LITTLE ROCK — The state Senate on Thursday voted 20-11 for a bill that gives school districts the option of starting the school year earlier than they can now under existing law.
House Bill 1099 by Rep. Homer Lenderman, D-Brookland, was sent on to Gov. Mike Beebe.
Under Arkansas Code Annotated 6-10-106, the first day of the public school year can be no earlier than Aug. 19 and no later than Aug. 26, with the exception that it can start Aug. 18 if that date falls on a Monday.
Lenderman’s bill requires the first day to be on or after the Monday of the week in which Aug. 19 falls and no earlier than Aug. 14 nor later than Aug. 26.
School boards set the exact starting date for their districts within the parameters set by the state law.
Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, said the bill would give districts the option of starting a few days earlier. The first semester is much shorter than the second semester, and many states start their school years earlier than Arkansas does, she said.
Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, said he feared that most districts would start earlier, effectively shortening the tourism season. He said many tourism-related businesses are “hanging by a thread. This is terrible timing for these folks.”
But Sen. Ruth Whitaker, R-Cedarville, countered: “I think we are making a mountain out of a molehill. ... I can see no harm to it.”
SURCHARGE
The Senate also approved a bill to require wireless-telephone customers to help pay for equipment to assist the hearing impaired.
The 22-10 vote sent HB1062 by Rep. Buddy Lovell, D-Marked Tree, back to the House for consideration of a Senate amendment.
The Senate sponsor, Larry Teague, D-Nashville, said landline customers now pay 3 cents a month per line. The bill would allow for a charge of up to 2 cents a month per line, rather than 3 cents, and extend it to all telephone customers, including cell-phone users.
The Public Service Commission would determine the amount of the surcharge. The money would support the Telecommunications Equipment Fund.
Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, asked, “Is that a tax increase?”
Teague said the existing surcharge raises about $500,000 a year. Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, said the commission has indicated it plans to assess a monthly 1 cent fee on each telephone line or number.
PROTESTS AT FUNERALS
In the House, HB1207 by Rep. Randy Stewart, D-Kirby, to restrict protests at funerals, was approved 97-0.
Stewart said his bill is modeled after legislation in Arizona. Current law bans protests at funerals within 150 feet. HB1207 expands that to 300 feet and allows protests with the consent of the family of the deceased.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
The Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee will start hearing proposed constitutional amendments Tuesday.
The Legislature is limited by the constitution to making three constitutional proposals per election (though a fourth is allowed if it pertains to elected officials’ salaries).
Committee Chairman Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, told reporters that the committee will hear most of them before voting.
Twelve proposed amendments were filed in the Senate, 13 in the House. The deadline to file them was Feb. 9.
She said the aim is to “try to figure out if there’s some that sort of rise to the top. At some point we’ll have to vote but I think we’ll need to heara lot before we do.”
The House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee will begin looking at proposed constitutional amendments Wednesday.
REDISTRICTING
The fix for the glitch in the software used to align census block data with state precinct lines has arrived, but Madison said she is not sure how long it will take the state to verify if it works.
Her committee considers congressional redistricting on the Senate side.
“We’re nowhere,” Madison said. “It’s a little frustrating.”
The software, AutoBound, is developed by Annapolis, Md.-based Citygate GIS. According to the company’s website, the software is being used by at least 15 states to manipulate 2010 Census data.
House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Clark Hall, D-Marvell, has said it could be early March before the committees can begin the redistricting work.
Normally, the process is completed before the Legislature adjourns in the spring. Madison said the Legislature shouldn’t rush.
“It’s too important to fast track. We have to get it right, we don’t need a lawsuit,” she said.
TRIPS
Earlier in the day, the Joint Energy Committee’s co-chairmen told committee members that they have to attend at least 75 percent of the committee’s regular meetings to be eligible to attend any out-of-state conferences paid for by the committee’s budget.
“We will be taking attendance,” Rep. Tiffany Rogers, D-Stuttgart, told the panel. “You have been asked to be on this committee for a reason, and it’s going to be more of a working committee.”
Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, added: “So pass that around, 75 percent if you want to travel with us because we are going to work at it. We are going to be active and get something done.”
The committee needs to meet at least each week, he said, and he’s interested in the possibility of mining lignite, a type of coal, in Arkansas.
Some lawmakers have privately referred to the committee as “the trip committee” over the years because members may attend meetings of the Energy Council, sometimes in Alaska and Canada.
Formed in 1975, the Energy Council is a consortium of energy-producing states, several Canadian provinces and Venezuela. It holds meetings aimed at getting lawmakers up to speed on energy issues.
After Thursday’s meeting, Hendren said the attendance rule is designed to encourage members to attend the committee’s meetings, not hinder them from attending conferences out of state.
The committee has a $65,806-a-year appropriation, according to Margie Davis, fiscal officer for the Bureau of Legislative Research.
The committee spent $28,873 for lawmakers to attend out-of-state conferences and $6,657 for in-state meetings in the 2010 fiscal year that ended June 30, she said.
Last year, Hendren attended the Energy Council meeting in Santa Fe, N.M., on the committee’s dime, a meeting of the Southern Regional Education Board in Annapolis, Md., at Senate expense, and a meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council in San Diego at the Legislative Audit Division’s expense, according to state records.
Rogers attended a meeting on lignite oil in Arlington, Texas, at the Bureau of Legislative Research’s expense and the National Conference of State Legislatures’ meetings in San Diego, New York and Louisville, Ky., at the House’s expense, state records say.
Information for this article was contributed by Seth Blomeley of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 02/18/2011