|
|
| |
| Sun, Nov. 23, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
Beebe says he'd oppose legislation similar to immigration ballot measure Wednesday, Jul 9, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Backers who abandoned their effort to put a proposed ballot measure on illegal immigration before voters this fall can expect continued opposition from Gov. Mike Beebe if they take a similar proposal to the Legislature next year, the governor said Tuesday. Jeannie Burlsworth, chairman of Secure Arkansas, said Monday the group did not collect enough signatures of registered voters to qualify its measure to ban illegal immigrants from receiving most public benefits for the November general election ballot. She said the group would push for passage of legislation similar to the ballot proposal during the 2009 regular legislative session. Beebe opposed the measure. "If it's the same thing, I'm sure I'll be opposed to it just like I was, for the same reasons," he told reporters Tuesday. On another ballot initiative, Beebe said he has not made up his mind on Lt. Gov. Bill Halter's proposed constitutional amendment to create a state lottery to fund college scholarships, though the governor said he is not concerned that Halter's proposal would open the door to other forms of gambling. Beebe has said he opposed Secure Arkansas' proposal regarding illegal immigrants because it would duplicate existing laws. "All of the things that I've heard them say so far about limiting benefits are, according to all of my information, already covered under existing state or federal law," he said Tuesday. After Beebe made similar comments earlier this year, news reports disclosed the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway offered in-state tuition rates to students regardless of whether they listed a Social Security number on application forms. Beebe said at the time he was not aware of the schools' policy and directed the state Department of Higher Education to ban the practice. Monday was the deadline for supporters of citizen ballot initiatives to submit signatures to the secretary of state's office, which certifies such measures for the general election ballot. Hope for Arkansas, Halter's campaign for the proposed lottery amendment, weeks ago submitted more than 138,000 signatures, significantly more than the 77,468 valid signatures of registered voters required to qualify a proposed constitutional amendment for the ballot. Asked Tuesday about Halter's lottery proposal, Beebe said there is a strong argument that low-income people would be less able to provide for their families if they became addicted to playing the lottery. But the governor also said revenue from a lottery would go a long way toward alleviating the problem of Arkansas' low number of college graduates. Halter has said a state lottery would generate about $100 million annually for college scholarships. "I vacillate on both sides of it, and I may not know how I'm going to vote till I walk into the voting booth," Beebe said. He also said he is not concerned that passage of a lottery amendment would open the door to other forms of gambling, a concern Attorney General Dustin McDaniel raised in November when he approved the wording of the proposal. McDaniel said he worried the measure did not define the term "state lotteries." The Family Council Action Committee submitted 65,899 signatures Monday in support of a proposed initiated act to ban unmarried couples from adopting or becoming foster parents. An initiated act requires 61,974 verified signatures to make the November ballot. Beebe has said the measure goes too far and he opposes it. |
