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Legislative briefs Tuesday, Apr 4, 2006 Compiled by the Arkansas News Bureau Huckabee engaged Who says Gov. Mike Huckabee is no longer engaged in the legislative process? Huckabee, who is term-limited and testing the waters for a 2008 presidential bid, has been accused of being detached from serious state matters since lawmakers rejected his proposal for broad school consolidation in 2003 and 2004. But that wasn't the case when the Legislature convened a special session Monday to increase funding for public schools and address other matters, including the governor's proposed statewide ban on smoking in the workplace. A House committee assigned to inform the governor that the chamber was ready for business reported back that Huckabee lobbied the members hard to support the ban during their entirely ceremonial trip to the governor's office. Huckabee also worked the halls of the Capitol as lawmakers held their first meetings on the smoking ban and a measure to raise the state minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.25 an hour. He lobbied for both measures. "Just having a friendly Monday afternoon chat," the governor said. "The atmosphere is very positive this week. There was always this thing where I wasn't roaming the halls and that I was isolated," he said. "I wasn't isolated, I was meeting with the leadership and the individual membership who were coming to me. This is a unique group of people in this General Assembly. It's such a total different atmosphere." Senate panel moves swiftly on non-controversial matters The Senate Education Committee made short work of a variety of bills Monday, taking about 15 minutes to recommend approval of five noncontroversial education measures. Among them, the committee recommended that school districts be required to provide parity in employer contributions to faculty health insurance plans. The measure is a result of a Division of Legislative Audit study that showed disparity in the benefit amount paid to superintendents as opposed to other school employees. Also, the issue gained attention recently in Greenwood, where the Greenwood School Board voted to pay full health insurance benefits for the head football coach, but only the state-mandated contribution for other employees. "Most of (the bills) were very agreed to, well in advance," Argue said. The committee delayed until this morning discussion about bills to put uniform language in all superintendent contracts and to remove the limit on the amount of debt that districts may attain. Senators had more questions on both proposals. Political candidates vie for attention during opening session Government and politics merged at the state Capitol on Monday during opening day of a special legislative session on education. Lawmakers' applause for points Gov. Mike Huckabee made during an address to a joint session of the House and Senate mingled with the cheers of supporters as their favorite candidates filed to run for office in this year's elections. The two-week filing period ends Tuesday. Among those who filed for office Monday was former state Rep. Mike Hathorn, a Democrat running for lieutenant governor. Hathorn said he could appreciate the symbolism of the convergence of government and politics at the Capitol. "We run for public office so we can come down here and ... work on the problems that affect all of Arkansas," he said. "If nothing else, this makes people understand why we're here. What they're doing right now in that building is about the future of Arkansas, and we're a part of that." Sex offender bill endorsed by House committee The House Judiciary Committee on Monday recommended House Bill 1005, which requires violent sex offenders to wear electronic tracking devices. The measure, endorsed on a voice vote, now goes to the full House. "This completely streamlines the current registration and assessment process," the bill's sponsor, Rep. Dawn Creekmore, D-Hensley, said after the vote. Among other things, the bill requires that violent sex offenders be electronically monitored for at least 10 years after their release from prison. The measure, Creekmore told committee members, also requires offenders to pay $15 per day to defray costs of monitoring by the Department of Community Corrections. There is an exception if the offender is indigent. During the meeting, attorney Jeff Rosenzweig of Little Rock spoke against the measure, saying the bill did not define indigent, or who would pay the daily fee if the offender could not. He feared that those who could not pay the daily $15 might be returned to prison. Funeral protest bill recommended A bill to limit protests at funerals was recommended Monday by House and Senate committees. The bill was drafted after groups in other states protested at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, claiming that soldiers were dying to punish the United States for tolerating homosexuals. Senate Bill 9 by Sen. Mary Anne Salmon, D-North Little Rock, and House Bill 1006 by Rep. Jeff Wood, D-North Little Rock, would restrict protests at funerals to no closer than 150 feet from the site of the service, and no more than 30 minutes before the funeral nor 30 minutes after. All funerals would be subject to the law. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Salmon's bill and the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs endorsed Woods' bill. Each bill now goes to the floors of their chambers for a vote. House Education recommends removing debt caps After recommending bills to remove limits on debt by school districts, require school districts to offer equal benefits to all teachers and change the way property is accounted for on tax rolls with no more than 10 minutes of debate on each bill, action in the House Education Committee stalled. The panel spent more than an hour on a bill that would allow the state Board of Education to void a school superintendent's contract if the district went under fiscal or academic distress while under his management. Rep. Joyce Elliott, sponsor of House Bill 1017 on superintendent contracts, agreed to delay consideration until today after it became apparent that debate had stopped progress on other bills. "I thought we were going to get to more bills today," said Elliott, who's also the committee chairwoman. |
