Lawmakers are unlikely to consider raising taxes during a special legislative session on highways set to start Thursday, according to legislative leaders and the governor.
But lawmakers are likely to consider proposals other than highway funding, as various interests take advantage of the opportunity to pursue legislation during the special session.
The decision to avoid a tax increase sets up future debates on road funding and whether fuel taxes should be raised to pay for highway improvements.
"I'm not in favor of a highway plan that calls for tax increases," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday in an interview. "Mine does not, and that's what we're going to put on the call."
Nearly four months ago, Hutchinson proposed a highway funding plan that wouldn't raise taxes. Instead, he proposed using some state surplus funds and reallocating other funds to increase the state's match for federal highway dollars that will become available this fall.
But at least two alternatives had been developed by lawmakers who said they do not believe Hutchinson's plan -- which is dependent on tax revenue increasing as the economy improves -- is a long-term solution.
Rep. Joe Jett, D-Success, had developed a plan to raise fuel taxes immediately -- but cut other taxes in future years. He said Wednesday that plan would not be considered in the session.
Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, who is championing a fuel-tax increase, said Friday that his plan was far from dead.
"We have a bill prepared," he said. "The members do have it. Anything past that, I don't really have anything to add."
The power to call a special session rests with Hutchinson, who sets the agenda. A formal call had not been issued as of Friday evening, but it could be issued Monday, said J.R. Davis, a spokesman for the governor.
Hickey said he hasn't had any conversations with the governor's office about whether his proposal would be included on the call.
House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, said there wasn't consensus on a tax increase and it was unlikely to be included on the governor's call.
"There were definitely a few that are very vocal, but I don't know how -- overall -- the chamber would feel," he said. "I don't have any idea whether they got support for it or not."
But in future legislative sessions, lawmakers could build on the governor's plan, he said.
"If the membership, the governor and the state really want us to alter or supplement the current funding model and structure, then we're going to have to," he said. "There are a lot of ideas on how to get there."
In the meantime, there are five to 15 items that could appear on the special session's agenda.
HIGHWAY OVERSIGHT
Lawmakers are likely to consider a measure to provide increased oversight of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, Gillam said.
Rep. Andy Davis, R-Little Rock, who penned the measure, said it would require the department to report its criteria for distributing funds and provide updates on large construction projects to a subcommittee of the Legislative Council. The council meets when the Legislature is not in session to keep tabs on what is happening in state government.
"This would put the Highway Department in a better light and put them in a better position to ask the General Assembly for additional funding," he said. "This is forced communication."
Gillam said he fully supported additional oversight over the department.
The measure would not enable the Legislature to approve or reject any department decision, Davis said.
Amendment 42 to the Arkansas Constitution states in part: "There is hereby created a State Highway Commission, which shall be vested with all the powers and duties now or hereafter imposed by law for the administration of the State Highway Department, together with all powers necessary or proper to enable the Commission or any of its officers or employees to carry out fully and effectively the regulations and laws relating to the State Highway Department."
Also known as the Mack-Blackwell Amendment, it was enacted in 1952 in response to allegations of corruption and favoritism; it was intended to insulate the Highway Department from political interference.
LEVEES
Both Gillam, and a sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, expect that a proposal aimed at improving the state's patchwork network of flood-prevention levees will make Hutchinson's call.
Rapert said Friday that he has an assurance from Hutchinson that the item -- which will require local levee boards to report to state officials on the condition of their levees -- will make the call and shouldn't be controversial.
Last year's flooding drew Rapert's attention to the fact that state officials had no idea how many levees were operating, let alone whether they were compromised.
Rapert's legislation would allow county judges to fill vacancies on levee boards that have become inoperable and also require working levee boards to submit reports to the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.
"We were in crisis mode [last year] ... and I found it unusual that there was no state entity that was responsible to allow the state to assess where the critical areas were or what needed to be done," Rapert said. "Hopefully, this will allow the state to accumulate information about how many levees we have in the state and if they're operating correctly or not."
SECURITY
Multiple lawmakers said it is likely that the governor will include a measure on his call aimed at walking back a 2015 law that resulted in some private security guards and alarm technicians losing their jobs.
In 2015, the governor's nephew, Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, sponsored a bill that ended the board that regulated licenses for security guards and alarm technicians and gave that power to the Arkansas State Police.
The senator said he pushed for the change because the licensing board was not following the law and there were documented instances of sex offenders and other criminals getting licenses.
The problem, according to Sen. Hutchinson, was that once SB164 went into effect, many longtime workers in the private-security field were unable to obtain licenses because of past misdemeanors, some dating back decades for such crimes as failing to appear in court over a traffic ticket.
"We realized the law was entirely too strict," Sen. Hutchinson said. "We're trying to strike a middle ground. We made improvements last session but probably went too far."
The senator said new legislation would focus on keeping licenses out of the hands of those convicted of more-serious crimes.
Gillam said the fix's inclusion was likely. He said he heard "a lot" of discussion among lawmakers and the governor's staff about the oversight and ways to better craft a solution.
PULASKI COUNTY ELECTIONS
Gillam said lawmakers plan to change a state law that raised financial and logistical issues for Pulaski County because it planned to hold a school board election for the Pulaski County Special School District -- the first since 2010 -- in conjunction with the Nov. 8 general election.
Bryan Poe, the county's director of elections, had said that unless the Legislature made changes, Pulaski County Special School District voters in November will be given two ballots -- a school board ballot and a general-election ballot.
Most voters, about 67,000, would have to go through separate lines at polling places to sign two poll books and mark the two ballots, Poe said. As many as 7,230 potential voters, however, would have to go to two polling locations to vote on a school board member and on a new U.S. president and a U.S. senator.
Lawmakers plan to change the code that says school elections must have separate polling locations and ballots, Gillam said.
"It's going to be a cost-saving measure for sure, but it's also a logistical solution for them so they don't have to have two different polling sites on the exact same day," he said. "It's something I'm supportive of us fixing."
BROYLES BILL
Gillam said Friday that he knew a twice-failed measure aimed at protecting the property rights to celebrity likenesses is "in the mix" for the call.
The proposal, pushed by Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, would give a person a right to his name, voice, signature and likeness, one that could be transferable and inherited and wouldn't end with the death of the person.
Woods first proposed the new law during the 2015 legislative session after being approached by the family of famed University of Arkansas football coach and athletic director Frank Broyles. The family members said many people were selling products with Broyles' name or likeness without their permission.
Gov. Hutchinson vetoed Woods' first bill, arguing it went too far and could result in undue litigation as well as hamper some rights to free expression.
After the bill was amended to Hutchinson's liking, it failed to get out of committee.
Many groups that had once opposed the bill -- including the Motion Picture Association and video-game producers -- are now on board with the measure, Woods said.
The bill would allow a "fair use" exception for newspapers and other media outlets as well as creative-content producers.
Woods said it's just a matter of hoping the governor agrees to put it on the call.
"What I don't want to do is hurt freedom of speech and take away from freedom speech. There were a lot of concerns there," Woods said. "As long as we make sure people aren't profiting off someone else's likeness for commercial use then we're all on the same page."
Restrooms
An advisory directive Friday from the federal government that instructed public schools to allow transgender students to use the restroom corresponding with the gender the student identifies with and not necessarily the sex on the student's birth certificate drew heated opposition from state leaders, including the governor and attorney general.
The directive -- which came shortly after suits were filed in federal court over a new North Carolina law that prohibits transgender people from public restrooms that don't correspond with their gender at birth -- also rankled some Arkansas lawmakers, but so far, leadership wasn't aware of any heavy push for a similar bill for this special session.
Gillam said Friday that he doesn't know of any formal push for a "bathroom bill" yet but said that could change by the end of the weekend.
For Gillam, the issue is a complicated one that he expects would require "a lot of conversations" among lawmakers as well as with school districts. He thinks most of the members of his chamber are more focused on the issues already being considered for the special session.
"This is going to be one of those things that, everybody, taking their time, being patient, looking at the actual dynamics of it here in Arkansas would probably be the most prudent at this point," Gillam said. "I know it's emotional. But I think probably for us, to handle it in a responsible way ... we'll need to take our time and look at this."
Gillam said the issue would probably have to wait until the next regular session in January, but he didn't see a reason to supplant local control.
"I don't think it's going away," Gillam said. "I don't see a sense of urgency to reinvent the wheel on this."
Rapert said he was among a number of lawmakers angered by the directive from President Barack Obama's administration but wasn't sure if there would be enough time to get a restroom bill on the call.
"Whether it's on the call or not, you're going to have a lot of legislators who want to bring the issue up ... it may be that the governor wants to address it," Rapert said. "They've gone too far."
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