LITTLE ROCK — State Rep. Clark Hall said Thursday that he’s reversing his position and will allow use of cell phones by the public in the State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee of the House.
But Hall said he’s adding a ban - this one against legislators using the state-provided laptop computers to send and receive e-mails during meetings of the committee.
“They put me in charge as committee chairman, and I’m going to be in charge,” said Hall, D-Marvell.
Hall announced Wednesday during his committee’s first meeting that he was banning all cell phone use, including texting, by “ everyone” during committee meetings. He told reporters that meant all people attending a committee meeting, not just committee members.
Hall’s decision bothered several writers of Web logs, or blogs, about legislative activity. Three of the bloggers sent a joint letter Thursday to House Speaker Robert S. Moore Jr.
“We ask that you address this matter through your leadership and the appropriate channels of the House as soon as possible in order to keep faith with the public that the people’s business is in fact worthy of all forms of observation and communication,” said the letter signed by Roby Brock, Jason Tolbert and Michael Tilley.
Moore said Wednesday that he didn’t know Hall had extended the ban to the public and questioned how that would be enforced. He said he was going to talk to Hall.
This is Hall’s first week as a committee chairman. He was appointed by Moore, D-Arkansas City. Hall has been a legislator since 2007.
Hall on Thursday said he never meant his ban to extend to the public. He said he “didn’t make myself clear” in his comments to reporters about the extent of the ban. He said he was talking about the “universal everybody,” meaning members of his committee.
It was clear that lobbyists attending the meeting Wednesday also took Hall’s ban as applying to the public, as several made comments about it afterward.
“Sometimes I say things I shouldn’t have, and I have to apologize for it later,” Hall said Thursday.
He said he never meant to include members of the news media in his ban.
“They are the fourth leg of good government,” he said. “We are not trying to keep the press from doing their job. I want to make sure that the members of my committee focus on the issues that are going to be presented to us. I’m not going to interfere with what the audience does as long as it does not intervene with the committee.”
He said it bothered him that during the start of the meeting Wednesday, several members of his committee were using cell phones to send messages.
“I have great respect for this institution,” Hall said. “We are getting more lax in the respect [for the House].”
Additionally, he said he won’t let committee members use their laptop computers to send e-mails while someone addresses the committee. Most legislators have e-mail addresses through the state’s system.
He said it’s “rude” and “an embarrassment” for committee members to text or e-mail while people address the committee.
House Chief of Staff Bill Stovall and Parliamentarian Tim Massanelli said Wednesday that no House policy or rule bans e-mails from laptops during committee meetings.
But Hall said he had the authority to do that because a “rule” bans the use of “electronic equipment” during meetings.
Stovall and Massanelli said Wednesday that it was Hall’s prerogative to ban cell-phone use during committee meetings. They cited a House “policy.”
It says: “Members and any other persons allowed admittance to the House Floor and legislative committee rooms shall refrain from loud or disruptive conversation and shall not use TVs, radios, cellular phones, beepers, unauthorized cameras, signs, badges, buttons representing candidates or causes, posters, banners,props, etc. Members shall keep the sound on their computers turned off.”
Moore has said that the policy may have to be revised, since it was written before the use of cell phones to send emails and texts.
Asked about Hall’s statement that there is a rule banning “electronic equipment,” Stovall didn’t say whether that was the case, but maintained that Hall could restrict laptop use.
“A decision by the committee chairperson to prohibit e-mailing on computers at committee tables by members would be valid unless overturned by the majority of the committee membership,” Stovall said.
Stovall said that’s based on the “committee process of majority rules.”
He didn’t say whether a majority of the committee had to agree with Hall before a ban on laptop use by members could be instituted.
Other committee chairmen have said they have no problem with people texting in their committees.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 01/14/2011