House Judiciary takes final look at House bills
This is the next to last scheduled meeting of House Judiciary, but for all practical purposes, today is the last day to present a House bill if it has a chance of making it through the House and Senate before the scheduled April 9 adjournment of the 87th General Assembly. We have 13 bills on the active calendar in here this morning, and a dozen of them are House bills. I'll post updates here.
Update: First up after a motion to concur in a Senate amendment to Rep. Nickel's HB1848 was approved, Rep. Bruce Maloch is presenting a bill that would codify a recent Supreme Court decision regarding the Deceptive Trade Practices Act as it applies to the unauthorized practice of law. Bill Waddell with the Friday Firm is speaking for the bill, and the Attorney General's office and representatives from the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association are here to speak against the bill. The bill failed. Rep. Maloch then presented HB2245 regarding a 3-year sentence review for all persons serving life without parole after 20 years. That bill was approved.
A motion was made to suspend the rules and bring a shell resolution up from the deferred calendar regarding assault weapons. The motion was defeated.
Update II: We're now back on the $20 bail bond fee to fund Victim Assistance Offices. An amendment was presented to allow for the $20 fee to be refunded in the event the person is found not guilty. I voted against the amendment on the basis that I don't think it sends a good message that in the event a person is found not guilty, they're entitled to a small portion of their bail bond from the prosecutor's office back, but that all other fees they paid in the bail bond fee are to be retained by the various government agencies (public defender, jail fee, warrant fee, filing fee, insurance department fee, battered women fee, etc, etc). I still voted for the bill as it stands, and it failed by a vote of 9 for, 9 against, and two were absent.
Update III: We're now hearing Rep. Dismang's 2053 again, which failed on Tuesday by a 9-9 vote. This bill requires the reimbursement of attorney's fees in eminent domain cases if the award ordered by the court is 10% more than the amount offered by the state agency. Speaking for the bill is the NFIB, and against are the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and the Association of Arkansas Counties. The bill failed by a vote of 9 for, 7 against.
Update IV (12:20 p.m.): We're now taking up the House version (Rep. Perry) of a proposal to prevent the use of accident reports for solicitation purposes. Speaking for the bill is Lynn Zeno with the Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas. Speaking against are the Arkansas Sheriffs Association and the Attorney General's Office. The bill failed on a voice vote. We're finishing up on a bill by Rep. Clemmer to require some reporting on adoptions in Arkansas to maintain a databank of that information. That bill passed, meaning that we passed four bills and failed four bills.
Update: First up after a motion to concur in a Senate amendment to Rep. Nickel's HB1848 was approved, Rep. Bruce Maloch is presenting a bill that would codify a recent Supreme Court decision regarding the Deceptive Trade Practices Act as it applies to the unauthorized practice of law. Bill Waddell with the Friday Firm is speaking for the bill, and the Attorney General's office and representatives from the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association are here to speak against the bill. The bill failed. Rep. Maloch then presented HB2245 regarding a 3-year sentence review for all persons serving life without parole after 20 years. That bill was approved.
A motion was made to suspend the rules and bring a shell resolution up from the deferred calendar regarding assault weapons. The motion was defeated.
Update II: We're now back on the $20 bail bond fee to fund Victim Assistance Offices. An amendment was presented to allow for the $20 fee to be refunded in the event the person is found not guilty. I voted against the amendment on the basis that I don't think it sends a good message that in the event a person is found not guilty, they're entitled to a small portion of their bail bond from the prosecutor's office back, but that all other fees they paid in the bail bond fee are to be retained by the various government agencies (public defender, jail fee, warrant fee, filing fee, insurance department fee, battered women fee, etc, etc). I still voted for the bill as it stands, and it failed by a vote of 9 for, 9 against, and two were absent.
Update III: We're now hearing Rep. Dismang's 2053 again, which failed on Tuesday by a 9-9 vote. This bill requires the reimbursement of attorney's fees in eminent domain cases if the award ordered by the court is 10% more than the amount offered by the state agency. Speaking for the bill is the NFIB, and against are the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and the Association of Arkansas Counties. The bill failed by a vote of 9 for, 7 against.
Update IV (12:20 p.m.): We're now taking up the House version (Rep. Perry) of a proposal to prevent the use of accident reports for solicitation purposes. Speaking for the bill is Lynn Zeno with the Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas. Speaking against are the Arkansas Sheriffs Association and the Attorney General's Office. The bill failed on a voice vote. We're finishing up on a bill by Rep. Clemmer to require some reporting on adoptions in Arkansas to maintain a databank of that information. That bill passed, meaning that we passed four bills and failed four bills.
posted by Steve Harrelson @ 4/02/2009 09:53:00 AM | Permalink |
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