Senate panel backsconvention of states
A Senate committee advanced a measure that would allow the Legislature to join other states in asking Congress for a national convention to propose constitutional amendments.
The measure calls for the convention to consider proposing amendments that would impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and for Congress.
In a voice vote with two dissenting, the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee recommended the upper chamber approve Senate Joint Resolution 2 by Sen. Garry Stubblefield, R-Branch. Sens. David Wallace, R-Leachville, and Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, said they voted against the measure.
The resolution would make use of the provisions of Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution for proposing constitutional amendments.
Thirty-four states are required to call for a convention of the states on the same subject before such a convention would be held, Stubblefield said.
Eight states already have called for such a convention, former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told the Senate committee.
It would take 38 states to ratify any proposed amendment, and "there is no way 38 red and blue states are going to ratify a rogue amendment," Stubblefield said.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Bill gains to stiffenchild-predator laws
A House committee Thursday approved a bill strengthening penalties against the Internet stalking of a child.
House Bill 101, by Rep. David Meeks, R-Conway, would make it a Class Y felony if a person arranges a meeting with a child 15 years of age or younger or an individual that the person believes to be 15 or younger.
Meeks said the bill would help law enforcement officers catch child predators.
Rep. Jimmy Gazaway, R-Paragould, said rape is also a Class Y felony.
"A person who does that could spend life in the penitentiary," he said.
Given what child predators intend to do, Meeks said, the punishment is just.
The bill passed in a voice vote without dissent.
-- Brian Fanney
Seat-belt bill to setfine lid stirs debate
The House Committee on Judiciary debated for nearly an hour a bill that would limit seat-belt fines to $25 before the sponsors asked the committee to hold the measure for revision.
Senate Bill 102 by Sen. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, would prevent local governments from imposing fines higher than $25 for not wearing a seat belt.
Rice said the total fines -- which can be as high as $100 -- are unjustly high. Unlike speeding, failing to wear a seat belt does not pose a danger to other drivers, he said.
But Saline County Sheriff Rodney Wright said a $25 fine may not be enough to dissuade people from driving without a seat belt. He described deaths he's seen that could have been avoided if the driver had been wearing a seat belt.
And Mike Godfrey, director of the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association, said local governments need the additional fines to run their court systems. State government collects about 65 percent of the fees collected by local law enforcement, he said.
Rep. Douglas House, R-North Little Rock, said the committee's purpose is to carry out justice. Budget debates should occur in the budget committee, he said.
Rice asked to pull the bill at the end of the discussion.
-- Brian Fanney
Votes short to movestate's primary date
A proposal to permanently move Arkansas' election primaries to early March failed to get enough support in the Senate on Thursday.
Lawmakers in 2015 moved the state's 2016 partisan primaries to the first Tuesday in March, instead of its normal place in late May. Republican sponsors argued that the move would increase the state's clout during the presidential election.
The shift in the primary date expired at the end of last year, but Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, has proposed Senate Bill 122 to permanently move the party primaries to March.
But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed skepticism when the bill was brought before the Senate. They said holding the primary in March would make turnout more susceptible to the state's fickle weather and subject voters to a longer campaign cycle. The general election is in November.
Senators voted 17-13 for the bill, with 18 votes needed for passage. Four members were absent from the chamber.
However, Stubblefield successfully called for a motion to expunge the vote, allowing him to bring the bill back again.
-- John Moritz
Criminal-evictionbill gets through
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to back legislation to restore the state's criminal-eviction statute Thursday, after reaching a stalemate on the issue the previous day.
Landlords and tenants advocates debated the statute -- the only one in the nation to allow landlords to seek criminal charges against delinquent tenants -- for more than hour Wednesday.
The century-old law has not been in effect for nearly two years because of its being ruled unconstitutional after changes were made in 2001. Landlords and real estate agents are backing Senate Bill 25, which proposed to undo those changes and restore the law to a previous version.
When the committee voted Wednesday, it fell one vote short of passage, with two members absent and the chairman, Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, abstaining. Hutchinson said he hoped for a compromise.
But when the bill was brought up again Thursday, Hutchinson said he had changed his mind, and immediately called the vote, which was for approval. Sen. Will Bond, D-Little Rock, was the only member heard dissenting on the voice vote.
-- John Moritz
A Section on 01/27/2017