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Legislative Briefs Thursday, Apr 6, 2006 Arkansas News Bureau staff Additional $20 million for pre-kindergarten fails A bill by Rep. LeRoy Dangeau, D-Wynne, to appropriate $20 million for pre-kindergarten programs next year died in a Joint Budget subcommittee Wednesday. On a voice vote, the Special Language subcommittee defeated Dangeau's proposal to use state budget surpluses to expand early childhood education programs. Dangeau said the extra money would allow between 7,000 and 8,000 children to enroll in the state's Better Chance pre-kindergarten program. Sen. Paul Miller, D-Melbourne, opposed the transfer, saying the 2007 regular session would be a better time to consider the appropriation. He said pre-kindergarten programs statewide likely did not have enough facilities or staff currently to justify added funding and higher enrollment. Dangeau said pre-kindergarten would stagnate without additional funding. "I feel strongly that if we don't put the $20 million in there, that we're stopping the program or slowing it down," he said. A 2003 study recommended $100 million annually to pay for pre-kindergarten programs for the state's economically disadvantaged 3- and 4-year-olds. The General Assembly appropriated $40 million in 2004 and another $20 million last year. Dangeau said lawmakers should have allocated $40 million last year to bring the annual funding level to $80 million. About $20 million in revenue from a sales tax on beer is dedicated to early childhood education programs. Without legislative action, the beer tax is scheduled to expire June 30, 2007. House OKs funding for UAMS research bond issue The House approved, 98-1, a bill that would authorize the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to issue $37 million in bonds to finance construction of a new cancer research center. The bonds would be backed by proceeds from Arkansas' $1.6 billion settlement with big tobacco companies. The sponsor of House Bill 1021, Rep. Daryl Pace, R-Siloam Springs, said the new center would make UAMS a regional leader in medical treatment and research, make it unnecessary for people to travel to New York or Houston for care. Butterfly bill has no wings The House on Wednesday refused to consider a bill by Rep. John Paul Wells, D-Paris, that would designate the Diana fritillary butterfly as the official state butterfly. House Speaker Bill Stovall, D-Quitman, said the bill was not relevant to Gov. Mike Huckabee's 35-item special session agenda and declined to assign it to a committee for consideration. Wells attempted to make House Bill 1034 germane to the special session call by including a provision encouraging public schools to educate students on state symbols. A major component of this week's special session is education. Wells said his urgency in designating a state butterfly is tied to the May opening of a new lodge at Mount Magazine State Park. The Diana fritillary butterfly is native to the park, located in Logan and Yell counties. Mount Magazine State Park hosts an "International Butterfly Festival" in June. The Legislature could add the bill to the special session agenda with a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate, but Wells said he would not try to have the measure added. "I think it would probably be an irritation for the speaker," Wells said. "I hope maybe I've got enough sympathy up for me now that it will just fly through in the regular session" next year. House OKs bill to fund reappraisals The House on Wednesday approved House Bill 1045, by Rep. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, which would tap the state's Property Tax Relief Fund to pay for county-wide reappraisals. Currently, 76 percent of reappraisals now are by the state Public School Fund. County aide accounts for 16 percent and 8 percent of the cost is paid my municipalities. Maloch said his bill would save schools, municipalities and counties about $14 million annually. Rep. Mike Kenney, R-Siloam Springs, spoke against the proposal, complained that the Legislature is using the tax relief fund as "kind of a slush fund." Established in 2000, the fund receives tax revenue from a half-cent sales tax increase approved by the General Assembly to cover the cost of property tax credits of up to $300 per homeowner. "Every year we have a surplus we use the money to prop up other programs," Kenney said. The House passed the measure, 77-16, and sent it to the Senate. Blair takes the speaker's chair Rep. Buddy Blair, D-Fort Smith, has served in the state House for a total of 18 years and has never been able to sit in the speaker's chair, until Wednesday. Blair, who served in the House from 1981 to 1995 and was then re-elected to serve in the 2003 and current session, was born with a birth defect, an absence of femur bones. Last year, the House spent $118,470 to expand the area where the speaker and parliamentarian sit. The project included installing a lift making the speaker's podium accessible to people in wheelchairs. The press corps, which had seats on the House floor in front of the speaker, were moved to the gallery to make way for the improvements. Wednesday, Blair got his first taste of what the House speaker sees when he was given to opportunity to finally sit in the speaker's chair. "You're in trouble now," Blair said to House members after they gave him a standing ovation. Referring to the decision to move newspaper reporters to the gallery, Blair pointed to the press corps and said, "you guys are up there where you belong, and I'm here where I belong." The 64-year-old retired teacher recalled a conversation he had with Speaker Bill Stovall, D-Quitman, in 2003 after a long-day of debating bills. "Speaker Stovall came down to my desk and said, 'Bud, I'm tired,'" Blair said. "He said, 'You know, people don't know this, but when you sit in that chair ... my feet don't touch the floor.'" As House members laughed, Blair turned to Stovall and said, "Mr. Speaker, you're right." Senate approves application for facilities funding The Senate approved a bill Wednesday to provide a process for districts with extraordinary facilities funding requests to apply for state aid. The bill specifically addresses districts that may not be able to generate enough local money to meet a state facilities' assistance match, as well as districts, like Little Rock, that do not qualify for facilities help. Senate Bill 22 passed, 33-1, and goes to the House. The House Education Committee endorsed a similar measure Wednesday. The committee rejected a bill to mandate all school superintendents' contracts include provisions for firings with cause. The bill's sponsor, Education Committee Chairman Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, said she may ask the committee to reconsider the bill. Budget panel scales back funding proposal The Joint Budget Committee on Wednesday voted to scale back funding proposed for school districts with declining enrollment from $11.6 million to $10 million. The funding is a small part of an overall appropriations bill that contains nearly $200 million for schools, including $50 million earmarked for facilities improvements. The House Education Committee has not acted on a bill known as the Educational Adequacy Act, which authorizes teacher salary increases. An amendment to the bill to lower the salary increase amount from 3.3 percent to 1.6 percent is expected today. The Senate approved the adequacy bill Tuesday, but a technicality held up consideration in the House and will force the Senate to reconsider the bill. |
