LITTLE ROCK — A move by a House Democratic committee chairman Tuesday to hold off consideration of budget proposals by Republicans has some legislators talking about holding up consideration of the governor’s proposed state budget, too.
The House Rules Committee recommended passage of several resolutions to consider nonappropriation bills, including the repeal of a diesel-tax exemption for big trucks, and a resolution allowing the Budget Committee to create a budget.
But House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, held a resolution that, if adopted, would allow the Republican leader of the House to introduce a version of a budget, instead of relying on Gov. Mike Beebe’s $4.72 billion general-revenue state budget recommendation for fiscal 2013.
A couple of resolutions would allow alternate budget proposals. The Republican leader, Rep. John Burris of Harrison, filed House Concurrent Resolution 1008. Sens. Michael Lamoureux, RRussellville, and Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, filed Senate Concurrent Resolution 3. No action has been taken on the Senate versions.
Ingram also held House Concurrent Resolution 1007 by Rep. Donna Hutchinson, RBella Vista, that if approved would allow her to introduce a bill restricting a state agency from firing public-safety workers if the agency’s budget is cut or funding is reduced.
The 2012 fiscal session began Monday. During a fiscal session, a lawmaker who wants to introduce a nonappropriation bill is required to get the Legislature to adopt a resolution by a two-thirds vote allowing the bill to be introduced. The two-thirds is 67 votes in the 100-member House and 24 in the 35-member Senate.
Ingram said he expected that Burris’ and Hutchinson’s proposals would need more time for discussion than was left before the next committee meeting was to begin in the same room. Ingram ended the meeting 35 minutes before the next scheduled meeting.
House Speaker Robert S. Moore Jr., D-Arkansas City, told reporters after the meeting that the Budget Committee version didn’t have a lot of discussion because it was already considered by the members of the Budget Committee.
“The committee bill has been reviewed by the Joint Budget Committee ... and they have given their blessing to this resolution, the proposed bill in this resolution, and I certainly feel like this is the one we need to go with. The governor’s proposal is the right thing to do,” Moore said. “We’ve had the scrutiny of the committee. We haven’t seen the details of Rep. Burris’ proposal, so obviously there are going to be a lot of eyes that are going to want to look at those details.”
Burris said it isn’t right to have the committee approve the Budget Committee’s version, House Concurrent Resolution 1002, sponsored by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Kathy Webb, D-Little Rock, and not consider his. Both versions contain no details, which are normally added later in the session.
“What details did Kathy present?” Burris said. “The governor’s made his recommendation, but as far as I know that’s the extent of it. Nobody has presented, except the governor, a proposed balanced budget. The final funding levels haven’t been determined yet.”
Burris said he will ask Ingram to let the resolution be discussed soon.
“What I would hope is that the Rules Committee and the speaker and leadership encourages the debate and not tries to stifle it by holding bills in committee. That would be disappointing,” he said.
Webb told reporters that she has heard there may be an effort to block resolutions coming out of the House Rules Committee until the other resolutions are considered.
“We’ll bring it [to] the floor — I guess it’s likely we’ll bring that to the floor tomorrow — and we’ll see where the votes are,” Webb said. “There is a real policy disagreement among the legislators if there is additional room to cut the budget or not.”
Neither Democrats nor Republicans have enough members in the House to get twothirds approval of a resolution if the issue comes down to a party-line vote. Currently the 100-seat House has 45 Republicans and 55 Democrats, the largest number of Republicans in decades.
Burris said House members have concerns and those concerns could mean not enough votes to pass the Budget Committee’s resolution today.
“I think so. We’re here to talk about the budget. There’s nothing else going on. It’s not like you are going to sneak it by,” Burris said. “When it gets to the floor... I think there are a lot of concerns.”
Webb said she plans to bring up the resolution today unless something changes.
“I don’t see any real reason to wait. [Burris] hasn’t asked me specifically or directly to wait on it,” Webb said. “I hope that there will be enough votes to get it through. I expect that there will be enough votes to get it through.”
The Senate Budget Committee chairman, Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, said he’s in “no rush” to ask the Senate to approve Senate Concurrent Resolution 1 by the Budget Committee to allow the introduction of a nonappropriation bill to change the Revenue Stabilization Act. Bills are required to be introduced in the first two weeks of the session, so the resolution must be approved during this period, he said.
Negotiations on the proposed state budget for fiscal year 2013 are progressing, he said.
“I hear from the folks in the House and the ones that I talk to in the Senate that there are some very thoughtful ideas being presented,” Baker said. “Nobody is trying to hang things up. Nobody is trying to undermine the session. It is just a good faith effort to come up with a budget that is good for Arkansas.”
DIESEL TAX
The Rules Committee also approved House Concurrent Resolution 1009 sponsored by Rep. Larry Cowling, D-Foreman, that would authorize a bill to repeal a sales-tax exemption that the Legislature enacted in 2011 for big trucks. The exemption was approved in exchange for the Arkansas Trucking Association’s support for a 5-cents per-gallon diesel-tax increase proposed ballot issue. The association withdrew its support for the increase.
Moore said that the resolution will likely come before the House today. He said he is not sure whether there is enough support in the Senate to repeal the tax.
“We’ve just got to make sure that everybody’s got correct information of where this money is coming from, what the intent of the Trucking Association and the Legislature was when it was originally passed,” Moore said. “Some people are still saying they think this will be tantamount to a tax increase. This has not gone into effect, the exemption will not go into effect until July 1.”
LEGISLATORS-MILEAGE
Rep. James McLean, DBatesville, has withdrawn a resolution that would have allowed him to write legislation that would require lawmakers to be reimbursed for mileage at the same rate as state employees, a rate that is below what legislators can now draw.
McLean had filed House Concurrent Resolution 1003 against the wishes of the House speaker and the governor, who said it would open the door to other nonappropriation bills.
The House, the Senate, the Bureau of Legislative Research and the Division of Legislative Audit allow lawmakers to be reimbursed 51 cents per mile for traveling to and from legislative meetings. State employees are reimbursed for business travel at 42 cents per mile.
McLean said House leaders asked him to pull down the resolution.
“It was impressed upon me that we need to strictly stay on appropriation bills, and I respect that,” McLean said.
He said he will consider bringing the issue back during the 2013 session.
“It’s just not fair. Everybody needs to have the same mileage rate, but the fiscal session just wasn’t the appropriate place to talk about it,” he said.
GENERAL APPROPRIATION BILL
The House voted 95-0 to approve House Bill 1005 to provide no pay raises for constitutional officers, judges and legislators in the appropriation for core government functions. It is the General Appropriation Bill, which appropriates funds for the most basic aspects of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of state government.
Article V, Section 40 of the Arkansas Constitution states that the General Appropriation Bill must be enacted ahead of any other fiscal 2013 appropriation bill.
The bill covers the salaries of 13 district judges, effective Jan. 1, 2013, in addition to 25 existing district judges, in accordance with legislation enacted in 2011.
BUDGET COMMITTEE
The Budget Committee recommended approval of operation expense appropriations for more than three dozen mostly small agencies.
But the committee delayed action on appropriations for several agencies, including Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, the Governor’s Mansion, and the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, at the request of certain lawmakers.
Rep. Andrea Lea, R-Russellville, placed a “hold” on McDaniel’s proposed budget. She said she believes that the budget as a whole needs further discussion. Her request was triggered by McDaniel’s announcement that Arkansas will receive an estimated $39.4 million in a $25 billion settlement that 49 states reached with the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders over foreclosure abuses that occurred after the housing bubble burst in 2008.
“I would like the Legislature to have more oversight over that line item in the attorney general’s budget,” Lea said.
Rep. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, a staunch critic of Beebe, said he placed a “hold” on the Governor’s Mansion budget because he has some questions about what he considers to be “some substantial increases in spending since the [Gov. Mike] Huckabee administration.”
Sen. Bill Pritchard, R-Elkins, placed a hold on the Highway Department’s budget because “I figure we need to take a look and see if we have too many folks over there.”
He noted an audit by the Division of Legislative Audit found that the department’s former top lawmaker allowed “inappropriate absences from work,” time for which they were paid but that didn’t count against their personal leave.
In other business, the committee voted to approve drafting legislation for three of Beebe’s requests for supplemental appropriations from the state’s surplus. The supplementals are $2.666 million for the Arkansas Forestry Commission, $1.9 million for the Arkansas Department of Community Correction, and $35,000 for the state Parole Board.
Today the committee will resume considering drafting legislation for the rest of Beebe’s requests for supplementals.
Beebe has asked the Legislature to provide $30.5 million to supplement several agencies’ spending the rest of this fiscal year. The state has about $72.1 million in surplus money.
END OF SESSION
Moore filed House Concurrent Resolution 1011 to allow for the Legislature to recess on March 2 and to authorize the Senate president pro tempore and House speaker to reconvene it at any time before noon on March 9 to consider vetoes, correct errors or oversights, or to adjourn the Legislature at any time before then.
Calendar
This is the calendar of public events of the 88th General Assembly for today, the third day of the 2012 fiscal session.
JOINT
8 a.m., Budget Committee’s Personnel Subcommittee, Room B, Multi-Agency Complex. 9 a.m., Budget Committee, Room A, Multi-Agency Complex.
HOUSE
1:30 p.m., the House convenes.
SENATE
1:30 p.m., the Senate convenes.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/15/2012