Legislative Update - March 6

Past Updates:

February 17

We are halfway through the 2009 Arkansas Legislative session!  There are still opportunities for you to make a real difference to help Arkansas’ economy, environment, education and more. This week we have big progress and a few setbacks to report. 

The biggest news last week was the filing of our energy efficiency and global warming package of legislation – thanks to all of you who came to the press conference (watch it here!).  These bills will save Arkansas consumers money, create Arkansas jobs and help protect our environment.  What more could you ask for?  7 bills in total – see the environment section below.

A clean Arkansas energy future needs your help!  Please sign the petition.

Other newsworthy items include the passage of the first of our priority bills: expanding conservation easements for critical wetland habitat.  Rep. Uvalde Lindsey of Fayetteville deserves a lot of thanks for his superior work on HB1577 – soon to be an act as soon as the Governor gets to it.  

We have three more lobby days coming up where you can help push the Agenda for a Better Arkansas – Economic Lobby Day Tuesday March 17; Youth Lobby Day March 19; and Full Citizens First Congress Lobby Day March 24, where we’ll focus on all of our issues.  Please RSVP and join us!  You make a big difference when you participate.

Check out photos of the three lobby days we’ve already had – over 100 Arkansans took time off from work to come lobby their legislators!  It’s your legislature and your fellow Arkansans met with their legislators, observed and testified in committee hearings, lobbied the Governor, got issue briefings, participated in press conferences and more. 

We are making progress on our priority issues in addition to the energy and global warming bills:

• A package of education reform legislation will be filed this week that will begin to close the achievement gap and add more transparency and accountability to our education system – 5 bills in total, see the education section below.
• The wage theft bill, HB1576, was filed and we are lining up support.
  
• The Dream Act to give in-state tuition to every student who graduates from an Arkansas high school was introduced yesterday as SB 799.
  

• We are still in dialogue about rural economic development and expanded minority HIV-AIDS prevention and treatment.  We have lots of support for these issues but current economic conditions are making funding these great new programs very difficult.  Progress on these issues is inevitable, but it’s going to take longer-term campaigns.  In the mean time we are meeting with existing agency staff to look for opportunities to partner and make existing programs work better.

There are several other major issues unfolding.  Lottery scholarships, Arkansas’ implementation of federal stimulus money, a proposed Commission on Poverty, several environmental bills, and more.

AGRICULTURE:

We Support:

• SB349 (Laverty) allows rice farmers a greater voice in how their check-off funds are spent.  The bill is currently before the Senate Agriculture Committee.  Currently all rice growers pay a check-off fee on the rice they grow and the money is given to the Rice Research and Promotion Board for research and promotion.  Many farmers feel this Board is controlled by rice milling companies and that farmers don’t have a voice in how their own funds are spent.    SB349 will give rice growers a choice of whether to send their check-off taxes to the Research and Promotion Board, or to a more farmer accountable board with the same mission of promoting and developing rice.
• The Milk Stabilization Bill, HB1451 (Hoyt), will help preserve Arkansas dairies, which have been disappearing at alarming rates, by stabilizing the price of Arkansas milk and promoting Arkansas dairies. If we lose our dairies, Arkansas stands to lose a $400 million industry and the price of milk will go up.  HB1451 keeps milk less expensive, keeps local Arkansas dairies and keeps Arkansas jobs.
• SB442 (Key) will exempt raw food at farmers markets from the sales tax and help support local agriculture, local jobs – not to mention providing at least one source of food without a sales tax!

CIVIL RIGHTS:

We Support:

• SB299 (Sen. Wilkins) establishes a new racial profiling task force that will get data from state police on traffic stops and work with law enforcement and civil rights advocates to determine an effective strategies to prevent racial profiling.
• HB1637 by Rep. Blount (Marianna) will make it easier for ex-felons to register to vote once their debt to society is paid.
• Three bills improving domestic violence laws are moving at the legislature, all sponsored by Rep. Dawn Creekmore. HB1039, to strengthen the definition of second degree battery, is now Act 194. HB1041, to strengthen the penalty for third degree battery, and HB1038, to strengthen orders of protection to protect victims of violence from further contact with their attackers, are both awaiting a final vote in the House.
• SJR12 to pass the ERA.  It failed in Senate Committee by one vote.  Voting FOR the ERA were: Senators Randy Laverty (Jasper), Steve Faris (?), Ed Wilkinson (?), Steve Bryles (Blythville).  Voting AGAINST were: Senators Bobby Glover (Carlisle), Bill Pritchard (Elkins), Gilbert Baker (Conway), Kim Hendren (?).  The bill may be reconsidered and one no vote on the committee changing their position will send the bill forward.
  ERA talking points
• We are developing a committee to pursue better civil rights laws in Arkansas.  Please e-mail us at Congress@CitizensFirst.org if you are interested in joining.

We Oppose:

• HB1093 restricts currently available services to undocumented immigrants and even criminalizes the work of good Samaritan’s who offer undocumented immigrants help with health care, food, housing, etc. HB1093 has been tabled.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND JUSTICE:

We Support:

• Wage theft, one of our Priority issues, has been filed. HB1576 (L. Smith) will make it easier for the Arkansas Department of Labor to investigate unscrupulous employers who refuse to pay workers their wages after the work is completed.  This problem affects many laboring professions such as truck drivers, carpenters, day laborers and others.  The Department of Labor currently can not investigate wage theft if it is MORE than $1,000 – a limit set in 1973!  This bill will increase that limit to $2000.  We appreciate the help of the Arkansas AFL-CIO and other labor friends on this bill.
• HB1378 (Maxwell)is one of our priorities: progressive tax reform for working families.  This bill will exempt people below the poverty line who have 2 or more dependents from the State Income Tax.
  
• SB470 (Elliott) will create a taskforce on reducing poverty and promoting economic opportunity.  It has representatives of several non-profits (including Arkansas Public Policy Panel, Advocates for Children and Families and others) working with a task force of legislators and other appointees to identify the core causes of poverty in Arkansas and what can be done to improve it.
• HB1464 (Nickels) raises the Arkansas state minimum wage up to meet the new Federal minimum wage of $7.25.

We are Monitoring:

• Stimulus implementation proposals – Arkansas government is getting a huge cash infusion from the Federal Government to stimulate the economy, improve schools, build infrastructure, upgrade energy systems to be more efficient and more.  We are digesting these proposals and will be coming out with more news to help you ensure that these dollars are spent well, spent fairly and spent transparently on the things Arkansans from all walks of life and all communities across the state need. 

EDUCATION REFORM:

We Support:

• We expect 5 bills to be filed in the next 2 days that will: increase transparency about how effectively existing funds for closing the achievement gap are spent; strengthen the state’s Commission on Closing the Achievement Gap; expand parent’s access to information from school districts; and improve interventions for under-performing schools.
• HB1646 (Rainey) will make sure that everyone can vote in school board elections.  Currently in rural districts that cross more than one county line, the election commission can choose to only open one polling place in the county where the school district is physically located.  That can mean a drive for as much as 60 miles to vote.  HB1646 will require at least one polling place per city of over 500 residents in multi-county school districts.
• SB799 (Elliott) is another of our priority issues: The Dream Act.  This bill makes the dream of college more of a reality by ensuring that every Arkansas student who graduates from an Arkansas school has the opportunity to pay in-state tuition at an Arkansas College or University.  Current rules require colleges to check the immigration status of all students and charge students without proper documentation out-of-state tuition rates no matter where they went to high school or how long they’ve lived in Arkansas.  This effectively cuts thousands of students off from access to college and ensures a permanent economic and educational underclass in Arkansas.  The bill does not provide scholarships or other special favors.  SB799 simply allows students from Arkansas high schools to attend Arkansas colleges for in-state tuition rates.

We are Monitoring:

• Lottery negotiations are continuing to decide how to allocate the millions of dollars in new student scholarships that will be created by Arkansas’ new lottery.  We have two primary concerns that we are asking people to contact their legislators about:
  
  Our first concern is that the vast majority of lottery scholarships should be for need-based students to help low and middle income students afford college.  Some proposals have targeted high percentages of the new money for merit based scholarships – but because of the education achievement gap merit based scholarships will disproportionately help higher income students who need the help the least.
  
  Our second concern is that proposals to punish schools for grade inflation actually punish students who attend schools with grade inflation, through no fault of their own.  These schools appear to be disproportionately low income and minority.  Grade inflation is a serious problem in some Arkansas schools, but the schools should be help accountable for solving the problem and students who play by the rules given to them should not be punished or excluded from scholarship programs because their school leaders failed them.

• HB1389 (Reep) would require eye examinations for young children entering school.  It’s hard to learn if you can’t see the blackboard.
• SB49 (Key) allows tax payers to divert their tax refunds into tax-deferred tuition savings accounts to make college more affordable.
• HB1272 (Blount) seeks to improve supports for parental involvement in school.
• HB1764 (D. Hutchinson) provides more data on college remediation rates and needs.
• SB430 (Crumbly) targets incentives to get better teachers into high-poverty schools.
• SB452 (Salmon) creates a task force on Arkansas history education.

ELECTION AND GOVERNMENT REFORM:

We are Supporting:

• HB1338 commits Arkansas’ electoral college to voting for the national popular vote winner in presidential elections.  The bill has passed and is before the Governor.

We are Monitoring:

• HB1798 (Harrelson) requires all state agencies to post notice of public meetings on the internet.
• HB1611 and HB1783 (Harrelson) provides for internet broadcast of proceedings of committees of the House of Representatives.  You can already watch a *few* of these on CFCTV on our website!
• HB1247 and 1247 (Carroll) expand ballot access by third parties.
• HB1404 – now Act 281 (Webb) simplifies ballots by requiring ballot items to be listed 1, 2, 3, 4 regardless of ballot question types.  Under past law we have had up to three numbers 1, 2,  3 etc (Initiated act, referred act, constitutional amendment, etc.)
• SB192 (Faris) changes penalties for abuse of absentee voting

ENVIRONMENT:

We Support:

• A WIN!!!  HB1577 (Lindsey) will add conservation tax credits to the Wetland and Riparian Zones Tax Credit Program, broadening landowners’ options for protecting water assets and increasing the likelihood of their voluntary participation.

• HB1903 (Cash) The Energy Efficiency Performance Standards Act of 2009 will require the PSC to expand existing electric and gas utility programs that help make homes and businesses more efficient, make free or low-cost energy audits for all Arkansans, provide incentives for insulation and weatherization and create jobs by expanding businesses involved in energy efficiency.  It is in the House Insurance and Commerce Committee.
• HB1851 (Webb) will help lower barriers to creating a renewable energy market in Arkansas and help consumers and Arkansas companies upgrade to renewable energy.  It will create new energy technology companies in Arkansas, positioning us to lead the new energy based economy.  It is in the House Insurance and Commerce Committee.
• HB1663 (Webb) Lead By Example – This bill will increase efficiency in schools and government buildings by creating a timetable for carefully assessing and gradually retrofitting state buildings to improve their energy efficiency – resulting in substantial savings for the state.  It is in the Joint Energy Committee.
• SB584 (Broadway) will provide low-cost financing to be used to retrofit state government and school facilities and remove legal barriers to the funding that would make them more energy efficient. This bill is in the Senate Insurance and Commerce Committee.
• SB440 (Broadway) allows the work of the Task Force to continue. Its mission is to review, discuss and advise on issues related to sustainable building design.  It is in the Senate State Agencies Committee.
• HB1902 (Cash) will amend the Arkansas motorcycle code to allow highly efficient 3-wheeled electric vehicles on the streets regulated as cars and not motorcycles.  It’s in the House Public Transportation Committee.
• HB2008 (Webb) gives a tax credit to encourage the recovery and use of landfill methane gas. It’s not been assigned to committee yet.
• SB115 expands the authority of the Department of Environmental Quality to regulate and issue permits for waste disposal from crude oil and natural gas production.  The new shale developments in Arkansas stand to create millions of gallons of toxic waste and companies are looking to dispose of some of it on Delta farm land.
• SB1968 (Webb) will the appearance of conflicts of interest on regulatory boards and commissions in Arkansas.  It requires members of state regulatory boards and commissions to disclose their financial interests and recuse from votes where either they, their employer or their family members have a direct financial interest.  It empowers the Arkansas Ethics Commission to investigate
• HB1424 (Webb) requires financial assurance of “landfarms” where drilling wastes are disposed so that someday remediation can take place.

We Oppose:

• HB1026 (G. Smith) ensures that a majority of the members of the Oil and Gas Commission are from the Oil and Gas Industry.  See our talking points on this bill here.  Classic fox guarding the hen house problems arise from this bill that will further erode the voices for the “public good” on the Commission.  The Bill has passed the House and the Senate, and now must re-pass the House to concur with a Senate Amendment.  Please urge your House members to vote no.

We are Monitoring:

• HB1472 (R. Green) “to improve the local control of solid waste management by allowing an alternative formation of a solid waste management district.
• HB1560 (Maxwell) spends $1.5 million in tax dollars subsidizing lignite coal mining in South Arkansas.
• HB1796 (Allen) creates an Arkansas Alternative Energy Commission
• HB1746 (Edwards) expands the definition of watersheds to include drainage areas, and seeks to increase protections for drinking water sources and other critical water habitat.
• SB551 (G. Jeffress) -- THE LIGNITE MINERAL INTEREST LAPSE ACT OF 2009 – this bill appears to automatically remove mineral rights from landowners who do not develop them.  We are doing a more careful read of the bill.