1:05:23
what purpose? Question. You're recognized. So I helped write this bill. And to clarify, doesn't this bill, it's not just about solar. It's about all clean energy sources. It's not solar specifically. And also, doesn't this bill, isn't the purpose of this bill to, it's not to increase solar farms and things such as that.
But it just encourages companies to switch to that, to go cleaner. Is that correct? Yes, you are
Speaker 206
1:05:49
correct in saying that. Representative McAldin. Representative
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:06:00
McClure, for what purpose? Question. You are recognized.
Speaker 3
1:06:03
Never mind. The speaker has left a well. Would anyone like to speak against this piece of legislation?
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:06:14
Representative Andrews, you are recognized as... This is for speaking against a piece of legislation. Representative Anker, you are recognized to
Speaker 64
1:06:40
speak against this piece of legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, especially in Arkansas, we are no stranger to inclined weather.
Hail and tornado, I'm from Jonesboro, we had a Turtle Creek Mall, we no longer do. Solar panels contain toxic chemicals that if damaged by hail or strong storms can leak those chemicals into our environment and ruin our beautiful natural state. wind turbines have adverse effects on populations of birds, which is not good.
So with all that being said, I don't think that we are the right state for this. I think that there are, at least not right now, until we can get the correct footing for the kinds of renewable sources that we should be using. I do not believe the ones that are mentioned in this bill are a good fit for. I don't think that my constituents would agree either. I mean, all of them have homes that have been affected by these storms,
and I would hate to see that they can no longer live there because of something that happened during a nuclear meltdown or a wind turbine got picked up during a tornado and thrown through their living room. Thank you. would
Representative Brandon Achor
Unverified
1:08:11
anyone like to speak would anyone like to speak for the bill representative
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:08:33
Andrews for what purpose you're recognized to speak for the bill Also, you
Chair
Unverified
1:08:49
on this. Hello, gentlemen. I'll keep this short. Basically what we have is a problem, but it's also an advantage at the same time. Arkansas, the natural state, is expanding. Arkansas is growing.
We are getting bigger as a state, and we are having more of an impact on our entire country. However, this comes at a cost, a cost of energy. this bill does is this bill gives us a solution to a problem, a problem that's caused by Arkansas growing. If you are in favor of Arkansas growing and becoming a more impactful state for our entire nation, then you agree with this bill. You agree with this solution. This is an excellent solution to a problem that's caused by Arkansas becoming a better state. So if you are in favor
Speaker 3
1:09:40
for that then you are in favor for this bill seeing as the time has
Speaker 205
1:09:54
nearly elapsed representative potts would you like to close the bill you are recognized thank you speaker um the goal is clear with this bill i want to incentivize the adaption of clean renewable energy across the business sector i want to reduce our collective carbon footprint and i want to lower the energy costs And that would mean more capital for business to invest in expansion and hiring and strengthening our local communities.
This is why I think you should vote yes for the bill. Thank you for your time,
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:10:24
guys. The question before the House is the passage of HB 1004. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk. Has everyone
Speaker 13
1:10:40
voted? Cast up the ballot, Mr. Clerk.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:10:47
By a vote of 60 yeas, 12 nays, and 8 present, this bill passes.
We'll now move on to a 10-minute recess, and we'll
Speaker 108
1:11:05
come -- All right. We'll move on to Senate Bill 2, SB 2. Mr. Clerk, please read SB 2.
Speaker 24
1:11:38
Senate Bill 2 by Senator Gaddy. To utilize the natural resources of Arkansas to create and stimulate the economic well-being of all Arkansas and to declare an emergency. Are there any sponsors for this piece of legislation?
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:12:08
Representative Wilkins, you are recognized to explain this bill. You may speak on this piece of legislation.
Chair
Unverified
1:12:58
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to start opening up by reading this bill again, okay? It says, an act to utilize the natural resources of Arkansas to create and stimulate the economic well-being of all Arkansans, to declare an emergency and for other purposes. Arkansas the natural state.
What's wonderful about Arkansas is that is exactly what it is. I don't think that there could be a more well described way to put Arkansas. We are abundant in natural resources and I think it would be ignorant to not use those, to not utilize those for our economy. Arkansas is growing as an economy and for it to continue to grow we need to be able to access all of our strengths, specifically our resources. I think if we open up and we use these resources,
there can be nothing but benefits from using them. I know that some of you may have concerns when it comes to our environment, but believe me when I say this, the people that we have handling these situations care about our environment just as much as anybody, and we'll go about this in the best way possible to preserve our environment in any way that we can. Thank you. The floor is open for questions.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:14:42
Representative Vought, for what purpose?
Speaker 234
1:14:44
I have a question. You are recognized. I see on here lithium mining, And you stated that Arkansas is the natural state. What is so natural about, like, opening up the whole ground for lithium batteries? I think when it comes to this issue,
Chair
Unverified
1:15:07
we've been using natural resources for years.
And I think opening up the lithium deposits, I think the way that we handle it is some of the best in the country. I think that we can use these resources the best way
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:15:32
possible while keep preserving the beauty of Arkansas. Representative
Speaker 235
1:15:37
Unger, for what purpose? Question. You're recognized. So I just want to ask, even if you have a controlled clearing of environments and all
that, what is that going to do to the waterfowl and whitetail deer population that a lot of Arkansans go out and hunt and a lot of our hunters out here rely on each season? I think
Chair
Unverified
1:16:01
it's an excellent question. I myself am a hunter as well. I share your same concerns, but I believe in this bill. i believe in the people that are handling this situation i believe that they know what they're doing when it comes to this so i think even though i share the same concerns as you i believe in the people that are handling this situation and i think that they will do their best to preserve
Speaker 224
1:16:22
our wildlife as well as well as they can
Speaker 238
1:16:33
thank you representative barnett for what purpose question you are recognized and section 138 states that all the members of the lithium mining commission shall be residents and citizens of the state of arkansas and at least 21 years of age and it follows that in b it says at least a majority of the members of the lithium mining commission shall be experienced in the development production or transportation of lithium and my
My question is, do our experts that we have currently, are they residents of Arkansas that would continue to work on this if this bill is
Chair
Unverified
1:17:04
passed? Excellent question. Yes. In short, the answer to your question is yes. The people in this situation are Arkansans, and I think that is, I believe that's excellent because who better to handle Arkansas problems than Arkansas people? Representative McGrutter.
Speaker 67
1:17:23
you're for what purpose you are recognized is this
Speaker 209
1:17:31
dangerous to the public no I don't look I do
Speaker 214
1:17:36
not think so I think the public should not be concerned when it comes to this bill representative car purpose well
Speaker 244
1:17:47
let's open up new job opportunities yes that's another benefit of this bill
Speaker 245
1:17:51
that I haven't even talked about. Good question. Thank you. Representative McCollum, for what purpose?
Speaker 44
1:18:01
So I know that Arkansas has some rich lithium deposits. Recently, like a large deposit was found in Smackover. I was wondering if you believe that there could possibly be more benefit in terms of safety, environmental sustainability, and even potentially economic benefit with higher demands later on for electric vehicles. Do you think that there could be potentially more value in waiting to use some of these natural resources such as lithium?
Chair
Unverified
1:18:33
I think when it comes to waiting, I think in the last presidential administration, I think we've been waiting long enough. I think with that administration putting a hold on wells, oil rigs, things of that nature, I think that put us at an economic standstill, and I think we need to do our best get back in the game as soon as possible. Representative
Speaker 224
1:18:51
Brinks, for what purpose? Question. You are recognized. Could you elaborate
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:18:59
more on the bill? Yes, I can do my best to.
Chair
Unverified
1:19:06
So, what this bill is, this bill is opening up the use of our natural resources as our Kansans. This bill, the reason we're doing this is because our economy in Arkansas is growing, and i think what we need to continue to grow is energy energy found in our natural resources i think the best way to continue to grow economically is to take full advantage of all the resources that we can as a state of arkansas representative milligan for what purpose you are recognized may
Speaker 159
1:19:37
you please explain the regulations you'll put on the
Chair
Unverified
1:19:43
lithium mining companies So certain regulations that we're going to have in place for these lithium deposits, we're going to make sure that they dispose of all hazardous materials in a safe way that preserves our ecosystems in Arkansas. So there's going to be very strict environmental concerns and environmental procedures in place with this bill.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:20:10
Thank you. Representative Perry, for what purpose? Question. You're recognized. So the
Speaker 253
1:20:16
Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
1:20:19
gives federal law precedence over state law. So how does this bill propose to legally override federal law? So
Chair
Unverified
1:20:27
federal law, you know as well as I do, it trumps state law. So whatever the federal law is in place is what we have to go by, regardless of our opinions or our beliefs.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:20:41
Representative Furman, for what purpose? You are recognized. This is for Section
Speaker 257
1:20:53
B on Part B. It says that at least a majority of the members
Chair
Unverified
1:20:58
of the Lithium Mining Commission shall be experienced in the development production or transportation of lithium. What makes someone, like, what are the requirements to be experienced? need to have a background
Representative Tony Furman
Unverified
1:21:11
in this field in some form of higher education in this
Speaker 53
1:21:14
field thank you representative Warren for what purpose you
Speaker 259
1:21:25
are recognized well why is lithium mining banned already so lithium
Chair
Unverified
1:21:30
mining was banned due to environmental concerns but I think
the way that we're we are handling this and this new proposed bill I think some of the things that weren't addressed previously I think we have addressed them in this bill I think some of the
procedures that are in place now weren't in place before and that's why I think it used to be dangerous but now with all of the knowledge that we've gained due to poor practice we have implemented new practices new procedures to best preserve our environment as Arkansas as the state of Arkansas as a
Speaker 224
1:22:01
time reminder, we have about one minute left. Are there any representatives that are
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:22:10
wishing to speak against this piece of legislation? Representative Steele, you
are recognized to speak against this piece of legislation. Please be
Chair
Unverified
1:22:27
brief as we have less than a minute. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So lithium mining, it produces carbon emissions, it pulls up land, and it contaminates water that can harm people and wildlife. While I know that there are regulations in place to try to protect against this, negligence and accidents do happen in all processes. So I want you all to consider that before going on this bill. Also ask
yourself the question, do you want our incredible forests and our incredible landscapes to be turned into a quarry. Thank you. Representative Wilkins,
Speaker 156
1:23:07
would you like to close out your bill?
Speaker 250
1:23:25
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I just want to say I appreciate all of the insightful questions and
Chair
Unverified
1:23:33
the discussion that we were able to have. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I support this bill. I believe in this bill. I think this bill can only help Arkansas, can only benefit Arkansas. This bill is talking about resources, natural resources. We as Arkansas are the natural state, which means I think it would be the smartest decision for us going forward to take full advantage of our natural resources as Arkansas to stimulate
economic growth to do our best to grow as Arkansans and as the state of Arkansas as a whole to make more of an impact in our country. I think Arkansas, we're growing, and I think this bill
Speaker 224
1:24:10
stimulates that growth. Thank you. Representative Wilkins has
Speaker 52
1:24:17
explained the bill. The question before the House is the
Speaker 98
1:24:21
passage of SB2. Prepare the machine, Mr. Clerk.
Speaker 108
1:24:31
Has everyone cast their ballot? Cast up the ballot, Mr. Clerk. By a vote of 27 yeas, 47 nays, and six present, this bill
Representative Rebecca Burkes
Unverified
1:25:01
has failed. Just a quick note on that bill, if you'll notice, it did contain an emergency clause.
If it had been passed, which it was defeated, it would have needed 54 votes for the emergency clause to be enacted, which makes it effective upon the signature of the governor. So we typically say when there's an emergency clause, your one vote is for the bill and the emergency clause. But if you don't hit the threshold for the emergency clause, the bill can still pass, and then we would have turned immediately and considered the emergency clause. We just got a little quick there and just wanted to make you aware that that could have happened. But the bill was defeated, so no harm, no foul.
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:25:39
This chamber will now take a 10-minute recess and will reconvene at
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
1:25:47
1057. Hey guys, real quick. Great job. So what we're waiting on right now is we just did one Senate bill. The Senate's way behind. You guys are kind of getting through this. They're currently on Senate Bill 3 right now. So the reason why we're in a five-minute recess is because we've got to wait for those bills to come over here. Senate Bill 1, so if you were the sponsor of that, that one failed on that end over there. So we will not hear that over here. So we're really
waiting on to see what happens with senate bill three and senate bill four to decide whether we take that up in this chamber uh so in the meantime would you say 10 15 okay okay so what we're gonna do if you guys will i mean you guys can talk and roam and everything like that don't i mean don't kind of leave your area uh and then we'll get going here in about five minutes or so uh and if you need a break find a representative um that is roman and we can take you to the bathroom thanks
Unknown speaker
1:27:43
Thank you.
Thank you.
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Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
1:42:13
Hey, guys, if you can start getting back into your seats,
Speaker 284
1:42:29
please. We're not coming out of recess just yet. I'm just trying to
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
1:42:32
get everybody back in. Hey, if there's anybody outside, if you can get them to come inside that's a House of Representatives member. Yeah.
It's like the recess bell. Okay, guys, so here's what we're doing. We're still waiting on the Senate. It's no surprise that the Senate is taking forever. When we're in session, they're notoriously slow. And clearly for Boys State, that tradition continues.
And so here's what we're going to do. Here in a moment, our speaker is going to bring us back in. And the governor of Boys State is going to come up. And he's going to talk to you guys, correct? Yeah, he's doing an interview right now. But we're going to gavel back in here in just a moment. I want to make sure that we've got everybody. Was somebody sitting beside somebody that's not back yet? Do you guys know?
Speaker 268
1:43:42
so he's not back he's not back he's not back so we got about three four where's he at
Speaker 295
1:44:21
we got about four members So while we wait,
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
1:44:34
thumbs up, thumbs down, is this what you expected whenever you guys
came in here yeah who uh who's been here before you you said that's not what you expected who uh who's been here before that uh sat in the gallery while we were in session anybody one two three four handful yeah great who would come back to watch when we're in session that's awesome that's great well man look here's the deal i'm i'm pretty honored to be able to share this uh this is my second year to do this, because at the end of the day, I said this on Wednesday,
you guys are the future of Arkansas. No matter what you do at this point, you guys, no matter how you think, whether, you know, you're more progressive or conservative, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you guys go on to be future leaders in this state, right? And this is the start. You guys can go on. From now on, you guys are now cemented as a legacy of being a boy state guy. There's members that, Speaker Evans that you guys met, Johnny Rye, a lot of those guys who
they're legislators now, they were boy state guys, right? It's almost like a fraternity for a lot of you because you're building connections, you're building relationships relationships with people that you normally wouldn't ever meet, right? So, you know, I know you've heard a lot about cherish the moment, live in the moment, take it all in. But the reality of this is, is that there's no, there's not many people that get to sit in these chairs. We have
a hundred seats in this, in this chamber. And if you think about that in the vast majority of how many high school upcoming seniors there are in the state. Essentially, 75 of you got to sit in this chamber today. Pretty impactful. So I hope you guys had a great day. I'm kind of stalling a little bit because we're... So the governor, when you get to be governor, he's currently doing a TV interview down at the end of the chamber, but he's going to come in and address you guys here in just a moment. I believe he's coming right now.
So I'm going to hand it back over to the speaker and let you guys do your thing. This house is now back in session.
Speaker 124
1:51:51
Mr. Sergeant at Arms, for what purpose? For the admission of the governor of State Department 12. Admitted admittance of the governor to the house chamber, admit that governor. Mr. Governor, you're recognized.
Speaker 311
1:52:21
hey how are y'all doing good thank you guys for everything you've done to get me here i just want to thank you one last time while we're
Speaker 234
1:52:31
here um you say i'm very grateful and it's good to see all y'all all y'all's faces one last time so yeah thank you guys i think that's it Thank you, Governor.
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
1:53:09
okay we are still waiting on the Senate I know that that's what we say all the
time of course so real quick where Wade Paul Johnny who else we're all my state reps at Lincoln you guys hey y'all come down here real quick yeah get him so here's what we're gonna do in the meantime I know that you guys had a lot
of questions on bills right and once we'll end this once we find out about the Senate but you guys have any questions for us because you know we didn't really get to do Q&A the other day in we're at UCA so if you've got a question just raise your hand and you can kind of address whoever we'll let the speaker call out since he
Speaker 313
1:54:01
hadn't got to do a whole lot we'll let you identify who's gonna ask questions
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
1:54:07
questioners please rise representative Mayberry for a purpose a question yeah you're recognized I just
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
1:54:14
want to ask can we repeal the learns act do what can we repeal the
Speaker 204
1:54:29
learns act boy I you know that's a great question we're not in
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
1:54:33
session right now right so uh you know we're not of course we so we wrapped up session in april that's when we did that right and so if that were to happen right we would do it in 2026 uh or 2027 whenever we'd come back 26
when we come back into session and then um they was you'd have to have a rep so you could call your representative who is your representative that's mayberry okay so you would basically call her and
Speaker 313
1:54:59
ask her to uh write a bill to repeal the lawrence act all right thank you cool thank
Representative David Ray
Unverified
1:55:07
you right what is the most important policy that y'all have implemented in the last session wait up I'll let you lead
Speaker 92
1:55:16
off with that one I think everyone up here
Representative Wade Andrews
Unverified
1:55:23
could probably have their own opinion on what what's the most important but we could probably have a debate on what's controversial we all have bills appear we that each of us ran that we consider important it's always good to cut taxes it's always good to deregulate anytime you grow the economy anytime you can improve education for the state we did a higher ed bill this session and y'all
are right now probably looking at where to go to college what you want to do after high school hopefully it's somewhere that y'all are gonna go to college or you're gonna join the military or you're gonna join the workforce any of those three options you know employed enlisted or enrolled is basically what the the department is kind of promoting right now but in the higher ed bill it makes it easier you get so you go to apply for college you have one application for every public university in the state instead of
multiple and a bunch of fees it's it's one so that's probably one of the more important ones we passed this past session Paul you gotta
Representative Paul Childress
Unverified
1:56:42
the way I look at it we want to make sure that we keep the public safe and we educate kids that's two of our most important things we did do the the college access program and we ran some bills to keep and passed them to keep sex offenders out of public swimming pools and we've done some some
criminal offenses we did some things about the death penalty to allow that to go forward so anyway I think I look at it our job is to make sure we educate kids and we keep the public safe so that's a couple
Speaker 324
1:57:23
of important things that we did do this session. Woolridge. Thank you. As kids, what could you give us our young adults as
advice growing up to be adults as y'all? Is there anything you can tell us? Like what you would do at this point? Is that what you're asking? Yeah, like growing, like can you give us any advice? man
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
1:57:43
i i think really set goals right and i won't speak for everybody up here but i i think that right now is the the time i know that there's a lot of people trying to figure out what's next after high school right you're trying to decide you're going to go to college or you're going to go to the military you're just going to go straight in the workforce um i i think it's
never too soon to start setting goals for yourself on what that is so whether it's politics whether whether it's business, whether it's just life in general. Where do you, you know, I know when I was a junior, right, I had a five-year plan, I had a 10-year plan, and I had a 15-year plan. I wrote it down. And, you know, this was before you could make notes on your cell phone to keep up with. And so I had a little journal, and I had that. And, you know, I would periodically check back into those goals to see if I was hitting those goals and doing that.
I think really for you guys, that's the biggest thing is find out what you want to do. find out what you want to do right now uh in life it doesn't have to be a career but what do
Speaker 327
1:58:44
you want to get out of life and and start there and if
Representative Glenn Barnes
Unverified
1:58:51
there's anybody you want to add to that may add to that also if you're planning to go to college you need to take the act now okay uh colleges do accept the act the another there's another test that they will accept
But you need to take the ACT because you want to try to get your score above a 21, if you can do that. And that will get you a ticket into college, okay? Average ACT in the Delta is about a 15. The average for the state is about an 18 right now. So if you're going to go to college, you really need to focus on the ACT. If you're not going to go to college, then you need to decide what skill sets you might want to do. and then you can do something concurrent while you're in high school, okay?
That's one of the good things about the LEARNS Act is the concurrent education that you can do. But as
Speaker 331
1:59:43
Brother Hawke said, you need to get focused and decide what your
Representative Glenn Barnes
Unverified
1:59:48
goals are short-term, one to three, long-term, five to ten. You need to really know
what you want to do with your life. - Thank you. - Thank you. - Representative Hudson.
Representative Jessie McGruder
Unverified
2:00:07
- Excuse me, I wanted to add to that. What was your name again? - Noah Norwood. - William. - Noah Norwood. - Noble. Most importantly, what I've learned in my years of experience is finding a mentor really matters. It's great to set goals, but I think this young man here asked me about how to get involved in politics. And the key is finding someone that you see in those positions
that are currently holding those positions and ask them how they got there. And you can model or copy off some of the things that they've done. And oftentimes, when those people serve in those positions, they can give you a template. You may not agree with that template wholeheartedly, but it'll give you a guide on how you can achieve whatever goals you set for yourself in life. So finding a mentor is very important. Hey, real
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
2:01:03
quick. So the Senate, they did not pass any bills except for the one.
No surprise. So we're going to take one more question. I'm going to let the speaker figure out who that one question is going to come from. And then we're going to gavel out so you guys can
Speaker 339
2:01:23
get back on the bus. So who's the next question from? Representative
Speaker 340
2:01:26
Hudson. Well, first off, I want to say good morning. Well, I've heard the term that, you know, that anybody can become, you know, a politician, you know, anybody can run for president, but I do have a question about this. So to be, I'm sorry, so to be prepared for politics
and so to know things that is in depth with it, what type of college major and/or minor would you recommend?
Representative Wade Andrews
Unverified
2:01:56
legislature Parkland legislature I'm not gonna say there's one college degree that you need to go to college for if you want to run for the house representatives what's your degree in journalism I've got a
degree in agriculture business he's a he's a education PE coach we have a very diverse background i think if you care about arkansas if you care about people if you're able to get along with people and you're good at conversing and networking and it's those type of qualities and i promise you there are people who are elected this body
that do not have a college degree um colleges are for everyone and it takes all sorts of it It takes all kinds of kinds to make this world go round, and it takes a very diverse body. It's important for us to have a diverse body of every different type of background. So don't go to college just because you want to be a politician. Go to college. If you want to go to college, go get a degree that you think that's a field of work that you could be good in because we can't survive on just this salary.
We all have jobs outside of here. Like I said, we've got a PE coach. RJ and I do some real estate Mr. Johnny here he's he's he's he's retired so he's the best part of life we got a pastor business owner like I said it takes off all kinds of kinds and so yeah you can go get a poli-sci degree but that's if you want to go to DC and be a grunt worker and over underpaid overworked
staff member for congress um you know
Speaker 187
2:03:50
what do you like to do what do you like to do what do
Speaker 340
2:03:56
you see yourself doing well um so my plan is i'm sorry well my ambition um okay we can
Representative Wade Andrews
Unverified
2:04:08
talk about this later take you to
Speaker 340
2:04:14
one talk now uh you said but my true true my true ambitions in the future arts run for for political offices um i do desire and i do want to be um
the president one day hopefully that is that
Speaker 345
2:04:28
is my main goal that i'm looking towards thank
Representative Lincoln Barnett
Unverified
2:04:37
you i just want to add it to that to response to your initial question it's not that you have to major in a particular area of study in terms of running for politics so i have a bachelor's degree in psychology and then i have a master of divinity degree with a concentration in ethics and counseling and i think when you're thinking about especially if
you're wanting to go to college and study any field of study the thought in your mind needs to be what field do you want to contribute to and when you're thinking about it from a political standpoint you will be able to serve with an expertise in a certain area so we have legislators that are well-rounded some that are college educated some that may have gone to trade school some that may have not had any formal higher education but they have something that
they are passionate about and that they are likely to be an expert in and so when you're considering what field of study you want to go into you need to consider what area you want to impact and have an impact
Representative Johnny Rye
Unverified
2:05:48
on guys it's honor to be with you guys here today you would not be here unless you were special people. That's the way I feel about it. And the world in the next 20 years is coming your way. But I want, if there's one thing I can leave with you would be this. Let's go from
being people to servants. Because the best politicians are the ones who really take care of other people. Just like in the Lions Club, different kinds of functions that you can get involved in if you ever want to come back here. But it's very important the things that you're following over the last three or four days, and I know each one of us appreciates you being here. Thank y'all. Thank you guys for the
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
2:06:34
questions. Real quick before we get out of here, I just saw him walk in the room. The education
chair for the House of Representatives is Keith Brooks, who is in the back of the room. So all of our education bills throughout the session go to Keith, and so I wanted to give him a round of applause since he came to Boys State. Hey, guys, hey, thank you
Speaker 266
2:06:57
so much for participating in Boise State. I'm going to let the speaker gavel us out. Right before that, let's give a round of applause to
Speaker 108
2:07:03
these legislators who have been guiding us to the Capitol today.
Speaker 3
2:07:19
Thank you for electing me as your Speaker of
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
2:07:22
the House. It has been a great time being up here and controlling debate. There being no further business, this session of Arkansas Boys State is adjourned, signed die. .
Agenda
No agenda available.
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Representative Jon Milligan
Unverified
Speaker 4
Speaker 3
Chair
Unverified
Representative Rebecca Burkes
Unverified
Speaker 24
Speaker 30
Speaker 31
Speaker 32
Speaker 44
Representative Austin McCollum
Unverified
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
Speaker 60
Speaker 64
Representative Brandon Achor
Unverified
Speaker 68
Representative Mindy McAlindon
Unverified
Speaker 73
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
Speaker 78
Speaker 79
Speaker 92
Speaker 94
Speaker 25
Speaker 98
Speaker 103
Speaker 83
Speaker 112
Speaker 13
Speaker 52
Speaker 95
Speaker 110
Speaker 128
Speaker 132
Representative Jon S. Eubanks
Unverified
Representative Keith Brooks
Unverified
Speaker 146
Speaker 152
Speaker 154
Speaker 156
Speaker 40
Speaker 157
Representative David Ray
Unverified
Speaker 159
Speaker 49
Speaker 167
Speaker 108
Speaker 168
Speaker 171
Speaker 172
Speaker 177
Speaker 178
Speaker 176
Speaker 126
Speaker 180
Speaker 179
Speaker 186
Speaker 5
Speaker 190
Speaker 162
Speaker 105
Speaker 197
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
Speaker 204
Speaker 205
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Speaker 234
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Speaker 67
Speaker 209
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Representative Tony Furman
Unverified
Speaker 53
Speaker 259
Speaker 250
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
Speaker 271
Speaker 284
Speaker 268
Speaker 294
Speaker 295
Speaker 301
Speaker 303
Speaker 305
Speaker 124
Speaker 311
Speaker 313
Representative Wade Andrews
Unverified
Speaker 320
Representative Paul Childress
Unverified
Speaker 324
Speaker 327
Representative Glenn Barnes
Unverified
Speaker 331
Representative Jessie McGruder
Unverified
Speaker 339
Speaker 340
Speaker 187
Speaker 345
Representative Lincoln Barnett
Unverified
Representative Johnny Rye
Unverified
Speaker 266