LITTLE ROCK — Two legislative leaders failed Monday to persuade Gov. Mike Beebe to fund a $1.8 million tunnel from the Capitol to a building with an area that is to be renovated for planned legislative committee rooms and staff offices.
House Speaker Robbie Wills, D-Conway, and Sen. Steve Faris, D-Central, who have championed the tunnel idea, met with Beebe in the governor's office for about 30 minutes.
"Sen. Faris and Speaker Wills made their case for the tunnel. Gov. Beebe listened and then told them that he still did not support building the tunnel and would not release funds for it," Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said.
Faris disputed DeCam-ple's account.
"I wasn't meeting with Matt DeCample," Faris said.
Faris said he and Wills talked to the governor about "space utilization" and the tunnel was "barely mentioned."
DeCample, who was present during part of the meeting, responded, "The purpose of the meeting was to talk about the tunnel. There can be semantics. They came to talk about the tunnel. They were there to explain why they thought a tunnel was necessary."
The Legislative Council, which is the Legislature's key committee between legislative sessions, on Friday signed off on the tunnel plan. If built, the tunnel would connect the Capitol to the Multi-Agency Complex, a state building that is commonly known as Big MAC, to the west of the Capitol.
Beebe has said for a month that he opposes the idea as unnecessary, especially given the poor economic times.
Faris said he and Wills talked to the governor not about the tunnel but about a companion project costing $5 million to convert space in Big MAC into committee rooms and staff offices. That would free space in the Capitol for more offices for legislators.
"We didn't go in there asking the governor to change his mind [about the tunnel]," Faris said. "There are very few people who don't know how the governor feels about the tunnel. It would have been a moot point to talk about it."
Faris said he didn't "make a case" for the tunnel but declined to say what Wills may have discussed.
Wills didn't return messages. His office said Wills, a lawyer, was "in court" Monday.
Faris declined to say whether he would support funding the tunnel during the 2010 legislative session, which begins Feb. 8.
"I'm not going to talk about the tunnel," he said. "Personally, I support a mechanism to attach the two facilities at some point. Right now, we'll focus on space. We can get by without [the tunnel] if we have to."
Faris in August said "the Legislature" would have the final say on whether the tunnel will be built. He said the Legislative Council would decide after receiving recommendations from subcommittees.
But it turned out that the money for the tunnel was in Act 1442 of 2009, the General Improvement Fund funding law.
It included $6 million set aside for the Arkansas Building Authority for "construction and renovation of state facilities." There is nothing in the law specifically designating the money for a particular project.
It's up to the governor to release the money, since the building authority is an executive branch agency.
Beebe, while opposing the tunnel, has said he supports the $5 million renovation of Big MAC.
Combined with parking changes and new entryways associated with the tunnel and-renovation project, the total cost would be $7.8 million, which is more than Act 1442 provides.
Faris said the act didn't specifically mandate the tunnel because legislators wanted to be "team players" and cooperate with the executive branch on the project.
Wills has said that there are concerns over the Americans with Disabilities Act if the tunnel doesn't get built. He hasn't given specifics as to whether the state would be breaking the law without a tunnel.
The Capitol and Big MAC are separated by an incline, two access roads, some parking spaces and a sidewalk.
Beebe said he didn't know about any disabilities law concerns. He has said people could use umbrellas to walk between the two buildings.
Wills, without naming Beebe, rejected that suggestion on his Web site last month, two days after the governor publicly said he opposed the tunnel.
"Umbrellas aren't a realistic or workable solution," he wrote. "But why let the facts get in the way of a good story or blog post? It's more fun to ridicule legislators for supposedly not wanting to walk in the rain or cold weather."
Beebe has praised environmental retrofits of the old Dillard's building in Little Rock. Some state agencies are being moved from Big MAC to that building.
Wills on his Web site wrote, "I found it especially ironic that some of the carps criticized the legislature for considering a one-time capitol improvement in one breath and applauded the executive branch's new $2 million dollar a year rent payment for [environmental retrofits] in the old Dillard's building in the next.Always better to rent than own, I've always thought."
During Friday's council meeting, Wills said the tunnel would help security and mentioned the shooting death of Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney last year. But Wills gave no details about how a tunnel, which would be another entrance to the Capitol, would improve security.
David Ferguson, director of the Bureau of Legislative Research, said he's not sure how Beebe's denial of money for the tunnel will affect plans for Big MAC.
"I haven't heard anything yet on a Plan B," Ferguson said. "There certainly are obstacles to overcome for public convenience and for maintaining our level of services during a legislative session."
Ferguson has said the tunnel would make it easier for staff to push carts loaded with paper between the two buildings. He said that during this year's session, his staff used 10.4 tons of paper.
Front Section, Pages 1, 6 on 09/22/2009