Once again, the governor used a legislative detour to get where he wanted to go on a vital piece of legislation.
Being adept at such things is an advantage, but the cautious among us wonder how long this luck is going to last.
The governor hit a speed bump in getting his highway bill through the Senate Transportation Committee. A bill had to be passed to take advantage of a serious, new amount of taxpayer money being offered by the federal government. So the governor's allies got his measure reassigned to Senate Tax and Revenue by a full Senate vote. It got through that committee just fine. All's well that ends well, for now.
So far, Gov. Asa Hutchinson's ability to adapt to changing circumstances and unexpected developments has been a boon to both himself and the state. His handling of the "religious freedom" issue in his first session impressed many. On another issue, I'm not sure any other politician in Arkansas could have saved the "Arkansas Works" health care plan, although the governor's standing as a Republican's Republican helped mightily with that.
Even so, "Arkansas Works" was close. It also required the bit of stage magic with the "now you see it, now I'll veto part of it" trick. This was deftly done, and something like that was unavoidable.
But the highway bill is the core legislation of the three-day special session. It was the reason we had a special session. The fact supporters had to use an end-run to meet the very tight deadline lawmakers were working under is a bit -- interesting.
I can't resist teasing a bit here. The best-known feature of the governor's plan is that it shifts funds around without raising any taxes. So when it failed to get through the Senate Transportation Committee, supporters reassigned it to -- the Revenue and Tax Committee. That was spunky.
The governor has made no secret of the details of his highway plan long before the session began -- but a draft of the bill itself didn't come out until Thursday morning. After all the shuffling around, this measure must have set some kind of record for the most votes on the least-read piece of legislation.
Asking members of a Senate committee to vote for a $50-million highway bill they just got that morning is asking a lot. Yes, they knew the proposal's details for months. The bill they got didn't try to pull anything or make any switches from the governor's announced plans. But no responsible legislator passes anything without reading the fine print. And a good legislator wants his district's mayors, his city street department directors and his county judge to read such a bill, too, along with other constituents he or she believes to be knowledgeable and good at finding flaws.
There was considerable time pressure. Overcoming resistance on the "Arkansas Works" plan took an earlier special session and time. On highways, the governor had to come up with a proposal and get it passed very quickly. The feds just got themselves straightened out on highways and state's fiscal year starts July 1. All those things were factors -- this time. A good argument can be made that getting all those ducks in a row in the time available was impressive.
It's also true that any bill of the governor's contains a flaw, the buck will stop with the governor -- but it will pay a visit along the way to every lawmaker who voted for it. Those lawmakers go to Little Rock to represent us. It's tough to ask the folks back home what they think about something they haven't seen.
Add something else to a growing impression things are being done in a rush. The governor and his state education director replaced the superintendent of the Little Rock School District, which the state had taken over, without any widespread notice first. Up here, I can see why making that change suddenly was the right way to go about it. The move wasn't going to be popular, so being quick and getting it over with is justifiable -- to those who agree with the decision. But the pace at which decisions are getting made -- and the lack of public notice first -- is getting trendy.
The governor's honeymoon ended when he tried to get managed care of Medicaid through a special session. Lawmakers wouldn't go for it. They made it pretty clear when they did that early last month that they aren't going to be a rubber stamp. One of these days, they'll buck up just to show they still can.
Commentary on 05/21/2016