Senators favor charter legislation
In a 25-4 vote, the Senate approved legislation aimed at granting charter schools a right to access unused or underutilized public school buildings and a right of first refusal to purchase or lease those buildings.
The bill is Senate Bill 308 by Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale. It goes to the House.
Clark said he wants to make sure that public school buildings that could be used by charter schools aren't allowed to decay. If there is an empty or underutilized public school building, it could be sold or leased to a charter school for fair market value under the legislation, he said.
But Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, said she doesn't have confidence in state officials to administer the legislation, in which "there is no definition for underutilized."
-- Michael R. Wickline
Sanctuary-schools bill rejected again
A so-called sanctuary campus proposal is dead and buried in the House.
For the second time this month, House Bill 1042, which would prevent colleges and universities from enacting policies to protect illegal aliens from federal immigration policy, failed in the House Education Committee. House rules prohibit the bill from being considered a third time.
After it failed the first time, the sponsor, Rep. Brandt Smith, R-Jonesboro, said he would not bring it up again.
Smith said Thursday, however, that constituent calls from his district surrounding Arkansas State University led him to move forward with the bill again, "win or lose."
The bill was opposed by immigrant-rights groups, who said it unfairly targets them, as well as some Republicans who said it's unnecessary because the state and federal government can already withhold funding for violating the law.
No campuses have enacted sanctuary policies, and lobbyists for the two largest university systems said they were neutral on the bill.
Smith said a failed student petition seeking a sanctuary policy at ASU was the inspiration for his bill.
-- John Moritz
Panel OKs limits to prison program
A Senate committee advanced tougher restrictions on a prison program allowing some inmates to be housed in county jails for work release.
The legislation was filed by Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, after an inmate in the Act 309 program was charged in the slaying of a guard late last year in the Miller County jail, which is in Hickey's district. The bill was endorsed Thursday by the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee and sent to the Senate.
The inmate accused of killing the guard had been imprisoned on charges of capital murder and first-degree battery, crimes that had not prevented him from being eligible for the program. Hickey's legislation, Senate Bill 377, would preclude inmates convicted of most violent crimes, with some exceptions such as burglary, or illegally firing a gun from a car.
Current restrictions on the program -- which makes criminals such as murderers, rapists and kidnappers ineligible -- make it hard to find enough suitable applicants, Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelley told the committee. Of the 336 county jail beds reserved for the program, 253 are filled, she said.
Hickey said his bill counters that problem by making it so that inmates could not be disqualified for not having a GED. However, no such disqualification exists, according to the department.
-- John Moritz
Bill to back certain rule shirkers dies
A bill that would create a legal defense for Arkansans who violate "unreasonable" occupational rules and laws failed to clear a House committee Thursday.
House Bill 1551, sponsored by Rep. Richard Womack, R-Arkadelphia, would protect Arkansans who violate laws or rules deemed to be burdensome, unrelated to the protection of public health and safety, and unreasonable or more restrictive than necessary to protect the public.
The law would provide a defense for people facing sanctions in court or administrative proceedings for violating such rules. It would not apply to certain occupations, such as physicians and attorneys.
Joe Carter, chief executive officer of Snyder Environmental, a North Little Rock lead and asbestos abatement company, told the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee that the bill would put the public at risk.
"If we're going to require 16-year-old kids to have a driver's license, and we're going to enforce those laws, then we should at least have the same standard for a person who's running gas into a house or running electricity," Carter said.
People from associations representing heating and air conditioning contractors, electrical contractors, surveyors and psychologists also spoke against the bill, which fell one vote short of the 11 needed for approval.
-- Andy Davis
New grant program goes to governor
The Senate on Thursday sent Gov. Asa Hutchinson legislation that would implement a new grant program for college students.
The Senate's 33-0 vote sent House Bill 1426 by Rep. Carlton Wing, R-North Little Rock, to the Republican governor. The bill is part of Hutchinson's legislative package.
The Arkansas Future Grant program would use the $9 million a year in general revenue that goes toward two existing grant programs -- the Workforce Improvement Grant and the Higher Education Opportunities Grant.
HB1426 cleared the Senate Education Committee this week, after it stalled there last week in a 4-4 vote.
The new grant program would pay tuition and mandatory fees for a student to attend any Arkansas public two-year college or technical school when seeking a high-demand degree -- such as computer coding, nursing or welding.
The bill would require that the Arkansas Future Grant be used as "last dollar" money after a student has used state and federal assistance and private scholarships, yet is still short of covering college costs.
Maria Markham, director of the Department of Higher Education, said last week that she expects about 6,500 students to take part in the new grant program, which has a cap of $3,500 per year per student. But, she expects most students to draw much less than the $3,500 from the program because of other scholarships that are available.
-- Michael R. Wickline
A Section on 02/24/2017