State Capitol briefs

Spectators applaud after House Bill 1033 was approved Thursday in the House. The bill would use about $8.5 million in tobacco settlement funds to reduce the waiting list for services for the developmentally disabled.
Spectators applaud after House Bill 1033 was approved Thursday in the House. The bill would use about $8.5 million in tobacco settlement funds to reduce the waiting list for services for the developmentally disabled.

House passes 93-0 tobacco-funds bill

The House of Representatives handily passed a bill Thursday that would direct tobacco-settlement funds toward reducing the waiting list of services for the developmentally disabled.

House Bill 1033 by Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, would allocate about $8.5 million annually to reducing the waiting list. The money would come from the state's portion of a national settlement with tobacco companies that had been directed to a now-defunct program.

The money could be used to offer services to both adults and children with developmental or intellectual disabilities who qualify for services.

Mayberry said the money could help about 500 people on the 3,000-person waiting list, some of whom have been waiting as long as 10 years. Mayberry has a daughter with developmental disabilities; he said she was not on the state's waiting list.

The legislation, approved by the House in a 93-0 vote, is headed to the Senate.

-- John Moritz

Medical-'pot' delay clears Senate 26-0

The Senate on Thursday approved a measure that would delay implementation of the voter-approved medical-marijuana constitutional amendment.

In a 26-0 vote, the Senate sent an amended version of House Bill 1026 by Rep. Doug House, R-North Little Rock, to the House. The Senate amended the bill by adding Sen. Greg Standridge, R-Russellville, as a co-sponsor.

HB1026 would require state Department of Health, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division and the Medical Marijuana Commission to adopt rules to implement provisions of the medical-marijuana amendment within 180 days of the amendment's effective date on Nov. 9. The original deadline required these state entities to adopt the rules within 120 days of Nov. 9. Thus, the bill would extend the deadline from March 9 to May 8.

The bill is aimed at allowing the Medical Marijuana Commission the time it needs to come up with sufficient regulations for growers and dispensaries and to allow public comment, according to House.

HB1026 also would require the commission to begin accepting applications for licenses to operate a dispensary and cultivation facility by July 1. The original date in the amendment was June 1.

-- Michael R. Wickline

House expense bill heads to governor

The Senate sent the governor legislation appropriating $1.975 million to the House of Representatives to pay the expenses of representatives, its employees' salaries and benefits, and maintenance and operation costs in the fiscal year ending June 30. The Senate voted 27-0 to approve House Bill 1001.

-- Michael R. Wickline

Today, recess set for both chambers

The House of Representatives isn't meeting today because its rules require the House to recess when in session on Jan. 20 of any year in which the inauguration of the president of the United States is scheduled to occur.

The Senate isn't meeting today because it traditionally takes off Friday during the first several weeks of the regular session.

-- Michael R. Wickline

Bill to limit records in deaths of officers

Legislation filed Thursday would exempt recordings of law enforcement officers' deaths from the state's Freedom of Information Act.

Senate Bill 152, filed by Sen. Blake Johnson, R-Corning, would make photographs and audio and video recordings produced by a body camera or dashboard cameras depicting the death of an officer not subject to public disclosure.

The illegal release of those records by the custodian would be a felony, according to the bill. Only family members and investigators would be allowed to view the records without a court order.

A portion of the bill explaining its intended purpose states such records "have the potential to encourage copycat acts of violence against law enforcement officers and to incite other acts of violence against law enforcement officers." The records do little to serve the public interest other than "satisfy morbid curiosity," the bill states.

Johnson said he filed the bill to protect the family members of a deceased police officer and "their emotional distress caused by a public record of his death." He said the release of a recording of the death of a police officer in Trumann led him to file the bill.

-- John Moritz and Michael R. Wickline

Records-exemption repeal is proposed

Rep. Stephen Magie, D-Conway, filed a bill Thursday to repeal an exemption to the state Freedom of Information Act.

House Bill 1225 would allow the public to request information about local sales taxes on food and lodging; municipal taxes on hotels; and taxes collected under the Advertising and Promotion Commission Act.

Act 1102 of 2015 exempted the information related to those taxes -- but not records regarding the total taxes -- from public disclosure.

-- Brian Fanney

Date shift favored for corporate taxes

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee endorsed House Bill 1156 by Rep. Joe Jett, R-Success, to require corporate income tax returns to be due on April 15 rather than March 15 for calendar year filers starting with the 2016 returns due this year.

Under existing state law, this change in due dates is not scheduled to begin until the 2017 tax year for returns that would be filed in 2018, the Department of Finance and Administration said in its legislative impact statement.

The bill is projected to reduce general revenue by $4 million in fiscal 2017, which ends June 30, because of the delayed reporting, the finance department said. The state would instead collect the $4 million in fiscal 2018, starting July 1. The bill goes to the full House.

-- Michael R. Wickline

UA System-Pulaski Tech linkup gains

A bill to put Pulaski Technical College under the control of the University of Arkansas System's board of trustees cleared the Senate on Thursday.

The Senate's 26-0 vote sent Senate Bill 10 by Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, to the House.

The bill also would require that the current board of trustees for Pulaski Technical College become a board of visitors. The bill also would mandate that members of the board of visitors would be appointed by the governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and serve seven-year terms. Because the 26-year-old school isn't a "community college" by name under state law, its leaders need legislative approval to become a part of the University of Arkansas System and change its current governing panel of trustees to an advisory board of visitors.

-- Michael R. Wickline

House OKs proposal on defaced firearms

A bill that would add a new defense to the crime of possessing a firearm with a defaced serial number cleared the House in a 76-7 vote.

House Bill 1039 by Rep. Andy Davis, R-Little Rock, would exempt guns made before 1968 from the state's prohibition on defaced firearms. Federal law began requiring that guns be equipped with serial numbers in 1968, although some manufacturers already had begun the practice.

Davis said his bill is necessary to prevent charges against gun owners whose weapons were defaced before doing so would have been illegal.

-- John Moritz

A Section on 01/20/2017

Upcoming Events