Health plan vote irks some, Northwest Arkansas lawmaker says

Harris backs governor’s plan

FAYETTEVILLE -- Most constituents accept his decision to support the governor's plan on health care, but there was some backlash, a Northwest Arkansas lawmaker said at a legislative forum in Fayetteville on Friday.

Rep. Justin Harris, R-West Fork, was the only one of five lawmakers attending a Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce forum Friday afternoon who voted against the "private option" health care plan in 2013. This week, he voted for the governor's plan to extend the private option's provisions while a task force searches for a broader reform of state policy on health care.

"You find out how many haters you have on both sides," Harris said. Most of his constituents opposed the option in 2013 but some supported it and were angry at him then. Now some who supported his 2013 vote accuse him of switching sides.

"'No integrity,' 'flipping,' 'going back on your word,' 'doing what the new governor wants,' things like that," Harris said about remarks he has received after the vote, speaking after the forum. He doesn't regret either of his votes on the issue, he said. "They know me," he said of his constituents. "In the end they understand that this (2015 bill) ends it and that is when the fight is going to be."

Both the governor's plan and the budget bill paying for it passed easily in the recent votes, although the budget bill required a super-majority of a three-quarters vote in each chamber.

Settling the health care question and passing a $100 million income tax cut Gov. Asa Hutchinson proposed were major, early accomplishments of the session, said Sen. Uvalde Lindsey. Harris and Lindsey were joined by Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, and Reps. David Whitaker and Greg Leding, both D-Fayetteville, at the chamber forum.

"We're in a surprisingly good place," Lindsey said. Others agreed. Whitaker told the audience: "I'm happy and surprised to report that peace has broken out." The current legislative session is the first since the 19th century in which Republicans have majorities in both chambers of the Legislature and the governorship.

"The thing about the governor's plan on health care is that it finally takes the tunnel vision off the private option and looks at the whole health care system," said Whitaker, a former chairman of the Democratic Party in Washington County.

Collins agreed, noting increased federal health care spending that came with the emergency federal stimulus spending of 2009 is phasing out. State health care spending will increase rapidly if reform doesn't take place, he said.

On other issues, Whitaker said he would back Leding's House Bill 1274, which would extend pension and health benefits to certain types of cancers for firefighters and their survivors. Fayetteville resident Bud Planchon died in 2014 from cancer while pursuing claims the cancer was work-related.

"When you have cancer, it's a battle to get out of bed, much less go to Little Rock for hearing after hearing, stonewall after stonewall," Whitaker said.

Another bill would prevent Fayetteville from reintroducing its Civil Rights Administration ordinance, which sought to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender issues. The ordinance was repealed in a special election. Lindsey, who opposes the bill, said Senate Bill 202 by Sen. Bart Hester, R-Bentonville, will go to a Senate vote next week and is likely to pass.

Collins called SB 202 a response to "overreach" by the ordinance supporters and the city. Leding replied the bill would compound the city's mistake by making a statewide one that overreacts. "The city bungled the process," Leding said. "That's undeniable." But more than 200 cities in the United States have passed similar ordinances without any of the ill effects supporters of SB 202 are trying to forestall, he said.

The subject of Collins' bill to allow concealed carry permit holders to bring their guns to university campuses didn't come up. House Bill 1077 stalled in the House Education committee in a 10-10 tie. Collins will talk to opponents of the bill on the committee to see if there are changes he can make or votes he can secure, he said after the forum. He's also considering filing a new bill allowing concealed carry in other public places, such as state parks, besides university campuses, he said. Such a bill could be assigned to another committee, he said.

Some form of "stand your ground" legislation will pass, Leding said at the forum. Leding opposes such legislation allowing use of deadly force if a person feels threatened without requiring him to attempt to retreat first.

"We can't stop it," he said, deriding the proposal as "kill the witness" legislation.

"All you have to do is say that you felt threatened after you shoot somebody," Leding said. Harris and Collins took exception to that phrasing, saying people have a right to defend themselves.

Doug Thompson can be reached by email at nwadg.com.

NW News on 02/07/2015

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