Pace at Capitol slower than ’09

LITTLE ROCK — The 88th General Assembly starts its fourth week today, and folks at the state Capitol describe its pace as leisurely compared with previous sessions.

With about 100 fewer bills introduced than at this point in 2009, some are getting antsy.

“I’ve really wondered why we’re going so slow,” said Sen. Mary Anne Salmon, D-North Little Rock. “It’s wearing me out. I like to stay busy.”

Detailed debate on a wide range of expected policy issues hasn’t happened yet.

A bill aimed at thwarting the federal health-care mandate that individuals buy private health insurance got a hearing in a House committee last week, then a motion to recommend that the House pass the bill failed in the committee.

The news so far this session has included legal actions against two freshman legislators.

Rep. Fred Smith, D-Crawfordsville, resigned Wednesday after a felony theft conviction, and Sen. Bruce Holland, R-Greenwood, was charged with multiple traffic offenses stemming from a car chase that a deputy said reached 100 mph.

But Gov. Mike Beebe and legislative leaders say big ticket policy items should start rolling in soon.

Senate President Pro Tempore Paul Bookout, D-Jonesboro, said a bill setting ethics standards for legislators should be filed today. Bookout and House Speaker Robert S. Moore Jr., D-Arkansas City, are the leadsponsors. Republican leaders have also signed on.

“We’re trying to pass some legislation we feel is just the right thing to do,” Bookout said. “In government, you always need to evaluate the way you do business.”

Beebe said his administration’s plan for reducing the rate of growth in the state’s costly prison population, now about 16,000, could be filed this week, and his plan for reducing the rate of sales tax on groceries by one-half of a percentage point could be filed in a week or so.

Through the first three weeks of the session, 444 bills were introduced, compared with 549 through the same period during the 2009 session.

“There are so many new members trying to get their feet wet,” said Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home. “They’re trying to figure out the process, figuring out how to get bills introduced.”

Forty-five of the 98 House members (there are two vacancies) are freshmen, and 13 of the 35 senators are freshmen. Three of the House freshmen are former senators, and seven of the Senate freshmen are former House members.

One freshman, Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, said constituents have told her that they want her to be “considerate and thoughtful” about legislation.

“That requires time,” she said. “It requires getting to know your colleagues. You have to switch from campaign mode to governing mode, and you have to learn to work along with others. There is a lot of reading to do on the reports and studies that have already been done. I don’t want to discount the work of the people who came before me.”

Many of the newcomers assured voters during the 2010 election campaigns that their aim was to cut state spending and reduce state taxes. A lot of tax-cut bills have been introduced (the current crop would reduce state revenue about $200 million a year), but so far they have gone nowhere as lawmakers develop budget plans and leave the tax-cut issues for later.

Beebe has said his grocery tax-cut proposal, which would reduce state revenue by $21 million a year, is the only tax cut the state can afford.

Some legislators, particularly Republicans, have said they’d like to try to find more room for tax cuts in Beebe’s proposed $4.59 billion general revenue budget for fiscal 2012. The proposed budget total is a 2.5 percent increase from fiscal 2011.

Cuts to his budget proposal could open the way for some additional tax cuts.

ETHICS

Bookout said critics who think the proposed ethics plan doesn’t go far enough should focus on the positive. He said this plan has a good chance at success when similar plans have failed in recent years.

“We’re talking about doing something that’s been attempted over and over [without success],” he said.

The plan would:

Mandate a one-year “cooling off” period from when a legislator leaves office to when he can become a lobbyist.

Exempt from that moratorium any legislator who doesn’t run for re-election in 2012. For practical purposes, this means the moratorium would take effect during the 2015 session.

Require that legislators be reimbursed for the cheapest cost of travel to out-of-state conferences, either for mileage reimbursement or the cost of airfare.

“I’m very cautious of sticking my nose in the middle of their internal business,” Beebe said. “However, I certainly thought that a two-year moratorium was more appropriate than one. And I would not have suggested it be prospective only, in other words, grandfathered in. I think that sends the message that folks want to impose something but not on themselves. That’s not good.”

Beebe said he has “talked to various folks” about his concerns and legislators “didn’t take my advice.”

Moore and Bookout each said they were unaware of the governor’s concerns.

“It’s easy to talk about what we didn’t do,” Bookout said. “Let’s talk about what we did do. We’re trying to get something accomplished.”

He added, “Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good,” a line sometimes used by Beebe.

The moratorium for lobbying parallels a bill that Sen. Robert Thompson, D-Paragould, filed in 2007. It passed in the Senate and died in the House.

Supporters say the moratorium is needed because of a perception among some people that legislators push for legislation advocated by a group and later get a lucrative job from the same group.

Moore said the grandfather clause is in the proposal because it was one of the ideas from Democratic and Republican legislators advising him on the topic.

Moore said only 28 legislators in the House, including himself, could benefit from it. These are the third term legislators who will not be allowed to seek another term in 2012under the state’s term-limits amendment.

“You can rest assured I will not be back up here as a lobbyist,” Moore said.

The reimbursement provision in the ethics plan addresses actions by some legislators who drove to far-away conferences and collected big mileage payments from the state, instead of taking the cheaper option of airfare.

Legislators received 51 cents per mile. State employees receive 42 cents per mile.

PRISONS

Beebe’s plan on restructuring criminal sentences for some offenses is still gelling, he said.

“Part of the reason is the complexity of it,” Beebe said. “The main reason is we’ve tried to give a say to some groups who weren’t involved [in the discussions on the issue] the past year. The prosecutors are the ones most concerned about the bill.”

He said the plan will incorporate changes recommended by the Pew Center in a recent study, with some minor modifications. The Pew recommendations include reducing future sentences for nonviolent offenses and placing more offenders on probation and parole.

Beebe said the “only sticking point I’m aware of” came from prosecutors who were opposed to “any change in the ‘Y’ felony category.” With the exception of the death penalty for capital murder, these felonies carry the most serious punishments from 10 years to 40 years or life.

Beebe said he wants to keep “Y” felonies for drug dealers but reduce the possible prison time for those who manufacture methamphetamine “for their own use or a very limited use.”

Bookout said one option is to send some Arkansas inmates to Louisiana prisons. He said allowing that might require legislation.

HIGHWAYS

Moore said he’s “making progress” on a possible highway plan. He said he believes that House members have reached a consensus that roads need fixing, and they’ve “got to do something” about it before the session ends.

He said he’s working on developing something that will pass, but he declined to give details.

Arkansas highway officials project that the state will have $4.1 billion available for construction over the next decade but have identified needs totaling $19.1 billion during the same period.

Beebe has let Moore take the lead on this issue.

The governor said he’s “open-minded” but “not real optimistic” of a highway plan forthcoming.

“It’s a complex issue to solve because of the anti-tax mood and the state of the economy,” Beebe said. “You’re not really able to avoid [taxes] if discussing [fixing] highways.”

SMITH, HOLLAND

Smith resigned after less than three weeks as a legislator. He was found guilty by Chicot County Circuit Judge Sam Pope of theft of property that was delivered by mistake.

He was charged in September 2009 after a state audit found that the Dermott Special School District issued a duplicate payment of $29,250 from federal grants to Smith’s nonprofit group, Save Our Kids. Both payment checks were cashed.

Also, Perry County Sheriff Scott Montgomery announced Wednesday that Holland would be charged with fleeing, careless driving and improper passing after a 20-mile vehicle chase. Holland apologized for the episode to his colleagues.

Key, the senator from Mountain Home, said it’s “for the people to decide” whether the actions of Smith and Holland hurt the reputation of the Legislature.

“We’re going about our work,” Key said. “Things have happened before. The best thing to do is not get sidetracked. Individuals have to deal with individual problems or issues that come up. As a [legislative] body, that’s not going to slow us down.”