Greg Harton: The good, the bad and ...

Lawmakers have varied ideas of necessary laws

"Even if it's a good idea but it's a bad piece of legislation, it shouldn't get out of this committee until it's a good idea and a good piece of legislation."

-- Rep. Bob Ballinger, chairman, State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee

The Arkansas General Assembly got under way last week as the state's 135 legislators converged in Little Rock for a lawmaking session expected to last around three months.

In that time, there will be more bad pieces of legislation than good proposed. I hope the Republicans, who are firmly in control of state government -- or at least in charge of it -- will put their oft-heard rhetoric about smaller government into effect by resisting flawed legislation.

Bob Ballinger, who made the comment above in the organizational meeting of his committee, appears to recognize there can be a lot of good ideas that do not necessarily translate into good legislation. That's because good legislation is hard to write and hard to put into effect. Indeed, every session of the General Assembly typically involves bills that attempt to undo unforeseen circumstances arising out of legislation of the past.

But lawmakers make laws, or they try to. By the time the Legislature adjourns sometime in May, the House and Senate or their respective committees will have waded through a few thousand bills.

Some will be silly. Among those filed last week was a bill to create the Second Amendment Appreciate Weekend. It's the creation of Sen. Bart Hester of Cave Springs. Hester wants his colleagues to designate the second full weekend in September as a sales tax holiday for the purchase of firearms.

Lest anyone think this was an off-the-cuff proposal, Hester details how layaway and rain checks for guns are to be handled on that special bang'em-up weekend. Ronald Reagan told us "If you want more of something, subsidize it; if you want less of something, tax it." It stands to reason Hester wants more guns sold, more than would be if such a weekend didn't exist.

As a gun owner, I'd love to save money if I buy any more, but what's the public policy benefit of giving up tax revenue so that gun purchases would be concentrated on one weekend, or to encourage the proliferation of guns? It's certainly not the government's business to get in the way of my buying a gun, but it's also not the government's business to encourage gun ownership.

Others are quite serious, such as Gravette Sen. Jim Hendren's bill to provide more serious penalities when a person knowingly discharges a firearm at a law enforcement officer, even if it's obtained on a state-sponsored tax-free weekend.

OK, I added that last part, but it obviously stands to reason the stiffer penalties would apply no matter when the gun was purchased.

Rep. Kim Hendren of Gravette wants those kids to get off his lawn ... er, no ... he wants them to go to school without smartphones or other personal electronic devices. He filed a bill to nix local school districts' authority to set the rules for student cellphones and related items and replace it with a state prohibition. It would require schools to build secure places where students could deposit their phones for pick up later in the day. What happens if a kid doesn't deposit his device? According to Hendren's bill, it would be subject to forfeiture. Not confiscation, mind you, but actual forfeiture, as happens when security at an airport finds a pocketknife in a carry-on. Sorry, kids (and parents who paid for them).

Rep. Greg Leding of Fayetteville proposes an income tax deduction of up to $500 for teachers to spend their own money for supplies to be used in the classroom. He also wants Arkansaurus fridayi (look it up) to be designated the official state dinosaur. I assume the critter has waited a long, long time for such an honor.

Rep. Rebecca Petty of Rogers' bill would make sure the death certificate of anyone executed by the state of Arkansas will say they died "pursuant to a judicial sentence of death - execution." If there's some technical reason this is necessary, so be it. If not, what's the point? Some sort of eternal mechanism to make sure they don't escape the stigma of their punishment?

Lastly, Rep. David Whitaker proposes a prohibition on the state's constitutional officers from soliciting or accepting loans from lobbyists.

And if they do? Well, let's put it on their death certificate.

Commentary on 01/16/2017

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