State legislature news in brief

Editor’s note: Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Monday signed all of the legislation passed in this special session, according to his staff.

Governor gets bills on publicity rights


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The Arkansas Legislature on Monday sent Gov. Asa Hutchinson identical bills aimed at strengthening publicity rights and making them legally transferable even after an individual’s death.

In a 28-2 vote, the Senate sent the Republican governor House Bill 1002 by Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, which is the Frank Broyles Publicity Rights Protection Act. Broyles is a former University of Arkansas football coach and athletic director.

In a 67-15 vote, the House approved Senate Bill 9 by Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale. SB9, which is identical to HB1002, also goes to Hutchinson.

During the 2015 regular session, a similar measure cleared both legislative chambers, but it was vetoed by Hutchinson out of concern that the language was too restrictive of some professionals, specifically photographers, and their First Amendment rights.

The current version was changed to win Hutchinson’s approval and gained support from photographer groups and social media companies, as well as the Motion Picture Association of America. It is opposed by professional athlete organizations.

It allows a range of exemptions for media and other creative content producers while conferring publicity rights to a particular likeness for up to 50 years after the individual’s death.

State to end its role

in workers’ fund

Lawmakers gave their final approval Monday to legislation designed to end state involvement in a certain type of workers’ compensation claim by mid-2019.

Right now, the first $204,000 in death or permanent disability claims are paid by businesses or their insurers. After that, the state’s Death and Total Disability Fund covers claims. The fund is supported by taxes on business insurance premiums.

Lawmakers called for ending the state’s involvement because the fund was insolvent and could have gone bankrupt in as soon as six years.

The legislation had the support of organized labor. It was opposed by business interests.

Both chambers OK

quake-code bills

The Legislature gave final approval to identical bills that allow localities to decide how earthquake-resistant new buildings should be. The bills were aimed at helping steel maker Nucor Corp.

In a 26-1 vote, the Senate approved House Bill 1014 by Rep. Monte Hodges, D-Blytheville. In a 91-1 vote, the House approved Senate Bill 5 by Sen. David Burnett, D-Osceola. The bills now go to Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Mark DiGirolamo, controller of the Nucor mill in Mississippi County, said the bill allows localities to choose whether they require structures to be built to a 500-year event standard or a costlier 2,500-year event standard. The local option had been removed in 2014.

“There is no assurance that returning to the local option provision will bring the multimillion projects to Arkansas. However, failure to add the local provision may prevent Arkansas from even being in the running. There will continue to be additional potential projects in future years, and our Arkansas business must have new capital in order to remain competitive,” he said in a written statement.

Sexual indecency exemption erased

Lawmakers overwhelmingly passed fixes to the state’s sexual indecency law that allowed an exemption for parents and guardians.

A recent Arkansas Supreme Court ruling highlighted a hole in the statute for sexual indecency with a child. Charges were dropped against a guardian accused of forcing a teenage girl to undress in front of him; the previous law said a parent or guardian could only be prosecuted if they did such behavior in front of “another person.” The legislation added parents and guardians as potential offenders who would witness the act.

Levee board status reports mandated

Lawmakers approved legislation that will give state officials authority to document the patchwork of locally run levees.

For years, state officials have been unable to require local levee boards to report their condition to state authorities. Under the new law, local levee boards will report annually and county judges will now have authority to appoint members to boards that have gone defunct.

The measures passed without opposition.

Grading for schools to be discontinued

Both legislative chambers passed legislation that would stop state officials from labeling or grading schools, due to a change in the state’s testing regime.

Arkansas public school students started taking the ACT Aspire tests this year. Academic achievement tests are used to rate schools with A-F letter grades, as well as help officials determine when schools are “academically distressed.”

Lawmakers also cleared up language that would have required voters in two school district elections to have to vote with different ballots at different machines.

With school board elections to be held Nov. 8, Pulaski County Special and Helena-West Helena school district voters would have received different ballots, and possibly been required to vote at different locations, for the school elections and in the general election on the same day.

Voting officials in Pulaski County said about 67,000 voters would have to go through separate voting lines and vote on two separate ballots.

The election f ix was passed out of the Senate unanimously. In the House, it was passed on a 86-2 vote.

5 more years added to Arkansas Works

A change to the end date for the state’s Medicaid expansion program passed both legislative chambers Monday.

House Bill 1003 and Senate Bill 2 placed a 2021 expiration date on the state’s recently approved and funded program, Arkansas Works.

Earlier this year, lawmakers amended the bill funding the program — which buys private insurance for poor Arkansans with Medicaid funding — to end later this year. The amendment was intended to garner enough votes for passage.

The amendment was done with the understanding that Gov. Asa Hutchinson would use a line-item veto to strike that end date, which he did.

Lawmakers said the 2021 “sunset” provision was needed in case Hutchinson’s lineitem veto was struck down in a legal challenge.

The House version passed through the Senate on a 21-10 vote. The Senate version of the measure passed through the House following a 70-23 vote.

Juvenile offenders’ information opened

Legislation crafted to make it possible for state officials to share data on youth offenders with researchers passed both chambers Monday.

Senate Bill 8 and House Bill 1013 — which gives discretion to the Department of Human Services’ Youth Services Division in releasing some juvenile offender records to relevant researchers — passed with little opposition.

Currently, state law prohibits the sharing of the juvenile information.

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