Transportation, Technology & Legislative Affairs - Senate
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Bills discussed (6)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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SB261
· 4 mentions in transcript, agenda, chapter
Matched: “Senator Clark, SB 261. Please introduce yourself for”
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TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE OPERATION OF AN ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLE ON CERTAIN ROADS; AND … | A. Clark | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB253
Act 256
· 3 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…ant Sen. Jamie Scott REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle SB253 Hill TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF A MANUFACTURED HOME UNIT. S…”
|
TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF A MANUFACTURED HOME UNIT. | Hill | Notification that SB253 is now Act 256 |
|
HB1475
Act 209
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1475 Joey Carr TO AUTHORIZE THE USE OF GREEN LIGHTS; TO AMEND TH…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE THE USE OF GREEN LIGHTS; TO AMEND THE RESTRICTIONS ON LAMP COLORS; TO … | Joey Carr | Notification that HB1475 is now Act 209 |
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HB1486
Act 210
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1486 R. Burkes TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE MARKET VALUE OF C…”
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TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE MARKET VALUE OF CERTAIN SURPLUS PROPERTY ACQUIRED BY THE … | R. Burkes | Notification that HB1486 is now Act 210 |
|
SB258
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…L ORDER OF BUSINESS – MARCH 3, 2025 Number Sponsor Subtitle SB258 C. Penzo TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS DIGITAL RESPONSIBILITY, SAF…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS DIGITAL RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, AND TRUST ACT. | C. Penzo | Died on Senate Calendar at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB96
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…FETY, AND TRUST ACT. DEFERRED BILLS Number Sponsor Subtitle SB96 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DETACHMENT BY A REGION…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DETACHMENT BY A REGIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY; AND TO REPEAL REGIONAL … | C. Penzo | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
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- October 2, 2026
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
0:12
You're gonna get started right away and I'm gonna turn it over to Senator Johnson here to and I'll present the first bill. Thank
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
0:20
you, Mr. Chairman. I'll give you a moment to get around to the desk. Uh And the first bill is uh Senate Bill 253, Senator Hill, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to start out by asking if we could have our
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
0:45
Our director Mr. Jared Wiley, come up here and let this be his first bill as director to to help and I'm honored to
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
0:52
be in the chair for that. Please come forward, Mr. Wiley please take it easy
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
0:56
on him because he's still we're trying to get it. He has
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:01
some, they may not physically be big, but they're figuratively he's feeling some very big shoes, so we're thrilled to have you here and I, I have, if I could take a moment, Mr. Chairman, I've known a lot of people from Ardo through the years, and they all called me and said how thrilled
they were that Jared was the director, and I know he's going to continue the wonderful relationship that Ardot has with the General Assembly, so,
Speaker 11
1:27
uh. Would you introduce yourself for the record, Jared Wiley, director of RA, appreciate you guys for having me
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
1:36
here today. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Colleagues, this been just is pretty simple. It's on a manufactured home units, basically changing it to where if you're on construction site. Or a classroom that they are
stricken from this law. That's all it's doing. So with all the construction work going on up and down the highways. They can move those office buildings without having the necessary permits that they would normally have to have. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to turn over to Mr. Wiley. Any questions? Senator Love. Thank you,
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
2:09
Mr. Chair and I guess, I guess you can speak to this like what, what are we, what are we really trying to do? What, what are, what are we addressing, I guess with this bill.
Speaker 2
2:21
Senator, this bill would allow us to move mobile classrooms, offices
Speaker 11
2:24
for construction projects and not have them registered as mobile home haulers, so to, to move one of those now, you have to register as a mobile home hauler and you have to get permits with our office. You have to have interstate authority, so we're trying to, you know, make that a little easier and streamlined. We don't see it as necessary. OK, and this is just for our, this is No, it's it'd be for the general public. They have to go through our to move these today, and we
Chair
Unverified
2:53
see this as an efficiency improvement. Yes, sir.
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
2:58
Senator Bryant, you recognize you, Mr. Chair. So if you're a mobile home dealer, do not sell. Mobile homes that are converted into a classroom or like is there a workaround if you're selling this as those size limitations, say you're 9 ft or you're basically exceeding that, but you're you're not calling yourself a dwelling and you're calling yourself a a classroom because you know, somebody else came and bought that from you
and you converted it or ordered it from the manufacturer. Would they not try to use that to get around their own hauling restrictions. Let me, let me look back
Speaker 26
3:39
here at Chief Holmes Es. that How, how y'all handle that. Well, typically, uh, you know, a mobile office, this building is simply allows if you have a mobile office or a mobile classroom, you don't have to do with mobile phone transfer do we Yeah, come on forward, Chief,
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
3:55
and you can Mr. Wiley let you sit at that mic for just a moment. Senator Hill, you could stay a while. He comes around. I think we all have a few little questions. I know I've got a couple. She just, you know, the drill, please sit down and introduce yourself for the record. I'm Jeff Holmes, chief of
Speaker 30
4:17
the Highway Police Division of the Arkansas Department of Transportation. OK. Senator Bryant, you want to follow up the question Do you
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
4:27
understand what I'm asking, not, not so much so if our dot has It, you know, classroom or an office that it wants to take to a job site, and you got it on your yard or you even go purchase it and you're going to haul it yourself, but if you were, if I was, I worked for a private school and I went to a local manufactured home dealer, and I said, Hey, I want that size, but I'd love it if it had 8 offices instead of 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Could they not say, well, I'm no longer hauling a dwelling. Now I'm hauling an
office. Therefore, I do not. I'm now exempt from Having
Speaker 37
5:04
a permit to haul. Well, what this bill would do would be like the the officers that are classified as mobile offices, which are normally only 9 ft wide, one single um Structure with just offices in it, it would, it would make it to where a construction company could move that without having to go through the same mobile home transporters to where they have to have insurance on file
with the highway police permit section, and it would just make it easier also do the same thing for mobile classrooms, whereas now just to move it from one construction site to another right down the street or within that construction site, they have to come to us with, after I get a mobile home. passporter to move it have insurance on file authority and it's just simply to to to lessen the regulations. Is it any less
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
5:53
safe like if we're we're exempting that from moving it from A to B, why, why
even have a permit for a mobile home if they're the same size and weights and and dangers and risks, and it's the same entity moving it. Why not just delete all requirements.
Speaker 30
6:08
Well, we feel this would make it easier for the people that just move simple small wide. Mobile offices from job
Speaker 37
6:15
site to job site. They move oversized loads all the time. They get permits. They still have to get a permit. It would still rattle. It would just relieve the mobile home transport requirement that that mobile home transporters
have to have and all the requirements were there to have insurance on file in our office and other things, but as far as the width and all that, if they get so wide that they still have to have escorts and different things. OK.
Senator Jamie Scott
Unverified
6:47
Uh Senator Scott Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so to clarify, there's no safety concerns. This is just to be more efficient. Yes, Senator,
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
6:56
thank you. And I, and I might follow up on on Senator Scott's question, Chief.
We are in effect deregulating someone who regularly moves these portable offices and were not classifying them as a home like we do what we call manufactured housing we think of as and I'm real careful about this because we're uh we're about to reopen construction or manufacturing in Conway at the plant that on Dave Ward Drive that Clayton Holmes is reopening and and I guess making modular homes as well, but this won't affect them because those
are always going to be, well, I think most of the time be defined as housing units. That's correct, Senator. So I would think if you guys are OK with it, the rest of us probably ought to be as well, so any other questions? Oh,
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
7:51
I'm sorry, Senator Love. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I'm trying to I guess I'm
trying any time we start deregulating something, my ears are going to perk up because We put that regulation in place
for some reason, and when When you begin to talk about, you know, there's no insurance that has to be on file and different things like that. They kind of, I mean, because you're saying that mobile home haulers have all of this. Now we're switching to parties that may not have all this. So my concern is, OK, if anything goes wrong. Then Then what Then who, you know, and I guess
I'm not familiar since you're with highway police. I guess walk walk me through that well the the I mean, I mean you do you hear what I'm, what I'm saying, I guess the regulation is there for a reason, and that's to kind of protect the public, the general public, for when they're hauling this and if something goes wrong, how you have insurance, we go against the insurance. So now you're saying we need to take this away, but I guess it's specific for Yes. people that are doing office
Speaker 37
9:04
buildings or So, yes, they will still be required to have insurance. They would still be required to if they're moving in an oversized load just like anybody else. This simply changes the definition to make it to where if if I'm a construction or if I'm moving class mobile classrooms for a school around the school. I don't, it doesn't meet the definition of a mobile home, meaning I have to do everything on mobile home transporter has to do.
It doesn't relieve them of the obligation, they still have to get a permit. They still have to have insurance. They still have to do everything if they're hauling a OK, so they're still going to get a crane changes the definition of a mobile
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
9:48
classroom. OK, so they're still going to go through the permitting process or whatever, OK, all right. I'm
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
9:54
good, thank you. Thank you, Senator Love. Any other questions for the witnesses? Is anyone in the audience would like to speak for or against the bill? Has anyone signed up OK.
If not, uh, Senator Hill, you are welcome to close. I'm close, I'd
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
10:11
appreciate a good vote and I'll make a motion to approve. I have
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
10:19
a motion to reserve 2nd, seconded by Senator Stone. Any discussion? If not, all in favor
say aye, I opposed. Bill passes. Senator Hill, you'd like to come back and take the chair. Thank you.
Speaker 65
10:40
Thank you, ma'am. We organized. They said it's a deregulation. Good deal.
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
11:24
Senator Clark, SB 261. Please introduce yourself for
the record. State Senator Alan Clark, District 7. present your bill, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, colleagues. Uh, SB 261 is very simple. And fairly short. Uh, one of those common sense things of what the people are already doing. Uh, it is
But line 27 on page 1, unpaved road means a public street or highway that is not paved with asphalt concrete, brick or stone, uh, unpaid fraud includes without limitation a road constructive dirt, gravel, or a, which is still gravel, um. Page 2, line 4 ass word both because a per there was things that were already allowed and it adds this, uh, line 8 operated
on a public street or highway that is unpaved by a person who is a resident of this state. Who has a valid commercial driver's license or non-commercial driver's license issued by this state in his or her immediate possession. Uh, is a nonresident and For some reason, some non-residents are not subject to licensing requirements. I don't even really understand that. And then line 27, an unpaved road. The
Out in the county. where you have unpaved roads. The, the very fact that it's unpaved means that uh there's not a lot of traffic. Uh, we have those roads that have a lot of traffic have been paid. And The what is already happening. Is people like me. Uh, who live out in the woods. Uh, are riding down the road not Hm
Not just for uh just to ride up and down the gravel road, but to to go to a Weyerhauser road, to go to a trail, to go to the neighbor's house, it's 3 or 4 miles down the road, uh, and you jump in the, uh, you jump in the side by side rather than Uh, then get in your car, uh, and get it dirtier than it already is because of where you live. And this Li Limits it to licensed drivers.
Uh, so in those cases where children are riding this gives law enforcement and parents a stick to say no you can't makes that clear. The in places where people are doing doughnuts, etc. They're already doing that. I'm not going to tell you they're not tearing up county roads. They're a small minority, but they're already doing it, uh, and but for the rest of us, the vast majority, we just don't.
Uh, want to be, have a ticket written over something that is pretty common sense, uh, that we would never write on a paved road. They're not made to ride on a paved road. They don't ride very well on the paved road, uh. And that the only of all the sheriffs and county judges that I've talked to this morning, all but one once we talked, we're fine. Uh, The biggest question that they've had is
Uh Uh Chip and seal, uh, they're worried about the word aggravate aggregate, and I have them writing an amendment that I will present in the House to make it clear it's unpaved no chip and seal, no nothing. It's got to be completely unpaid for this to be to be valid, uh, and that's what it does. I'm told that there's some or uh some opposition here, but other than the sheriffs and judges
that I talked to who were fine after I talked to them, uh. Uh, no opposition that has gotten hold of me. Let me take that back. Y'all received an email whether you read it or not. You may have read it after I responded to it from the National Association, who said they were against it because they're against writing on paved roads, and I would suggest they read the bill, uh, because I'm against riding on paved roads also, uh, except when there's snow and but we're not going to mess with that, so, uh, I'll be
Speaker 78
16:08
happy to take any questions. Thank you, Senator
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
16:19
Clark. There been questions from the committee. There are these. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Senator Clark. um. OK. I wanna make sure I understand a portion of this, so on page
2 on Leave this line 5, so when getting the scope of the focus of this bill. A person may operate an all
terrain vehicle on public street or highway if the altering vehicle is both and used in a farming or hunting operation, so So if I'm understanding this correctly, The, the individual would have to be Using the vehicle for one of those approved functions. Um To be legal. Am I, am I making that question clear? Am I understanding that right? Correct. So, so if they're not
using it for farming or hunting operations, um. So if the joyriding, Then that would, that would still be against the law,
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
17:21
am I understand that right? Yeah, I don't know anyone who's joy riding on a gravel road, and I'm sure they've talked about, you know, a minority who do doughnuts, etc. You're going somewhere. Just like anybody else on a gravel road, like I said, you're uh you're headed to Weyerhaeuser Road. You're headed to a trail,
uh, you're headed to a neighbor's house, you're Uh, if I'm
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
17:49
going to joyride, it's going to be out in the woods, but just again, I'm sure I just need to hear it a couple times, but if an individual is driving to their neighbors down the road. That wouldn't be legal today in
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
18:01
an ATV on an unpaved road today I'm gonna be completely honest with you. Yeah, you know, most of us that live out in the country call it a farm, and going,
you know, we're going to have some kind of farming activity that we're
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
18:18
doing, although we're just. So the the term of used in farming. It's pretty broad, right? and
then um I'll tell you what I love is that it's still licensed drivers and so our, our children are still protected and, and, um. So if an unlicensed driver was on an ATV. They could still be ticketed on an unpaid or paper. It just says you can
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
18:40
be there. You still have to follow the rules of the road, you know,
you have to follow the speed limits. You have to uh uh if your vehicle doesn't have turn signals, you've got to you got to stick your arm out, uh, you know, all the, all the things that would normally be required or still required. It just says that an ATV can be on a gravel road. OK. Thank you, Senator. Any other questions? I've got one for you, uh,
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
19:17
Senator Clark lines 16, says is a non-resident, so can someone the way I read that. is a non-resident under 16.
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
19:31
could drive. is not a non again, I do not have this section pulled up, but this is not referring to someone who is Below 16 Uh, if they're exempt. With the
This is laws we've already got in place that allows you to take paved roads from trail to trail if it's under a certain amount, etc. and Uh, apologize that I don't know exactly what that is, but it's a very narrow exemption, and it's not kids. Any other questions? Seeing
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
20:05
none, we have To here to speak. We have Troy Tucker. Come on, come on in.
Please introduce yourself to the record, Mr. Tucker. Or Judge Tucker, whichever way you want
Troy Tucker
Unverified
20:37
to be preferred. My name is Troy Tucker. I'm
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
20:41
a Clark County judge. Go ahead, sir. Yeah.
Troy Tucker
Unverified
20:47
It's against. Uh, my background, if I can, if you'll allow me to give you a little bit of background. I have 30 something years in law enforcement. I'm a retired law enforcement officer in a prior sheriff. Currently 8 years as
county judge and I do agree with Senator Clark on some of the issues that he has presented to you and that is in his bill, but I do have some concerns that I think the committee may want to take into consideration prior to the passage of the bill, uh, one of the things, I mean, obviously is A sheriff in background in law enforcement. I've worked a lot
Speaker 104
21:18
of accidents on ATVs. And it's typically In fact, I don't know that I've ever worked an accident on an adult. I'm not saying that I
Troy Tucker
Unverified
21:31
have it, and I know there probably have been some, but most of the actions that we work are in that younger age group, uh, and I do know that in the bill it does say that they have to have has to be a licensed driver. I would totally agree with that. One of the issues that I don't think is addressed is just the vehicle have to be registered if it's going to be driven on the roadway. If it is arrested, does it have to have liability insurance. And I didn't see that addressed on here. Uh, we do have issues
and I think this was brought up a while ago about the aggregate and the unpaved road, um, a lot of roads that we would consider An asphalt road does have aggregate put back over top of it. We would refer to that as a chipseal road. I believe Senator Clark referenced a while ago that he had talked to some other judges or sheriffs that had mentioned the chip seal as part of that, so I think that needs to be clarified what what exactly aggravate the definition
of aggregate would mean, um, and something else that may need to be considered if we're going to allow 16 year olds to operate these. things on our public streets and roads, should there be something in our testing Arkansas State driver's license testing books that give some instruction on the proper way to operate them before we just turn them loose on our roads. I think that's something worthy of consideration, gravel roads are probably the most dangerous, uh, form of roadway surface that
you could put a 16 year old on a on an ATV, uh. That being said, I'd entertain any questions
Speaker 106
23:18
if you. If you have any. D This may not be
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
23:24
your expertise, but our, our, um our helmets required for motorcycles today in the state of Arkansas. No, I believe they are. Our helmets required for ATVs, yes they are. No, they're not. I'm sorry. OK, that was where I was going. I,
um, I was curious on, on, on what you're seeing in those accidents, um, Just, can you give us some
context of where they single vehicle where they multi-vehicle what, what, what's kind of the pulse in some of those accidents. It's been both. I mean,
Speaker 105
23:53
they've been single vehicle with, you know, the ATV itself was,
Troy Tucker
Unverified
23:57
was, uh, just involved in an accident. I've seen vehicle accidents where they obviously was involved with another vehicle and to be fair, they're not all on public roads. Some of them are on private property, so it's, you know, to
be fair to Senator Clark and his, his bill, they're not on, on, you know, public. but several of them have been, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of
Speaker 104
24:17
you on this committee have not known of some somebody that's been involved in, in one of them a child. Thank you. Stone, yes,
Senator Matt Stone
Unverified
24:27
do you own an ATV by any chance? I do. Have you ever driven it on a gravel road? I have, thank you.
Speaker 118
24:42
Any other questions, Senator Love? Go ahead,
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
24:53
Senator Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I did look up 2716603
and uh Senator Clark, what it says is it's basically a recognition of, of someone from out of state that has the same license you're providing like in in A 3 it says non-resident who's at least 16
years of age who has in his immediate pro possession of valid non-commercial driver's license issues to him or her and his or her home state or country may operate in motor vehicle in this state as a non-commercial driver, and then it goes down and basically says the same thing if someone has a commercial license. So it's basically recognizing out of state and even out of country licensure. So that's, that's the only thing that that that refers to. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
25:45
You did hit on one thing that I hadn't even thought about
was the insurance side of it. We're an automobile is 25, 50, 25, you know, what do we need to do as far as insurance goes goes. Something can happen where they run someone going down the road and they bump into someone's car or anything else. I mean, there needs to be some type of uh. Insurance coverage on that. Is what I, my personal opinion on that. Senator Clark, do you have any Comments by the insurance. Have you thought about that any at all? Uh
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
26:20
Senator, Mr. Chair, I have liability insurance, uh, I would not go out without it, but I'm not going to tell you that everybody. That has an ATV has liability insurance. But again, we're talking about something. That's already being done. Uh we're not expecting nor is there going to be this great mass of people all of a sudden going out on gravel roads. It's going to be the same people that are already driving on gravel roads like the county
judge and myself, uh, and And so far nobody's raised a problem. that that we've been hitting people and and that there's been liability. It's certainly a valid question, but Uh, I would say the vast majority of us have it, but Regardless of that. You're not riding on the gravel road to
ride on a gravel road. You're riding on a gravel road
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
27:22
to get somewhere. I agree here 100%. And the reason I asked about the insurance, I just happen to have a farm myself
and I had a kid run through a barbed wire fence on a four wheel. That's not a good, good scene when you have that happen. And so, guess who paid for the
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
27:40
fence to be fixed? No, you know, and they carried the kid off and You know I didn't start writing ATVs. They weren't. Around when I was a kid, didn't start writing ATVs until my late twenties, but of course my kids
I did right and anybody who lets their kids ride without extreme supervision. I'm normally a pretty loose. God, when you know, you know, go jump in the creek, go, you know, go jump off the cliff, you know, but, uh, riding on an ATV, we were always very strict about what we did and and again that comes back to parents. We're we're talking about licensed drivers and yes, you know, some of those will be 16 year old, but we won't talk about 16-year-olds on the road.
Uh, that already, you know, licensed to be there and how much more dangerous they are than the rest of us, but we're not going to
take the rest of our rights away to drive on the road because of 16 year olds. Usually when they get 16, they go onto the
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
28:38
vehicle and they're off the ATVs within that they move on up. They're interested in
Speaker 96
28:44
other transportation at that point. Any other questions? For the judge See none. Thank you, Judge. Thank you.
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
28:56
Next we have Mr. Sypes. Speaking against. I know the road he lives on.
Speaker 130
29:15
I know he's seen one or two ride go down his road. I'm Gary Sypes. I represent the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police says their director. Um, I do on a ATV UTV, uh, I do enjoy them every day on my place
and I think, I think Sen Clark is pretty much Made The association feel better about what he was talking about taking aggregate out. Of the uh the bill that was one of the concerns. The other concern was you brought up the liability insurance. Um But Even the manufacturer says. UTV altering vehicle is not made to ride on the roads. I've driven it on the road and I go
to deer camp, just very short uh ride and it just doesn't handle like a car does. And it's, it's uh I like that there is a driver's license restriction. In this bill, uh, I think the current bill, which I can't repeat. Uh, provide them, but I think this bill that we already have or the statute that we have now allows a writer to go from trailhead to trailhead from your house to You know, another location within certain distance
So I mean that was our opposition to the bill as it is. Any questions? Any
Speaker 131
30:37
questions? we work. The Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police.
Speaker 130
30:43
I mean, it does say public roads and that's the reason it perked our interest. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you, sir. Is there anyone else in the
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
31:04
audience that'd like to speak for or against the bill. Seeing none, Sandra
Clark. Thank you, Chair. The, uh, I appreciated, uh, Senator Stone's question, I don't want to be an outlaw. Uh, I will continue to ride on gravel roads, uh. Safely. Uh, where I meet almost no traffic ever, uh, and I don't want the Clark County
judge to be an outlaw, uh, the fact is, This is all we're doing is making it, put it into law what is already practiced, uh, and just saying just for being on the road, you're not breaking the law. If you're breaking the law. If you're, if you're speeding, if you're driving dangerously, uh, then, uh, then you can be ticketed just like you always could, uh, and the, again the uh I've never intended for it to be anything
but unpaved roads, and we will, we will have that amendment in the House to be absolutely clear that chip and seal, any kind of any kind of payment at all. You're breaking the law and they and they don't handle well. They they don't handle well on, on pavement, even though it is legal, understandably so now thankfully to ride on a paved road from trailhead to trailhead. Anybody who has experience knows it's a
unpaved, it's not a rough ride. Paved is a rough ride, and it doesn't handle nearly as well as a as a vehicle does, but this is strictly It's strictly what people are already doing, and I think if anything we're helping with the fact that no your young kids can't be out there, not legally. I'm not saying that if I lived on in the road and I had a 12-year-old that I really trusted and was watching. I wouldn't let him go two miles
down the road. Uh, but overall I wouldn't, and most people will not, but this is a way of making it clear that you have to be a licensed driver. You should be able to expect that and agree and I, the thing with 16 year olds, absolutely the county judge talked about when he was law enforcement, and he almost said that every accident he ever handled was uh was someone young. Uh, and I'm not going to tell you. That you can't have an accident
when you're older because you certainly can both in a regular vehicle and an ATV, but I would I think it's a good bill. I do not believe it allows chip and seal now, but we will make it a When we get to the House committee, we will make it abundantly clear that it is strictly unpaved roads, and I'd appreciate a good vote. Thank you. Any discussion? I guess discussion without
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
34:12
emotion, but so there's a few things I guess I heard aggregate insurance. Ages are those a suggestion of all amendments or you're just considering aggregate, you wouldn't consider ensuring some liability insurance protections that are ensuring Age like increasing the age from 16 to 18 to get, to make sure that maturity level is. is where it needs to be Senator, I
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
34:38
think we're just Following what practice already
is, but I have the chip and seal definitely we want to be clear on. I have no problem with requiring Insurance Uh, the again, We're not going to change anything. But doing that, and I have no problem if if If folks want to make it 18 instead of 16, I don't have a problem with any of those things. Just start out simple. Because it's because what's happening is simple. This is
what we're already doing, and it just we shouldn't be outlaws. For for for using common sense. We're out on a, we're out on a gravel road that nobody's ever there, including most of the time law enforcement, just living. And so I didn't make it any more complicated, but any of that that
anyone wants to pursue, I will be glad to look at it. Senator Love.
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
35:52
Thank you. I just want, I just want to clarify something. Did you say that you were going to amend this to include insurance? Are you, are you saying you're not, you're not in the
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
36:01
I'm willing to I would appreciate y'all passing it out and if if folks because none of the county judges and sheriffs I talked to today, which has been a bunch, brought up insurance until now. I certainly am not for registering, but I don't have a problem with that being a requirement. No, I'm just, I'm
Speaker 54
36:19
just trying to I'm just trying to get to
Speaker 50
36:25
clarifications, uh, so, OK, um, alright, that's, that's what I just want
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
36:34
to clarify. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Senator Clark, my tendencies to support your bill. I know what you're
trying to do, but you helped me the other day when I got bogged down on the floor or something that it started getting complicated and I'm, I'm not. Say I could vote to let this bill out with your pledge, and I, of course we're friends and
your word is good with me about fixing it, but I see some of the issues like the insurance and things that I didn't even think about before. I've, I've, there is a place and if I describe it there probably be a lot of people that know where I'm talking about, but there is a an area in north central Arkansas that's a beautiful area that the roads are paved or chipped and seal and parents let their kids Ride around on golf carts. And I have had a couple of Near
Accidents, I mean it could have been serious injury, injury accidents, and I know that the kid driving was like this golf cart was probably maybe not 10 years old, and I think if it had been an adult or someone who, you know, even a teenager that with some experience, it would have, you know, we would worked it out. We one of us would have known to stop, and one of us know, but you could see the panic on the kid's face in both those situations that I had, so I'm not Saying that that's exactly like
the thing on unpaved road with ATV, but this may be a bigger issue, more broadly than than I'm really sure about right now, and I would encourage you to maybe look at all situations where we're we're basically, I love the license part. I mean that just seems like it ought to be, you know, we've got to set some limits age-wise and all that, but uh, but the type of vehicle and the and the the type of surf. uh And certainly liability issue
would be things that I'm, I'm concerned about and I, I again, I, I, I vote to let it out, but I know, yeah, I know you got more work to do, whether it's here in the center or on the other end. Thank you,
Senator Matt Stone
Unverified
38:46
Mr. Chair. Thank you, sir. Senator Stone. Yes, Mr. Chair, if you'll allow, I have a just maybe a couple of comments more than I have a question, you know, I've spent the last 45 years as a forester. And I ride on gravel roads. Weekly. I would drive in, find a
safe place to pull over, park my truck, unload my ATV, go look at a track, landowner may own multiple tracts. I look at 140 acre tract, then go back out to the county road, maybe ride a mile down the road and look at his other track and then come back to my vehicle. I know surveyors use them. They'll load up equipment and go from down to gravel roads going from point to point, so it's not just recreational riding. I think of You know, I just remember back as a teenager, I had a dirt
bike. If I was going somewhere, I took my pickup truck, but if I was going joy riding, we wanted to ride in the woods and I may have to traverse just a little bit of a gravel road to get from point A to point B, and I think that's really what we're talking about here. No one's going to get on an ATV and just drive 20 or 30 miles down a gravel road. That's no fun. It's in the woods where the mud is, where the hills are where they want to be. Then in regards to um uh insurance. I stand to be corrected, but if you have
And a vehicle that's going to be insurable by an insurance company, then they're going to require blinkers and everything else. I know ATVs have headlights, have a high and low beam, and they have a brake light, then next thing you know, are we going to have to require Blinkers to be on ATVs where someone's just going down the road to Senator Clark said to drink a cup of coffee in the evening with their neighbor, someone going hunting, they just need to unload so they don't tear their vehicle up, drive an ATB in there, which, by the way,
does less damage to the roads than a full blown 4 wheel drive will do. It makes it better on the environment. So I think that's kind of what we're talking about. And if you get to looking at it, you can overthink it and take something simple. They make it complicated. I'm in favor of the bill, but we'll go with the will of the committee. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Do we have a motion? I
Speaker 145
40:57
guess are you, are you close Senator? I was closed, but let
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
41:08
me add, if the police chiefs never contacted me. And, and as you can see again, I'm not trying to do anything unsafe here, uh, and if they had contacted me, we would have looked at things that they've had, and I still will. I just, uh, Uh, you know, you, you had to have somebody talk to you before you can. and it but it's ens for Stone pointed out if insurance becomes something that just makes it impossible.
Then I wouldn't support that, but again, I have liability insurance. I know I don't, I can't afford to put anything out anywhere that I'm that I'm not well covered, so. Uh Uh, but no,
I'm closed. Appreciate a good vote. And motion of stone. Do we have a second? Just So Sandra
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
41:57
Scott Have motion the second. All those in favor say aye. The poll
same time. I said Center, your bill passed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, members of the committee. Center Crow.
Senator Steve Crowell
Unverified
42:40
3. Senator Kroll District 3. Uh, House Bill 1475, um, give you a little history on this bill in 2020, the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management approved the green light on vehicles for the RA and for winter weather and fog, the green light has much higher visibility, making it safer for the for the drivers and the operators, and we're coming to
you from our, well, recent developments have kind of revealed that. We don't know if ADM had the power to grant this, so we've been doing it, so we want to make sure we can keep doing it. They've done it in in several other states already made this a law, and it's just to simply make it safer. The amber lights are better to see in in clear daylight and stuff like that, but you add the green when the, the weather is,
is bad. It keeps our our our workers safe with that. take any
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
43:52
questions. Senator Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator Crow, is this Either de facto or becoming a national standard. Of colors. I could have you could even not, Mr. Wiley. This
Speaker 155
44:04
is the direction nation is going. OK, that answers my
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
44:12
question. Thank you, Mr. Wiley, Senator. Director, do you know how the state police feel about this? How does the state police feel about this? No. As long as it's very It's like anything blue, I know they'd have a problem with. Any other
Speaker 160
44:35
questions? Sa noncent pretty close. I am close and I appreciate a good vote. Thank you. I'm gonna back up this step.
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
44:44
We did not no one signed up to speak for our guest. Is there anyone in
Speaker 161
44:53
the audience that would like to? Xingan You don't speak against it. Go ahead. You're, you're here. That's my
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
45:01
seat mate. So we have a motion to do pass. I have a second by Centra stone.
Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor.
pose same sign. Center your bill passed. Senator D's. You are. You want to take a 30 minute
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
45:39
recess before we start with him. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Tyler Dees, state senator, District 35. Appreciate the opportunity
to present this bill. House Bill 1486, pretty simple bill, um, here's, here's what it does. So it improves the and standardize the market value determination for the surplus property held by Ardot. And so, um, basically there's two types of surplus properties. There's the capital assets and the right of way properties on the uh in 2021. for the capital assets properties, we changed the law to where it required 3 appraisals for property value down to 2, but we did not do
that for the right of way properties. So all this does is put those together where you only have to have two appraisals versus the previous required 3. So would that happy to answer any questions or bring up our dot if you have any questions for them if needed. Any questions
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
46:33
right, I guess I will probably need Ardot up here, but when you go from 3 to 2, much like we did for the surplus property or the surplus right away, is it, do they take the averages of the two versus
the averages of 3, or they go with the lowest offer if it's within 10% or
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
46:52
do these are great questions. I'd love for Ardo to be able to help
Speaker 11
47:06
us share with your permission. OK Welcome back. Director, we should just left you there all day, um, great question, Senator. So we, we do one appraisal and then they're reviewing, reviewing a price looks at that second
appraisal and another reviewing Frazier looks at it for the 3rd appraisal. That's how it works
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
47:25
now. So it's one appraisal typically. So I mean you have, you have your in-house appraisers and then you get 2. non-ar appraisers and and and validate your appraisal or so
Speaker 11
47:37
this, this would apply when we're selling that that that right of way property only, but no, it's in-house or out appraisals typically in our reviewing staff in the in the department would review that.
OK, so the appraisers are in our office, yes sir, yes sir. OK. Yeah So So sometimes we have, yeah, so sometimes we do have external appraisals we're looking at, right? When we're selling property, my mistake. OK, so if you, you can bring us an appraisal to to look at and we'll accept that after we review it but this is already owned property. You're just trying to give it back. willing buyer. OK, perfect, you
know, for clarity, we we sold 20 tracks in the last 3 years, 3 of these were right away. Yeah
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
48:26
So it really just sets the market value for the selling process. Any other questions? Seeing none. Anyone here to speak for or against
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
48:36
the bill? Saying no one. What's the will of the committee motion to pass. a motion new pass the Senator D's second by
Senator Johnson. Any discussion? Sing none, all those in favor say aye. Oh same sign. Deas you passed your bill. We are adjourned. I. Let me. that. Here's this. And I've got your signed already
Agenda
CALL TO ORDER - Sen. Ricky Hill
SB253 Hill TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF A MANUFACTURED HOME UNIT.
SB261 A. Clark TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE OPERATION OF AN ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLE ON CERTAIN ROADS; AND TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE ACCESS OF ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES TO UNPAVED ROADS.
HB1475 Joey Carr TO AUTHORIZE THE USE OF GREEN LIGHTS; TO AMEND THE RESTRICTIONS ON LAMP COLORS; TO AMEND THE COLORS OF LIGHTS THAT MAY BE USED BY EMERGENCY VEHICLES; AND TO DEFINE A ROADWAY CONSTRUCTION OR MAINTENANCE VEHICLE.
HB1486 R. Burkes TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE MARKET VALUE OF CERTAIN SURPLUS PROPERTY ACQUIRED BY THE STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION.
ADJOURNMENT
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — TRANSPORTATION, TECHNOLOGY & LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS - SENATE, Feb 24, 2025 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
Speaker 11
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Speaker 2
Chair
Unverified
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
Speaker 26
Speaker 30
Speaker 37
Senator Jamie Scott
Unverified
Speaker 65
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
Speaker 78
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
Troy Tucker
Unverified
Speaker 104
Speaker 106
Speaker 105
Senator Matt Stone
Unverified
Speaker 118
Speaker 96
Speaker 130
Speaker 131
Speaker 54
Speaker 50
Speaker 145
Senator Steve Crowell
Unverified
Speaker 155
Speaker 160
Speaker 161