SPRINGDALE -- Passing 14 major pieces of legislation in three days would be a rushed mistake even if it's possible, three Democratic lawmakers from Washington County said Tuesday of the upcoming special legislative session.
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Gov. Asa Hutchinson set the agenda for the session, which is set to begin Thursday. He said Tuesday almost all the items on it were added at the request of legislative leaders and only after sponsors had lined up the needed votes to pass the measures.
"The highway bill is mine," he said.
Democrats are the minority party in both the House and Senate.
"The call is, I think, onerous," said Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville.
None of the 14 items listed are minor and several have major budget and policy consequences, he said. Lindsey and state Reps. Greg Leding and David Whitaker, both D-Fayetteville, spoke at the Senior Democrats of Northwest Arkansas.
The Legislature convenes once a year -- in regular sessions each January that follows a general election and again for a budget-only session in February of even-numbered years. The Legislature can only meet in special session if the governor calls for one, and only for matters determined by the governor.
Hutchinson announced in January he would call a special session to come up with $47 million for highways in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. He announced this after Congress passed a highway bill requiring states to come up with more taxpayer money to get more federal money.
Lindsey, Leding and Whitaker expected little besides highways to be on the agenda.
"We're supposed to do all this in three days, and one of the bills is 89 pages long," Lindsey said. "On page 30, you find out it does away with the state's Autism Task Force and replaces it with a body that is appointed and where the governor and the legislative leadership can control the outcome."
Another proposal could take a portion of the one-eighth percent state sales for conservation from the states Parks and Tourism Department and transfer it to another agency, he said. Voters approved that tax and the distribution of it in 1996.
Other than emergency highway funding, "I don't think there's an item here that couldn't have waited until January," Leding said.
Whitaker agreed, saying he hasn't had any opportunity to review most of the items, and he expects to vote for money for highways in the next fiscal year and little else. Whitaker expects several of the items to be delayed until the general session begins in January.
Commentary on 05/18/2016