Lawmakers wrap up, head home

State Senators David Wyatt, D-Batesville, says good bye to Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, after ending the 100-day legislative session on Tuesday which had Republicans in control of the House and Senate for the first time since Reconstruction.
State Senators David Wyatt, D-Batesville, says good bye to Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, after ending the 100-day legislative session on Tuesday which had Republicans in control of the House and Senate for the first time since Reconstruction.

The Republican-controlled state House and Senate on Tuesday completed action on bills increasing the state general-revenue budget by $197 million in the fiscal year that starts in July and distributing more than $300 million in surplus funds to various programs and projects.

They sent the bills to Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe on the 100th day of the 2013 session, the longest Arkansas session since the Great Depression.

Two years ago in the regular legislative session, the Democratic-controlled Legislature enacted measures increasing the general-revenue budget by $117 million and distributing $50 million in surplus funds.

Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, and House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, said they would consult lawmakers about whether to summon them back to the Capitol to try to override Beebe’s vetoes of three election bills sponsored by Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest.

Although lawmakers completed their agenda and headed for home Tuesday, Lamoureux and Carter have until noon May 17 to call them back to the Capitol, if necessary, to respond to vetoes and to address a few other limited matters.

The 2013 session was marked by the Legislature authorizing: the use of federal Medicaid funds to purchase private health insurance for about 250,000 low-income, uninsured Arkansans; tax cuts projected to cut state general revenue by $9.9 million in fiscal 2014, $84.8 million in 2015 and $140.9 million in 2016; and a $125 million bond issue for a proposed $1.1 billion steel mill near Osceola.

In nearly all party-line votes, the Republican-controlled General Assembly overrode Beebe’s vetoes of bills prohibiting most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy; barring most abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy; and requiring Arkansans to present photo identification in order to vote.The American Civil Liberties Union last week filed suit in federal court in Little Rock, asking that Act 301 - the law prohibiting most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy - be struck down.

Republicans gained control of the House and Senate for the first time in 138 years in November’s general election.

Lamoureux said Republicans learned that it’s more difficult to be in control of the Legislature “than when we were criticizing those [Democrats] who were trying to do it before us.

“But we were able to work with the Democratic Party and Republican Party to make it work,” he said. “You just can’t do whatever you want.

“I don’t think there was any drastic legislation or agenda that was too far to one side or the other that was able to pass this session,” said Lamoureux, who voted to override Beebe’s three vetoes. “Everybody would probably like something a little different, but I think it is a successful session on the whole.”

Beebe, who is the titular head of the state Democratic Party, said there was a lot of partisanship in the Legislature early in the session as social issues divided lawmakers more along party lines than later in the session.

“In terms of major issues, big issues, getting things done, they worked together pretty well, particularly late, particularly in the last three, four weeks, and sometimes it takes a while for that to occur,” he said. “I’m proud of them. We don’t always get our way. It’s not a dictatorship.”

Senate Republican leader Eddie Joe Williams of Cabot said Republican control of the Legislature “moved the needle toward a conservative Arkansas,” citing the anti-abortion laws and tax cuts, in particular.

“We’ve seen more negotiation,” he said. “Historically, with all due respect, the governor pretty well controlled the legislative session to a certain extent because [Beebe’s party] controlled both Houses.”

The House is made up of 51 Republicans and 48 Democrats with a Green Party representative. The Senate has 21 Republicans and 14 Democrats.

Rep. Jonathan Barnett, R-Siloam Springs, said it’s debatable whether the Legislature enacted more Republican policies this year just because the GOP controlled the House and Senate.

“Everybody comes down here and says they want to create jobs and decrease regulation, and in reality most of the time, including this session, we’ve increased the size of government and we’ve increased regulation and passed a lot of laws that somebody’s going to have to be sure are enforced,” said Barnett, an ally of Rep. Terry Rice, R-Waldron. Last November, Carter defeated Rice in a 52-45 vote to be House speaker.

“The citizens should always be concerned when the members are in session, because a lot can happen,” said Barnett.

Lamoureux said he wished lawmakers could have referred to voters a proposed constitutional amendment to overhaul the state’s tort laws, but they were unable to reach agreement.

“I don’t know where the fault lies,” he said. “I don’t want to really assess whose fault it was, but it was something that we thought that we could resolve that we were unable to resolve.”

The state Supreme Court has struck down several provisions of a 2003 tort law enacted by the Legislature, including a $1 million limit on punitive damages.

In a 28-6 vote, the Senate on Tuesday sent to the governor House Bill 2233 prioritizing the distribution of $4.924 billion in state general revenuein fiscal 2014 to state agencies - up from $4.727 billion in fiscal 2013 - and HB2232 distributing $300 million in surplus funds to various programs and projects.

In a 77-15 vote, the House sent to the governor Senate Bill 22 that’s identical to HB2233. In a 78-14 vote, the House sent the governor SB364, which is identical to HB2232.

SB22 and HB2233 largely mirrored Beebe’s proposed general revenue budget for fiscal 2014, with most of the increased state support going to the public schools and Medicaid program.

The proposed general revenue budget factors in $10 million in reduced revenue from tax cuts in fiscal 2014, sets aside $18 million in rainy-day funds and funds 2 percent cost-of-living raises for state employees who don’t work at the state higher-education institutions.

Among other things, SB364 and HB2232 provide $107 million in surplus funds to the state Medicaid program, $100 million to the governor to spend on projects at his discretion, more than $30 million for projects at the state’s higher-education institutions, and $35 million apiece to the House and Senate for their members’ favored programs and projects.

The tax cuts that the Legislature enacted for fiscal 2015 and 2016 rely in part on savings that state officials and the Legislature expect from implementing the “private option” to use federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for about 250,000 uninsured Arkansans.

The tax-reduction measures include cuts in income tax rates, capital gains taxes, the sales tax paid on energy by manufacturers and income taxes paid by military members.

Carter said he didn’t know whether Republican control of the Legislature made any difference. But it’s pretty remarkable that the Legislature authorized the proposed bond issue for the steel mill and the use of federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for uninsured Arkansans and tax cuts, he said.

“It’s a novel idea, sitting down and talking with people. … That’s how we got all this stuff done, communicating, working with each other, identifying the problems and issues and trying to find solutions,” Carter said. “I think Washington could learn some lessons on how to come together and work together like these men and women did here.”

Rep. Nate Steel, D-Nashville, said the closely divided House “moderated the legislation that came through.”

He credited Carter for reaching out to members of both parties.

“It could have been a lot more divisive, and I’m actually pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t that divided along party lines,” Steel said.

Senate Democratic leader Keith Ingram of West Memphis said he was surprised to see “more animosity intraparty than between Democrats and Republicans,” and some Republican and Democratic leaders put the state’s interests ahead of their political parties’interests.

Passage of the health-care legislation was a key accomplishment, he said.

Critics have labeled it Obamacare and Medicaid expansion. Supporters called it the private option. Officially, it’s known as the Health Care Independence Act of 2013.

“At the end of the day, whatever you want to call it, there is going to be 250,000 Arkansans that didn’t have health care that are going to have health care now,” Ingram said. “I could care less what we call it. All in all we got there, and our state is going to be the beneficiary and be better for the things that came out of the 89th General Assembly.

“There were some times that I wasn’t sure that was going to be the case,” he said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/24/2013

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