Referring to pending legislation as an attack on the Arkansas Professional Bail Bondsman Licensing Board, the seven-member panel unanimously approved motions Friday to oppose the bill and to give a vote of confidence for Chairman Curt Clark.
House Bill 1386 would bar the chairman of the state board from being a bail-bond-company owner or agent. Clark owns a bailbond company in Rogers and would have to step down as chairman if the bill became law.
“This board will not be bullied,” board member Jeremy Rowland said. “If this bill goes after the chairman, then come after Jeremy Rowland, too. I will not be bullied.”
Officers with the newly formed Arkansas Bailbondsmen Professionals Inc. have said the bill, sponsored by Rep. Hank Wilkins IV, DPine Bluff, is in retaliation against Clark for testifying against Senate Bill 56 dealing with education requirementsfor bail bondsmen. Wilkins has denied that claim.
Gov. Mike Beebe signed the Senate bill into law this week and it became Act 36.
Clark said during Friday’s meeting that he has “received a phone call” telling him that if he resigned, HB1386 wouldn’t go forward. He also said the legislation has been referred to as “the Curt Clark Bill.”
“It is a personal attack on me as chairman,” Clark said. “I will not be strong-armed or forced to step down. No, I’m not going to step down as chairman.”
The bill would also add two members to the board, shorten the terms of board members from seven years to three and allow the governor to appoint the board chairman.
Other members on Friday defended the licensing board’s previous actions and said they also considered the bill a “personal attack” not only on Clark, but on the licensing board as a whole. HB1386 contains an emergency clause that says thecurrent makeup of the board is “unsustainable.”
“I don’t see anything this board has done wrong,” said board member Derrick Person, adding that he is “100 percent” supportive of Clark. “I don’t see anything that was broken. What are we trying to fix here?”
When board members and audience members began speaking over one another, Larry Peters, the board’s executive director, called for an end to discussions.
“This is starting to sound like a schoolyard fight,” Peters said. “This is not the place.”
The debate over HB1386 also involves a dispute between the new bondsmen group and the Arkansas Professional Bail Association, an industry group that pushed for the education legislation. Officers with the new group have said it fears the Senate bill that passed will raise educational fees for bail bondsmen.
“In reading this bill[HB1386], this board will be dismantled and a new board appointed,” said David Viele, president of the Arkansas Bailbondsmen Professionals that formed last month, who called the legislation “pure harassment” in a letter to bail-bond-company owners last week. “This is an attack against this board.”
Wilkins was co-sponsor of the bondsmen-education bill, SB56. In its original form, the bill would have shifted authority for regulating the courses offered to bondsmen from the licensing board to the Professional Bail Association. An amendment by Wilkins gave the association a role in soliciting the course providers and setting the fees for the classes, but keeps final approval with the board.
The state has 540 licensed bondsmen who are required to take continuing-education classes every year.
Clark said previously that the board had concerns about authority over the classes being given to a private organization and didn’t know of complaints about the educational courses.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/19/2011