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Legislative business moving at snail's pace Wednesday, Jan 24, 2007 By Doug Thompson Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - No bills came to a vote in the Senate on Tuesday. The House calendar was bare, with not even amendments for consideration. "I've never seen anything like it," said Senate President Pro Tem Jack Critcher, D-Batesville. "Are they [lawmakers] looking at legislation other than their own? Are they looking at something besides legislation? I don't know. "I come in to the Capitol at about 7 in the morning and lawmakers are here working and conferring with each other. I leave at about 5:30 and they're still here." House Speaker Benny Petrus, D-Stuttgart, said he was surprised by the dearth of bills for considering in the chambers but expected "the dam to burst" soon. The speaker said he asked House parliamentarian Tim Massanelli if there had ever been a day that the house had no bills to consider in its third week. "He said he couldn't remember one," Petrus said. Lawmakers had filed 449 by the close of business Monday, compared to 420 bills filed at the same point in the 2005 regular session. Lawmakers filed another 22 bills on Tuesday. House members had filed 280 bills by day's end Monday, up from 238 filed by the 13th day of the 2005 session. The Senate's number of bills were down, from 182 at the same time two years ago to 169. After all nine bills on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee were tabled Tuesday, chairman Keven Anderson, R-Rogers, advised members it was time to get in gear. "We need to start getting to work. In my opinion we've let enough time go by now," Anderson said. Before considering bills, Anderson said he wanted to allow time for legislators to file bills, see the governor's budget proposal, get a feel for how much growth money will be available, know the state's education responsibilities and be sure of the actual extent of a projected $843 million budget surplus. "I think the information is out there now," he told committee members Tuesday. Critcher and Petrus said that tax relief and school facilities funding are two big factors that will affect much legislation, and that lawmakers are probably waiting to see where those factors fall. "Those are two big issues," Critcher said. "Given that there's going to be tax relief, the question is how do you do it?" Another possible factor is Gov. Mike Beebe's administration, Critcher said. He credited the new governor with presenting detailed proposals. "With 85 percent of the legislators being Democrats, they're more willing to see what happens to the governor's program rather than push their own," he said. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee was a Republican. "We can't pretend to know what motivates any particular legislator, but we did work very hard to come up with detailed proposals," Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said. |
