Businesses shield moves to governor
Legislation that would prohibit the state from penalizing businesses if their customers flout public-health guidelines during the covid-19 pandemic was sent to Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday, after the House voted 74-16 to advance the measure.
Hutchinson has yet to say whether he will sign the legislation, Senate Bill 254, but he has previously said it would “undermine” the state’s ability to enforce health guidelines in restaurants and bars.
“Without the tools to enforce the law, then the law becomes meaningless,” Hutchinson said in a statement last month. “The restaurant and bar owners always have a responsibility to maintain safe premises for their employees and the public.” The House sponsor of SB254, Rep. Robin Lund-strum, R-Elm Springs, said state agencies tasked with enforcing health guidelines, including the Department of Health and Alcoholic Beverage Control, should be focused on their normal, pre-pandemic work.
“This is not something we want [Alcoholic Beverage Control] doing,” Lundstrum said, waving her face mask for effect. “It’s not their problem.” Rep. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, asked Lund-strum how customers would be able to hold businesses accountable for failing to enforce health guidelines.
“We don’t shop there,” Lundstrum responded.
The House passed the legislation along a mostly party-line vote, with Democrats voting against it.
The governor now has five days (excluding Sunday) to sign the bill, veto it or to allow it to become law without his signature.
— John Moritz
Voter registration online gets fast OK
The House gave quick passage Wednesday to a bill creating a system for online voter registration in Arkansas.
House Bill 1517 by state Rep. Justin Boyd, R-Fort Smith, would require the secretary of state’s office to develop a system for online voter registration. Boyd amended the bill earlier in the week to clarify that it would not allow for online voting by overseas voters.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 40 other states and the District of Columbia have online voter registration.
The House passed HB1517 by a vote of 95-2. The bill now heads to the Senate.
— John Moritz
Privacy for lottery winners approved
The state Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would allow the identity of a lottery prize winner of more than $500,000 to remain exempt from public disclosure for three years, if the winner requests that his records or information filed with the lottery remain confidential.
The Senate voted 26-9 to approve Senate Bill 355 by Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville.
The bill would allow the identity of a lottery prize winner of more than $500,000 to remain exempt from public disclosure for six months if that winner is an elected official or an individual who is related in the second degree of consanguinity to an elected official and requests that his records or information filed with the lottery remain confidential.
Teague said his bill is aimed at protecting winners of large lottery prizes from being targeted by unscrupulous people and allow the winners time to get their affairs in order.
— Michael R. Wickline.
Senators support pelvic-exams bill
The Senate on Wednesday voted to approve legislation requiring patients to consent before undergoing pelvic examinations while unconscious.
The Senate voted 35-0 to send House Bill 1137, by Rep. DeAnne Vaught, R-Horatio, to the governor.
The measure would require consent before a pelvic exam by a doctor or medical student on an anesthetized patient. The bill includes exemptions for examinations performed during a medical emergency.
Pot advertising bill favored by senators
The Senate on Wednesday voted to approve a bill that would prohibit the use of symbols associated with medicine or pharmacy in advertising for the medical marijuana businesses.
The Senate voted 34-1 to send House Bill 1353 by Rep. Delia Haak, R-Gentry, to the governor.
The bill seeks to bar the use of such symbols, including a green cross or caduceus, from being used to advertise dispensaries or cultivation facilities.
— Michael R. Wickline
Bill allowing guns in parks moves up
Legislation to allow Arkansans with concealed carry licenses to take guns into municipal parks was advanced by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 306 by Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, had been favored by the committee last month, but was re-referred to the committee for an amendment that exempts municipally owned or maintained buildings.
The bill also exempts sports fields where an athletic event or practice is occurring.
— Rachel Herzog
Bill to seal eviction records is held up
A bill to allow the court to seal eviction records of Arkansas tenants evicted because of nonpayment of rent caused by financial hardship brought on by the covid-19 pandemic was held up in a Senate committee Wednesday.
Senate Bill 476 by Sen. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, aims to provide relief for people who have suffered because of the pandemic. Sealing the record will prevent credit bureaus from accessing it during a review, Tucker said.
The bill applies to eviction actions taken starting March 1, 2020.
Tucker said the bill is supported by the Arkansas Realtors Association.
After some discussion, which included Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, asking whether there should be a limit on the number of evictions that could be sealed, Tucker said he would pull the bill to continue working on it.
— Rachel Herzog
School safety bills approved in House
The Arkansas House approved a pair of bills focused on school safety Wednesday, both of which stem from recommendations from the Arkansas School Safety Commission.
House Bill 1510, by Rep. Jamie Scott, D-North Little Rock, requires school resource officers who are present during school hours to complete specialized training, and requires school boards to adopt a memorandum of understanding with local law enforcement to establish financial responsibility, chain of command, selection, evaluation and further training requirements for school resource officers.
The memorandum of understanding will promote coordination between the district and the law enforcement community, Scott said. All stakeholders agreed on the language of the bill, she added.
HB1510 passed 83-9, with two lawmakers voting present.
House Bill 1549 by Rep. Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, amends several provisions of the state’s 2015 School Safety Act, including setting up a 16-person school safety commission with members appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Cheryl May, an instructor with the Criminal Justice Institute in Little Rock who served as chairwoman of the Arkansas School Safety Commission, said in a committee meeting Tuesday that the measures stem from proposals the panel, which was formed in the aftermath of the February 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., had made.
HB1549 passed 92-1.
— Rachel Herzog
Anti-stacking bill gets nod in House
House lawmakers passed legislation Wednesday that would prohibit prosecutors from “stacking” offenses related to the possession of drug paraphernalia.
State Rep. Jimmy Gazaway, R-Paragould, said the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association had proposed the measure as a “reform” aimed at reducing prison populations. Gazaway’s legislation, House Bill 1604, would prohibit prosecutors from filing multiple charges for possession of drug paraphernalia — such as baggies, pipes and needles — for each item found in someone’s possession.
The process, commonly known as “stacking,” can lead to drug offenders facing decades in prison after a single arrest.
The bill passed in the House 94-3, and now heads to the Senate.
— John Moritz
Vets exemption for vehicle fees OK’d
The House voted Wednesday to exempt veterans and members of the military from fees applied to the registration of electric and hybrid vehicles.
Senate Bill 246, by state Sen. Blake Johnson, R-Corning, would exempt anyone with specialty plates issued to military members and veterans from paying vehicle fees established in 2019 to make up for the lower fuel taxes paid by owners of electric and hybrid vehicles. The 2019 law applies a $200 fee to register an electric vehicle and a $100 fee applied to hybrids.
The estimated cost of not charging the fee is $284,000 per year, according to a financial impact statement. A spokesman for the Department of Finance and Administration said because the specialty plates are already exempt from registration and renewal fees, the agency had not been charging the additional hybrid and electric car fees to those vehicle owners.
The House voted 94-0, sending the bill to Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
— John Moritz
Partisan municipal elections bill stalls
Legislation that would force nearly all of the state’s cities and towns to hold partisan elections for municipal offices was defeated Wednesday in the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs.
Under current state law, municipalities can chose whether to hold non-partisan elections or party primaries. House Bill 1655, by Rep. Clint Penzo, R-Springdale, would remove the option and require primaries. It would also cap the filing fee for municipal offices at $25.
Penzo said his constituents “want to know if the person at the ballot is a conservative or liberal, a Republican or a Democrat.” But other Republicans on the committee opposed the change, saying municipalities should be able to chose for themselves. Rep. Lane Jean, R-Magnolia, said he and other Republicans in south Arkansas had fought hard for the option decades ago “when a Republican couldn’t get elected to diddlysquat.” Mark Hayes, executive director of the Arkansas Municipal League, spoke against the bill, saying that only a dozen or so cities had opted to hold partisan elections. The bill would not affect some of the largest cities, such as Little Rock, Fort Smith and Hot Springs, which operate on a city manager system, Hayes said.
— John Moritz
Retirement system measures advance
Three bills adjusting parts of the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System continued moving through the Legislature this week.
The House on Tuesday approved House Bill 1346, which would change how the system computes the final average compensation that is used in calculating retirement benefits for a member hired by a system-covered employer, starting on or after July 1, 2022.
The Senate on Wednesday approved House Bill 1347, which would change the system’s cost-of-living adjustment for retirement benefits for system members hired on or after July 1, 2022, from 3% a year to the lower of 3% or the consumer price index each year.
The Senate on Wednesday approved House Bill 1348, which would gradually increase the percentage of salary that members contribute to the system.
Rep. Les Warren, R-Hot Springs, sponsored the bills.
— Rachel Herzog
House gives OK on home-schooling bill
Legislation to reduce from 14 days to five days the time parents must wait before withdrawing their children from a school district to home-school them gained the favor of the state House on Tuesday.
Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, the sponsor of House Bill 1429, said the bill deals with language from the 1990s that aimed to prevent a lag in the students’ educations, when parents transitioning to home-schooling needed time to gather materials.
Now, Lowery said, many home-school students have access to virtual materials.
— Rachel Herzog