Legislators' plate full for session

Taxes, private option, prisons among weighty 2015 issues

Joyce Bryant polishes the brass railing on the gallery above the House chamber Thursday at the state Capitol.
Joyce Bryant polishes the brass railing on the gallery above the House chamber Thursday at the state Capitol.

The 90th General Assembly will grapple with how deeply to cut taxes, whether to continue providing private health insurance for poor Arkansans, and the possibility of further restrictions on abortion.


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The Republican-controlled Legislature also will enact a state budget for fiscal 2016, deciding how much money to give public schools, the Medicaid program and the state's prisons, and how to distribute surplus funds estimated at $215 million. In addition, legislators are expected to debate whether to repeal the state's Common Core standards, loosen restrictions on charter schools or abolish the Arkansas Lottery Commission and have the governor hire the lottery director.

The state House and Senate are to convene Monday at noon for the start of this year's regular legislative session.

The House will have 64 Republicans and 36 Democrats. The Senate will have 23 Republicans and 11 Democrats, and one vacancy.

House Speaker-designate Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, and Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, said they're aiming for an 85-day session. The regular legislative session in 2013 lasted 101 days.

This year's session will be the first since since the November elections, when Republicans won in each of the state's seven constitutional offices.

Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson, a Republican from Rogers, and the others will be sworn in on Tuesday.

TAX CUTS

Hutchinson wants the Legislature to enact his income tax plan, which he said would reduce state general revenue by $50 million in fiscal 2016 and $100 million in fiscal 2017.

Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe has recommended that the Legislature delay for two years more than $20 million a year in tax cuts that were approved in 2013, saying the state doesn't have enough revenue to cover them without harming essential state services.

Hutchinson said delaying some of the tax cuts enacted in 2013 is "on the table" for discussion with lawmakers.

And some lawmakers say they favor tax cuts that go beyond those proposed by Hutchinson, including exempting retired military benefits from the state income tax and approving tax cuts designed to encourage creation of manufacturing jobs in the state.

PRIVATE OPTION

Many legislators said they're awaiting word from Hutchinson on how he plans to move forward with health care and Medicaid programs, including the private-option Medicaid expansion. Hutchinson said he'll give a speech by the end of this month on that topic.

More than a dozen of the incoming freshman lawmakers campaigned against the private option, making obtaining the three-fourths approval required in the House and Senate to continue the program more difficult. Funding for the program barely passed in the Legislature in 2013 and 2014.

Several legislators suggested that a cap on the program's enrollment or tying its benefits to work requirements might win their support, but the state would likely need to ask the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for a waiver to implement such changes. Kate Luck, a spokesman for the Department of Human Services, said those conversations are not yet taking place.

"Mainly what [we] are doing right now is kind of seeing what's been approved in other states to give us kind of a guideline of what might be approved here," she said. "From CMS, we've seen a lot of increased flexibility in the things that they've approved over the past couple years. We hope they'll continue to work with us as they continue to look at any changes that might come to the program."

Dismang, who is one of the original legislative architects of the program, said he does not plan to let the program die, but he anticipates significant changes.

"To say that I would just step aside and let the program go away, no that's not the position that I see myself in," he said. "I think ... the opponents of the program have a very valid concern in the long-term cost that will be on the state of Arkansas."

Initially, the federal government covers 100 percent of the cost for the Medicaid expansion. But beginning in fiscal 2017, the state will have to pay 5 percent of the cost, which will gradually increase to 10 percent by fiscal 2020.

PRISONS

Legislators and Hutchinson said they want to fix the state's prisons and parole system.

After a series of tighter parole policies in the summer of 2013, the number of parolees returning to prison skyrocketed, pushing the inmate population to 17,902 as of Friday. The prisons were designed to hold no more than 14,331 inmates at a time.

The overflow has affected more than prisons. As of Friday, there were 2,121 state prisoners being held in county jails.

To relieve stress on current state facilities and free up space in county jails, the Arkansas Department of Correction proposed construction of a $100 million, 1,000-bed maximum security lockup.

But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, who is a nephew of Asa Hutchinson, said the pitch for a new prison won't be successful.

"I think we do need more bed space. I know that [prison officials are] looking at expansion of existing facilities. There are private prisons ... there are things to consider," he said.

Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, has floated the idea of contracting incarceration services with a Louisiana-based operator, LaSalle Southwest Corrections, which said it could house state inmates for roughly half of what it costs at state facilities.

Jeremy Hutchinson said that's an avenue that needs to be considered, although he concedes that it raises some legal quandaries that would have to be worked out. "What's generating interest [in private prison services] is using it as a short term Band-Aid, sending some of our inmates out of state to private prisons just to ease the overcrowding."

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The biennial educational adequacy report will ask for a raise in starting pay for teachers while making other K-12 funding formula adjustments. The Legislature will face finding money to eliminate a $65 million gap between available funding and actual school facility needs.

Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, said he and a handful of other legislators have been working on a package of bills that would address growing dissatisfaction over Common Core, a set of common math and English standards adopted by most of the 50 states. Opponents argue that the standards take away from local control over education.

Lowery said one of the bills could seek to repeal the standards or alter them significantly. If that fails, other legislation would limit the 400 pieces of information that the state Department of Education can collect about students as part of the program.

A third bill will ask to place a moratorium on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exams that are administered in grades three through 11. Several states around the country, including Colorado and New Jersey, have delayed the tests or are allowing individual districts to opt out of the testing.

Asa Hutchinson said he wants the state's education commissioner to work with a task force of educators and teachers to review the Common Core standards and recommend changes.

He said he wants the Legislature to change state law to grant high school students core graduation credit in math or science for taking computer science or computer coding classes.

Legislators said they've also talked about possible legislation to change the charter school approval process and to provide waivers in the state's school consolidation requirements for districts that drop below 350-student enrollments -- an idea that Asa Hutchinson favors. Lawmakers said they'll consider reauthorizing the state's public school choice law and requiring school district elections to be held in conjunction with the state's other elections.

WORKFORCE EDUCATION

Senate Education Committee Chairman Jane English, R-North Little Rock, said she'll introduce three bills to improve and better coordinate the state's wide-ranging workforce education efforts.

But she said she won't reveal details until she runs them past Asa Hutchinson.

Asa Hutchinson said he wants the Legislature to create eight regional councils to guide the state's fragmented workforce-training program, after he appoints a director of the state Department of Career Education.

ABORTION

Three bills to strengthen restrictions on abortion or groups that perform abortions are being planned in the Senate, after a session where two of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country were approved -- banning most abortions 12 and 20 weeks into a woman's pregnancy.

The 12-week ban was struck down by a federal judge, and the state has filed an appeal in that case.

Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, said he plans to refile legislation similar to the bill he submitted in 2013 to prevent the state from awarding any grants to groups, such as Planned Parenthood, that perform abortions or make referrals for the procedures. Stubblefield's bill passed in the Senate in 2013 but fell one vote short of passage in the House of Representatives.

Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, said he also plans to revive another abortion-related bill.

The "informed consent" bill would require a woman seeking an abortion to be given a description of how the procedure is performed, the short- and long-term medical risks that can follow the procedure, alternatives to abortion as well as a description of the physical characteristics of the fetus at the time of the abortion.

Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, and freshman Rep.-elect Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, said they plan to submit legislation to prevent the practice of abortion-pill telemedicine.

The measure would require the physical presence of a doctor when the pill is administered, rather than allowing a doctor to view the abortion and any effects via a webcam or video stream.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, said some lawmakers are interested in proposing a constitutional amendment to allow the governor to retain his constitutional powers when he travels to other states.

He said he hopes to reach a compromise on a proposed constitutional amendment to enact tort law changes with the four Democrats on the eight-member committee. He declined to discuss details.

Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, said he would push a proposed constitutional amendment to require voters to present photo identification in order to cast their ballots, although he's not optimistic about it clearing the Senate committee.

Senate Democratic leader Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, said he and Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, will propose a constitutional amendment to get rid of the lieutenant governor's office and have the attorney general assume the governorship if the governor is no longer able to serve.

A section on 01/11/2015

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