Lawmakers file measures for ’13 session

Rape, trust fund addressed

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

— In advance of the session starting Jan. 14, a state legislator has filed a bill to terminate all parental rights of a person convicted of rape to a child conceived as a result of the rape.

Another legislator filed a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to create a rainy-day trust fund.

The measures were prefiled on Wednesday, but weren’t available on the state Legislature’s website until Monday because of a “technology glitch,” said House Chief of Staff Bill Stovall.

Rep. John Edwards, D-Little Rock, prefiled his House Bill 1002 to terminate a convicted rapist’s parental rights to a child born of the rape after reading a law-review article last summer, he said. The article was written by a woman who lived in Missouri and was served with custody papers by a man against whom she was pursuing rape charges.

At least 27 states, including Arkansas, do not protect mothers of rape-conceived children from attackers who seek custody of the child, said Edwards, an attorney.

“I decided this was something we can fix, so I drafted this bill,” he said.

Under the bill, “All parental rights of a putative father to a child conceived as a result of a rape shall be terminated immediately upon conviction of the rape in which the child was conceived” under Arkansas Code Annotated 5-14-103.

Rep. Duncan Baird, R-Lowell, said he prefiled his House Joint Resolution 1002 proposing a constitutional amendment to create the rainy-day trust fund because “we don’t have any systematic provision for putting money away for a rainy day.”

State government has used one-time money to help it through the recession, he said.

But Baird said he “doesn’t have any specifics that I am settled on at this point” for his proposed constitutional amendment to create the rainy-day trust fund. In 2011, he filed a similar resolution without details.

Up to three proposed constitutional amendments from the 2013 legislative session, plus a fourth if it’s about state officials’ pay, may be referred by the Legislature to voters in 2014 elections.

Arkansas, Pages 7 on 11/27/2012