Opponents of an anti-discrimination ordinance in Eureka Springs say they will circulate petitions to force a citywide vote on the issue.
Travis Story, a Fayetteville lawyer, said he is working with a group in Eureka Springs on the petition referendum to repeal Ordinance 2223, which was passed unanimously by the City Council on Feb. 9 and signed by Mayor Robert "Butch" Berry the next day.
The new Eureka Springs law prohibits discrimination based on "real or perceived" sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or socioeconomic background in areas including employment, housing and business.
Eureka Springs is the only city in Arkansas with such a law.
On Friday, the Arkansas Legislature passed Senate Bill 202, which prevents cities and counties from enacting or enforcing ordinances like the one in Eureka Springs. The state law will take effect three months after the current session of the Legislature ends. In the meantime, Eureka Springs' anti-discrimination ordinance is in effect and there's no plan to change that, Berry said.
Story worked to repeal a similar ordinance in Fayetteville last year. On Dec. 9, Fayetteville voters repealed Ordinance 5703 by a vote of 52 percent to 48 percent. The ordinance, which was passed by the City Council in August, would have added a Chapter 119 to city code. The opposition group was called Repeal 119. The Fayetteville ordinance was the impetus for SB202.
Story said he was contacted by a group in Eureka Springs on Friday because of his experience fighting the ordinance in Fayetteville. Story wouldn't provide names of anyone in the group, which he called Repeal 2223.
He said that he will have 25 to 35 volunteer canvassers on the streets of Eureka Springs, possibly as early as Friday. He said the canvassers would be trained today. Story said the group has a month to gather signatures, but it shouldn't take nearly that long.
"I think we'll have a lot of the signatures by the end of the week," Story said. "I think it could be very quick."
They will need 96 signatures from registered voters. That's 15 percent of the 637 people who voted in the 2014 mayoral election, when Berry ran unopposed. The formula is specified in Article 5, Section 1, of the Arkansas Constitution.
Berry said it won't be difficult for Story to get the signatures to force a referendum.
"But I'd be surprised if it passes if it comes before a vote of the public," he said.
Story said the process will be easier in Eureka Springs because of the groundwork done in Fayetteville, where 4,095 signatures were needed and the opposition group got more than 5,700.
"We're just trying to help them do the same thing we did in Fayetteville," he said.
Carroll County Justice of the Peace Lamont Richie, who lives in Eureka Springs, said he believes people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are subject to discrimination in the public sector solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
"The fact that a petition has been prepared to repeal that ordinance indicates that there is a desire for that discrimination to continue unchecked," Richie said. "I find it difficult to comprehend that there are people in Eureka Springs who are content knowing that someone can be fired or denied service at a restaurant or a lodging facility just because they are gay."
Richie, a former lawyer, drafted Eureka Springs' Ordinance 2223 using Fayetteville's Ordinance 5703 as a template.
A major difference, Richie said, is Fayetteville's ordinance called for a separate civil-rights administrator. According to the Eureka Springs ordinance, the mayor will also serve as the civil-rights administrator.
The Eureka Springs ordinance provides anti-discrimination protections for residents and visitors. Attempts to settle disputes will be made through mediation. Fines for violations range from $100 to $500.
Eureka Springs is often at the vanguard of gay-rights issues in Arkansas. The first same-sex marriage licenses in Arkansas were issued in Eureka Springs in May. The city has had a domestic partnership registry since 2007 and has made health insurance coverage available for domestic partners of city employees since 2011.
The Eureka Springs City Council considered an anti-discrimination ordinance in September, but voted it down 3-2, with some council members saying the law was unnecessary in such an open-minded city. But there wasn't a draft ordinance for consideration at that meeting. Five months later, there was.
Story complained about the way the Eureka Springs City Council rushed Ordinance 2223 through three readings at one meeting, on Feb. 9, so it would become city law before SB202 passed in the Legislature later that week. The ordinance wasn't even on the agenda, he said.
That kept people in the city from being able to read the proposed ordinance ahead of time and voicing concerns at council meetings, said Story.
Story said Eureka Springs' ordinance is attempting to add four classes that aren't protected under state or federal law: sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or socioeconomic background.
Determining protected classes is normally something done by the U.S. Supreme Court, said Story, adding that Eureka Springs was trying to "circumvent the normal test to established protected classes."
SB202 prohibits cities, counties and other political subdivisions from enacting or enforcing an ordinance that "creates a protected classification or prohibits discrimination on a basis not contained in state law."
State Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, introduced SB202 on Feb. 2. It passed 24-8 in the Senate and 58-21 in the House, where it was sponsored by Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he will neither sign nor veto the bill.
SB202 says its purpose "is to improve intrastate commerce by ensuring that businesses, organizations and employers doing business in the state are subject to uniform nondiscrimination laws and obligations."
An ordinance similar to the one in Eureka Springs may be in the works in Little Rock.
Little Rock City Director Kathy Webb wants the city Board of Directors to adopt an ordinance that makes discrimination based on sexual orientation illegal before SB202 goes into effect later this year.
Metro on 02/19/2015