A group of state lawmakers has formed what they call the Steel Caucus and state Rep. Monte Hodges, D-Blytheville, and Sen. David Burnett, D-Osceola, are its leaders.

Surrounded by about 10 other lawmakers, Hodges and Burnett announced the group’s formation at a news conference Thursday at the state Capitol. Hodges said the caucus includes about 30 of the Legislature’s 135 members.

This development comes after officials in Gov. Mike Beebe’s administration spent several hours this week answering questions from House and Senate members about a proposed $1.1 billion steel mill near Osceola for which state officials want the Legislature to authorize a $125 million bond issue.

Last week, Beebe announced that Big River Steel LLC, a company led by steel magnate John Correnti of Blytheville, plans to build a steel mill in Mississippi County that will employ 525 people. For workers, the average annual salary and bonus will be more than $75,000, according to Correnti, a former chief executive officer for steel maker Nucor Corp. of Charlotte, N.C.

Grant Tennille, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said Thursday that lawmakers could see proposed legislation for the bond issue within the next 10 days.

Hodges said many lawmakers campaigned on trying to deliver more and better jobs to their districts and promised their constituents that they would work hard to do that.

“This project will allow the Legislature to fulfill that promise,” he said.

“We are not the Big River Caucus. We are the Steel Caucus. We feel factories like Nucor Yamato and Nucor Steel have been critical [in providing good-paying] jobs in northeast Arkansas.”

Hodges said the Steel Caucus wasn’t formed because its members are worried about the possibility of the Legislature rejecting the proposed bond issue.

Burnett said it’s an appropriate time to organize a Steel Caucus to support the steel industry because, if the proposed steel mill near Osceola becomes a reality, part of the state will become one of the largest steel-producing areas in the United States.

Hodges said he talked with Nucor Steel officials about participating in the caucus, but he declined to comment about their response.

Katherine Vasilos, a former spokesman for the state Republican Party who works for Noble Strategies lobbying firm, attended the Steel Caucus news conference Thursday as well as the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System’s trustees meeting Monday when the trustees authorized a $60 million investment by the system into the proposed steel mill.

Noble Strategies of Little Rock on Thursday added Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor Corp. to its client list on its lobbyist registration with the secretary of state’s office.

Valerie Hendrix of Noble Strategies referred questions Thursday to Nucor Corp. spokesman Katherine Miller, who could not be reached for comment.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 02/08/2013