Week 11 Legislative Summary

We are now 75 days into the 86th General Assembly, and unless HCR1018 is extended, the session will end a week from today with a sine die date of April 27 to consider vetoes, to correct errors or oversights, or to consider proposed constitutional amendments.

This week, the Joint Committee on Constitutional Amendments convened to determine which, if any, proposals should be referred to the full legislative body for a vote. The two proposals that have made it out of the committee include HJR1004 (allowing annual legislative sessions) and SJR4 (cleaning up outdated language). SJR7, the proposal for a constitutional right to hunt/fish/trap and opposed by the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, failed by a vote of 10-10, and HJR1005 (lottery) failed by a vote of 10-9. The legislature can refer up to three proposed constitutional amendments to the people for a vote.

Also this week, the House approved SB 296 from the Attorney General's legislative package to create a database to track pharmacy purchases of cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in manufacturing of methamphetamine. Rep. Monty Davenport (D-Yellville) presented the bill in the House. A purchase will trigger an instant message to law enforcement officers by text message or e-mail to immediately identify people who go to multiple locations to purchase the cold and flu medicines to make methamphetamine.

Also during the week, the House amended then gave its approval to SB840, giving authorization to the Arkansas Highway Commission to ask voters to approve the issuance of $575 million in highways bonds. Diesel taxes and future federal dollars would pay for the bond issues. The House approved a bill that would ask voters to approve a similar bond issue that would raise money for school facilities’ repair and construction. The school bonds would be limited to $750 million in an effort to bring all school facilities into compliance with the Arkansas Supreme Court’s ruling in the Lake View case to make public education adequate and equitable for all students regardless of where they live and the financial wealth of their school districts.

The House passed HB 2788 by Rep. Rick Saunders (D-Hot Springs) to make certain cases of animal cruelty a felony offense. It’s currently a misdemeanor. This bill allows a Class D felony charge to be filed against a person who commits a second offense of abuse within five years of his first. The bill applies only to horses, dogs and cats and exempts incidents arising from self defense, protection of livestock, and routine veterinary and animal husbandry practices. I voted against it as an effort to consider supporting a competing bill from the Senate, which was also approved this week. However, that bill has been assigned to House Ag, meaning it likely won't come out of there. The Senate bill makes the first offense a felony. Class A misdemeanors are punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Class D felonies are punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Here's the roll call vote on HB2788:



On Tuesday, the House approved SB 440 to create a “quick-action closing fund” for the governor to use when in the final stages of landing a major economic development project. The bill goes to the governor, providing him with $50 million “to close a deal.” A separate appropriation bill for the $50 million still must also be approved.

We're beginning to see some work/discussion on the Revenue Stabilization Act to facilitate the balanced budget for the next biennium, which is a sure signal that the end of the legislative session is near. There is a lot of work to do next week in order to get there. As always, don't hesitate to call or e-mail if I can be of service.