Legislative leaders said Friday that they've lined up enough votes to approve more state funding for the state's public school employees health insurance plan and to open up 600 prison and jail beds if Gov. Mike Beebe calls a special session soon.
The governor wants "a significant majority" in the House of Representatives and Senate to back legislation before he'll call legislators into a special session, said Matt DeCample, Beebe's spokesman.
"We are approaching 60 votes" in the 100-member House for the two proposed bills aiding the public school employees health insurance plan, and "we want to get even more support," said Rep. Harold Copenhaver, D-Jonesboro, vice chairman of the Legislature's State and Public School Life and Health Insurance Program Legislative Task Force.
House officials haven't been able to contact about a dozen of the state's 100 representatives to see whether they support the measures, he noted.
Asked how many votes amount to "a significant majority" in the House, DeCample said, "I think [the governor] has a number in mind, but he's not sharing [it]."
He said he doesn't know whether 60 votes in the House would be sufficient.
The legislation would transfer about $4.6 million from school districts to the health insurance plans that cover 47,000 teachers and other public school employees. It would target money that school districts would save in payroll taxes by contributing to their employees' health insurance.
The proposal to shift money from school districts' payroll-tax savings is meant to capture savings that would result from dropping about 4,000 part-time school employees from the plans, he said.
School districts would save about $7 million annually because they would no longer have to contribute toward the cost of the part-time employees' insurance.
The districts are now required to contribute at least $150 per month for each employee enrolled.
The legislation also would adopt and implement recommendations by a legislative task force aimed at improving the insurance plans' finances. These recommendations include dropping part-time school employees from the plans, excluding from coverage employees' spouses who have access to insurance from their own employers and limiting a legislatively mandated program covering weight-loss surgeries.
These measures are aimed at reducing a potential 35 percent rate increase next year, according to their supporters.
Some lawmakers, who are supporting the proposed bills, are lukewarm about them.
State Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, said he's "not wild about [the two proposed bills], but I would be willing to vote for them."
Copenhaver said it's possible that the Legislature may convene in a special session from June 29-July 1 or June 30-July 2, while Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, said the Legislature may convene between June 29-July 1 or sometime close to then.
Asked whether the governor is considering these dates for a possible special session, DeCample said, "That's a step ahead of where we are," adding "there has been some chatter on where it could land."
As for whether the governor next week will call a special session, DeCample said that "depends on what we hear when we touch base with the House. One way or the other, it seems like we'll know next week."
Earlier in the day, DeCample said the governor's office has been advised that the 35-member Senate has secured sufficient votes to handily pass the proposed two bills for the public school employees health insurance plan, but the House "is still too close to call particularly on the bill involving the part-time employees."
"There is a comfortable margin for both measures" in the Senate, said Dismang.
The House and Senate also have lined up enough votes to handily pass a proposed bill to reallocate $6.3 million a year from the state's Central Services Fund to open up 600 state prison and Pulaski County work center beds to relieve the backlog of state prisoners in county jails, DeCample said.
Dismang said the county judges and sheriffs have done a good job of detailing the need for the funds and "the consequences of not doing anything."
"We are at a crisis," and helping fund the opening of 600 beds "gets us a little further down the road to be able to handle the volume" of state prisoners in county jails and reducing the risk to the public by releasing fewer inmates, he said.
The Senate has obtained enough votes to easily pass a proposed bill to bar the state lottery from offering electronic-monitor games that includes keno and quick-draw, while the House "does not believe they are going to get the votes," DeCample said.
Asked about the chances that the House will approve the lottery-related legislation, Copenhaver replied, "It's off the table. ... We don't want distractions" from the public school employees health insurance and prison bills.
Two months ago, the Arkansas Lottery Commission decided to pursue the implementation of electronic-monitor games, a day after a majority of the Legislature's lottery oversight committee -- led by the senators on the committee -- declared its opposition to those games.
Backers of the games compare the games to Powerball and Mega Millions, except drawings would be held every four minutes and results would be shown on monitors similar to television screens set up in some participating locations.
A year ago, lottery oversight committee co-chairman Rep. Mark Perry, D-Jacksonville, who was appointed by House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, urged the lottery commission to consider offering monitor games, including keno, to boost sagging lottery ticket sales and net proceeds for college scholarships.
Three weeks ago, Carter said he's not personally interested in trying to ban these games in a possible special session.
Nonetheless, Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, and Dismang said Friday that they still think there's a chance to obtain sufficient votes in the House to pass the lottery-related bill. Hickey's name is listed on the draft bill.
"We will see what their numbers look like when they are done polling," said Dismang.
Hickey said he's still calling representatives trying to line up support for his proposed bill banning what the legislation calls "multidraw, screen-based lottery games."
"I think it's a close call," he said.
Metro on 06/21/2014