Senate Convenes

The Senate will be called to order. Are there any requests for leave at this time, Senator Hill, you're recognized. But and right. Thank you, Senator Hill, Madam Secretary, please call the roll. Boyd Bright Leve Caldwell, Clark Le, roll, Davis, Des, Dismay, Dotson, English, Flippo, Flowers, Gilmore, Hammer, Hester, Hickie, Hill, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, King letting love, McKee, Murdoch, Peyton, Penzo, Petty, leave, rice. Scott Stone Step Phil Sullivan, Tucker, Wallace. Thank you, Madam Secretary. If everyone in the chamber and in the galleries would please rise. We will be led in prayer first by Senator Stone that will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Senator Stone, you're recognized. Let us pray, righteous Lord, we just want to come before you right now and we just want to thank you for the rain that we've had today. We just thank you for the sunshine that we have in our lives. Dear Lord, I just know whether it's raining or sun shining on us, just let us be thankful and and just acknowledge that you are God in all those situations. I just pray that everything that's said and done here today in this chamber, I vote is taken will bring glory and honor to Your holy name. I just ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. to the flag. Of the United States of America. that all. Thank you, Senator Stone, for those words, ladies and gentlemen, in the galleries, welcome to your Arkansas State Senate. is our expectation that each of you will exercise proper decorum and govern yourselves accordingly during today's proceedings. Without objection, the rules will be suspended and the Senate will dispense with the reading of the journal. The morning hour has now begun. Senator Flippo, you're recognized to introduce our pages for the day, Senator Flibo, thank you, Madam President. Members, I'd like to recognize our Senate pages joining us today. So when I call y'all's name, if you'll come down here and join me down here. Ms. Lilly Sims, Ma Male Charter Middle School, Senator English constituent. Come on down here, Lily. Don't be shy. All right, next up we've got Ms. Audrey Potts, academics plus charter school, Mael, Senator Mark Johnson's constituent. Come on down. After that, we've got Ella Dein, West Side Consolidated School, Bono, Senator Wallace. Corbon Holmes, UAPB, Senator Murdoch. Randy Davis, I don't have a score for you, Randy, but I know you're in school. Senator Sullivan. Margaret Gwyn with Senator Sullivan, Madeleine Crawley, Senator Sullivan. Easton McDaniel, Senator Sullivan, Senator Sullivan is well represented today. Members of you help join them, welcome to the Senate. You all could not have picked a better data page in the Senate. I'm telling you that we're happy to have you all here. Senator Thank you, Senator, and thank you pages. We're glad to have you all here. And speaking of young people here, I have an intern here with me today and he'll be joining me throughout the session at various times. He, his name is Jordan Maine and Jordan stepped on up so they can see you. You can wave. Jordan is a senior at Greenbrier High School. He lives in Senator Urban's district. He has just been accepted to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville this fall, and so we're excited to have back with us and to be here this spring. So make Jordan feel welcome. Announcements or introductions. Senator Murdoch, you're recognized. Thank you. Colleagues, uh, help me and welcoming a very special group of people that's in the Capitol today, um, visiting with us, they are very, very essential to uh connecting um our citizens, our constituents to all kinds of services, specifically in the healthcare field, but other things as well. They do everything. I'm gonna ask all the community health workers that are in the galleries, please stand. Community health workers and let's get them a greyhound. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Murdoch. Any other announcements or introductions? Senator Wallace, you're recognized. Thank you, Governors and members, I'd like to introduce my friends from Blavo, the Blavi in Mississippi County Chamber of Commerce, if you all would please stand up. We do this class every year and they are wonderful group. Thank you all. Thank you, Senator. Any other announcements or introductions. Madam Secretary, are there items at the desk? Dear Mr. Prepoim. This is to inform you that on February 11, 2025, I reviewed and approved the following measures of the regular session of the ninety-fifth General Assembly, Senate Bill 46 Act 25, Senate Bill 15, Act 26, Senate Bill 16 Act 27. Violet. Were your committee on engrossed bills who was referred Senate Bill 49 by Senator Boyd compared the engrossed copy of the original and found the time correctly engrossed revenue and tax. We your committee on Education to whom was referred to Senate Bill 90 by Senator English recommended pass calendar, Committee on Education who was first sent by 135 by Senator Boyd recommend Duin calendar Committee on Judiciary to whom was referred Senate Bill 170 by Senator Tucker recommend do pass calendar. Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was first sent Bill 171 by Senator Tucker recommendha and Du pass calendar Committee on the Judiciary to whom was referred to Senate Bill 172 by Senator Tucker recommend Ducas calendar Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was first sent 173 by Senator Tucker recommended new pass calendar Committee on the Judiciary to whom was first by 174 by Senator Tucker recommendha and DuP pass calendar Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was first Senate Bill 175 by Senator Tucker recommend Du pass calendar. Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was first sent 176 by Senator Tucker recommend Du pass calendar Committee on the Judiciary to whom was first sent by 177 by Tucker recommend Du Pa calendar Committee on Judiciary, to whom his first symbol 214 by Senator Bryant recommend Du pass calendar Committee on the Judiciary to whom was referred House vote 1049 by Representative Tos recommended to pass as amended number one. Calendar Committee on Judicial who is for 1071 by Representative Richardson recommend new pass calendar Committee on the Judiciary who was referred House Bill 1263 by Representative Yeager recommended pass. calendar Committee on the Judiciary to who his House Bill 1282 by Representative Richardson recommended pass calendar for the judiciary to whom his House Bill 1317 by representative Shepherd recommended Du pass calendar Committee on Public Health to whom was referred to Senate Bill 17 by Central Love recommend to past calendar, uh, as amended number 2. Committee on Public Health in his first Senate Bill 180 by Centra Sullivan recommend Du pass calendar Committee on Revenue and Tax team was referred to house 10704 recommend by Senator uh Representative Ray recommended past calendar. Senate Bill 218 by Senator Irving. To amend the Arkansas Small Business invocation and Research matching grant program Senate Bill 218. Agriculture symbol 219 by central dismay. To repeal the sunset provision of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Special Privilege Tax Act of 2017 declare an emergency. Senate Bill 219 revenue and tax. Senate joint resolution 16 by Central Crowe. An amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to exempt certain real property from property tax and to create a property tax exemption for certain individuals joint resolution 16. State agencies resolution 17 in dots, an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to create the Arkansas taxpayer Bill of Rights and joint resolution 17. State agencies. Senate Resolution 23 by Senator Crowe at A to recognize February 15 through 22, 2025 as national FFA Week, Senate Resolution 23. Calendar. Senate Joint Resolution 18 by state agency, uh, by Senator Payton, uh, the citizens only voting amendments, Senate Joint Resolution 18. State agencies resolution 19 by Senator Johns uh Mark Johnson, an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to exempt food and food ingredients from the excise tax levied under Arkansas Constitution Amendment 75 Senate Joint resolution 19. State agencies. Thank you, Madam Secretary. Is there any further business to come before the body in the morning hour. It's not, the morning hour has expired. We will now begin the business agenda. We will begin with Point of personal privilege and a point of personal privilege by Senator Ervin. Senator Urban, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President, members, I would just ask if you would just join me, um, and remembering Cecile, Senator Cecile Bledsoe's husband, Jim Bledsoe, um, yeah, as you know, Senator Bledsoe, she was part of this Senate family with us, and her husband Jim also worked at the Department of Health. And they are right now having his uh funeral service, and so I would just ask our Senate just to remember Senator Bledsoe and her husband, Dr. Jim Bledsoe, with a moment of silence. Thank you. Heavenly Father, we just pray that you would surround Cecile with your love and your grace and her entire family and be with them at this time of their need, and we give you praise for her being part of our Senate family and for the service that Jim gave to the United States of America through his service with the Air Force and the service that he gave to the state of Arkansas through the Department of Health and the service that Senator Cecile Bledsoe has given to the state of Arkansas. We just asked that you would be with her during this time of need, In your name we pray. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Ervin. We will now take up Senate resolution 13. Senate resolution 13 by Senator Hammer to recognize the bright Hornets football team as the Class 7A state champions. Senator Hammer, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. May I have a point of personal privilege before we do this, please. Like to recognize that today as Senator Irving's birthday, and we just want to recognize that it is her birthday today. 39 never looked so good. OK. Madam Chair, I'd like to proceed. Can I have leave please for the Bryant seniors and their coaching staff. Please you gotta have leave from the body. Thank you. All the way down to that was down to the end by the desk. Yeah I'm going down this way. Oh shit. I'll start another drug. all of the right. the step to the side a little bit, that'd be OK. you that y'all from. OK Senator Hammer, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Governor. Uh, brought a little help for some bills I'm gonna be running today, uh, so I appreciate the help being here today. Senate resolution. This is to recognize the Bryant Hornets football team as the Class 7A state champions. Whereas the Bryant Hornets bested the Bentonville Tigers to take the Class 7A state football title for the 6th time in the past 7 years. With a score. With a score of 28 to 23 in a hard-fought game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas on Saturday, December 7th, 2024. And whereas the Hornets finished the season with 13 wins and zero losses. And whereas the Hornets quarterback Jordan Walker was awarded Most Valuable Player, rushing 20 times for 155 yards, completing 9 of 18 passes for 122 yards in. scoring 4 touchdowns. And whereas Jordan Walker played in the past 4 class 7A championship games for the Hornets with a team winning 3 of 4 championship games and whereas the Hornets center Garrett Patterson earned the Brandon Burlsworth player of the Game award. And whereas after 5 years of defensive coordinator Quad Sanders made his first appearance at the championship game as head coach of the Hornets. Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the 95th General Assembly of the state of Arkansas, that the Senate congratulates and recognizes the Bryant Hornets football team as the Class 7A state champions and be a further resolved that upon adoption this resolution, a copy be presented to head coach Quad Sanders by the Secretary of the Senate, and Madam Governor, I move for a due pass and confirmation of the resolution, please. Thank you, Senator Hammer. All those in favor of Senate Resolution 13 to recognize the Bryant Hornets football team as a class 7A state champions, please signify by saying I. And he opposed I have it. Senate Resolution 13 is adopted. Thanks. Members, I just wanted to share that the players on the floor are the seniors of the Bryant Hornet football team, the sophomore juniors are up in our gallery and in our VIP sections along with some of their parents wanted to recognize them and just congratulate them and thank you for giving them a warm welcome today and give them a taste of the hospitality of the Senate of the state of Arkansas. Coaches declined anything to say? Did you change your mind, won't say anything? There you go. OK, here you go. Thank you, members. Thank you, Senator Hammer, and congratulations again to the Bryant Hornets football team. be Just a brief 2 minute break for handshakes, please, Madam Governor. 2 minutes is all. Senate will come back to order. The Senate will come back to order. We are going to pass over Senate resolution 19 for the moment we'll come back to it later. Personal privilege. Senator Crow, you're recognized. Like a take a point of personal privilege. There's a young lady up there in a red dress, and for the 3rd year in a row, she was ranked number one wealth manager by Forbes in Arkansas. Who We will now take up. Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 3. I remember to the Senate Bill 3. Senator Sullivan, you're recognized. I'm always happy to concur with the House amendments to my bills. Um, this amendment is 3 makes 2 simple changes. We removed the criminal penalty as an enforceable mechanism, of course, a civil action remains, and we clarify that when someone successfully sues for a violation of the prohibition of race, sex, preferences, and is entitled to attorney fees that it's the successful party sued the state, recovery of those fees would be through the claims commission, not The courts. Those are the only two changes. I ask that you adopt those amendments or that amendment. First we're gonna have this is a voice vote on the amendment. If it is adopted, then we will take up the bill again. So just this voice vote is simply for the amendment. All those in favor of the amendment, please signified by saying aye. And he opposed I have it. Amendment is adopted. We will now take up Senate Bill 3. As I'm closed. Thank you. Senate Bill 3 by Senator Sullivan to prohibit discrimination by preferential treatment by the state of Arkansas and other public entities. Senator, do you wish to reintroduce your bill? If not, then anyone wish to speak against or for. Senator has closed. Any objection to rolling the boat. Objections noted, Madam Secretary, please call the roll. Go right leave Caldwell, Clark Lee, Crowell, Davis, Des, this man. This man Dotson, English. Flip out Flowers, Gilmore. Hammer Hester. Hecky He Hi Irvin Blake Johnson, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson. King, King. Letting love, McKee. Murdoch No Peyton. Hi Penzel Patty Lee, rice. Scott Stan, Stuberfield. Sullivan. Tucker. Wallace. Any senators who did not vote, who wish to vote or wish to change your vote. I see Senator Blake Johnson, yes. Senator Hickey, yes. Any other senators Wished wish to change your vote, seeing no others, please cast up the ballot. By a vote of 24 yeah, 6 nay, 2, not voting, Senate Bill 3. Passes. And rolled it. We will now take up a rather we are passing over Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 186. We will next go to Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 203. Amendment 1, Senate Bill 203. Members just after discussion in committee, we made several amendments in the committee yesterday. It makes a good bill better. I'd appreciate a good vote. Senator Hester, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? I habit amendment is adopted. Please send to enrolling. Oh, I'm sorry. Please send to engrossing. We are passing over Amendment 1 to House Bill 1075. We will now take up Amendment 1 to House Bill 1145. Senator Hill. Amendment 1 House Bill 1145. Senator Hill, you're recognized. This is for me, right? OK. This is my bill, my amendment that basically they're just putting my name on this bill. Thank you, Senator Hill. All those in favor of the amendment, please signify by saying aye, any opposed, as habit, Amendment is adopted, please send to engrossing. We will now go to Senate bills. We are passing over. Senate Bill 12, we will now take up. Senate Bill 98, Senator Davis. December '98 by Senator Davis to amend the law regarding alcoholic beverages to authorize the third party delivery of alcoholic beverages from certain retailers and to create a third party delivery permit. Senator Davis, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President. Um, OK, we made several amendments to this bill based on feedback that I heard the last time that I was here on the Senate floor presenting it. So, on page one, we defined retail permit holder as um someone that is open for 30 hours a week to be very clear that it would be specifically retail. We also on page 3, put that the division will charge an annual fee of $500 for the 3rd, 3rd party delivery permits, and then on page 5, we removed the rebuttable presumption section in its entirety, so that is no longer there, and then we put some details into what the alcohol delivery training program would look like. Um, so you can read through the requirements that ABC will put forward. um for those third party delivery permit drivers. I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions for Senator Davis. Anyone wish to speak against or for Senator, you're recognized to close. Thank you, I asked for a good vote. I'm closed for my bill. Senator has closed any objection to rolling the boat. Objection noted, Madam Secretary, please call the roll. Boyd. Boyd Bryant leave Caldwell. Caldwell. Clark Lee, Crowell, Davis. These, this man, Datson English Flipper flowers. Flowers Gilmore, Gilmore, Hammer, hammer. Hester Hickie, Hickey. Hill Irvin. Bike Johnson. Blake Johnson. Mark Johnson, King. King letting love. Love McKee, McKee. Murdoch Murdoch Hayton Hayden Penza, Patty leave, rice. Rice Scott She said no. Stone. Stuberfield. Sullivan, Tucker Wallace. Any senator who wished to change his or her vote or wish to vote who did not vote. I see Senator Boyd, yes. Senator Murdoch present. Senator Flowers, no. Any other senators Senator Hammer, president, Senator Dees. Present. Senator Gilmore, no. Senator Love present. Any of the senators, please check the board. Seeing, hearing no others, please cast up the ballot by vote of 18, ya, 7, nay, 3, not voting, and 4 present. Senate Bill 98 passes, please transmit to the house. We will now take up Senate Bill 168. Senate Bill 168 by Senator Rice to establish a state examination for licenser of massage therapist and declare an emergency. Senator Rice, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President. Members, let me state first. I support my massage therapy. Uh, all massage therapists and whatever licenger that they won't operate within the state of Arkansas legally. I'm far. I have used massage therapy for over 30 years. I described in committee I've had 3 spine surgeries for my neck to my back, plus the shoulder surgery. And it's what keeps me going in between the surgeries and then after. It is something I wish more people. Had options to use. And in that, There is a shortage that was disputed, I think, by one person in committee, may not be in their area, but there is a shortage not just in rural Arkansas. But also in the cities. SB 168 is establish a state examination of licenger, a massage therapist. Arkansas has had a state test in the past. Why is this needed now? It is to retain the sovereignty. For Arkansas citizens. There is current legislation. That's been filed and not run. That proposes to join an interstate. Massage compact and accept all of their rules. Controlled by a few. Currently, the state has allowed the MBAs, which is massage and body work licensing exam. It's a computer adaptive. Program. And it's under the Federation of State Massage therapy Board. And in 2024 on their website, their financial shows 7.4 million income, 5.6 million income from exam services. And a net of 2.3 million with the executive director in 2023, uh, compensation of $578,000. The reason I bring that up is we know money drives a lot of things. Money, interest, business, whatever else. This bill will require Arkansas-specific testing. While there was Testimony in the committee. That not all of the blacks. Testing the national testing. was that way. This does not affect any massage therapist. I'm going to call them MTs if you'll stay with me on that. does not affect any EMT's licenger that has a license now. It will not keep any massage therapists from taking the MBAs. National exam, which will allow some across state lines or if they move, they've got that national certification and, and Uh, probably they do. This is for a state test which we used to do. The Ilex license will continue to be accepted in Arkansas. And reciprocal with the other states. They, they, again, you do not have to take two tests. You only take the one. If you take the Arkansas test and then there's accusations, you're dumbing down the test. In this bill you will see the areas of expertise that they have to master. And the chairwoman of public health, thankfully, looked up and matched those up. The national test and the Arkansas test have the same criteria on there. It was also testified that the computer adaptive program, if you're not familiar with that, I was not. is a program that can change. If you get a hard question and you get it right, that computer may go to a harder question. Sounds like some AI stuff we're talking about right now. That was also brought up. If you miss that harder question, could it might give you an easier one. I guess that's possible. I don't know that that's fair. It was also brought up that the state might not have enough questions. They've got from the working group. had at least 700 questions of the 100 that's required, they had worked up already. And when it was asked about this national test. Somebody testified, and all I can do is go by their testimony that the MAX has a computer data of 10,000 questions they can answer. But they're not 10,000 question can't all be Arkansas specific and that was some of the problem that was brought up. In, in the testimony. SB 168 calls for adequate. Testing spelled out in the bill in these categories. Again, in those That testing in Arkansas, why it was pointed out. There's not a fee price in this bill. I didn't choose to try one. The, the ad hoc committee that worked for six months on this and the Department of Health had a $75 figure, so I'm gonna say a 75 to $85 figure is what the target was on this. The M blacks testing and again, I'm not saying it's not good. But it is It is more expensive and in the group. I told you the figures on is making good money on it. It's $265 each and every time you take the test, plus $20 for the, the tests. Again, both are not required, only one. The national organization has lobbyists. He was there and spoke at the meeting. The single mom wanting to earn a skill that pays the bill does not have a lobbyist. They spend 7000 to 10,000. To take the course. Arkansas requires 500 hours. of testing To be able to work in Arkansas where they want to work and where they want to live. There are some states that require 1000 hours. Some of the testimony against this bill was admitted, some people have Problems taking tests. I'm one of them. I forget the term that they used. But you show me how to do something. And a lot of times I can excel at it. Senator Payton and the committee pointed out, he took a pilot exam and I said I did too. I passed it. I didn't set record, but I sure passed all my flying skills too, and I was a pretty good pilot. The other things talked about in committee that were important, and I want to give accolades to those who do this. They talked about Physicians and uh sometimes physical therapy doesn't pay enough insurance to go a long time and and some of these massage therapists are getting referrals from chiropractors and doctors and physical therapists to follow up and, and, and have somebody to go to and they, and they brought up even the fact they work on, some of them work or specialize on oncology uh patients and patients with different things. Well, I've I've got some problems myself and, and massage therapist or trained to do that. Not everybody is at that level, although everybody has a license and what I have commented on, I'm proud we've got some people that excel in certain areas and have done it enough years that they can work on people like that and if they want to tout their certification and charge more, I'm all for it, but there is a level of of base level of safety in schooling and knowledge that that needs to be used. Not everybody's at the, at the same level. I kind of use this as a nurse practitioner and a, and a MD. The nurse practitioner can treat me for about most of the sickness I might have, but there's times I may want to go to an MD. To me, they're both doctors. Because I'm going to get help and that's what I, I look at this as. The emergency clause on this. was not requested by the ones interested in the state testing. I put that on there because all of you know how long it takes to be able to go into effect. And then you know how many months it takes to get rules written. And there is a need for massage therapist that some there has been closures. There are people looking for uh therapists to work in the industry right now. And with that, I would be glad to take any questions. Questions for Senator Rice. Senator Crow and Senator Penzo. Senator Crow, you're recognized. Right. uh, you know. Senator Rice, this is a This is a good bill and I appreciate all the work you did it and I'm sorry if he might have been rubbed the wrong way, but I'm glad you did all this work and put this good bill together. Thank you, sir. Not the first time that I've heard that. Let me tell another little story real quick. 2009, my first year in the capital. It should start in my 17th year. I was walking down the hall on the ground floor. After session one day and one of the legislators come outside and grab my arms and come in here. We need you in here. And I went in one of these side meetings, we all get pulled into. And it was things going on in the massage therapy board that time, it shouldn't have been going on. And they got straightened out. I'm not saying that about the massage therapy board now. I'm saying from time to time agencies and boards need some redirection and some guardrails. And for our citizens to do the right thing. So excuse me for interrupting the questions, but I, I, I wanted to say that, but I did get that used on me before. Sander Penzo, you're recognized for a question. Thank you and I appreciate you catching me to clarify a few things, but I just, just wanna clarify two things, um, on the record, uh, it, it's my understanding that this will not replace The Ilex is an option. The one thing I don't want is to people to have to take 2 tests if they want to work outside the state. So I just want to clarify that the legislative intent of this bill is to give an either or option for the state test or the MLEX, which is the national uh test that would allow improved portability for the massage therapist. Is, is that your legislative intent is exactly right, and I appreciate that for those that don't know, you, you stated you. worked in, in the industry at one time and I appreciate people having the knowledge of the industry. This in no way will affect that. And again, that's kind of it was said in committee, that's the gold standard. It's great to have a gold standard, but not everybody needs the gold standard, but for the ones who want it need to have it. The ones that, that want to qualify ought to have a in that they can get in, OK? And then my second question would be, um, Of course there's going to be a cost to uh setting up uh administering a state exam right now, uh, you know, it's, it doesn't cost the state anything for the IEx, uh, you know, the, the testing fees are paid by the individual. Uh, what I'm concerned about is I just don't want the annual. Des for for licenses to increase due to setting up a new test. Have you, have you spoke with the, the health department or whatever boards over this to see if there would be an increase and the lady that that uh testified with me on this had been again on the 66 month working group ad hoc working group working with public health and, and that was the statement. There was no extra cost to the state. The, the state testing that they had done to qualified on it and I, they were sent 75, I've given it a little inflation if it needed to 75 to 85. That was a statement. It would not cost him more. This passes and goes to the house, I will request that the Department of Health be there to answer any question about that, that, that was what was stated in committee. Thank you for your answers. Thank you. Any other questions? Senator Leding, your light is on. I don't know if that's a question or not. OK, thank you, Senator. Any other questions for Senator Rice. Anyone wish to speak against the bill? Or for the bill. Senator you are recognized clothes a good vote. Thank you Senator has closed any objection to rolling the boat. Seeing and hearing no objection, Madam Secretary, please roll the boat. Boy, Bryant Lef Caldwell, Clark, Le Crowe, Davis, Des, Desma, Dotson, English, Flippo, flowers, Gilmore, Hammer, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, King letting love, McKee, Murdoch, Peyton, Penzo, Petty, Leave, rice, scot, stone, Stab afield. Sullivan Tucker Wallace. Any senator wished to vote who did not vote or change your boat. I see Senator letting no, Senator Penzo no, Senator Des, no, Senator Dodson, no. Please check the board, send her flowers. Now, Please check the board. Seeing no others. Please cast up the ballot. By a vote of 27 5 nay, 0. Senate Bill 168 passes and the corresponding emergency clause is adopted. We will now take up Senate bill. Transmit Senate Bill 168 to the House. We will now take up Senate Bill 176. I'm sorry. Even my eyes play tricks on me. Senate Bill 178 with Senator Boyd. December 178 by Central Boyd to amend the Arkansas healthcare Decisions Act and to clarify, the ability of a surrogate to obtain records of on a principal's income, assets, and banking and financial records. Senator Boyd, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President. Senate Bill 178 provides important updates to the healthcare Decisions Act passed in 2023. Since the 2023 updates, Banks have expressed concerns of potentially running afoul of federal privacy laws. This bill, we worked with the banks to get everybody on the same page and it provides important guardrails to protect patients and ensure banks do not incidentally violate federal privacy laws. There's no known opposition to this bill. Any questions for Senator Boyd. Senator, love, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I'm not familiar with this this bill. So currently what is the situation? What are they doing now? What, what are we doing now that then this bill will will will address. I don't know that we're doing anything now. I think we passed legislation last time and it left banks in a position where they were Unclear. So what this bill does is it addresses, it puts guardrails in place to ensure a request for is legitimate for if there's a surrogate address joint counts and notice the joint account holder. It puts in place notary designation on documents. It makes clear that the surrogate has no authority to access funds or assets, ensures confidential and confidentiality of the information and provides a safe harbor for financial institutions. All right, all right, thank you. Thank you. It should have been done last time, but it's done now. Any other questions for Senator Boyd? Anyone wish to speak against or for the bill. Senator, you're a recognized clothes. I'd appreciate a good vote. Thank you. Senator has closed. Any objection to rolling the boat? Madam Secretary, please roll the boat. For Bran Lee Caldwell, Clark, Lee Crowell, Davis, Des, Dipa Dotson, English Flippo flowers, Gilmore, Hammer, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, King Luting love, McKee, Murdoch, Peyton, Pennzo, Petty, Le, rice, scot stone, Stuberfield Sullivan, Tucker Wallace. Any senator wish to change his or her vote. Seeing no one, please cast up the ballot. My vote of 32 yeah zero nay, Senate Bill 178 passes, please transmit. To the house. Senator Blake Johnson, you're recognized. For And the Senate rules do not allow for singing of Happy birthday in these chambers, so I will, I will gamble that now don't, don't forget today is Senator Irvin's 39th birthday and wish her the best, see the flowers on her desk, so, I just wanted to make her red in the face a little bit, so happy birthday. Sorry And speaking of Senator Ervin, we're gonna go back to the top of the agenda and take up Senate resolution 19. Thank you. I ask leave, uh, for some of our, we have the athletic directors, uh, if they will come on and join us on the floor, we're really excited to have them here today in the Capitol with us, um, from the University of Arkansas, we have Hunter Eurozek, our athletic director from UFA, Matt Whiting is the director of athletics at UCA, University of Central Arkansas, Jeff Purrington is the vice chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics and athletic director for Arkansas State University and Frank Cubo is the director of A tic s at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Thank y'all for being here today. I also have with us coach Colby Hale, uh, and, and I'll talk about Cotch Colby Hall. So I want you guys to step up here. Um, numbers, I know there's a lot of folks from Northwest Arkansas, but I think that our, our the the representatives that really represent the area of the University of Arkansas, but um just as a fan, uh, I think we're all representing the University of Arkansas, but also UCA, ASU, UALR. We're just really proud of so much that you do for our state. But today, just wanted to pass this resolution or present this resolution for the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Razorback women's soccer team. They finished the 2024 season with 16 wins, 2 losses, and 3 tied games, including an undefeated 11 wins, 0 losses and 2 tied games at home. Whereas the University of Arkansas Fayetteville Razorback women's soccer team achieved the number one ranking in both college soccer polls for the first time in program history. They they achieved a 2 seed in the 2024 NCAA tournament. That was the highest seed in program history for the 3rd time in the past 4 years, Coach Colby Hale here, um, has an incredible record. I mean this is unbelievable what y'all have achieved. 189 wins, 82 losses and 31 ties in Fayetteville. Um, he's led the University of Arkansas women's are back women's soccer team to all 11 of its national collegiate athletic Association tournament appearances. Uh, they, they advanced to the sweet 16 in the 2024 NCAA tournament for the 4th time in program history and the 3rd time in the past 4 seasons. Uh, they advanced to the SEC tournament semifinals for the 8th time in the past 9 SEC conference tournaments. Um, the attendance has just been off the charts at Fayetteville and the tournaments that we've been watching on TV if you're a big fan like I am. So really kudos to athletic director and everybody for the attendance. Um, some of the players have just achieved incredible, um, incredible, um, accolades, Ava Tankersley, um, and Kylie Dulai, they and the statistics are in this resolution. I won't go through every single one of them, but, um, but, but these wins were just incredible, and I I just want to read the last statistics, whereas the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Razorback Women's soccer team led the nation in scoring average total goals, total points, points per game, assists per game, corner. This is. Get the battery down. Do I need to change it? OK. minutes and It's really not to be able to say. You great, great job. That Thank you, Senator Urban, and before we take a vote on the matter, I'm going to ask the Secretary to read. Senate resolution 19 by Senator Irving to recognize the University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Razorbacks Women's soccer team for their achievements in 2024. Thank you, Madam Secretary. All those in favor of Senate Resolution 19 to recognize the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Razorback, women's soccer team for their achievements in 2024, please signify to say I. And he opposed habit Senate Resolution 19 is adopted Wooing. the screen. Yeah. is not working. I mean. to see him. That'll be good. Let's made it right. OK. Because. That I OK. to be accepted you by. Thank you. Right Hey, come over. Yeah Thank you, thank you very much. right? All right. Yeah. with. I income. thing Yeah Can Senate will come back to order. We will go back to Senate bills. We are Taking up Senate Bill 187. Yeah. Sent 187 by Senator Irving to amend the composition of the Arkansas Medicaid Drug Utilization Review Board to include physician assistants. Senator Ervin, you're recognized. Thank you, uh, members, it just adds physician assistants to the composition of the Arkansas Medicaid drug utilization Review Board. Happy taking questions. Appreciate your vote. Any questions for Senator Urban. Senator has left the well. Right. Sent Anyone wish to speak against or for? Senator has closed any objection rolling the boat? Madam Secretary, please roll the boat. Boyd Bright Lee Caldwell, Clark Lee, Crowell, Davis, Des, Dima, Dotson, English, Flippo, flowers, Gilmore, Hammer, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, King letting love McKee, Murdoch, Peyton, Pennzo, Petty, Lee, Rice, Scott, stone, Stubberfield, Sullivan. Tucker Wallace. Any senator wish to change his or her vote or who did not vote. Seeing no one, please cast up the ballot by a vote of 32 ya, zero nay, Senate Bill 187 passes, please transmit to the house. We will now Take up Senate Bill 207. Bill 207 by Senator Hammer to amend the law concerning initiative and referendum petitions to require a canvasser to disclose the petition fraud is a Class A misdemeanor and declare an emergency. Senator Hammer, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Governor. Members, there are 5 bills that are going to be before you, and I'm speaking on Senate Bill 207. I will make one statement that will be applicable to all of them for the sake of time and also to leave plenty of room for questions. On the 5 bills that I'm presenting to you today. With regards to Act 207, each part of the petition fraud is a class A misdemeanor punishable by almost a year in prison. Canvassers are being tricked thousands are canvassers are tricking thousands of Arkansans each year and to sign petitions that they're already signed cannot legally sign or accidentally committed other acts of fraud. Largely this is because people did not see the parking lot petitioners, a serious government documents, and what this bill does is help to address and to fix this issue that is regard Senate Bill 207. There was plenty of testimony in the committee the other day, which most of you have probably heard about, and there were significant number of people 4 and significant number of people against. There was actually a significant number of people that were 4 that were not able to sign up and because of the process when the vote came to a conclusion, there was equal opposition and there was equal support for these bills. Two entities that are supporting these bills are entities that we for a long time as a majority have supported and presented. reasons as to why these bills should be passed in order to address the issues that we are witnessing within the circulation of petitions or referendums. There are a few points that I want to make that are applicable to this bill as well as the bills that will follow. First of all, these bills have been thoroughly vetted by the Attorney General's office, the Attorney General, and the team in its entirety. They are all vetted to be constitutionally sound and not violate the Constitution. Secondly, they are ready to defend. these bills, should it be that they would end up in court. I think that is a statement or or statement within itself that the Attorney General is ready to not only to defend these bills but also has reviewed these bills. Secondly, there's an argument that is being circulated along with a lot of other rhetoric as far as these bills being restrictive. These bills are not restrictive. What these bills are is they provide safeguards or guardrails, and the reason why you need guardrails is because there have been plenty of accidents along the way. And you want to put some guardrails in place in order to provide for the safety of those that will travel that way in the future. We have found through testimony that has been given in committee that there are plenty of examples of people that have been abusing the system, manipulating it, finding loopholes, and doing other things in order to seek an advantage. The third thing I'd like to point out is that there are those that are saying this takes away the rights of the people. I do not understand, nor do I subscribe to that line of thinking considering that one of our responsibility is l ator s who are elected by the people, of which there's a majority of us in here that are represented by a vast majority there of like-mindedness that it is our responsibility to make sure that when citizens are approached and asked for their signature that it is being done in the most secure and also addressing issues of the past that show that we have flaws that need to be addressed. The last thing I would like to point out is this that we have seen over the years an increasing outside interference with our petition process, but also with the referendum process and these laws that are going to be presented to you today begin with 207 are intended to increase or to look at the outside interference that is coming into our process. I will say on a personal level, I don't know that I've ever received the number of calls from outside this state regarding these. bills and I always raise the question, why is it that so many people outside of the state are interested in what we're doing inside the state, especially when you look at the amount of money that's being poured in from outside the state in order to dictate what we do within the state when it comes to referendums that are presented as well as the petition process. So for all of these reasons are why I'm presenting these 5 bills. I trust your good judgment. I trust your strength. I trust your courage, and I'm ready to answer. questions on Senate Bill 207, Madam Governor. Thank you, Senator Hammer. Any questions? For Senator Hammer on Senate Bill 207. Senator And he Seeing no questions. Anyone wish to speak. Senator Des, do you have a question? Center Asia recognize her question. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I don't intend to ask questions on each one of the 5, but it would be helpful for maybe framework for all 5. If, if you could help me answer um Our our state's direct democracy process. Not every state has this, and in my quick research, I think it may be 18 or 19 states that have something similar to that we do. So it's It's in the minority that has a process like this. I think I would just love to to understand maybe some of the framework. An intention behind these these bills, um, to put me at ease, uh, would you, would it, would the phrase or the, the concept of um would it be accurate to say that our Constitution shouldn't be, shouldn't be able to be amended easily. Would you agree with, with that phrasing? Yes, I definitely agree with that, and that's why all these bills are withstanding the the scrutiny of the Attorney General, having reviewed, and I did not mention, but I will now that I've worked closely hand in hand with the Secretary of State's office, who is the front line for receiving complaints. I think what we are finding that drives the necessity of these bills, the number of complaints and evidences that have been presented as to how the actual constitutionality of what we have currently is being undermined and being eroded away, especially by those of outside interest or those that are looking for the loopholes around the Constitution, so these bills are intended and more than intended they are directed to close some of those loopholes and to bring greater accountability for those that currently are abusing the system as based on the testimonies that have been given and the things that have been presented to the Secretary of State as to why they would like to see these bills passed. And, and as the last follow up, would, would you say that um With, with the passing of of these bills. That it strengthens the voice due to the accuracy of the process was that a fair assessment? No, I think that's 100% spot on. I think that's what a majority of people are failing to see that are contacting us because they're listening to the voice of just a couple that are trying to direct the conversation and and the value in what we're about to do here is that we are putting those safeguards and those guardrails protected so at the end of the day, at the end of the discussion when Everything is said and done. What we have to walk away from this event from is saying, have we done what we are supposed to do to protect the integrity of that signature that has been asked for, but also has been given on the document that is going to be part of a permanent record. That signature is as valuable as any other signature that there is. Thank you. Any other questions for Senator Hammer. Seeing no other questions. Anyone wish to speak against, I see Senator Tucker, you're recognized to speak against. Thank you, Madam President. I'm just looking around to see if Senator Hammer's friends are still here. I don't, I don't love coming down here. Can I just start with that? I don't love coming down here, especially against Someone who who I respect and admire as much as I do Senator Hammer. Now, If Senator Flippo were running the bill, I might walk down here with a little, little bouncing my stuff, but, but not Senator Hammer and you know, a lot of times I come down, I do have a job to do and I, and I appreciate sincerely y'all listening when I do come down here. Um, and sometimes when I come down I have philosophical issues I want to raise and sometimes it's particular things with language. For the most part today I'm going to keep it at a pretty high level philosophical level. I really appreciated something Senator Payton said last week. That he wants to see the context that laws in Bible verses are in. That's why he goes to the chapter and verse and goes back to look. And I started thinking about these bills with this big picture, as you can possibly get. And that's what the constitution of the state of Arkansas. This is the document that creates our state. Article 1, it establishes literally the boundaries of the state of Arkansas. Article 2, it enumerates our individual liberties, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, right to bear arms. Article 3, the right to vote. Article 4 establishes our branches of government, Mr. Tree reminded me recently that in the Constitution we don't actually call them branches. We call them departments. Those are the 1st 4 articles. Article 5 is the, the legislative department. It comes first, Article 6 is the executive department. Article 8 is the judicial. Legislative department comes first in our three branches of government. Article 5. So now I'm focusing in on Article 5. The Senate, the body we all love and serve in, that comes in section 3. Section 3 of the legislative department. What's section 2? Well, that's one where the House of Representatives is established. Well what comes before the House and the Senate. And that is the other group of lawmakers we have in Arkansas, and that is the people. That's the people. And it says very clearly in Article 5, Section 1. The people reserved to themselves the power to propose legislative measures. The first power reserved by the people is the initiative. The second power reserved by the people is the referendum. Now, when you have two groups of lawmakers. There's an inherent conflict between the two. The two groups again are the legislators and the people, because if one group has all the power, then the other has none. And when the people enacted Article 5 Section 1, they foresaw this. They knew about this conflict and they put extra provisions in this article to address that. If you're the governor didn't have anything to do with the current governor. This was passed in 1920. If you're the governor and the people pass a law, sorry, governor, you can't veto it. If you're the legislature and the people pass the law, you can't amend it with a simple majority. It takes 2/3. And then there's a special provision in the Constitution and it's titled Unwarranted Restrictions prohibited. And this is directed right at us. And it says no law shall be passed. That's us. No law shall be passed to prohibit any person or persons from giving or receiving compensation for circulating petitions, nor to prohibit the circulation of petitions. This language is important, nor in any manner interfering with the freedom of the people in procuring petitions. We can't pass any laws that do that. And so what have we done? Every legislative session since 2013. We have passed laws to make the petition process more difficult. Every single session since 2013. I think one of the reasons that we've done that is because the legislature, I'm talking big picture here. Conflates two ideas, mixes two things up. And that is that there are two parts of this process. One is the signature gathering part where we decide if something's going to be on the ballot, and the other is where the people ultimately vote on it. When you sign a petition to put something on the ballot, you are not voting for that to become law. You are not voting for that to become law. You are saying I believe this is a decision that should be made by the people. Those are not the same things. I wasn't going to address this, but Senator Senator Hammer mentioned the outside influence in the petition process, and I just want to address that. Because it's related to this idea of conflating the petition signature process and the election Only Arkansans can sign petitions. Only Arkansans can vote on election day on ballot measures, and that's the way it ought to be. Those are the rules for that group of lawmakers. What about the rules for us? We're imposing a lot of rules on the people that we don't impose on us. How many of y'all have worked with someone from outside Arkansas on a bill. Should we not be allowed to do that? Should every registered lobbyist be in Arkansas citizen? Otherwise we're allowing out of state influence on the laws that we pass on this group of lawmakers. What if we had to gather signatures before we filed a bill. What if we had to check people's driver's licenses before they signed before we could file a bill. We're putting a lot of restrictions on one group of lawmakers without taking a look at ourselves. Now, Senator Hammer has talked about integrity of the election process, Senator Dees, you talked about accuracy. These are valid, legitimate goals. Right, I hesitate to use analogies when I come down here, but I'm gonna do it. You know what else is a valid legitimate goal? Making sure that our Kansans are not injured or killed in car accidents. That's a valid goal. And I know what we could do to make sure that doesn't happen. We could put a 4-way stop sign at every intersection in Arkansas. If we do that and people obey the law, we'll have zero car crashes, 0 injuries, 0 deaths. But there's a reason we don't. It's because it would make the process way too difficult. So here we have a situation where we know people will die literally because of our decision not to put four-way stop signs at every intersection, but we make that decision as a society because we also decide there's something else on the other side of that. People have to be able to get around. So what's on the other side of this? Again, we have those legitimate concerns. What's on the other side of this? Something that's very important. And that is the people of Arkansas to get ballot measures on the ballot. And we're worried about one harm, which is that maybe there's an invalid signature, but we are guaranteeing the other harm. is that the people can't get ballot measures on the ballot. And, and, oh, at the end of the day, what are we really worried about what, what is the evil we're fighting against. Again, not on the vote. On the petition process. The ultimate evil, the ultimate concern is that maybe something gets on the ballot with only 88,000 signatures instead of 90,000 signatures. For a constitutional amendment or 68,000 signatures and instead of 70 for an initiated act. At the end of the day, the people are the ultimate backstop when they vote on election day in November, which is a separate part of the process. 2 more points. Before I sit down, one is I think we use too many emergency clauses down here. Emergency clauses. Affect. Do you know where they're addressed in the state constitution. Right here in Article 5, section 1. And the reason that this is where they are is because they inhibit the people's ability to put a referendum on a bill that we pass. And so when we are passing a bill, That will inhibit inherently the people's ability to put something on the ballot. And then we're putting an emergency clause on there that inhibits their ability to put a referendum on this. We need to be very careful about that. And all 5 of these bills have emergency clauses. I think there's a separate reason, even if you like the bill to vote against the emergency clause for that reason. The last thing is, do the people support These restrictions on the ballot measure process. I can tell you, I've been down here a minute. And I don't want to have recency by his foot. I think this is a bill I've heard more on than any bill in my legislative career. Maybe when I was in the house, there was a gun bill that came through in 2017. But I think it's number one in the Senate, and I've gotten exactly one message in support of these bills. It was a message I gave it to Senator Amer. Everything else has been opposed. Now I understand that's not exactly a representative sample, but I know it is a representative sample. I didn't mention in the list of bills that we passed since 2013. We also sent out a referred constitutional measure, and the last couple of cycles, not in 24, but in 20 and 22. In 20, 55% of the people voted against it. In 22, 60% of the people voted against it. You can't have 60% of Arkansans vote against something just to put things in stark political terms without a whole lot of Republican. voting against it. I don't believe the people support these measures that restrict the ability of getting something on the ballot. Now all the, all the harms that have been cited in committee and on the floor. People signing twice already against the law. People being misled into what they're citing already against the law. Every single harm that's already been cited that's been cited is already against the law. If there's a problem we have, it's with enforcement of the current law, not with lack of laws on the books. But every single time we pass one of these laws, when you look at them cumulatively, it really puts a major chokehold on the people's ability to get things on the ballot. And I mentioned this two years ago on a bill that Senator Dotson ran, but the reason I know that people don't like this, these bills cumulatively is because we are a populist state. And that is why our state motto is regnant populist. The people rule, and if we keep passing these bills, we need to change our motto. to Reed Imperium. The government rules, because if the people, the first branch of lawmakers that we have under the Arkansas Constitution can't make their own laws than the government does rule. So I'll be voting no on this bill and any other bill that comes through this chamber that restricts the people's ability to get something on the ballot. Thank you, Senator Tucker. Any senator wish to speak for? Any other senator wished to speak against Senator Scott, you're recognized to speak against. Thank you, Governor. Colleagues, I rise today again and strong opposition to Senate Bill 207 because it is yet another unnecessary barrier designed to intimidate and to scared and discourage our Kansans from engaging in the democratic process. Let's be clear, fraud is already illegal and those things have already cited in the law, like Senator Tucker said, every citizen has the right to participate in gatherings and the signing of ballot measures, petitions, and understand that. see carries consequences. We all know that. So why require canvassers to deliver a warning about criminal penalties if the law is already well established because the goal isn't to prevent fraud. It's to scare people away from participating in direct democracy. In my opinion, Senate Bill 207 disproportionately impacts marginalized communities and as a black woman and a minority in this chamber, I'm gonna always speak up for my community who have generations of voter suppression tactics, disguised as reforms from literacy tests to poll tax, to voter laws. We have seen the strategy before, and this is nothing new. So we can't ignore the historic parallels that we're facing. Minority communities have fought too hard for a seat at the table and to have a right to shape policies that directly impact our lives and this bill truly threatens to push us back. Let's also remember that the ballot initiatives process, it's one of the purest forms of democracy in my opinion. It allows the people, not just politicians to set the agenda. Time and time again when citizens unite to push for change, whether it's raising the minimum wage, expanding health care or protecting our natural resources, special interest groups have tried to shut them down. Senate Bill 207, it's just another attempt to stifle the grassroots activists. in silence the people in Arkansas. We are a better state when everyone has a voice no matter who they are. We are stronger democracy when people feel empowered, not intimidated to participate in the democracy process. I urge my colleagues to reject this bill and stand up for Arkansas where every citizen can play an active role in shaping our future without fear and without barriers and without intimidation and with that I ask you to vote no on this bill. Thank you, Senator Scott. Any senator wished to speak for any other senator wished to speak against. Seeing no one, Senator Hammer, you're a recognized to close. Thank you, Madam Governor, just to address a couple of quick points. Number one, back to the primary issues. Take it back to the court, take it back to just the basic principles. Number one is that our attorney General has reviewed these bills and as far as being constitutional, they are constitutional. He is ready to defend them. I don't think that our attorney governor's office would put their reputation on the line unless they had reviewed them and felt with full confidence that they've met the Constitutionality. 12, with regards to anything that would be perceived as restricting or making harder. I do not subscribe to that line of thought, and the reason I don't subscribe to that line of thought is because of the testimony that was given yesterday from individuals who are following exactly what is being asked when it comes to the petition process, and when it comes to honoring the intent of the legislation with regards to the petition process that they had given the evidence across the state of situations that had occurred where it appeared and it showed that there were those who were not filing yes, even the present laws and so these bills are intended to reinforce the present laws that we have, but also to raise the level of integrity that for those that want to solicit signatures on petitions. This will not restrict them in any way. In fact, what I think it will do is make sure that every one of those voices that are represented. Every one of those signatures on those forms will have been held to the highest standards and given the greatest respect of integrity as far as the process to preserve that every signature counts just like every vote counts, and you can sign it knowing that it is going to be honored exactly that way, and with that I'd appreciate a good vote. Thank you, Senator Hammer. Senator has closed before. We began the roll call, Madam Secretary. Are there pairs at the desk to announce. Yes, we have a pair at the desk, center Clark, yes, Senator Tucker, no. Madam Secretary, please call the roll. Boyd. Front leave Caldwell. Clark? Yes. Crowe. Crawl Davis. Days This man. Dotson. English Flippo. Flowers? Gilmore Gilmore. Hammer, Hester. Hicky Hill. Irvin Blake Johnson. Mark Johnson. King. Letting Love. McKee Murdoch Peyton and so. Penzo. Patty, leave rice, Scott Stone. Step afield. Steerfield Sullivan. Tucker, no. Wallace. Uh. Any senator wished to vote who did not vote or who wishes to change his or her vote. Senator Penzo present. the senator, Senator Stubblefield, yes. Any other senator, seeing no other senator, please cast up the ballot. vote of 25, 7 nay, 0, not voting, and 1 present. Senate Bill 207 passes in the corresponding emergency clause is adopted, please transmit to the house. We will now take up Senate Bill 208. December 208 by Senator Hammer to amend the law concerning initiative and referendum petitions to view a canvasser to request photo identification before obtaining a signature and declare an emergency. Senator Hammer, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll dispel with opening comments go right to the thrust of what the bill is about. This bill requires voter ID for petition signing. The Arkansas Constitution calls a voter's signature on a petition, their vote in Arkansas, we believe. voter ID but failed to apply it here where it is needed only registered voters should be voting for their signatures with their signatures, and only Arkansas residents should be voting with their signatures. Last year, the medical marijuana amendment had over 4500 duplicate signatures. The cause of these duplicates are unclear, but many are likely caused by someone signing their own name, then someone else, a family member, friend, coworker, etc. signing their name again and we have no way to prevent this, and that's why the idea required by this Bill will be the same as what's required to vote. I'll be glad to take any questions. Questions for Senator Hammer. Send her love, you recognized for a question. Very good. Y'all are trying to limit my voice. All right, so, um, Senator Hammer, are they checking for the signature on on my ID, say, say for instance, I someone, a canvasser comes to me. Are they checking for the signature. With this bill, are they required to check for the signature? Is that what you're saying? If a canvasser cannot verify the identity of the potential petitioner, the canvasser shall not obtain a signature from the potential petitioner. This is intended to make sure that if you sign your name, that that is you by showing that form of ID, which is nothing less than what we expect when we go to the polls or for other matters as well, so it's to assure that that person to eliminate me saying I am, I am Senator Love. And I signed my name without presenting some idea that would that would not be able to be verified, and that's why 4500 signatures on the mental marijuana ones were not honored because of the duplication and some of that could be I can't see this honestly being by accident as much as I can by intent, but it is intended to make sure if you sign it, I'm just asking, is this you? OK, so I guess you kind of answered. You kind of answered my second question, but now were those signatures, were those signatures thrown out? Did you just say that those signatures were thrown out even though they were duplicative. Well, I think they would have been thrown out because they were duplicated signatures, which means that somebody either signed their name twice or maybe they determined that somebody signed somebody else's name. I really don't have. I don't, that, that is my understanding. I'll put it that way. OK. All right, thank you. Thank you. Any other questions for Senator Hammer, I'm sorry, Senator Murdoch, you're recognized. Yes, just a question, it's nonsensical as it is to me to even stand before you and even question you, give you the the uh The moment he answered the question, how do you even think that this could be policed if it if this bill, the canvassers is out. how do you even enforce this? I think part of the enforcement which will be brought back up tomorrow. I think part of the enforcement mechanism is, it is as much to give people a level of comfort or security that if you are being asked to sign something that you present that form of ID, and the reality is you and I both know that as far as somebody standing there and watching that happen is not going to be realistic, but the expectation that I want to make sure it's it's almost like protecting me as much as is anybody else because what if my name appears on a on a ballot that somebody else said, I'm just going to sign Kim Hammer's name. I would want to know that whoever's gathering that that signature has had a requirement in order to make sure that if my name is being signed, that that's actually me by seeing a proof of identity because if I put my name on that form and then they or they ask, Can I see it? And it's not that, then that. signature gatherer should not take that. Now we all know that it'll be punitive and eventually they would be caught, but I think part of what this does is protect it on the front end but hold accountability on the back end. And you honestly, you stand before us and you do not see the argument that so many have made against this the number of phone calls, the number of inquiries that you've received and others as how. How this is an inhibitor and a prohibitor from people being a part of the process, you think that you, you honestly believe that you're helping the process by what you're doing. I think it is. I'm sorry about what you're proposing. If I didn't, I wouldn't be standing up here, number 12, this is no less than what we expect when people go to vote at the poll, and the question was asked in committee. I think it was a valid question. Is the strength of the vote on a petition is strong. the strength of the vote at the voter box and that I think that it is because people are out asking people for their signatures in order to get something done. I want to know if I'm against that, that everything has been done to make sure that they don't get the amount of signatures that they're asking for if I don't agree with that petition. I want to make sure that they are being held to a high standard that if somebody puts their name on there, then that name is really who they are because they're showing that. It's as much to protect the person that is signing it for the petition as it is to protect the person who is signing against the petition because there's a standard applied to both sides. Any other questions for Senator Hammer on Senate Bill 208. Anyone wish to speak against? Anyone wish to speak for Senator Love, you're recognized to speak against. Thank you, Governor, You, you all, it's, it's very difficult for me to sit back there and just listen to this conversation because uh If we know that we don't want to do something and I think, I think Senator Hammer said it best out of his own mouth mouth, if he's against the petition, that's not what this process is about. If you're, if you're for or against the petition. The process is to let the people's voice be heard and so we shouldn't try to limit that. If you're for petition, if you're for measure or against the measure, that is, it doesn't matter. It's about allowing the people to get a measure on the ballot. Now here's the thing that that just perplexes me. Is that as a legislator, you can bring as many initiatives as if you like. You don't have to go gather 88,000 signatures or 90,000 signatures. All you have to get is 51 votes. To have that measure. Sometimes 66, but the thing about it is the scrutiny for the people is there. It's us. It is us that I worry about. We can bring as many initiatives as we would like. Without the the complexity of what we're trying to put the people through and then for us to say that oh I have an ID so that you can verify signatures. If somebody approached me in a parking lot and asked for my ID, and I didn't know who they were. I'm not giving them my ID. I don't care how many clipboards they have in their hands. Because I have information on my ID that I may not want you to have. And so if I sign a petition, that's fine. Let me sign my petition and put the information they require on the petition, but for somebody to ask me for my ID, they approached me and asking for my ID that I don't know. I'm just not sure that I would do it. And then lastly is this, is that I think that we're trying to create a chilling effect on the whole process. And if, if that's our, if that's our aim and that's our goal. We're spot on for doing that, but I don't think that the people of Arkansas want to be silenced. I don't I didn't receive one email in support of any of these bills. And for us to ignore that, I think it's a it's a travesty. So I'll be voting no and I'll ask you to vote no on these measures. Thanks and love, anyone wish to speak for or against. Senator Hammer, you're a recognized clothes. Thank you, Madam Chair, just a few follow-up thoughts. Number one, we can introduce as many as we want to, but only 3 get through. Why is that? It's just as important that the signatures that are being gathered are verified as being individuals that are allowed to sign that based on what the laws say, both those that have been passed in the past and those that are being passed currently. Number 2, I think the fact that it is brought up that am I going to show my I'm going to show my ID to somebody in the parking lot. I think that speaks to the credibility of why these, why we need these bills is because there's a lack of trust within the system as far as people feeling confident when they do that. This is going to bring a higher level of confidence that if I want to sign that form, and if I'm asking you to sign that form, I'm giving you evidence that I am who I say I am, so that that vote is or that that signature is not stricken later as we have evidence that it has been in the past, and as far as letting people's be heard. I think that we are continuing the process of letting the people's voice be heard, but what we're also making sure of is that when their voice is heard, it has been held to the highest standard and not lowering the standard. So with that, and the last thing I would say is this I want you to just think about this. Where do you go that you're not asked to show your ID and is a signature on a form to represent the voice of the people, not as important as when you show your ID. at the bank when you cash a check or when you go anywhere else that vital information is being asked for. This is as much about protecting the person who is signing it, whether you're for or against, as it is protecting the person who is taking it, whether they are for or against. It is a form of verification and with that, I'd appreciate a good vote. Thanks, Senator Hammer, Senator Hammer has closed, Madam Secretary, before we call the roll, would you announce Pas at the desk? Symbol 208, Senator Clark, yes, Senator Tucker, no. Bright leave Caldwell. Caldwell Clark, yes. Crowe Davis. These dismaying Dotson, English Flippo. Flowers. Gilmore. OK. Hammer, Hester, Hickey. Hi, Hill Irvin. Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, King letting, love, McKee. Murdoch Peyton Penzo. Pencil Patty, leave rice. Scott stone stabail Sullivan. Tucker, no. Wallace. Any senator who did not vote, who wishes to vote or who wish to change your vote, I see Senator Penzo, yes. Senator Caldwell, yes. Any other senator? Seeing no other senator, please cast up the ballot by a vote of 27, 6 nay, Senate Bill 208 passes and the corresponding emergency clause is adopted. We will now take up Senate Bill 209. Please transmit Senate Bill 208 to the House. We will now take up Senate Bill 209. 209 by central hammer to disqualify signatures obtained by a canvasser under certain circumstances and declare an emergency. Senator Hammer, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Governor. Right now the Secretary of State reviews for sufficiency on the face of the petition itself, which might involve bad conduct investigations. This bill clarifies the signatures obtained criminally will be disqualified, and there's a period in exclamation point on that. The burden of the Secretary of State for determining a criminal obtained signatures would be the preponderance of evidence, a standard much higher than on his face review of the petition itself, more likely than not. This gives the Secretary of State more Security and making sure of securing the petition validity while holding him accountable in his determination. In a nutshell, if there's evidence that a collector of signatures has done something unlawfully, then all the signatures would be thrown out. I'll be glad to take any questions. Questions for Senator Hammer, Senator Dees, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Madam Governor. Senator Hammer on this one, I I think I just had some concerns. I'd love to get your thoughts on specifically the word preponderance was a new one for me, and I had to look that up for a definition, and it actually kind of concerned me a little bit because one of the definitions uh said importance. And so when I, when I exchange that word for importance that concerned me that a future Secretary of State, current or future, would have the ability to decide if, if uh, if there was fraud or a significant amount of fraud based on their determination of importance. And so could you help me put me at ease because this one I did have an issue with when I, when I read it in that context. I may be in the wrong context, but I would love your thoughts of, of thinking it through in that definition, please. Sure, a couple of things. Remind the Attorney generals looked at this. Secondly, the staff attorney for the Secretary of State has reviewed this and been involved in this process. I'm not going to pretend to be a lawyer, but what I think I can give you in the way of reassurance is that on the basis of the preponderance of evidence that would protect both those that have signed it in the event that the Secretary of State made an improper determination, but it would also protect the Secretary of State if there was validity to what they decided to do, and we all know that most, if not all these things end up in court and it's going to be decided in the courtroom. Senator Hickey, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Senator Hammer, and I heard what you said. You said all the signatures were going to be thrown out, and that was going to be my question. But I guess my thing is, so, and let's just, let's just for The sake of what I'm about to say, let's just say that Senate Bill 207 goes all the way through the process and passes. So then that will be a law regarding chemisty. So if we have a canvasser that You know, fails to read this uh notification, you know, that this is a class A misdemeanor on 8 or 10 people, and that's proven, but there was 2000 signatures collected. We're going to throw out all 2000 of those signatures. That would be, yes, that's the way I read it that you're reading correctly and go ahead. Well, now I, I supported your last two. I just, I'm struggling with that, that part of it. So I appreciate it. I just wanted to get clarity on that. Can I give you a reason why? Yes, sir. If it is determined that that canvasser has broken the law in the obtaining of those signatures, the validity of all the signatures would be called into question as to how it was that they that they got them. Now you and I both know that there'll be lawyers involved in that. There'll be a court decided in that. But if, if there's a bad actor out there and that bad actor knows what the expectations are, and it is knowingly or maybe that's not the proper legal term, but it is determined that that signature gatherer has acted in bad faith with the intent to violate the law, and that can be proven, then all those signatures would be disqualified. Sure, and I can understand that reason and it's just, I guess. that one line on 27 where it says that it says the Secretary of State shall not count signatures. So at that point I don't even know how they could go back and do it if they wanted to, and again I appreciate the explanation. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions for Senator Hammer. Anyone wish to speak against? Senator Tucker, you're recognized to speak against. Thank you, Madam President. I'll be quick. I wasn't planning to speak on this one. I just want to address one point, Senator Hickey just raised. In the constitutional provision of Article 5, Section 1, it says that there shall be a cure if the Secretary of State determines a petition to be insufficient. All these laws give several of these bills that are being passed today. Give the Secretary of State unilateral authority to throw out signatures. No trial, no appeal, just unilateral authority based on their own determination process, and there's no provision in there for any cure process. Now, I asked that question in committee yesterday and they said, as a matter of practice, We give sponsors a cure. Well, I'm glad they do. God bless them for doing it. But if we can put in law that they can throw them out, why should we put in law that they have to offer a cure as well, especially if you're already doing it, what's the argument against including it in law. Now they said several secretary of states have done it and they don't see it changing, but we don't know who's always going to be Secretary of State, and you ought to, you ought to have an opportunity to cure. I mean, that's fundamental to the process. It's not included in any of these bills. That's another reason. vote against him in my opinion. Thank you, Senator Tucker. Anyone wish to speak for. Anyone else wish to speak against or for the bill. Senator Hammer, you're a recognized clothes. I would go to the basic premise of the intent of all these bills and what they are intended to do. If we're going to have people out there asking for signatures. There has to be 100% expectation that they are all complying with the law. I believe that there's allowances the way that it is written in order that if there should be a concern that has been expressed, it will be be able to be handled again it comes down to this, that if you have an individual that's out there, and this is going to be for the ones that are Not acting in good faith in compliance with the law. If there's going to be somebody out there that's gathering signatures, and there were testimonies plenty in committee that gave evidence to the fact that this is happening, then those signatures will be disqualified, and I think it falls on the, I think it falls on the group or the entity that is going to be retaining whether volunteer hired canvassers to go out and collect signatures that they educate their individuals to the full extent of what the law requires that will bring a higher level of integrity, and that will bring a higher level of purity and accountability for those that are both gathering signatures and those that are signing the forms as well. Thank you. Thank you, Senator, Senator Hammer has closed. Madam Secretary, are there pair, is there a pair at the desk? Yes, Senate Bill 209 Senator Clark, yes, Senator Tucker, no. Please call the roll. Boyd Bright Le. Caldwell Caldwell. Clark, yes, Crowell. Crawl. Davis Days This man, Dotson. English. Flippo Flowers Gilmore. Hammer. Hester, Hickey Hill Irvin. Blake Johnson. Mark Johnsoning lighting, love, McKee Murdoch. Hayden. Pennzo. Patty, leave rice. Scott stone. Is that afield? Sullivan Tucker, no. Wallace. Any senator wished to vote, who did not vote, Senator Croll present. Any other senator wish to change his or her vote, seeing no others, please cast up the ballot. By vote of 21, 11 nay, and 1 present Senate Bill 209 passes the corresponding emergency clause is not adopted, please transmit to the house. We will now take up Senate bill 210. Senate Bill 210 by Senator Hammer to require the signer to read the ballot title of the petition in the presence of a canvasser and declare an emergency. Senator Hammer, you're recognized. Kempsters. May not accept a potential signer signature until the sign has read the ballot title, Secretary of State's election department, pro-life organization, churches, members general assembly have got numerous reports of citizens being tricked into signing petitions that would never support and said they are giving misleading information such as calling an abortion amendment, and amendment to reserve or to protect pregnant women. This will be enforced through the canvasser's affidavit that is, that will be required to be signed. On the ballot. summary will be required to be prior to obtain a signature. I'll be glad to take any questions. Questions for Senator Hammer, one Senator Hickey, you're recognized. Thank you. So is this done after all the signatures are collected? You go up and you ask somebody to sign their signature, the expectation the bill requires a reading to make sure that they know what they are signing. There's testimony given yesterday of the individuals and we've received complaints about this that people thought they were and being told that they were signing a petition for one thing when in reality it was misleading in order to get their signature. One testimony yesterday, for example, was of a pastor's wife who the abortion amendment having been told it was going to protect women and other things. I wouldn't, I wasn't clear enough of my question. OK, sorry. No, that was my fault, I'm sure. So the canvasser, whenever he turns in all of these signatures to the Secretary of State. That is the time that he's going to be required to sign this affidavit. Is that correct? That's correct. OK. This, this is just my question in regards to that. And I didn't see it in here. Have we made any allowances that right towards the end or even during the process, if that if that if that canvasser wants to die or become incapacitated in any way. Is there not another option so that those signatures could still be counted. I mean, just in those, if we were to run into one of those situations, which, you know, this is life, so it could, so I guess that's what I'm asking, what would they just automatically not be counted because that particular canvasser has not signed that. I do not believe that would be the case, Senator Hickey, that that if in the event the canvasser was and I'll use the word incapacitated that it would disqualify those signatures from being counted. I will make you this assurance, uh, this gets off the floor today before it gets down to the House, and if it needed to be amended, if that indeed is the case. I'll make you that commitment, OK, but I do not think that that is represented in this bill that that's What would happen, OK? So, so if we find, I want to make sure I understand. So if, if we find out between now and whenever it gets to the house that Truly those signatures would not count. We're going to try to figure out some language then to to make an allowance for those extraordinary cases like that. Is that correct? Yes, because I think that would only be the fair and right thing to do because that would not be the fault of those and those individuals that had signed that those signatures should not be disqualified. They should be honored and moved through the process. OK, thank you for that. Thank you. Senator Boyd, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Madam President. Senator Hammer I understood a constituent to tell me today that the entire ballot title had to be read, but what I understood you to say from the well was just the ballot title summary. So the, the point I understood from my constituent was it might be hundreds of words that had to be read. So when you say if, if I understood you correctly and we just say ballot title summary, is that a is that much shorter or do we expect? that to still be hundreds of words. Could you give me some kind of You know, understanding of what, what that means. Thank you. I'm gonna go straight to the legislation or straight to the piece of legislation page 31 through 33 after reading the ballot title of the petition in the presence of the canvasser or having the ballot title of the petition read aloud to him or her in the presence of the canvasser, and then if you flip over to the next page as a canvasser knowingly accepts a signature when the person signing the petition has not read the ballot title of the petition. In the presence of the canvasser or the ballot title of the petition has not been read aloud to the person in the presence of the canvasser. I'll give you an example because somebody may be asking for it, so I pulled one. I will tell you, I think one of the things that this bill will help address is that we have found often that ballot titles. Can be prepared in a very lengthy way. And the expectation and I believe what the bill requires is I will read this to you. You will read aloud at what point that the individual signing has met that satisfaction. They would be able to sign it, but this is an example of a ballot title. I'm going to acknowledge that's a long ballot title, and yes, somebody brought out the question about how much time would it take to read? Well, one of the issues and one of the reasons that this bill is being proposed is because, as we heard in testimony yesterday, There are those that are asking for signatures that are misleading people into saying this is what it actually does, and this brings a higher level of standard. I do think that one of the things it's going to do is that when ballot titles are presented, this is my opinion. Take it or leave it as a, as a matter of fact or a matter of suspicion, I think a lot of times ballot titles are written so as to be intentionally complicated and that is just my opinion for what it's worth, but I think It's going to be something that's going to cause the ballot titles to be looked at a little bit tighter. The questions for Senator Hammer. Oh, Senator Love, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Governor. So Senator Hammer, if I'm understanding correctly. Say for instance, you contact me on my signature is on one of the ballots. You contact me and I say, and you ask me. You know, did this person read you, read the ballot title to you, and I said, Well, you know what, I don't remember if they did or not, but I signed it. OK. That lead to a preponderance of the the preponderance that that all the signatures that were gathered can then be thrown out. If you, if you, if, if we're taking your, your collection of bills and totality. If I say, even if you have a couple of people that says, hey, I don't remember if that person Read the ballot title to me or not. I signed it. Could that then lead to signatures, all the signatures being thrown out. Say this person gathered 5000 signatures. Could that then be led to the throwing out of all the signatures just because me and maybe someone else doesn't remember. Because I mean, it would set up that that person would have been violated this law. Is that not correct? I think what you're going to find in a situation like or a scenario like you are describing that what is going to have to be determined is, was it a matter of oversight or was it a matter of direct intent, and that's what the bill is intended to do is to remove or to bring to bring to light those that are misrepresenting what the title or what the initiative is all about, and this is a pathway to bring clarity so that people would be required to read it, have it read to them so that they would make sure that they are not being misled as far as what they are being asked to sign, I think it's going to boil down to the question of did that signature gatherer, did that person just by by matter of neglect or by intent what was there, what was it that they did? I can't answer that question. think that would be determined on a case by case situation, OK. Does your bill discern in regards to the intent or if someone just they may have, they may have not read it. They may have read this your bill actually provide some sort of discernment in regards to the penalty. I think that that would be left up to what was determined as far as the investigation that would occur in the event that that that was called into question. which would be a pretty laborious task. I will acknowledge that, but it's intended and uh and the reason that we're asking that people read what is being handed to them is to address the issue of of signature gatherers which we had plenty of testimony about that are out there and purposely not telling people what is in it. OK, thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Anyone wish to speak against Senator Tucker, you're recognized to speak against. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, colleagues. This will be the last time I come down here today on these bills. Senator Boyd, the answer to your question is the full ballot title has to be read, and that's for each time you collect a signature. I asked the Secretary of State's office and committee yesterday. They knew how long that would take, and Ms. Bellamy said that she read the ballot titles from the last session, last election, and one of them took 8 minutes, 8 minutes to read the title, and if you're doing a referendum, those titles are even longer. So let me see a show of hands. Who reads every word of the terms and conditions every time you check that box. Right, Senator Irvin, thank you. All right. Now, do some of y'all not do that because you think you have the ability or the right to sign without reading every time? And we're taking that right away from the people of Arkansas on these. Let me ask you this a different way. Let's say you're checking out at Walmart or Best Buy or wherever, and they say, OK, we know you want to buy that toothpaste, but before you check out, I'm just gonna read these terms and conditions to you. It's only going to take 8 minutes. How many of y'all are just gonna set it down and leave. So we are crushing the ability of people to gather signatures to put issues on the ballot. And I just want to address two other points that were raised, one about whether it's misleading, you know, the way it's done now is misleading. First of all, if a canvasser misleads a person who is going to sign, that's already against the law, already against the law. Second, the full, not just the title, but the full measure has to be stapled to the sheet that you signed. So if you have a question about it right now on the law, you can read it, the full, not just the title, but the full measure, if that's what you want to do. And also, you know, we've heard a lot of testimony and comment comments from people who were confused. They signed, they didn't know they were signing the abortion amendment. They were misled, right? So I've got a picture. This is the sheet that you sign, not the title. I've got a picture of the sheet that you signed, and in big bold words across in all caps across the top, it says an initiative petition to approve or reject the Arkansas abortion amendment. There is no lack of clarity under the law right now. And you know, we've, we've also had conversation about whether ballot titles might be misleading. Well, that's the Attorney General's job. You can't get a ballot title through the Attorney General's office. They review every single one. It's in the law. We've passed that law. If the Attorney General believes the ballot title is unclear, he won't approve it for you to start gathering signatures. That's part of the process. Our lieutenant governor can testify to that because she had that job for 8 years. The reason why ballot titles are long or not to confuse people. It's because the Supreme Court of Arkansas has said if everything's not included. Then people might miss something, so there are conditions put on by the Supreme Court rulings is why ballot titles are long and so again I go back to it. It's the cumulative effect of all of these together. Supreme Court has rules. We're doing all of these rules in a silo individually, maybe it's OK, but it's death by 1000 cuts and we are crushing the ability of people to put issues on the ballot. Thank you, Senator Tucker. Re to speak for Senator Martin Johnson. Thank you, Madam President. I think I know how this bill is going to go, but I think it's important that my colleagues think about this issue in a broader sense. We have a readability problem with initiative petitions. Uh, those of you that ran for re-election last year, you probably got out and campaigning. You probably had people say, come up to you. I certainly did. I knocked doors and I had people ask me about two things. I feel like I felt like a public opinion pollster. One is they didn't like nonpartisan judges because none of the judges told them what they believed on anything. And the second was, I don't understand all these initiatives. And why is it when we have people, we have a bias in our current system that someone can come up with an 18-page constitutional amendment. There's only 482 words in the Bill of Rights, the 1st 10 amendments to the US Constitution. Now that's, that's being concise, that's writing it where people can understand it. Now, if you want to pass something, you want to slip something by the people. You're not going to do it in 482 words. You're going to make it complex. And for example, the recent late unlamented marijuana expansion amendment. It had buried in it a provision that would take away A provision in Amendment 7 that allows the General Assembly to, uh, By 2/3 vote of both houses to amend the constitutional amendment and many of you know we're working on using that. We have an opinion from the Attorney General that says that that is a valid part of our Constitution. They didn't mention it. Now, I ask, I knew it was in there because I read the whole thing and I had petitioners approach me and, and when they do, I always engage them. I talk to them. And I asked these canvassers, you know this takes away the authority of the general assembly to by 2/3 vote to amend any measure passed by the voters. They say, oh no, no, no, this, this is just about marijuana. So, let's face it, folks, these out of state special interests and none of them are all out of state. Some of them are in state, but they're special interests. They will do anything they can to confuse our voters. So it's the least we can do, and I think Senator Hammer made a very valid point in saying is if you want to do an initiative, write your ballot title concise. Keep it clean so an ordinary person with an 8th grade education. can read it and understand what it does. So I think this is not just a great bill in that regard. I think we need to go further. I think we need to do some more things to tighten this up to where, yes, you have a right to petition your government for redress of grievances, and under Article 5, you have a right, the people's reserved power is the initiative, but you don't get to throw this, this, you know, gobbledygook toward the people and then expect us to sit by and allow things that were never intended by the people that signed those petitions to make it into our Constitution. So because of those things, I want you to think about this important provision and appreciate a yay vote on this. Thank you, Madam President. Anyone wish to speak against or for? Senator, you're recognized to close. I bring clarification. One thing that the AG says ballot title is supposed to be minimum. You need to understand the petition. I think when you take a look at the petition that I held up, I don't think that it rises to that level, but nonetheless it is what it is. The other thing I would like to mention is that I appreciate Senator Tucker getting up and sharing the opposing view because I think it's part of a good deliberation process, but I also want to express publicly that I'll appreciate when he brings a bill that he's going to bring regarding these initial. s need to be up on the on the website so that everybody can read them and understand them before they are asked for their signature. I think that's a good thing, and I think that this adds to that and that we're just making sure that people know what they're signing and that they have a well educated perspective on it if they read it. Thank you. Senator has closed, Madam Secretary, before we call roll, would you announce here at the desk? Parent desks, Senate Bill 210, Senator Clark, yes, Senator Tucker, no. Madam Secretary, please call the roll. Boyd Boeing. Bright leave Caldwell. Caldwell. Clark? Yes. Crow. Crawl. Davis. Days this man. Dotson, English. Flip Flippo flowers. Gilmore hammer, Hester, Hickey. Hell, Irvin like Johnson, Mark Johnson. King lighting. Love. McKee Murdoch. Hayden. Penzel. Patty Lee. Rice Scott He was right. Stone. Stab afield. Sullivan, Tucker? No. Wallace. Any senator who did not wish to vote or wish to change your vote, I see Senator Boyd, yes. Senator Crow, yes. Any other senator wish to vote or wish to change your vote. Seeing and hearing no other, please cast up the ballot by a vote of 22 ya, 10 nay and one not voting Senate Bill 210 passes corresponding emergency clause is not adopted. We will now take, please transmit Senate Bill 210 to the House. We will now take up Senate Bill 211. But Senate Bill 211 by Senator Hammer to amend the law concerning in. petitions and referendum petitions to require a canvasser to submit an affidavit before signatures can be counted and declare an emergency. Senator Hammer, did you want to make a motion on the or yes ma'am, I just want to make sure I understood, did you, did you take the position that the emergency clause on the last bill failed. That is correct because it only received 22 votes. OK, thank you. I'd like to make a motion that we do, we have already taken up. Senate Bill 211 and so we can go back and take that up after Senate Bill 2. That'd be fine. Thank you. to the Senator Hammer, you're recognize to present Senate bill to 11. The command chair. Sent a Bill 211, the Honest Canvassing Act, the protection, the petition Protection Act. Right now the Secretary of State is mostly bound to it on its face review rather than a review of canvasser conduct. This bill adds a layer of protection against canvass or fraud by having a canvasser swear under oath that they have followed all the laws while canvassing. This also allows the canvasser to have a simple good faith protection by being able to fall back on their own sworn statement if they are accused. after a good faith mistake. This does not add an extra sworn statement like the one on the petition parts already. That is a statement to knowledge that the signatures are truthful. This is a testimony of their own conduct. I'll be glad to take any questions. Any questions for Senator Hammer. Senator Hickey, you're recognized for a question. Yes, just apologies Senator Hammered clarification. The question I asked about the death of the canvasser that actually pertained to this pill. I had my bills. A mix match, so my question to that was the same and we are gonna make sure that we have that clarified in the House, correct? Yes, I'll make sure that's clarified in the House. Sorry, I had those mixed up. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Any other questions for Senator Hammer on Senate bill 211. Seeing no other questions. Does anyone wish to speak against? Anyone wish to speak for. Senator Hammer, you're recognized clothes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm closed. Senator has closed on Senate bill to 11, Madam Secretary, is there a appear at the desk? Senate bill 211 pay center Clark, yes, Senator Tucker, no. Madam Secretary, please call the roll. Boyd. Bright leave Caldwell. Clark, yes, Kroll Davis. Days Days. This man. Dotson. English. English Lipo Flip out. Flowers. Gilmore. Hammer. Hester Hickey. Hi Irvin, Mike Johnson. Mark Johnson. King Oh lading. Love. McKee. Murdoch Oh I Penzo. Penzo. Patty, leave rice, Scott. Stoneste afield. Sullivan, Tucker? No. Wallace. Any senator who wished to vote, who did not vote, or change your vote, I see Senator Dees, yes. Senator Penzo, no. Any other senator Senator Flippo, yes. Any other senator was to change his or her vote? Seeing no other please cast up the ballot. By a vote of 24, 9 nay. Senate Bill 211 passes in the corresponding emergency clause is adopted, please transmit to the house. Senator Hammer, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. May I have a moment to consult and make sure before I get my motion. I think that would be wise. Thank you. Ma'am. You want Senator Hammer, you're recognized for a motion on Senate Bill 209. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Governor, I'd like to make a motion that we expunge the vote by which the emergency clause only on 209 failed. Y'all heard the motion, all those in favor, please signify by saying I and he opposed? I have it, motion passes. Senator Hammer, you're recognized for a motion on Senate bill 210. Thank you, Madam Governor. I'd like to make a motion that we expunge the vote by which the emergency clause of Senate Bill 210 failed. You all have heard the motion. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed, I have it motion carries. Thank you, Senator Hammer. Senate Bill 213. Senate Bill 213 by Senator Irving to create a healthy moms, healthy babies Act, and to amend Arkansas law to improve maternal health in this state. Senator Ervin, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President, members. If you have served on the Children and Youth Committee, one of the most heart-wrenching reports is the infant mortality report. In 2019, this legislature focused on maternal and infant outcomes by creating the Arkansas maternal and Perinatal outcomes Quality Review Committee to collect the data and report to us the findings. And I want to just read who is on this bill. Uh, it was by Representative Bentley and every female legislator in the House. both parties were co-sponsors, and in the Senate, it was Senators Irvin, Bledsoe, English, Elliott, and Chesterfield. Many times we see these reports, but no action comes from them, and that changes today. All Arkansas mothers and babies must be our first priority. This legislation is intentional, targeted, and it's smart. It's designed to help our mothers be healthier so they can deliver healthier babies, stabilize our hospital labor and delivery units and increased support for our expecting mothers through adding community health workers, doulas, and keeping our current OB-GYN doctors delivering babies longer. These reforms directly align with the recommendations from the strategic Committee for Maternal Health, which was established by Governor Sanders via her executive order on March 6, 2024. This committee, along with collaboration from many stakeholders and legislators considered the data derived from the maternal and infant mortality reports that this legislature previously created by passing this this law in 2019, which is Act 829. It establishes presumptive Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women, meaning pregnant women can receive prenatal care while they complete their Medicaid application. It offers certification and reimbursement pathways for doulas and community health workers, and it establishes pregnancy-related Medicaid coverage for remote ultrasounds, remote blood pressure monitoring and continuous glucose monitoring. These reforms will result in an additional $7.44 million dollar investment in Arkansas moms. Additionally, the legislation unbundles the Medicaid payments for pregnancy care, paying for up to 14 prenatal and postnatal care visits. This encourages providers to work with pregnant women, they attend more appointments and increasing Medicaid's investment in pregnant women. by $12.2 million. The governor also announced that Medicaid will increase reimbursements for traditional deliveries and C-sections by 70% and investing an additional $25.7 million in care for pregnant women and encouraging more providers to participate in the Medicaid program and increasing access to care. Funding for these investments is facilitated by the $13 million. commitment the governor made to maternal health in her budget That investment allows the state then to access the additional federal Medicaid funding. Finally, it provides a five-year statute of limitations from any complication resulting from childbirth, in addition to maintaining existing language. This was an average of neighboring states and considered the over $250 million Medicaid spend annually on early interventions for children, which did not exist. 30 years ago. This aims at keeping our OB-GYNs, delivering babies longer in order to stabilize our existing labor and delivery units and prevent more from closing, particularly for rural Arkansas hospitals. Medicaid covers approximately 50% of all the births in Arkansas, so investing in these changes that expand and improve maternal care within the Medicaid program will have profoundly positive impacts on our states. I have a copy of the report. It's pretty incredible. where we are and then 2018, we were also, um, had poor results, but I think for me, we are way above the national average. This is a great report. The data has driven the reforms that are in this bill, and I'm very, very proud of the hard work that's happened over the past 2 years, to be honest with you, um, on this very, very important issue to address the maternal health crisis we're facing in the state of Arkansas. I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions for Senator Ervin. Senator King, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Madam Governor. So how much general revenue is estimated this is going to cost and then how much federal revenue is going to be coming in after it. 13 million for state general revenue, and then with the additional federal Medicaid funding through the match. It'll be around 45 million, I think 45.3 million to 45.3 million. So what's the estimates going to cost 34 years down the road. Again, this is annual. This is annual, so you think it It's still going to cost $13 million.03 years from now. I think that mothers and babies are worth every penny that we invest in them. So and so is the rest of our state, but is there anything I've learned over the years that Medicaid estimates are never right, and they impact every part of our budget when we expand it, so we've seen in past history where these promises of staying on budget with Medicaid, clearly are the opposite of what they project. So with revenues going down and the concern of spending and you look at the federal government, what do you want to say about less spending there, we start tying into this. What are we going to do or how are we gonna pay for this in future years if revenue doesn't come in or continue to stay flat right now revenues are going down. This is going to be projected to be paid for with future growth promise, is that it? because that's what it seems like. Uh, Senator King, I believe. That the role of this government is to invest in the citizens of the state of Arkansas. Arkansas is 50th in the country, in maternal mortality and infant mortality. If you want to reinvest our money somewhere else, that's your prerogative. For me, my vote's very clear. I'm voting for the moms and the babies. In the state of Arkansas. And I'm not, I'm not against that. I'm against paying for it whenever revenues are going down, I sit there and say this on every question, how are you going to pay for it? And right now, our revenues are declining down and DFA has this idea that next year, revenues are going to go back up. Well, we don't know that for sure. If you look at from when I went in, Medicaid spending state and federal is up 350%. The amount of money that we're spending, the billions extra we're spending from when I come in, and we still have all these problems. There's a lot of money in Medicaid that is waste, fraud and abuse and bad policies that could be could be done to take care of some other good things, so it's clear that we're going to spin this, but the reality is this dependent on future growth to keep paying for these promises right now with revenues going down, our economy and our world today to me is irresponsible. Senator Hamer, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Senator Irving. How much does it costing us now not to do this as far as whether we are seeing OBGYNs not come to state because of liabilities because of urgent care because of treatment in the in the children's neonatal unit. Give us the numbers on what it's costing us now by not doing what you're proposing to do. Well, it's a very good question, but I can tell you the statistics, and this was the December 2023 report, um, our infant mortality has been above the national average, um, at 8.6% national average is 5.4, but specifically to your question, Arkansas currently ranks 45 out of 50 in preterm births. So when you're talking about a preterm birth, where 45 out of 50, we're at 12% in 2020. 1 versus national average of 10.5. When a baby is delivered preterm, generally it's going to have to seek care at the NICU at Children's Hospital. And Nick you is incredibly, incredibly expensive. So if you can invest wisely with our state tax dollars and providing prenatal care and then you can pay for remote monitoring of ultrasound, you can pay for glucose monitoring, glu continuous glucose monitoring. devices and pay for blood pressure monitoring to prevent a preterm birth from occurring, you're saving an unbelievable amount of state taxpayer dollars, and it's better for the mom and it's better for the baby. We should all aim to try to save as many babies' lives as we possibly can, but we also need to be smart about our spend and the, the reforms that are in this bill are smart for our spin. It's paying for things on the front end in order to avoid a stay in the NICU with a preterm birth, Arkansas also ranks 43 out of 50 in low birth rate. And so when you have a low birth weight baby or a preterm delivery, they're going to require additional stays at the NICU and additional healthcare, which is tremendously costly, and the majority of our babies over half are uh funded. by Medicaid. reinvestment in our dollars in a better source. Would you say that's an accurate statement? Very accurate. Thank you. Any other questions for Senator Ervin. If not, anyone wished to speak against. Anyone wish to speak for? Senator Urban, you're recognized clothes. Thank you. Uh just as of March, Arkansas had the highest maternal mortality rate in the United States at 8.6 deaths per 100,000 live births compared to the national average of 5.4. Arkansas has also has had the highest, the 3rd highest infant mortality rate in the United States. That's why we're here today and we've got to do better. I really want to thank all the people that helped on this bill. I want to help those, uh, Thank all the ladies that that came together in 2019 to pass the the reports that we need. We have to do better. We must do better. The healthy moms and Healthy Babies Act is the path towards saving the lives of moms and babies and giving them both the best chance at a better life. It's just the right thing to do and we've got to make sure that all Arkansas moms and babies are a top priority. Thank you and I would appreciate a good vote. Thank you, Senator Irvin. Senator has closed. Any objection to rolling the boat. Madam Secretary, please roll the boat. Boy, Brant leave Caldwell, Clark, Lee, Crowell, Davis, Des, Dima Dotson, English Flippo flowers, Gilmore, Hammer, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Irvin Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, King letting love McKee, Murdoch, Peyton, Penzo, Petty, Lee, rice, scot, stone, steeril, Sullivan, Tucker, Wallace. Thank you, Madam Secretary. Any senator wish to change his or her vote. Senator King not voting. Senator Hickey, not present. Any other senator wish to change his or her vote. Seeing no other, please cast up the ballot. By a vote of 30, 0, nay, 1 not voting, one present. Senate Bill 213 passes, please transmit to the house. Senator Hamer, you're recognized for emotion. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to make a motion that we hold Senate bill to 9 and 210 here in the Senate and not transmitted to the house at this time, please. You all have heard the motion. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. And he opposed. I have it motion carries. Thank you, Senator Hammer. We will now take up. Thank you. House bills we are passing over House Bill 1048. We will move on to House Bill 1067. As 1067, that Senator Hill concerning firearm hold agreements and to provide civil immunity to a federal firearms licensee who agrees to hold a firearm for an individual. Senator Hill, you're recognized. Thank you, Governor. Colleagues, this is a pretty simple bill. It allows a a transaction between a federal firearms licensee and an individual firearm owner. For the individual firearm owner to Hand over a firearm to a holding company, a group that would hold when someone has a federal firearms license allows them to hold it when they're not in the right state of mind. They'll go under a contract with that company or that individual. And he will hold that gun for them that person may not be in the right state of mind. The individual turning their gun over will actually voluntarily do it, sign a contract when they're not in the right state of mind. This will prevent them from possibly doing damage, harm to themselves or to someone else or they're going through a divorce, hard times, PTSD or anything else that's really, really bad on in their lives, just a very, when they're down on their luck and they realize it they want to volunteer really turned their their firearms over. This will allow whoever they turn it over to, who is a federal firearms liccee, civil liability that if they give it back when they give it back to them, that it cannot come back to harm them whatsoever. They can't be sued if that person does do something harmful to themselves. With that, I'll take any questions. Questions for Senator Hill, Senator Tucker, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Madam President. Uh I'm just a little confused on one part, and I can guess at the answer, but The bill reads that you're immune, that the federal firearms licensee is immune from civil liability. For any act or omission arising from the firearm agreement resulting in personal injury or death of a person. That's when they hand it back to them, OK, so that that's what I was confused about because that wouldn't happen while they were holding that's correct. When they give it back to them, that person does end up committing suicide or anything else at that time. OK. All right, thank you. And this bill is actually already into effect in Louisiana we first really looked at doing a for military personnel only and we said, hey, you know, let's open this up for the entire state. Anything that might keep someone from harming themselves. Any other questions, Senator Blake Johnson, you're recognized for a question. You pretty much just answered it. This could apply to military personnel that might not have family members when they deploy, they can, they can use this process also, right, right, thank you. Any other questions for Senator Hill. Saying no other questions. Anyone wish to speak against. Or for the bill saying no one Senator Hill, you're recognized clothes. I'd appreciate a good vote. Senator Hill has closed. Madam Secretary. Is there Is there any objection to rolling the boat with no objection, please roll the boat. Bo, Bron Lee Caldwell, Clark Lee, Crowell, Davis, Des, Thisma Dotson English flippo flowers, Gilmore, hammer, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, King letting love McKee, Murdoch, Hayden, Henzo, Patty Lee, rice, scot, stone, Seil, Sullivan, Tucker, Wallace. Any senator wish to change his or her vote. Senator Flowers present. Any other senator, seeing no other, please cast up the ballot by a vote of 31, 0, nay, House Bill 1067 passes, please transmit rather please return to the house. We'll take up House Bill 1138. Haville 11:38. My representatives in Central Penzo to authorize certain medical professionals to certify to the Office of Motor Vehicle Eligibility for a special license plate certificate or parking decal for a person with a disability. Senator Penzo, you're recognized. Thank you. House Bill 1138 adds physical therapists to the list of medical professionals that are able to certify disabilities for parking permits, license plates, and placards. Currently, physicians, APRNs and physicians' assistants are on the list. We ran this as an ISP in public health and had no objections. Just to be clear, this doesn't add any additional providers, only PTs. There were some questions in committee about this and we'll go ahead and on the bottom of page two, it lists um licensed positions, APRNs, physician's assistants and physical therapists. This was requested cleanup language. The rest of them were already in code. This is just adding PTs, so there was a little confusion on that committee, so I just wanted to touch on that. The average PT visit is about 12 weeks, so most often they will be certifying for the temporary tag, but there could and will be instances where a permanent four-year tag could be issued. These will still have to be recertified at the end of the 4-year period. For over 100 years, physical therapists have been considered the mobility experts. Physical therapists also often perform functional capacity evaluations to determine disability ratings for the physician. Arkansas is currently part of a compact, Missouri, Tennessee, and Louisiana are part of this compact and uh physical therapists in those states are allowed to do these certifications. HB 11:38 makes it easier for people who have trouble walking to be able to get a parking permit. This show's commitment to support individuals with disabilities in Arkansas. There was also a question in committee about uh kind of when people go back to the doctor after they've been referred to a physical therapist. Um, in Arkansas, we have the ability to visit a PT without a referral from a doctor, and that's been that way for 27 years. Uh, currently a a physical therapist is an entry level doctorate profession. PTs are, like I said, the mobility, uh, specialists and physicians often count on them to tell them the patients, patients functional mobility. I'd be happy to answer any questions that anybody might have. Any questions for Senator Pinzo. Seeing no questions. Anyone wish to speak? Against or for. Senator, Senator Dees recognized to speak for. Thank you members. I was in committee this last week and it was really helpful for me that uh Senator Penzo help us get clarity on this bill. I've spoke to physical therapists um now on this bill afterwards and feel much more comfortable about this bill. I appreciate that the same process for review is done no matter what role that we approve for these placards. So thank you, Senator Penzo for bringing clarity. Anyone else wished to speak against or for. Senator Penzo has closed. Any objection to rolling the boat. Madam Secretary, please roll the boat. Boyd, Bryant Lee Caldwell, Clark, Lee, Crowell, Davis, Des, dismaying dots and English flippo flowers, Gilmore hammer, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, King, letting, Love, McKee, Murdoch, Peyton, Penzo, Petty, leave, rice, scot, stone, Stubberfield, Sullivan. Tucker Wallace. Any senator was to change his or her vote, Senator McKee, present Senator King, not voting. Any other senator. See none, please cast up the ballot. By a vote of 30 yeah, 0, nay, 1 not voting, and one present. House Bill 1138 passes, please return to the house. We are passing over House Bill 1199 because Senator Bryant is not here. We are moving on to House Bill 1205. Household 1205 by Representative Bentley and Senator Payton. To amend the independent inspections of a modular building for code compliance and declare an emergency. Senator Payton, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President, colleagues, it's real simple bill with no opposition that we know of, but it maintains the existing process that's been done for the last 24 years, but it allows other established and approved accredited organizations that meet international standards to be used. So what was created in 2001. had an An institution named And gave them a monopoly this opens the field. Any questions? Thank you. No questions for Senator Payton, anyone wish to speak against or for. Senator has closed any objection to rolling the vote? Madam Secretary, please roll the boat. Boy, Bryant Lee Caldwell, Clark Lee, Crowell, Davis, Ds, Dismay dots and English flippo flowers, Gilmore hammer, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, King letting love, McKee, Murdoch, Peyton, Penzo, Petty, leave, rice, scot, stone, steerfield, Sullivan, Tucker, Wallace. Any senator wish to change his or her vote, Senator King, not voting. Any other senator. Seeing no other, please cast up the ballot. By a vote of 31, 0 nay, 1 not voting, House Bill 1205 passes the corresponding emergency clause is adopted. Please return to the house. House Bill 1214 with Senator Urban. We We will also need Senator Kroll. Let's go Senator Kroll, if you are prepared, let's go to House Bill 1278. Has 1278 by Representative Stimmel and Senator Crowell to require the surveyors to take certain actions before entering into a commercial poultry farm. Senator Crow, you're recognized. Thank you. This is a bill to require surveyors to call for commercial poultry operations before they enter the property. We're not trying to infringe on their rights to do this or anything, but here's the stat. Last year, 56 million birds died because of disease. This year we're already at 22 million. And these companies are losing money and we just have to protect the farm owners and and make sure that this is taken care of. Questions for Senator Crow. Senator Blake Johnson, I see Senator Blake Johnson, Senator Payton, and Senator Hammer. Is, is there any other occupations or individuals that might enter that property that should be under the same uh stipulation. I'd ask that question and everybody that's allowed on there already follows the poultry integrators doctrine from that business. So this just happens to be a one-off of people who might just skirt the property, cross the property to go survey somebody else's property, and we want to protect them as much as we do the farm. All right, thank you. Senator Payton, and then Sender hammer. Thank you, Madam President. So I noticed in the bill there's no perimeter. I mean, obviously there's a lot of these in my district. But if you own 80 acres, I mean, that could be a half a mile or more from the end of the property that has the poultry operation. So what was the reasoning to not use a perimeter at some point because I mean, somebody that owns a significant amount of land, the surveyor may not realize that they have a poultry operation that's a half a mile away on the other side of the farm, the, the intent is, so if they spread chicken manure, that can have the disease. So if that's in the far side of the farm, and they decided to drive across that, and they're at a, a biosecurity 3. That means they should by all rights, wash the car, wear booties, all that stuff. So it's, it's to protect both the farm and the surveyor. All right, well, things have changed since I grew up in a chicken house. Thank you, sir. Senator Hammer, you're recognized, and then Senator Boyd. Thank you, Madam Governor. One of the issues that's been expressed to me is the requirement of contacting the owner, the owner of the chicken farm, um, which would seem like a could be a difficult task. Would you address that, please? Yes, every corporate chicken farm has the name of the major company, whether it be Tyson, Pilgrim, whomever, and the owners, and most of them have The phone numbers. If they do not have the phone numbers, the companies have said, you call and say you're going to need to enter that. We will give you the cell phone of the owner. It should take about 4 or 5 minutes. What if the surveyors did not access and that prohibits them from being able to get to where they need to survey how's how's that addressed? The only way they would, they cannot be denied access unless there is a biosecurity threat unless there's a disease, so is it intentional to, is it the intent to be able to trace where the problem originates and where it may potentially go to or what's what's the rationale and the reasoning is what I'm trying to that is the intent. again in a month and a half we've already had 22 million birds die in the United States, and last year one of the instances in this state cost almost 1 million in one case. Was that attributed to the surveyor. Most likely. All right. Thank you. Any other questions, Senator Tucker, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President. Senator, I'm sorry, I'm certain you've said this and I just missed it, but what what is the connection between the surveyors and the birds dying. I just The connection is, is they have a process when they enter the farm, no matter what you do, whether you're bringing feed, whether you're working on some of the chicken houses, all those people know their process. The surveyors have the ability to go where they need to. We want to make sure they follow that biosecurity process. That's, that's how that connection happened is it, it was an actual thing that happened, killed millions of birds. We just want to cover both of them. 22 million in 2025. That is exactly what the poultry Federation told me an hour ago, but that's, that's nationwide, yes. All right. Thank you, Senator. Any other questions for Senator Kroll. Anyone wish to speak against or for the bill. Senator Kroll, you're recognized senator has closed. Any objection to rolling the boat, Madam Secretary, please roll the boat. Boyd Bryant Le Caldwell, Clark Lee, Crowell, Davis, these Desmay, Dotson, English, Flippo, flowers, Gilmore, Hammer, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, Kinglating love, McKee, Murdoch, Peyton, Penzo, Patty Lee, rice, Scott, stone, Stuberfield, Sullivan, Tucker, Wallace. Any senator wish to change his or her vote. Senator Hamer present, Senator King, not voting. Senator Payton present, Senator Scott, present. And he had a senator. Please check the board dismaying no. Any other senator, please check the board. Penzo present. Caldwell present. He'll know. Any other senator. Seeing no others, please cast up the ballot by a vote of 24 yeah, 2 nay, 1 not voting, and 5 present. House Bill 1278. Passes, please return to the house. House Bill 1310. 1310 by Representative Gramlet and Senator Flippo to amend the newborn umbilical cord Blood Initiative Act to abolish the Arkansas Commission for the newborn and Biblical Cord Blood initiative and declare an emergency. Senator Flippo, you're recognized. Thank you, Governor. So this bill does exactly what it says. It just abolishes the commission for the newborn umbilical cord Blood initiative and rolls that over to the UAMS. There's a currently an umbilical cord. bank that is now up and running, it's been up and running for about 3 years, so this duplicate services or, you know, responsibilities, so the commission hasn't met for the past 3 years, nor has there been any new appointments to the commission, so this is just simply, you know, doing away with the commission, which is no longer relevant, no longer meeting. Any questions? Anyone wish to speak against or for Senator has closed. Any objection to rolling the boat, Madam Secretary, please roll the boat. Bobright leave Caldwell, Clark Lee, Crowell, Davis, Des, dismay, Dotson, English Flippo, flowers, Gilmore hammer, Hester, Hickey, Hill, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, King Letting love, McKee, Murdoch, Peyton, Penzo, Petty, leave, rice, scot, stone, Stubberfield, Sullivan, Tucker, Wallace. Any senator wished to change his or her vote, Senator King, not voting. Any other senator. Senator Murdoch. Not voting, you're nothing, you're good, you're fine, OK. Any other senator. All right, seeing no others please cast up the ballot by a vote of 31, 0, nay, one not voting, House Bill 1310 passes and the corresponding emergency clause is adopted. We are passing over house Bill 1311. sponsor is not here. We are passing over House Bill 1318. She won't pass out. We will now take up House Bill 1324. Has 1324 by Representative Duffield and Senator Davis to amend the time of principal sales of fireworks in this state. Senator Davis, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President. This bill simply moves up the week that you can buy and sell fireworks one week, so it moves it from June 20th to June 13th. We had a request from the restsville City Council. They try to, there's events that they do in June and they use fireworks for and they're unable to purchase fireworks in time. So this simply bumps it up a week. Happy to answer any questions. Questions for Senator Davis, Senator Tucker, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President. Senator. Are you open to an amendment on this bill to add co-sponsors. I am happy to amend the bill. If you're, if for anyone that is so passionate about fireworks that they need to have their name on this bill, yes, I appreciate that. Thank you. Any, any other questions? Anyone wish to speak against? Oh, did you, do you have a question? You didn't have a question, did you? You were just like she just wanted to be added on as a co-sponsor as well. And anyone wishes to speak against or for Senator has closed. Any objection to rolling the vote? Madam Secretary, please roll the boat. Bo Brant Lee, Caldwell, Clark, Lee, Kroll, Davis, Des, this name Dotson English flippo flowers, Gilmore, hammer, Hester, Hickey Hill, Irvin, Blake Johnson, Mark Johnson, King letting love McKee Murdoch, Payton, Penzo, Patty Le, rice, scot, stone, Stubberfield, Sullivan, Tucker, Wallace senator wish to change his or her vote, Senator King not voting. Any other senator saying no one, please cast up the ballot by a vote of 31, 0 nay, 1 not voting, House Bill 1324 passes, please return to the house. How. Senators, we're going to pass over the budget calendar for the day. Are there any announcements, Senator Hester, you're recognized. Hey members, uh, this is about time we're coming in tomorrow and uh look after a lot of feedback from members today. We're, we're gonna come in at 10 a.m. tomorrow. I've talked to all the chairmen about having their committees later on and look at, and we've got a long day tomorrow, more on the calendar tomorrow than we had today. So we're gonna come in early and, and try to get that handled. I think the only real conflict when we do this is if you had a bill you wanted to present in the House committee, uh, but if, if we, I'll continue to try to do this. We'll continue to talk about it and if we have conflicts, we'll, we'll readjust, but tomorrow morning 10 a.m. Thanks. Senator Caldwell, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President. AG members, Senate AG will not meet tomorrow. Senator Des, you're recognized. I members, thank you, Madam Governor. We've got 22 quick announcements. The Arkansas Alliance for Boys and Girls Club is having a luncheon. This is tomorrow, 11 to 1 o'clock Capitol Hill Apartments, please put that on your calendar. We'd love to go uh support them and be a part of that. And then secondly, we have the House first Senate basketball game. We're less than 3 weeks away. Please let me know if you want to play again. I need to know if you're gonna play. If you're gonna be on the court with us to defend our sick. straight championships against them. Also, please get your money for your jersey into Miss Sabrina. We have all of the orders in. We just need to get paid for that. They're $25 each. Please send your money to Sabrina. Uh, you can bring her, uh, payment for that, and let's see, uh, just to put on your calendar, if you don't know, it's March 4th at the Little Rock Central High School, March 4th. Hope to see you there. I don't know. I think it's 6 p.m., but we'll confirm that. All right, thank y'all. Senator Blake Johnson, you're recognized. Insurance and commerce is canceled tomorrow. I say we do like a free throw tournament instead of a basketball game. Sender Flippo, you're recognized. I would remind the senators that we are still in session. Thank you, Governor. There's the agencies, we will be meeting 10 minutes upon adjournment tomorrow instead of 10 a.m., so we'll be meeting 10 minutes upon adjournment tomorrow. Any other announcements Madam Secretary, are there items at the desk? Again, I would remind senators that we are still in session if you need to make a phone call, please step out into the quiet room. Will your committee on gross bills who was first symbol 203 by Centra Hester compared to the gross copy of the ritual and finds same correctly engrossed. calendar Committee on gross who was 3 House Bill 11:45 a representative Wootton and Senator Hill the engrossed copy of the ritual and finds same correctly engrossed calendar. Senate joint resolution 20 by Senator King and Constitutional amendment concerning the vote requirements for constitutional amendments to be considered approved its general election sent joint resolution 20. for wrong. Senate joint resolution 21 engross. Senate Joint Resolution 21 by Senator King, a constitutional amendment concerning the vote requirements for initiated acts and constitutional amendments to be considered, approved at the general election, sent joint resolution 21. State agencies. put the one on there. uh, Bill 220 by Senator Boyd to amend the Arkansas Securities Act and to clarify exempt transactions under the Arkansas Securities Act, Senate Bill 220. Insurance and commerce. Return of Senate Bill 3 from the House has passed and row. Just order it and write. Ordering on this. Order and roll, retire of Senate Bill 77 from the house as passed or enrolled, retire at Senate Bill 78 from the House as passed, ordering roll. Senators, real quickly before we continue reading items at the desk, I would remind senators that the University of Arkansas system is having a reception tonight at the County Association building from 5 to 7. House 1118 burst into warn and sent for hammer to amend the laws concerning the management of premium taxes under the Arkansas fire and Police Pension Review Board and declare an emergency house Bill 1118 calendar, 11:19 by Representative Warren and Central Hammer to amend the provisions regarding delinquent payments, political subdivision under the Arkansas Local Police and fire fire retirement system and declare an emer ency House Bill 1119. Calendar has 1207 by Representative Warren and Central Gilmore to make technical corrections and clarify language for the proper administration of benefits and the state police retirement system, 1207 calendar House 1208 by Representative Warren and Senator Gilmore. To allow the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement Systems to collect amounts of overpayments of debts owed to a state supported retirement system administered by the state, Arkansas Public retirement Employees Retirement System House Bill 1208 calendar, house 1255 by Representative Wooldridge, Senator Davis, to amend the coverage of a continuous glucose monitor in the Arkansas Medicaid program, House Bill 12 1255. Public health 1286 by Representative Johnson to amend the Arkansas trial Tre and Transport to alternative destination Act, House Bill 1286. Insurance and commerce for 1355 by Representative Gassway and Senator Tucker to make technical corrections to Title 5 of the Arkansas Code Concerning criminal offenses. House Bill 1355. Judiciary has 1356 by Representative Gasaway and Senator Tucker to make technical corrections to Title 12 of the Arkansas Code Concerning law enforcement, emergency management, and military affairs and other purposes. House Bill 1356 Judiciary has 1357 by Representative Gassway and Senator Tucker to make the technical corrections Title 16 of the Arkansas Code Concerning Prentice procedure, and courts. As 1357. Judiciary. I saw 1358 by Representative Casaway and Senator Tucker to make technical corrections to amend Title 18 of the Arkansas Code concerning property House Bill 1358. Judiciary has 1359 by Representative Gassway and Senator Tucker to make technical corrections to Title 19 of the Arkansas Code concerning public finance, House Bill 1359. Judiciary has 1360 in gasoline Senator Tucker to make technical corrections. Title 20 of the Arkansas Code concerning public health and welfare house with 1360. Judiciary, 1361 gas wine Central Tucker to make technical corrections to Title 23 of the Arkansas Code Concerning public utilities and regulated industries has for 1361. Judiciary has 1362 by Representative Gasaway and Senator Tucker to make technical corrections to Title 24 of the Arkansas Code concerning retirement and pensions, House Bill 1362 Judiciary 1363 by representative Gassway and Senator Tucker. to make technical corrections to Title 25 of the Arkansas Code concerning state government House Bill 1363. judiciary has 136044 by Representative Gassway Central Tucker to make technical corrections to Title 27, the Arkansas Code Concerning transportation, House Bill 1364. Judiciary has 1384. Resentative Johnson and Central Dismay to amend the law concerning the gra graduate medical education residency expansion board and declare an emergency has about 1384. Education, House Bill 14. You know, 7 members Dalby and Senator Clark. To amend the law concerning the state administration. Of Justice Fund House Bill 1407. Judiciary, House 1427 murders through Pilkington and Senator Irving. To create a healthy moms, healthy babies Act, and to amend Arkansas law to improve maternal health in the state house for 1427 Public health, Senate joint resolution 22 by Senator Luding. The constitutional amendment concerning the qualifications to vote in an election. Senate Joint Resolution 22. The state agencies. Thank you, Madam Secretary. No further announcements. The Senate will stand and adjournment. Until tomorrow, February 13, 2025 at 10 a.m. subject to the clearing of the desk.