Joint committee considers proposed constitutional amendments

The House State Agencies Committee will meet at noon today in Rm. 151 with the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs. The meeting will be run by Senate Committee Chairman Steve Faris. The consensus seems to be that we'll definitely refer out two proposed constitutional amendments -- maybe three -- to the full legislature. The legislature can refer up to three proposed constitutional amendments to the voters, which will appear on the November, 2010 ballot. Look for SJR3 (hunt/fish) and HJR1007 (restructuring of Amendment 82) to get the first two nods. After that, it's a toss-up between Sen. Broadway's SJR6, Rep. Maloch's HJR1003, and Rep. Cheatham's HJR1004. I'm on the committee with a vote and will post a report from the meeting here. Here's the agenda.

House Rules, of which I am also a member, meets at the same time to consider Dustin McDaniel's ethics bill.

Update: Back in State Agencies for the proposed constitutional amendments -- I'm going to miss House Rules to be in here, so I'll be absent for the AG's Ethics bill to be presented up there (I'm for it -- I just can't be in two places at once). The room here is crowded with supporters of HJR1004 by Rep. Cheatham, which modifies interest rate limits in a more expansive manner than does HJR1003.

Update II: We're now taking up Sen. Faris' proposal to amend the constitution to provide for a right to hunt, fish and trap. Rep. Butch Wilkins' is questioning Faris and will be speaking against the proposal. He calls it a "poison pill" for Arkansas hunters and says it is being proposed merely to allow dogs to be used in hunting. He also wonders if we need a constitutional right to play golf. Reps. Clark Hall and Larry Cowling next question whether the proposal would allow people to come on his property and hunt without first obtaining permission. Sen. Faris assured them that wasn't the case. A representative from the NRA from Fairfax, Virginia spoke for the bill.

As soon as this vote takes place, I'm going to move to take Speaker Wills' HJR1007 out of order and for consideration by the joint committee.

Update III: SJR3 (hunt/fish) was referred out by a voice vote -- there were a few no votes. Speaker Wills is now presenting HJR1007.

Update IV: HJR1007 (restructuring Amendment 82) was also approved by the committee. It now goes to the House floor. That makes two proposed constitutional amendments to be approved and potentially referred to the voters. We're entitled to refer three to the voters. It's now the Senate's turn, and we're taking up Sen. Broadway's SJR6. Rep. Maloch's language from HJR1003 has been rolled into this proposal, and although some would rather see Rep. Maloch's HJR1003 standing alone, this may be the only shot for the voters to see it. If SJR6 is approved, we'll adjourn without considering Rep. Cheatham's HJR1004 or any other proposed constitutional amendment currently on the joint committee's agenda.

Update V (1:20 p.m.): Floor votes in both the House and Senate begin in 10 minutes, and we're prohibited by the rules from continuing past 1:30. We're still hearing debate on SJR6, and some on the committee would like to hear a presentation on HJR1004 prior to voting. We're adjourning now without voting on SJR6 or any other proposal.

In summary, we referred two proposed constitutional amendments -- SJR3 (hunt/fish) and HJR1007 (restructuring Amendment 82) -- to the full legislature. We have the opportunity to ultimately refer three proposals to the voters. We'll meet again at some point on Monday to continue debate of the other proposals. It looks as though SJR6, HJR1003, and HJR 1004 (or some combination of them) are the leading candidates.