A busload of senators is to travel from Little Rock to Rosie near Batesville this morning to attend this afternoon's funeral for former state Sen. David Wyatt, D-Batesville, who died Monday, senators said Tuesday.
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With the inauguration of Gov. Asa Hutchinson, little business was conducted in either chamber Tuesday. The Senate plans to convene at 9 a.m. today and finish early so that legislators can go pay their respects to Wyatt.
Wyatt, 65, who had been undergoing cancer treatments, served in the Senate from 2009 until this year and was in the state House of Representatives from 2005-09.
He previously was the county judge in Independence County for 20 years.
Several senators told their colleagues Monday that Wyatt was a lighthearted, soft-spoken gentleman who was easy to work with and provided an example to emulate for this year's legislative session.
His funeral is today at 2 p.m. at Maple Springs Missionary Baptist Church in Rosie, according to Roller-Crouch Funeral Home of Batesville.
Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, said the Senate's memorial fund, which senators contribute to each year, will pay about $785 for the bus to transport lawmakers to Wyatt's funeral.
Last year, senators contributed $100 apiece to the fund, and "it's to pay for things like this. There was excess money in that fund, so that's what we are using," Sanders said.
Sen. Bobby Pierce, D-Sheridan, said the senators originally planned to take two buses to Batesville but later decided to pay for one bus and have each senator pay for his own box lunch.
Ann Cornwell, secretary of the Senate, said she's not yet sure how many senators will take the bus to the funeral.
Graham Sloan, executive director for the Arkansas Ethics Commission, said he was asked Tuesday morning whether it was permissible for a lobbyist to pay for a bus for senators to attend a funeral, and he responded that Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution doesn't appear to allow for that.
He declined to disclose who sought the advice because he said he didn't want to discourage people from seeking the commission's advice in the future.
State lawmakers "shall not knowingly or willfully solicit or accept a gift from a lobbyist, a person acting on behalf of a lobbyist, or a person employing or contracting with a lobbyist" under Amendment 94, which voters approved on Nov. 4.
The amendment defines a gift as "any payment, entertainment, advance, services, or anything of value, unless consideration of equal or greater value has been given therefor."
The amendment provides several exemptions for gifts, including "food or drink available at a planned activity to which a specific government body is invited," "anything of value that is readily available to the general public at no cost," and "payments by regional or national organizations for travel to regional or national conferences at which the state of Arkansas is requested to be represented by a person or persons elected or appointed to an office," such as state lawmakers and constitutional officers.
In other action, the House and Senate each approved bills to help pay for each chamber's expenses.
The Senate approved Senate Bill 1 by Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, to appropriate $650,000 for mileage allowances, per diem and maintenance expenses, and general operations and other expenses; $625,000 for salaries of Senate employees and $75,000 for their benefits.
The House approved House Bill 1001 by House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, to appropriate $2.1 million for House employees' salaries and benefits, and for maintenance, operations and expenses.
The House approved House Concurrent Resolution 1002 by Gillam to allow the House and the Senate to recess starting Thursday and reconvene Tuesday. State law bars the House and Senate from meeting on the third Monday in January, which is when the birthdays of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee are observed.
Despite passage of the resolution, Gillam said he expects the House to meet Friday, although he wasn't sure what will be on the agenda. The Senate often takes Fridays off early in the regular session.
Earlier Tuesday, the Joint Budget Committee recommended approval of a bill that among other things, would grant a 1 percent cost-of-living raise to prosecuting attorneys.
The 1 percent raise would increase 25 prosecuting attorneys' salaries from $123,162 to $124,394 a year under House Bill 1023.
The salary increases for state lawmakers, constitutional officers and judges will be decided by the citizens commission created under Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution.
A section on 01/14/2015