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Legislative briefs Wednesday, Apr 5, 2006 By Arkansas News Bureau staff House OKs bill limiting funeral protests With little debate, the House on Tuesday approved legislation to limit protests at funerals. House Bill 1006 by Rep. Jeff Wood, D-Sherwood, passed 94-2 and goes to the Senate, which has also passed an identical bill. Senate Bill 9 by Sen. Mary Anne Salmon, D-North Little Rock, was approved 32-0 and now goes to the House. Both bills restrict protests at funerals to no more than 150 feet from the site of the service, and would make it illegal to protest 30 minutes before, during or 30 minutes after the service. Violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $100 and 30 days in jail for each protester. Wood, an attorney, said the bill would not violate a person's right to free speech because a person's desire to interfere with a funeral is not protected under the First Amendment. Wood said he originally proposed the measure just for protests at military services, but later decided to expand it to all funeral services. House passes sex offender bill Legislation requiring violent sex offenders to wear electronic tracking devices passed the House on Tuesday. House Bill 1005 by Rep. Dawn Creekmore, D-Hensley, passed on a 93-5 vote and goes to the Senate. The bill would require sex offenders to re-register every six months, and violent sex offenders to wear electronic tracking devices for at least 10 years after they have been released from prison. "When a child is molested or raped their souls are taken away from them," Creekmore told House colleagues, "How can we not take this opportunity to protect them?" Panel rejects 'chunk' testing proposal A legislative subcommittee threw out a proposal Tuesday that would have permitted school districts to use state funds to pay for so-called "chunk" testing of students. Rep. Jodie Mahony, D-El Dorado, tried to add language regarding chunk tests to an appropriations bill that set aside $132.5 million in additional funding for the state's school districts. The Special Language Subcommittee of the Joint Budget Committee struck the amendment from the appropriation bill. The Joint Budget Committee endorsed the spending plan later Tuesday. Mahony's proposal would have given school districts the option to administer basic skills tests in "chunks" throughout the year instead of one nationally standardized test, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, in the spring. Opponents, including state Education Commissioner Ken James, said the proposal would have invalidated Act 35, a measure approved during a 2004 special session to require both state-mandated benchmark exams and nationally standardized tests to be given yearly. Mahony said some poorer districts do not have enough money to pay for chunk testing, where students are assessed every four to six weeks to identify their academic strengths. In districts like Hot Springs, which administers chunk tests, have recorded significant improvement on benchmark exams. "It lets you find out very quickly during the school year where the kid is and it also lets you know if you've got a problem with the teacher," Mahony said. Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, said such testing is a good step for districts, but leaving schools with the option of chunk tests or the Iowa test would contradict the law and longstanding state test policy. The benchmark, known as a criterion-referenced test, measures student achievement based on specific curriculum guidelines. The other, known as a norm-referenced test, compares student results to a national average. "It's not an either-or debate," Argue said. "We have to have both tests. The norm-referenced, in the end, is the test that measures the credibility of our criterion-referenced test." Feds' Katrina repayments force disaster appropriation A lag in federal reimbursements to the state in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita prompted the state Department of Finance and Administration to ask Tuesday for more money for disaster relief. State Budget Director Mike Stormes said hurricane assistance depleted the state's disaster fund this fiscal year. The Joint Budget Committee gave the go-ahead for a $6 million appropriation that Stormes said would help until the federal government reimburses the state for its hurricane assistance. Arkansas spent $42 million for disaster relief. Of that, the federal government has reimbursed $33 million. Another $4 million reimbursement is expected, Stormes said. The emergency appropriation from budget surpluses would give the state enough money to respond to any in-state disaster that occurs during the current fiscal year, he said. Just Monday, Gov. Mike Huckabee declared seven Arkansas counties disaster areas after tornadoes and hail tore through the northeast corner of the state Sunday. Budget panel OKs bond issue for UAMS cancer center The Joint Budget Committee on Tuesday endorsed legislation to authorize a $35 million bond issue to finance a cancer research center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. The state's proceeds from its $1.6 billion settlement with big tobacco companies would support the bond. The loan would be paid off starting in 2021, with bond payments not to exceed $5 million annually. The bill goes to the House. House Education Committee backs teacher-of-year plan One of several education proposals recommended by Gov. Mike Huckabee gained the support of the House Education Committee. Committee members, without objection, recommended House Bill 1031, which would make the annual Arkansas teacher of the year a state employee. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Janet Johnson, D-Bryant, makes the teacher of the year a non-voting member of the state Board of Education and allows the award winner to present workshops across the state. Johnson, a teacher, said making the teacher of the year an ambassador for school employees would enhance the image of the teaching profession. Also, the committee rejected a bill sponsored by Rep. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, that would ease a requirement that all high school campuses have students enrolled in the state's 38 required courses. Hutchinson's bill would have allowed districts to offer the courses, if even by video conference. It would not penalize districts for teaching fewer than the required minimum course offerings if no students were enrolled in a class. Get-well resolution for Rockefeller adopted by Senate The state Senate adopted a "best wishes" resolution Tuesday for Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller, who would normally be presiding over the Senate while it is in session. Rockefeller is in Washington state receiving treatment for a blood disorder. The Senate adopted Senate Resolution 1 by unanimous vote Tuesday, wishing Rockefeller a speedy recovery. Bookout, Pledger and Curran honored The Senate adopted three memorial resolutions on Tuesday, honoring the lives of former member Jerry Bookout, D-Jonesboro, former Department of Finance and Administration director Jim Pledger, and former state Rep. Armil O. Curran, D-Clarksville. Bookout died during his term of office, and the Senate also approved a measure to allow Bookout's son, Paul, access to the chamber and the right to sit in his father's Senate seat for the rest of the special legislative session. |
