Public Transportation- House

Today we're gonna run 2 bills this morning. Uh, I think first of all, Senate bill. Uh, 16 Representative Painter, you, yes sir. Oh, excuse me. Oh, excuse me, I got got got you wrong. Representative Rose, you recognize, you may sit there and proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Committee, Representative Ryan Rose, District 48, Van Buren and Fort Smith, uh, Senate Bill 16 is an act to amend the law concerning the discharge of a firearm at a train. And we're modernizing uh Arkansas code 23-12-804, um, more or less to address the discharge of firearms, throwing of objects at trains, streetcars, or locomotives and excuse me, this bill updates penalties to reflect, um, inflation since the law's original passage in 1893 in a lines enforcement with modern standards, while retaining uh pro prosecutorial discretion. For, uh, more minor incidents. The long and short, the long and short of it. The um, the fine for this, uh, crime originally was $25 250 dollars, and we're just aligning it with the class A misdemeanor. And it's actually significantly less of a fine in comparison to, uh, what that fine would be worth adjusted for inflation to today. This originated from recommendations by the Game and fish subcommittee and the 2nd Amendment Task Force, uh, which was tasked with reviewing all firearm related statutes, uh, in Arkansas. And, uh, the task force determined that updating these penalties and reclassifying the offense as a class A misdemeanor was what was appropriate for this statute, uh, at this time, um, uh, open to any questions. All right, thank you. Any questions from committee members? I don't see any. That's too easy. So, excuse me, Representative Hall. Thank you. Hold on a minute. No why push the Push your button again. We on? OK. How often do people, uh, actually shoot at trains or, or throw objects at them. That's a great question. Uh, it is a, you know, a more rare offense, uh, like shooting at an airplane or shooting at a bus, uh, some of these other laws that are that are similar things that are illegal, um, just in the last few years, um, I don't have too much data in Arkansas, but around the country, uh, you can look up incidents from Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York, California. There's one incident where 3 train. in Pennsylvania in a close period of time, uh, were shot at, had objects thrown at them, and it ended up in the derailment of one, some people died, um, so, you know, it's an awful thing, doesn't happen very often, and all that this is doing is aligning, uh, the, the code to be appropriate for today's time, the misdemeanor, the fines, and, and obviously to be, um, as, as good a deterrent as it possibly could be. Still a law worth having on the books, um, and just making sure that it's current. Thank you. Any other questions? OK, seeing none. OK, I didn't see anyone signed up on the list. Anyone there speak for against the bill, seeing none, Representative Rose, he's like clothes for your bill. Yeah, I just like to say, uh, thank you committee, thank you, Mr. Chair. um, I know that it's, it's pretty straightforward. We're just changing a little bit of language just to bring this to be current and you know, that's the way our law should be reflected. They should, they should be modern and and match the times and, and that's all that this is doing at this time. Thank you. It was in a car you recognize? There you go. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, motion at the proper time. OK, have a motion. Any discussion on the bill, uh, representson Whittaker, did you have some Is too late, in discussion on the bill. Um No discussion. All in favor say aye. OK, uh, all opposed say I hearing none. Congratulations, your bill passes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you committee. You'll have a good one. OK. Now I represent painter. And I think you have an amendment with your bill will We'll hear the amendments, give us just a second to get it passed out before you begin. I'm not sure you can get this amendment through. I don't know about, yeah, you're probably right, Mr. Chair. Part of the hardest thing we'll do all day. OK, committee, this is, uh, Senate Bill 45, uh. First of all, we have an amendment, uh. Represent Painter, go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Committee, Representative Stetson Painter, District 3, Baxter County in Fulton Counties. This amendment right here is just adding me as the house sponsor, um, working with Senator Wallace, Senator Wallace forgot to add me as the health sponsors who were taking care of it on our end. That's it. I'll be glad to take any questions. OK. Seeing none, I need a motion from committee. I have Motion from Representative Richmond. Any discussion, all in favor say aye. OK, representative painting, you can proceed with your bill, please. Thank you, Mr. Chair, committee. Senate Bill 45 is, uh, probably one of my favorite bills I'm gonna get, be able to work on this session. Unfortunately, we are no longer producing Pearl Harbor survivors. There's only 16 of them left in the entire United States. And so, but we have 20,000 women veterans in this state alone. And every year it's growing. So this bill does is proposing that we retire, uh, the Pearl Harbor surviving license plate and add a license plate for a women veteran to in a way to say thank you. The initial cost of that is $20,000 which would come out of ADA. ADA, that's for the programming, that's for the initial startup. The license plate will be $15. And as a military man, myself in the reserves, that's what I pay for my initial license plate, but the renewal fee for that every year is $1. So a portion of that at first will go to pay the debt off. The leftover will go to women veteran programs. And then once the debt is paid off, that fee and the renewal fee will continue to go to women veterans programs. Other than that, I'd be glad to take any questions. Represent Hawk you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to clarify, we've got one Pearl Harbor survivor left in Arkansas. That person will still be able to get their license plate, correct. Yes. Thank you. Any other questions? Committee I don't see see none. Would you like to close? Members, I, I would just appreciate a good vote. I think it's time that we acknowledge, you know, we acknowledge the rest of our veterans, and I think it's time to acknowledge our women veterans that serve alongside us every day and just to say thank you and continue, and it gives them another source of funding that we can't produce, but in this fee, we can, so I appreciate a good vote. A representative Whittaker, you recognize? Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm proud and happy to move, do pass, uh, As amended As amended motion is recommended that uh do pass as. As amended any discussion from committee. Seeing none, all in favor, say I oppose Samuel Laine hearing none. Congratulations. Your bill passed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Thank you. That's all we're gonna run today, uh, Representative Torres is gonna run his bill next week. He's got some minor changes to make. Is there any other business come for the committee today. If not, we stand adjourned.