FRAN ALEXANDER: Keep a close watch

When Legislature is in session, all eyes on deck

Bolt the doors. Hide the children. The Legislature is in session.

Every time lawmakers descend on Little Rock from all the nooks and crannies of the state, we know in our gut that nothing is safe when the Legislature is in session. So, alas, here we go again.

Certainly, the president's shutdown of the federal government perked folks up. Amazingly, a few billionaires learned that, yes, people often do live paycheck to paycheck and have to stand in food lines if there's no check. These recent realities have left us a little raw around the edges when we start thinking about government doings, especially knowing legislators are busily making all kinds of sausages into laws.

According to District 4 state Sen. Greg Leding's newsletter, as of Jan. 21 nearly 350 bills had been filed and possibly another 1,800 will be added. To track bills by number go to www.arkleg.state.ar.us and click on one of the search options under "Bills and Resolutions" on the left side of the page.

Leding mentioned Sen. Bob Ballinger's bill, SB 115, to exempt from Arkansas new minimum wage law educational institutions, small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, nonprofits and those younger than 18. Nearly 70 percent of Arkansas voters backed the minimum wage change last November.

Citizens have to spend great amounts of time and resources to even get an initiated act on a ballot, keep it there then campaign to win despite all sorts of attacks. I seriously doubt 70 percent of Arkie voters just forgot to leave out the folks Mr. Ballinger wants to exempt from receiving an increased minimum wage, especially those in educational positions, already a beleaguered and too low-paid line of work. His bill sort of conjures up that visceral rejection, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The voters spoke loudly. Better listen up, legislators.

Then there's HB 1177, which has passed in the House, allowing employees to reject an employer's request to implant microchips in them as a condition of employment. Now, isn't that swell? Has it really come to this? Woody Allen's comment (paraphrasing Groucho Marx) that he wouldn't want to belong to a club that would have him as a member seems to fit in here somehow.

Leding says, "A package of bills by Representative Doug House (R-North Little Rock) has generated the most noise, at least in terms of the constituent emails landing in my inbox. HB1173 (and other bills) look to make changes to our state's various retirement programs."

HB 1145 is to carry out Gov. Hutchinson's promise to raise teacher salaries. Even if he doubled the new salary levels, it wouldn't be enough to make most of us dare to be teachers, but might help keep the best of the best from working swing-shift jobs.

Of course, there's also the fearful HB 1059, a "stand your ground" bill. House Dist. 86 Rep. Nicole Clowney summarized it saying, "Under current Arkansas law, if a person can safely retreat from a 'perceived threat' without using lethal force, he/she has a legal obligation to do so. Stand-your-ground would do away with the duty to retreat, meaning someone could legally use lethal force ... even if he/she could have retreated into complete safety without doing so. Anyone who perceives a threat from someone else can kill them with impunity. This is far too subjective a standard, and will disproportionately impact marginalized communities, as we've seen these laws used to justify the killings of minorities in other states." There would be no threat at all if every citizen was required to read this bill because few of us would be able to decipher if we are "the person" or "the other person," referenced. Case closed.

Also, the governor must feel secure enough with his tax tinkerings to now bless Arkansas' wealthiest individuals with cuts, many of whom have never known what "paycheck to paycheck" actually means. Why?

But to really toss up the governmental salad, there is also Mr. Hutchinson's "transformation plan" which he touts at https://governor.arkansas.gov/transform.ar.gov. In the name of efficiency and cost savings, always crowd pleasers, he is planning to "streamline" 42 cabinet agencies into about 15. At first blush this sounds wise. But not all agencies make good bedfellows, especially when changing who gets the top bunk in a hierarchy among people who were once equals. We need to all pay close attention to these transformations and communicate with our legislators.

Helpfully there are two informative directories online: www.citizensfirst.org/legislature and the League of Women Voters' "Guide to Elected Officials" at www.lwvarwc.org (under "Resources").

And please remember, keep the Ledge in the sunshine at all times.

Commentary on 01/29/2019

Upcoming Events