Legislature OKs bill lacking raises for elected officials in Arkansas

A bill that would grant no raises to the state’s elected officials in the fiscal year starting in July sailed through the Arkansas Senate on Wednesday.

With no debate, the Senate voted 33-0 to send House Bill 1024 to Gov. Mike Beebe, a day after the legislation cleared the House.

The state’s elected officials haven’t received raises during fiscal 2011, 2012 or 2013 either, according to the Bureau of Legislative Research.

But the Legislature’s budget committee leaders said they expect the Legislature to consider granting pay raises to the state’s prosecutors and judges later in this year’s session after they get a better handle on the state’s finances for fiscal 2014, particularly the state’s projected $298 million Medicaid shortfall. They said they expect lawmakers to consider granting cost-of-living raises to state employees later in the session, too.

Last week, the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee voted to strip 2 percent cost-of-living raises for judges and prosecutors out of this bill, raises that were projected to cost about $651,000 in fiscal 2014.

Under HB1024, 99 representatives and 34 senators would continue to receive an annual salary of $15,869 and the House speaker and Senate president pro tempore would earn $17,771 in fiscal 2014.

The governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general’s salaries would stay at $86,890, $41,896, and $72,408 a year, respectively, and the salaries for the treasurer, secretary of state, land commissioner and state auditor would be $54,305.

The chief justice’s salary would continue to be $156,864 a year, and pay for the Supreme Court’s other six justices would be $145,204. The salary for the Court of Appeals’ chief judge would be maintained at $142,969, and pay for the court’s 11 other judges would be $140,732.

The annual salaries of 121 circuit judges would stay at $136,257, and those for 38 district judges would be $121,816. The annual salaries of 25 prosecuting attorneys would continue to be $119,552, and the pay for three other prosecuting attorneys would be $100,037.

MILITARY TRANSFERS

The Senate Education Committee approved legislation that would make it easier for children of military parents to transfer to Arkansas schools. It includes ensuring that credits transfer between states, giving extra excused absences to children of deployed parents and making sure education records follow the family.

It is Senate Bill 15 by Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot.

If approved, Arkansas would join the Interstate Commission on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The legislation also would create a state council.

According to the Council of State Governments, Arkansas is one of seven states that has not approved the compact. The others are Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York and Oregon.

Committee chairman Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, said it is important to help children make the transition.

“It will help Arkansas to help collaborate better with these families and these military institutions that they are coming from and the schools in those areas,” Key said after the meeting.

Beebe mentioned in his State of the State address that he supported the compact.

SEX OFFENDERS

The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed a bill to impose more restrictions on certain sex offenders and another bill to impose a fee on certain sex offenders.

Senate Bill 12, proposed by Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, would make it a Class D felony for Level 3 or Level 4 sex offenders to enter a swimming area or children’s playground at a state park.

The bill was presented to Irvin by the state Department of Parks and Tourism, which had representatives at the meeting who asked for its passage.

Advocates for convicted sex offenders opposed the bill.

One of the advocates, Lynn Gilmore, is with Sex Offender Solutions and Education Network, which provides information on sex-offender laws and issues, and Arkansas Time After Time, a legislative advocacy group that raises awareness about sex-offender laws.

Gilmore said the bill would just be punishing sex offenders for something they did in the past and make it harder for them to move on with their lives.

“I know many sex offenders have families, and when you punish a sex offender you not only punish them, you punish that family member,” Gilmore said.

Senate Bill 56, sponsored by Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, would require sex offenders who relocate to the state to pay a $250 fee within 90 days of registration.

The committee amended the bill to include a provision that made the inability to pay the fee a valid defense, and it was then approved by the committee.

Sex offenders convicted in the state already pay the $250 fee. Half goes to the state Department of Correction’s sex-offender assessment program and half to the Arkansas Crime Information Center for a sex-offender registry.

FAYETTEVILLE SHALE CAUCUS

The Legislature’s Fayetteville Shale Caucus voted Wednesday to rename itself the Arkansas Legislative Oil and Natural Gas Caucus and appoint Sen. Jason Rapert, R Bigelow, and Rep. Jonathan Barnett, R-Siloam Springs, as its co-chairmen.

In 2011, 16 lawmakers formed the Fayetteville Shale Caucus aimed at protecting the area from proposed legislation that would have provided more regulation of activities in the Fayetteville Shale.

More than 20 lawmakers attending the caucus’s meeting Wednesday voted to change the name after Rapert said some people suggested the name needed to be broad enough to include southern Arkansas oil interests as well as western Arkansas natural gas interests.

Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Gravette, told the group that he is drafting legislation to authorize a pilot project for a school district to use compressed natural gas in their buses.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 01/24/2013

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