State Sen. David Johnson, D-Little Rock, was surprised to read on a blog nearly two weeks ago that he voted for a bill allowing employees of the state’s colleges and universities with concealed-carry permits to carry weapons on campus.
He said he intended to vote against the legislation because he worried that it would increase the possibility of accidental shootings on college campuses. The measure, which is now Act 226, allows the governing board of a university or college to opt out of allowing employees with permits to carry concealed weapons on campus.
But he said he learned about his “yes” vote several hours after the Senate voted 31-4 on Feb. 25 to send the measure to Gov. Mike Beebe.
So Johnson submitted a letter for the Senate journal, which is the official record of the Senate’s legislative actions. In it, he stated that he “was distracted and accidentally was recorded as voting” for the bill, and he “should have been recorded as voting NO on this piece of legislation.”
He’s one of 11 state senators who have submitted such letters to explain their votes or the votes they would have cast on measures ranging from abortion to fee and tax increases to guns during the first eight weeks of the 2013 session.
The lawmakers range from first year Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, to Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, who has served 10 years in the Legislature.
During the regular legislative session in 2011, five such letters were submitted in the Senate.
In contrast, only eight such letters have been filed in the House journal so far this session - and the House has nearly three times as many members.
Representatives filed 39 letters in the 2011 session; 24 in 2009; and 27 in 2007.
The letters say how lawmakers intended to vote on various bills, including on overriding the governor’s veto of legislation this year. Sometimes lawmakers who missed a vote sent a letter explaining how they would have voted if they hadn’t been absent.
The letters in the House and Senate journals don’t change the outcome or alter the vote tally.
But they are designed to correct the record, to respond to present criticism or to deflect future political attacks, among other reasons.
Statehouse veterans say mistakes can happen in a regular legislative session in which lawmakers generally file more than 2,000 bills of varying lengths and with differing levels of complexity.
“Sometimes you don’t hear them good,” Senate Director Ann Cornwell said, referring to senators’ voice votes.
“‘Yeh’ and ‘Neh’ are real close together,” she said.
Sometimes, senators use thumbs-up or thumbs-down gestures to indicate their votes. Sometimes, a senator who has stepped out of the chamber asks a colleague to vote for him and the message gets garbled.
In Johnson’s case, he told University of Arkansas at Little Rock Chancellor Joel Anderson in an e-mail on Feb. 25 that “I see this evening that my vote on the guns on campus bill today was counted as a ‘yes’ vote.
“I was outside the chamber when the vote came up and had intended to be counted either as a “no” vote or not voting, at worst. I regret that happened. Just wanted you to know. David Johnson,” according to a copy of Johnson’s e-mail provided by a UALR spokesman.
In Clark’s case, he submitted a letter dated Jan. 17 for the Senate journal that says he was incorrectly recorded on that day as not voting on Senate Bill 4.
The bill, which is now Act 7, allows four community colleges originally created as technical schools, including National Park Community College in Hot Springs, to hold millage elections for capital improvements on campus.
“I should have been recorded as voting ‘yes’ on this piece of legislation,” Clark wrote.
Clark said the bill was the only vote on the Senate’s calendar on Jan. 17, the first Thursday of the session, and he left instructions with the Senate staff “to vote me ‘yes’” for the bill because he planned to work at his business that day, which he did.
He said the staff “dropped the ball.”
Then, Clark said, he got a call from National Park Community College President Sally Carder, who wondered why he was recorded as not voting for it, so he submitted a letter for the Senate journal.
It’s important that people in his district know that he intended to vote for the measure, he said.
Five of the 11 letters filed by senators so far deal with their votes or intended votes on abortion bills.
On Feb. 18, Democratic state Sens. David Burnett of Osceola and Eddie Cheatham of Crossett submitted letters stating that they were incorrectly recorded as not voting on House Bill 1037 on that day and they should have been recorded as voting “NO.” The bill banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy is now Act 171.
Cheatham said he was off the Senate floor when the vote was taken, and he intended to vote against the bill.
Years ago, a friend chastised him for not voting on a bill and “straddling the fence,” he explained, and “since then, I try to make sure I vote on everything.”
On Feb. 28, Republican Sens. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, and Jake Files, R-Fort Smith, submitted letters stating that they would have voted “YES” to override Beebe’s veto of HB1037 if they had been in the Senate chamber when the vote was held.
Rapert, who has sponsored successful anti-abortion legislation this session, said he “was late [to the Senate] from another meeting, and I had actually asked them to record my vote, but somebody didn’t do that so I have taken care of that myself.”
Sen. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs, submitted a letter dated Tuesday that says he would have voted to override the governor’s veto on Senate Bill 134 if he had been in the chamber when the vote occurred. That bill, sponsored by Rapert and now Act 301, bans most abortions after 12 weeks of gestation.
Bledsoe submitted a letter dated Feb. 25 for the Senate journal in which she said she was distracted and accidentally was recorded as voting for Senate Bill 307 that day. She should have been recorded as voting “NO” on it, she said.
The bill - sponsored by Johnson and now Act 282- raises and creates certain court fees to help pay the salaries of trial court assistants.
Bledsoe said she was distracted in some way at the time of the vote. She inadvertently voted for the bill and then she realized she made a mistake in voting for it, prompting her to submit a letter for the Senate journal afterward, she said.
Another Northwest Arkansas lawmaker - state Rep. Randy Alexander, R-Fayetteville - submitted a letter Tuesday for the House journal. In it, he says SB134 “registered a ‘non-voting’ vote for me” and “it was my intention to vote ‘yes’ on this bill” to override Beebe’s veto.
Alexander said he thought he pushed a button to vote for overriding Beebe’s veto, but he later got a note from Rep. Charlotte Douglas, R-Alma, asking him why he didn’t vote. He said he wrote her back and told her that he did vote to override the veto, but she told him “your name didn’t light up” on the House’s electronic voting system.
“Whether it was a malfunction or I just pushed the side of the button, I don’t know,” he said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/11/2013