Public Transportation- House
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Bills discussed (10)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1605
Act 328
· 5 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…FINE FOR A MOVING TRAFFIC VIOLATION IN A MOBILE WORK ZONE. HB1605 Wing TO AMEND THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER-GENERAL CONTRACTOR M…”
|
TO AMEND THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER-GENERAL CONTRACTOR METHOD OF PROCUREMENT PILOT PROGRAM TO TO MAKE THE … | Wing | Notification that HB1605 is now Act 328 |
|
HB1596
Act 327
· 4 mentions in chapter, agenda, transcript
Matched: “HB1596 Steimel TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING MOVING TRAFFIC VIOLATIO…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING MOVING TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS IN A HIGHWAY WORK ZONE; TO CREATE … | Steimel | Notification that HB1596 is now Act 327 |
|
HB1623
· 4 mentions in transcript, agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ery much, committee. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have House Bill 1623 Representative Moore, you may approach, introduce yourself,…”
|
TO EXEMPT H-2A VISA PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS WHO HAVE A VALID INTERNATIONAL DRIVER'S LICENSE OR PERMIT … | J. Moore | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB253
Act 256
· 3 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…ews CONCERNING EXPEDITED SECURITY SCREENINGS AT AN AIRPORT. SB253 Hill TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF A MANUFACTURED HOME UNIT. H…”
|
TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF A MANUFACTURED HOME UNIT. | Hill | Notification that SB253 is now Act 256 |
|
HB1502
Act 325
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ux Rep. Trey Steimel REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle HB1502 Maddox TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE REGISTRATION AND LIC…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE REGISTRATION AND LICENSING OF A HISTORIC OR SPECIAL INTEREST … | Maddox | Notification that HB1502 is now Act 325 |
|
HB1550
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…AW CONCERNING ANTIQUE MOTOR VEHICLE SPECIAL LICENSE PLATES. HB1550 Andrews CONCERNING EXPEDITED SECURITY SCREENINGS AT AN AIRP…”
|
CONCERNING EXPEDITED SECURITY SCREENINGS AT AN AIRPORT. | Andrews | Recommended for study in the Interim by the … |
|
HB1606
Act 922
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…UREMENT PROGRAM PERMANENT FOR THE STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION. HB1606 Steimel TO ALLOW A LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO AUTHORIZE THE OPERAT…”
|
TO ALLOW A LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO AUTHORIZE THE OPERATION OF A UTILITY TASK VEHICLE ON … | Steimel | Notification that HB1606 is now Act 922 |
|
HB1284
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…LICENSE EXAMINATION. DEFERRED BILLS Number Sponsor Subtitle HB1284 Unger TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE SUSPENSION OR REVOCAT…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF A PERSON'S DRIVER'S LICENSE FOR … | Unger | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1371
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…D TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING A RESTRICTED DRIVER'S PERMIT. HB1371 Wardlaw TO REPEAL THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE COMPLETION OF A H…”
|
TO REPEAL THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE COMPLETION OF A HUMAN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION COURSE FOR THE … | Wardlaw | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1569
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…ION COURSE FOR THE ISSUANCE OF A COMMERCIAL DRIVER LICENSE. HB1569 Long TO CREATE THE SECURE ROADS AND SAFE TRUCKING ACT OF 20…”
|
TO CREATE THE SECURE ROADS AND SAFE TRUCKING ACT OF 2025; TO AMEND THE LAW … | Long | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
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- October 2, 2026
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
0:09
ready to run your bill. If so, you may. Go ahead and introduce yourself and present your
Representative John Maddox
Unverified
0:30
bill. Good morning, committee, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for having me here this morning. Um, My bill is really simple, um, It rolls back the requirement to
receive an antique tag in Arkansas from 40 years, uh, no, excuse me, from 45 years to 30 years. That's all my bill does. For those of you who recall, I mean, I've been in contact with him. I don't see him here, but
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
1:00
you that don't understand that comment. He, Jack, Jack's, uh, he's the one that ran the bill that he's changing, so that's correct. I was hoping the
Representative John Maddox
Unverified
1:11
rain caught him or something, but no, he's here. So, no, in all, in all seriousness, all this bill does is go from 45 to 30 years, um, Jack is Mr. Fortner is the expert in this. I'm not, um, to be completely frank, um, it had been 25 years for a long time. and we took it up to 45. So this is a little bit more of a compromise, um, Representative Fortner's bill did a lot of really good things though. It did some proof of ownership of another vehicle because people
were abusing the system, uh, meaning they only had one car and it was old and they were calling it an antique, um, just to save money. So Jack, Mr. Fortner's build a really good to fix that. Um, there's some insurance requirements and some mileage limitations and some language on that. And I want to be clear, this bill doesn't change any of that. It just changes the, um, the year back to 30, which is again more of a compromise and to be completely frank, I'm not an antique car person, um, but I
have a very, um, very large and, um, Vocal, um, group in my district who isn't antique cars and antique, um, tags is an issue and they've brought this to me, um, for a few years now and so I'm here running this bill. I think it's a good compromise that leaves all the limitations in, um, and in essence, that's the bill. So I'll be glad to
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
2:40
take any questions. All right. Questions from committee. I see none. Anyone here to speak for
or against the bill, Mr. Fortner, you're sitting still. Thank you, sir. We appreciate it. No questions for committee, uh. You close. Yes, sir.
Representative John Maddox
Unverified
2:58
um, I'm close to my bill. Thank you for allowing me to present, Mr.
Speaker 19
3:02
Chairman. What's the will of the committee, Representative. Go ahead. Yeah. We have a,
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
3:13
we have a motion to do pass any discussion on the motion.
So it was too easy. So all in favor say aye. Any polls seem like I hearing none.
Congratulations, your bill passes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm sorry, I forgot
to say that Representative McIlroy made the motion, so anyway. OK, thank you. Next on the agenda, 1550. I don't see Representative Andrews. So we'll move down to Senate bill. Uh, 253 Representative Hawk you may uh introduce yourself, present your bill.
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
4:05
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative RJ Hawk, District 81, uh, committee today we bring you Senate Bill 253 and this is just some cleanup language that was brought to me by RAT. This bill would remove unnecessary regulatory burdens when it comes to mobile office or classroom transportation. If you look on the bill on line 23, all we're doing is taking out the words office in classroom and what we found is that whenever you have a construction site that has the mobile building on site or even
Some schools have a, have one of those mobile buildings for a classroom. Whenever they go to transport that to say across campus or maybe the job sites just down the road. They've got to go to our dot and go through all the rigmarole of getting more, more licenses, more, uh, guidelines on being able to transport that because they are considered like they're moving a manufactured home, which they're not. And so
all we're doing in this bill is just taking out office or classroom, and I will take any questions. Any questions from committee?
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
5:07
Seeing 9 anyone here to speak for against the bill. Seeing none of Hulk. I am closed, and I make a motion to pass. I have a motion to pass Representative Hawke in discussion. All
in favor say aye. Any polls same like sign Harry Nunn, congratulations to you be passing. Thank you. Next on the agenda we have House Bill 1596. Representative Steinel, you can may introduce yourself and. And proceed with your bill.
Representative Trey Steimel
Unverified
5:39
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Trey Steel, District 2. I'm here to present, uh, House Bill 1596, and what
this does is this establishes a uh and defines a mobile work zone and what this will do is this will allow us to double the fines in a mobile work zone and, and there is a reason that we need to, uh, to work this. So there's already fines are doubled in a, uh, static work zone or an existing work zone and what this is is this just kind of further that approach
because we've lost over 20. Where my notes go, we lost about 2023 people, whether it's our dot or a contractor over the last 20 years. Guys, you know, these people deserve to go home and be safe and uh this will allow us to do this. So to define a mobile work zone, what that's gonna look like. Is this gonna be a, uh, your most your quintessential works I'm gonna define that and kind of what you probably see out here on a two-lane state highway, you're gonna see, uh, a pothole patching crew. They're gonna
have that truck on the back. They're gonna have a dump truck. And then they're gonna have the workers out there patching these holes in the roadway. And the truck now will have to have a sign on the back, and that sign is gonna be about 4 4 ft to 3 ft it's in, there's a prototype, it's in design and it's a, it's a very vibrant sign that will gather your attention, but what it is is that sign will have to be present in order for a fine to be doubled. And even though a fine can be doubled in a work zone, it is still at the discretion of the officer to do
that or, or to uh apply that uh double fine and also if that double fine is applied, they have a. process of going to the judge where that judge may throw that double fine out if they, they see it's not egregious enough to warrant a double the fine. So with that, guys, what I'm, I'm asking for here is, is help me pass a bill that will let these workers go home, work in a safer environment and uh and, and we all probably have had someone in our district or know someone that's in a neighboring district that's lost someone. I know I have.
And, uh, you know, let's let's protect these people. Also, there's a couple other initiatives that, uh, Ardots working on, they're working on to uh. Implement this into the uh driver training manual. Also, uh, we passed a bill here, I think Representative Carr did about the, uh, green lights, so this is not just to try to catch them either because our doc gains no money from this. It goes straight back to the counties and uh in in the state so our doc gains nothing by having to write a double fine,
uh, to protect their workers and with that, I would, uh, Entertain any questions. Uh, Chief Holmes, would you,
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
8:20
would you come up and just kind of tell us how you're gonna How you gonna work that? Introduce yourself and tell us how you're gonna work that how we're gonna be doing
kind of so we'll know what to look for. We don't want no surprises, huh?
Representative Mark D. McElroy
Unverified
8:37
Uh, good morning. I'm Jeff Holmes. I'm the chief of the Highway Police division of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
Uh, basically it would, it would work just like, uh, work zones now, uh, you know, the officers would be present, um. And enforce speed and traffic laws, uh. And that the officer's discretion, you know, they mark workers present and, and then it would go to court, and of course it's up to the final judgment, uh, with the judge, but, you know, just like, uh, the representative said, um, The uh. Ardo receives no money from the, from the fines or anything
that's, that's distributed through the county, so. With that I'll, I'll take any questions. Any questions from committee. Punch, punch your
Speaker 39
9:22
butt, OK. Representative Torres, do you recognize? Punch it again. Still not working. Yeah Hm
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
9:45
OK, here we are. I is there a reason why we wouldn't want the judge to Make it a double fine instead of I, I see here it says shall and uh, I mean may instead of shall. I mean if we're gonna get serious about this, let's. I mean would it make sense to do that? I would defer
Representative Mark D. McElroy
Unverified
10:04
to the committee for that. Um, uh, you know, we're enforcement officers, so, you know, the ultimate decision would be the, the judges, but I would defer to the, the committee. Right. So, I appreciate the
Representative Trey Steimel
Unverified
10:16
question, Representative Torres. So my personal thoughts on it is everyone out here potentially may have a bad day, and we need to not define just a bad day where we have an officer maybe write a ticket that, uh, a judge see that, uh, it may be a learning lesson, right? So if you, if we've probably all been there to where you, you're graciously given a little bit of a chance to, uh, redeem yourself in, in, if you go in front of traffic court, and that's what we want to be able to do is not just bring the hammer down. We want to allow some discretion in the
judge and in the officers, and that's what I believe is the beauty of this bill is it creates, you know, some strength, but also some, uh, compassion, so to speak, or grace that uh could be given as well if it's, uh, if it's so deemed.
Speaker 51
11:02
I like the shell myself because Arkansas roads, you can come around a curve and
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
11:06
boom, the work zones there before you realize it, and that, you know, I know they're gonna have the signage up and all that, but uh uh I think, I think with our highways it, it kind of makes
sense or over a hill, for example, so if you don't like part of Arkansas, just keep driving. You're bound to like some of it, so any other questions from the
committee? Seeing no, thank you, Chief, for your testimony and uh anyone here to speak for or against the bill. Seeing none, Representative Steel, you ready to close? I
Representative Trey Steimel
Unverified
11:38
am and uh like I said, guys, I'd appreciate a good vote on this. I think this is protecting our dot and there's a 2000 maintenance workers out here depending on us to uh make sure
they get home safely and with that, um, you know, I make
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
11:56
a motion to pass. Have a motion to pass any discussion. Seeing none, all in favor, say I. Any opposes same like
sign, hearing none. Congratulations, your bill passes. me. OK, next on the agenda, we have, uh, Representative Wing with House Bill 1605. Representative, if you will introduce yourself, you may proceed.
Representative Carlton Wing
Unverified
12:21
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, committee, uh, Representative Carlton Wing, District 70, North Little Rock and Sherwood. Uh, back in 2017, I had the opportunity to begin a pilot program for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, which regarded, uh, construction manager general or uh general contractor method of procurement. And I know that each of you gather your children around the dinner table and say, hey kids, let's discuss the construction manager, general contractor method of procurement for transportation projects and you
have lively discussions about, about this topic. So for those of you who maybe haven't had those discussions, uh, what the construction manager, um, method of procurement does is it allows for a lot more seamless uh project coordination from the very beginning and, and so what does is it allows for some projects to be done at the same time along the massive project and uh and so when you've got the design phase and the, and, and you've got all of the
various parts of the construction phase, you're able to do some things simultaneously, but with consistency to the overall plan. And that's what a construction manager does as opposed to the traditional design build procurement method that is also very, very frequently used. Um, we set up a pilot program in 2017, a couple of times we expanded the pilot and what House Bill 1605 does is it lifts the pilot off of the program and allows us, allows the Arkansas
Department of Transportation to use this consistently wherever it is most appropriate. Uh, we have had 55 projects that have come under this pilot program. One of them has gone all the way through to completion, and that was Highway 10 just off of the uh 4:30. Interchange right there in West Little Rock, um, that was about $81 million project, but because of using the construction manager method, we were able to save the taxpayer $7 million on
that project alone. The next project is up in Fayetteville. Uh, it's on uh I-49 right there at MLK and right there at the University of Arkansas, that is under construction, but uh that right now is projected at about a savings of about $5.5 million as well. And then the other. 3 or a little bit earlier in those phases, but each of those are projecting some significant cost savings to the taxpayer and so what House Bill 1605 does. Lifts the pilot and, and makes this a full-fledged program that our doc can use to have another
tool in its arsenal to be able to help not only build quality construction, but to be able to save the taxpayers' money along the along the way. Happy to take any questions. Any questions from committee? Of course Punch your butt. Hm He probably needs to sign. Did you sign in?
Speaker 65
15:33
Uh just hold on, man, we're having a little trouble here. All right, there you're good. Thank
Representative Tracy Steele
Unverified
15:38
you and and thanks to my freshman next to me, give me some guidance on this. I appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Representative Wing, so what you're trying to do is to take a pilot program that has been successful programmatically and financially, and just make it permanent. Is that correct? That's correct. Mr. Chairman, I have a motion at the proper time. Any other questions? committee
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
16:07
Anyone here to speak for or against the bill? OK. Seeing none represented Steele, you recognize pass pass any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, say aye. Any oppose same like sign, hearing none. Congratulations your bill passes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, committee. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have House Bill 1623 Representative Moore, you may approach, introduce yourself, and proceed.
Jeremiah Moore
Unverified
16:46
against the bill, please sign up. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. My name is Jeremiah Moore, Representative
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
16:52
House District 61, uh, House Bill 1623 is pretty simple and straightforward. It has to do with driver's licenses for H2A workers, H-2A workers are temporary workers from foreign countries to come here to work on our farms and help feed and
clothe America. Uh, currently what this bill does says that if you have an international driver's permit, you are exempt from taking the skill. portion of the driver's exam. You will still have to take the written portion of the exam because these countries May have different signage than we do here in the United States, um. And I've had a lot of people come up and ask me about why do we have to exempt them? Uh, what about public safety? Well, here's the thing, if they already have an international driver's permit, they can
legally drive in the state of Arkansas. They are legally driving in
the state of Arkansas currently. This relieves some undue burden from the government and helps it make them helps it make it easier for them to get their driver's license. Um, the reason we are doing this, or I would like you all to vote in favor of this. is because The big issue is insurance. Currently, They need an Arkansas driver's license to be covered under
their farmers or their employer's insurance umbrella policy. So would you rather them rely upon their insurance from their home country, whether that's South Africa, Romania, Mexico, or be covered under an American insurance policy to me, I would say the latter is more ideal. Um, these folks already know how to drive. They're already in our country, they're already driving, um, they're operating million dollar farm equipment. Uh, I think this would relieve some undue burden upon these farmers and their employees.
And, uh, with that, don't take any questions.
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
18:44
Representative Moore, would you, would you explain to
this really what you're doing. I, I, it does it have anything to do with CDLs, just regular driver's license. How did this explain to us how this come about. Give us a little background on what, what's going on, you say that they're already driving, so kind of, kind of explain that run, you know, give us that a little bit if
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
19:06
you will. So these guys come to our, our country to Arkansas more specifically, uh,
to help raise crops, um, they are driving. If they're currently under Arkansas law, whether they have a license from their country of origin or an international driver's permit. They are driving. This has nothing to do with the CDL. This is for a regular, uh, Arkansas driver's license, um. I represent a bunch of farmers in my district. These farmers employ a lot of H-2A workers, um. These guys come here to work, and when they have to take time
out of their day, and often from the very rural location where their farm is located and go into town and get a driver's license and jump through all the hoops and steps, uh, it takes away their ability to work that day, um, this still ensures that they know the proper signage, but This would relieve this burden of, uh, The state of Arkansas saying you have to take the skills portion of your exam. is that Makes sense. Well, if I'm not, I'm not trying to kill you,
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
20:13
Bill. I'm just asking you questions. I'm trying to, if you say they're already illegal to drive, why are they why are they having to take the, the, the driving portion, I mean the, the written portion of the test. So They have
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
20:26
to take the written portion of the test because our signage is different than that of South Africa or Romania or Mexico, and I, I mentioned those three countries specifically, because that is where the majority of these H-2A workers come from, um, they need to know our signage, they need to know, uh, what a yield sign is, what a
stop sign is, etc. um, I, I got it. I understand they already know how to drive and under current law, they can legally drive in the state of Arkansas. The difference is that They are not covered under their employer's insurance policy until they have an Arkansas driver's license. Thank you.
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
21:03
All right, we have a couple of questions, uh,
Speaker 79
21:05
Representative Hawk. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you, Representative Moore. I, I,
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
21:10
a couple questions, um, so. Everywhere you go, things are
done differently, right? So you go to Mexico or you go to Canada, things are done differently, um. How do we know that they have taken a, a, a competency test on driving in South Africa. I mean when when we talk about insurance, right, um, I think about there was an accident up on, uh, around Fayetteville, where there was an illegal, an immigrant driving and killed somebody because they didn't properly know how to drive on our roads, right? Some some countries they may drive on the, the, the opposite side of the road that we're on, I just
don't, I don't think it's a bad idea to say, you know what, you need to do a competence. Yeah, may be a little bit inconvenient that you got to come up here and do this, but I don't think it's that inconvenient. Could you just clarify like the
reasoning behind that outside of the inconvenience from the farmers
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
22:04
to send their people up here. So, thank you, Representative Hawk. That's a very good question, uh, and
I believe the driver in that accident you mentioned was an illegal immigrant. Uh, I would first like to say that these folks here are legal H2A workers. They
have visas provided by the United States government. Uh, they work for. employers, and they work very closely with those employers to, uh, raise crops in our state, um. The reason is that they can already legally drive here. They do not need an Arkansas driver's license to hit the road. Uh, but for insurance purposes, they need to be, they need to have an Arkansas driver's license to be covered under their employer's insurance policy, um, they are here, they are driving. Many of
them do not have Arkansas driver's licenses. Now, to your point about the standard of Testing from their own country, uh, originally my idea was to say, if you have a license from your country of origin and you present that at the DMV you will no longer be able to. take the skills test. Um, I changed that to an international driver's permit, which is issued by the AAA and is recognized in about 150 countries worldwide. So there is one driver's
license. So ASP or the DFA, um, won't have to go through and say hey this driver's license from from Romania, we don't know what those look like, but we can identify one international driver's permit that works in 150 countries worldwide. Does that answer your question.
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
23:35
Can I get a follow up, Mr. Chair? Um, OK, and you meant we were specifically about CDLs, I know some farmers have big rigs that they, you know, tote stuff around with. When it comes to the CDL portion, you still got to have a driver's license, but do they need to go and take an
Speaker 87
23:52
Arkansas CDL class to get that, that CDL. How would that work? So, it's funny
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
23:58
you mentioned CDL, uh, if you work for a farm or on a farm, you correct me if I'm wrong, members, but you do not need a CDL. license, uh, period. Um, so, Theoretically, if these guys come to Arkansas and they are driving under their License from their country of origin or their international driver's permit, they can already drive a big truck.
Um, farmers are not required to take CDL, uh, classes or let's get a CDL license in order to drive a grain truck, um.
Speaker 83
24:32
Which is kind of scary to me, by the way,
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
24:35
because, you know, you may just have a, uh, uh, somebody legally here but they've never driven a, a, a big rig and now they're, they're rolling down Arkansas roads, um.
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
24:45
And I would say that it is. Imperative that they come and they take the written portion of their exam, and I think this would actually encourage that
behavior instead of keeping the burden too high to keep them from getting an Arkansas driver's license period. Thank you, sir.
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
25:03
So how much will this expedite the. The getting the license if if they don't take the skills part, I mean what what what what I, I understand you're trying to get it to them quicker, but. What, what is the What is the major hold up on, on taking skills. So the major holdup would be, uh,
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
25:27
Having to only schedule one exam instead of 2 exams and then take time out of another day to go and take the
Representative Chad Puryear
Unverified
25:36
skills portion of the exam. OK. Represent Pur. Uh, so, um, who issues the international driving permit. Is that something where they bring some paperwork from their country and see our DMV office. How, how does that
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
25:47
process work? It is issued by the AAA.
Representative Chad Puryear
Unverified
25:50
Um, and is that verified, I, I guess, uh, follow up, Mr. Chair. I probably wasn't very clear. Is that, is that process
re-verified through the state of Arkansas? Or do we just go off what the,
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
26:04
the other organization that I'm unsure of. Now I will say this.
In order to qualify for this, those H2A workers will need to get the international driver's permit from their country before they come over here. Um, it is another layer, but it is something they can do on their own own time before they come and work under the employment of one of our
Representative Chad Puryear
Unverified
26:27
American farmers. I, I guess one more follow up. So, so, you know, going with that, how does the state of Arkansas verify these driver's license from other countries. Is that, do they go in and Get that endorsed in some way or or and that may be a law enforcement. Um Your question. I, I apologize. I'm just curious how that is verified from the other, from the country of origin to how it goes through the verification process with the state of
Arkansas. Cause I also see that if they're here more than 6 months they have and they have that they can use it for 6 months here, but then they have to go ahead and get an Arkansas driver's license and go through the regular process. So I'm, I'm just curious what that verification process is from the country of
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
27:16
origin to Arkansas and I'm done with that. Thank you. So I'm a little Unclear
of What the AAA does or how they proved to the state of Arkansas or any of the 150 countries in
which these licenses are valid. I don't, I don't know that I can answer the question as to what process they go through to prove that they have a, a license from their country of origin or this IDP, uh, but I do know the reason I chose International driver's permit is because
a singular permit is much easier to verify than one from any number of countries. Mr.
Speaker 103
27:50
Hammer, if you got someone here that can answer Representative
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
27:54
Pure's question. You If he would approach the bench
and uh introduce yourself and. From DFNA.
Speaker 105
28:06
Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the committee, Alicia Austin Smith with DFA. And unfortunately, this, this bill doesn't really change our current process. It, it might be more of a question for state police because all this bill is doing is removing the skills test from the actual verification process. So as long as this applicant presented all of the documents required by the bill to DFA they just would no
longer have to have proof that they completed the skills test, so it would not change our current process
Speaker 55
28:34
from state police. approach and kind of give us thank you for your. You, you, you need him to ask the question again, or
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
28:48
do you, or you know where we're at, you hit picture your button. Sorry, please. Move move your mic a little closer, thank you. Yeah.
Representative Chad Puryear
Unverified
29:04
Alright, so I was just curious, how, how does the, how does the state of Arkansas verify with the country of origin with these international driver's license. What, how does that process
Speaker 111
29:13
look? Well, I've never been able to verify one, we can't
Speaker 113
29:15
verify them from the side of the road. We can't run them in ACIC or NCIC. Let me interrupt just a minute. Go ahead and introduce yourself. I forgot to say that Captain Brad Land, Arkansas State Police. So we've never been able to run, want to get like an actual return like we would if we ran somebody from Arkansas or
another state. So there's a lot of fraudulent, uh, international driver's license out there, so I, I don't
Speaker 111
29:40
know of a way that we can run and and verify it. Um
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
29:51
Thank you. Any other questions? Representative Torres? Yes, sir. Officer, uh, how does has Arkansas State Police have a. feeling or feel for this? I mean, do they feel comfortable with it or? If you asked would feel comfortable, we don't, I don't know that we feel comfortable
Speaker 119
30:06
with it just because driving in a, in a foreign country is different than driving here, um, we've been testing H2A workers for a long time, have some of those passed, yes, have some of them failed, yes. And so it's, there is a
Speaker 118
30:19
public risk there, um, but yes. OK, thank you. It was in Steinwe you recognize? Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's been a
Representative Trey Steimel
Unverified
30:28
while since I've taken my driving test, but is it still segmented where you have your written skills or your written test, and then you have to wait
3 months or whatever for your skills test or
Speaker 113
30:41
it can be done on the same day. So that was passed last session. We, we took that 30 day wait out. So you can technically, um, take your written test and skills test on the same day. Uh, now we do have an appointment system now, so
Speaker 119
30:52
it just depends on whether you could get an appointment on the same day to do
Representative Paul Childress
Unverified
31:01
both. Alright, thank you. Representative Childers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Moore, I just kind of a, a clarification. You talked about the insurance that these drivers
need to get insurance. I sell insurance and I have for about 26 years. My policies are insurance goes with the vehicle. Not with the driver. Now, when I insure farms, do I want to know who's driving her vehicles? I do, and I make my client give me a list of drivers and we run them, but just, I just want clarification that when you buy a policy, the insurance follows the vehicle, not necessarily the driver because if I loan you my truck and you go have an accident when you leave here, I'm gonna get sued in my insurance will pay
that bill. I just want clarification unless you know something different than I do. I just
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
31:43
wanted to clarify that. Thank you, Representative Childers, and I will defer to
you as being the insurance expert, um, I'm going off of what my constituent farmers have told me regarding their employees and needing an Arkansas driver's license to make sure that they have the peace of mind of coverage. Guy, go ahead. This man
Representative Paul Childress
Unverified
32:10
OK, and I will just comment on that. I do know insurance carriers, they do want to know who's driving that car because if ABC drivers got 2 DWIs, they want to charge for that, but, you know, that is a good practice to get drivers, so they're automatically covered until the policyholder signs a piece of paper saying, represented More cannot drive because of his bad actions, you are covered. Just want to, you know, clarify that, so thank you.
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
32:34
So Captain, will, will we know their driving history, I mean,
is there a way for y'all to find that out, what's happened, if they had accidents
or do y'all have access to that if we, if we, when we do these lessons, no sir, not that I'm aware of. Hm But we already, we already do that, right? We do do it, we give them. So they, they can legally drive here
Speaker 119
32:59
for 6 months on a license from their home state, depending how long if they're here longer than 6 months and they're, they're license will not be good and they've had to come to us for testing if they're going to stay longer than that 6 months.
Representative Richard Womack
Unverified
33:11
OK, alright. Uh, any other questions? Oh Representative Womack, you recognize? Thank you, Mr. Chair. So if they're already, I'm, I'm curious about that. You said there was a public risk if they're already able to drive for 6
Speaker 118
33:31
months, how can you quantify? A risk Well, I mean, if they're coming to us for
Speaker 119
33:34
testing, I mean, that's where reason we test them is to, uh, test their ability to, to drive that vehicle, not just on the written side, but
the, the skill side. Like I said, we have, we have tested several HGA workers, some have passed, some have failed, uh. Just driving in a foreign country is different than driving here. Yeah,
Representative Richard Womack
Unverified
33:53
but am I, am I misunderstanding or are they driving? They're driving now anyway for 6 months. Some are, yes, sir. OK. So I guess we're not able to quantify the public risk in any way. It's just a. You just Believe that to be true, which I don't think is unreasonable. I'm just asking, is there data to
Speaker 119
34:14
back this up or is that just, I'm just going back on
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
34:21
the, the previous test that we've given. OK, thank you. Represent Hawke Thank you, Mr. Chair. So state police, if we've got somebody that is driving currently
that is here for a month or so. They get pulled over, or are they just getting ticketed? What, what's going on if they're just driving around willy-nilly right now. Well, they have to produce
Speaker 119
34:37
a license from their own state or their home country,
Speaker 113
34:39
I'm sorry, but we have no way to really run that. We just kind of have to take them at their word
Speaker 136
34:45
for it. Got you. OK. Thank you. I think I'll get me one of those licenses and start carrying it around. All right, dude. All right,
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
34:55
any other questions from the committee? I didn't want here to speak for against the bill. Are you, are you
through, Captain? Yes sir, I'm done. OK. Anyone here to speak for against the bill seeing none, Representative Moore, you want to close? Uh, committee
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
35:11
members, I appreciate your very judicious questions and comments. This is
a, this is not an issue that should be taken lightly, um. Captain Lan said that they cannot be run through ACIC, uh, on their current international driver's permits. Uh, personally, I would rather them have an Arkansas license so we can keep an actual record of, uh, any potential violations they may or may not commit while they're over here. Um, I'll say this, as a, as a driver who's driven in foreign countries legally and with the with these guys coming over here they can
drive legally for 6 months. Uh, I would feel a lot better about it if they had an Arkansas driver's license, um. From my perspective, this is a way to, uh, reduce the undue burden of government for folks that are driving legally here over already, and, um, I think this would be a really great tool and the tool belt of these hardworking farmers, uh, so their employees could legally drive in Arkansas with an
Arkansas driver's per month. Uh, with that, I would appreciate a good vote. Mr. Foster, do you have
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
36:20
anything, sir. OK. OK, we have closed. What's the will of the committee? was
that Hit your button. Got a recommendation of Du pass from Representative Womack in the discussion. All in favor so I
Speaker 39
36:38
all poses. I, I think, I think it's close.
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
36:51
I think the noes have it if y'all wanna. If you want to do a, a voice vote, give me two hands. I don't have that. OK, sorry, the bill fails. All right, anything else come before
Representative Tracy Steele
Unverified
37:07
the committee today. Saying none, yeah. Excuse me, Representative Steele, you recognize? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a, a quick question that was not germane to the bill, uh, that I'm just curious about on the 6 months. Is that interstate or intrastate or is that federal
law? I don't know who can answer that. I was just curious, is it 6 months for one
state and 12 for another. We, we'll, you, you can ask him when you get outside.
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
37:33
He's already, he's already gone, so we'll, we'll, we'll get that answer for you. OK? OK, saying no other business, we stand adjourn.
Agenda
Number Sponsor Subtitle
HB1502 Maddox TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE REGISTRATION AND LICENSING OF A HISTORIC OR SPECIAL INTEREST VEHICLE; AND TO AMEND THE LAWCONCERNING ANTIQUE MOTOR VEHICLE SPECIAL LICENSE PLATES.
HB1550 Andrews CONCERNING EXPEDITED SECURITY SCREENINGS AT AN AIRPORT.
SB253 Hill TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF A MANUFACTURED HOME UNIT.
HB1596 Steimel TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING MOVING TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS IN A HIGHWAY WORK ZONE; TO CREATE MOBILE WORK ZONES; AND ASSESS A FINE FOR A MOVING TRAFFIC VIOLATION IN A MOBILE WORK ZONE.
HB1605 Wing TO AMEND THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER-GENERAL CONTRACTOR METHOD OF PROCUREMENT PILOT PROGRAM TO TO MAKE THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER-GENERAL CONTRACTOR METHOD OF PROCUREMENT PROGRAM PERMANENT FOR THE STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION.
HB1606 Steimel TO ALLOW A LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO AUTHORIZE THE OPERATION OF A UTILITY TASK VEHICLE ON A DESIGNATED PUBLIC STREET OR HIGHWAY WITHIN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT'S JURISDICTION SUBJECT TO CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS.
HB1623 J. Moore TO EXEMPT H-2A VISA PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS WHO HAVE A VALID INTERNATIONAL DRIVER'S LICENSE OR PERMIT FROM THE SKILLS PORTION OF THE DRIVER'S LICENSE EXAMINATION.
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION- HOUSE, Mar 4, 2025 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
Representative John Maddox
Unverified
Speaker 7
Speaker 19
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
Representative Trey Steimel
Unverified
Representative Mark D. McElroy
Unverified
Speaker 39
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
Speaker 51
Representative Carlton Wing
Unverified
Speaker 65
Representative Tracy Steele
Unverified
Speaker 54
Jeremiah Moore
Unverified
Representative Kendra Moore
Unverified
Speaker 79
Speaker 87
Speaker 83
Representative Chad Puryear
Unverified
Speaker 103
Speaker 105
Speaker 55
Speaker 111
Speaker 113
Speaker 119
Speaker 118
Representative Paul Childress
Unverified
Representative Richard Womack
Unverified
Speaker 136