Arkansas House and Senate leaders Thursday signaled their support for legislation authorizing the state to issue $125 million in bonds for Big River Steel’s proposed $1.1 billion steel mill near Osceola, which its developers say will create 525 full-time jobs with annual average pay of about $75,000.
Also Thursday, Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, accused House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, of “playing games,” and “stupid politics” after Carter said a Housevote on overriding Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto of the King-sponsored voter-identification bill would be delayed until Monday. Carter subsequently denied King’s claims, adding that he said he might even delay the House’s vote beyond Monday.
On the 74th day of this year’s regular session, the Senate approved legislation to enact a new school-choice law and the House approved bills to prevent employers and institutions of higher education from requiring or requesting user names or passwords for social media accounts of prospective em-ployees or students.
BIG RIVER STEEL
Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, said he supports legislation to authorize state-issued bonds for the proposed steel mill.
“It is a major investment in Arkansas, it is a lot of jobs for an area of the state that needs them, and, more fundamentally for me, the members from that part of the state want it,” he said.
The proposed $125 million bond issue for the project “is very difficult for the Legislature to evaluate, but at the end of the day I will be surprised if [the legislation] doesn’t come out of the Senate,” Lamoureux said.
Carter told reporters that he has added his name to a list of co-sponsors for a bill sponsored by Rep. Monte Hodges, D-Blytheville, to authorize the steelmill bond issue.
He started urging members Wednesday to support passage of the bill, he said.
“We know what the result will be from doing nothing,” Carter said. “I think we ought to pass the bonds, approve the bonds, and to help that part of the state that’s been struggling for so long.
“There’s always risk in everything we do, but I keep coming back after listening to everybody that’s involved, all of the experts, it seems as if they’ve put together a deal that’s mitigated the risks to the best extent possible,” Carter said.
As far as Nucor Corp.’s opposition to the state assistance for Big River Steel LLC’s project, he said: “I understand their concerns. But you’ve got to weigh that with the benefits.”
Nucor warned lawmakers Monday that Big River Steel’s proposed Mississippi County mill, bolstered by tax credits and state-funded bonds, will undermine the state’s existingsteel industry and could lead to a cutback in jobs.
Nucor operates two steel mills near Blytheville - Nucor Steel Arkansas and Nucor-Yamato, a joint venture with Japanese company Yamato Kogyo Corp.
PHOTO ID
King accused Carter of “playing games” after Carter told him the House would wait until Monday to vote on overriding Beebe’s veto of King’s Senate Bill 2 because the House had “a busy calendar” to consider Thursday.
King said Wednesday that he expected the House to vote to override the veto Thursday.
In a party-line vote Wednesday, the Senate voted 21-12 to override Beebe’s veto of King’s bill requiring voters to present photo identification.
“This is too serious an issueand I have done too much work and [Carter] is quoted in the paper as saying he doesn’t know if he wants to vote for it, and then he turns around and says he needs to look at the attorney general’s opinion,” King said in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “And the second thing is he has got to look at the governor’s veto [letter], which has several inaccuracies in it.
“I mean, how much more debate do you need about this? He voted for it three times [in 2009 and 2011]. This is just ridiculous. This is just stupid politics,” King said.
In response to King’s remarks, Carter told reporters that: “We had a busy calendar and it is a long week, and I didn’t want to deal with [a vote to override the veto] today.”
Carter said it’s “inaccurate” for King to suggest that he’s playing games.
The senator’s “response, which was inappropriate, doesn’t give me cause to want to go try to help do him any favors, speed up the process. I am managing the House calendar for the House members and that’s my job. The Senate can manage their calendar. We will manage our calendar. All this other stuff is unfounded,” Carter said.
“For a guy who needs my vote, he sure doesn’t go about it a very good way, so I will just leave it at that,” Carter said. “I am going to read the stuff. That’s what we are supposed to do, and I am probably going to vote for it. But dealing with this unnecessary stuff doesn’t help the matter.”
Asked whether there is any chance that he would delay the House’s vote on overriding beyond Monday, Carter replied, “Maybe. Maybe.”
The House voted 51-44 to approve King’s bill, and Carter didn’t vote on it.
But the lone Democrat to vote for the bill, Rep. Walls Mc-Crary of Lonoke, said in a letter dated March 14 to the House that he intended to vote no on SB2.
The House has 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one member of the Green Party, so it’s possible that Carter’s vote may decide whether Beebe’s veto of King’s legislation is overridden by the House. Overriding a veto takes a majority of the 100-member House and 35-member Senate.
SCHOOL CHOICE
In a 34-0 vote, the Senate approved a bill to enact a new school-choice law, and its sponsor said he plans to add a 2015 expiration date to the bill to allow lawmakers in two years to incorporate, if necessary, a pending federal appeals court ruling on a challenge to the current law.
The existing law allows students to transfer out of their resident school districts with afew exceptions. Those exceptions include a prohibition on such transfers if the percentage of enrollment for the student’s race in the new district exceeds that percentage in the district where the student lives.
The provision prevented white children from transferring from the 60-percent white Malvern School District to the 95-percent white Magnet Cove School District. The children’s parents filed suit. Last June, U.S. District Judge Robert Dawson struck down the law, calling the racial restriction unconstitutional. Dawson later stayed his decision while the 8th Circuit deliberates.
In addition to the expiration date, Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, said he plans to add an amendment to his Senate Bill 62 that also would limit transfers to no more than 3 percent of a district’s enrollment each year, exempt districts with court-ordered desegregation responsibilities (including Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County districts), and clarify that all previous transfers under current school-choice law would be “grandfathered.” MOMENT OF SILENCE
In a 34-1 vote, the Senate approved a bill that would require teachers to allow students a moment of silence at the beginning of the school day.
According to Rep. Debra Hobbs, R-Rogers, her House Bill 1690 would give pupils the opportunity to pray, reflect or quietly work on some other activity at the beginning of the day. ACADEMIC DISTRESS
The Senate approved House Bill 1770 by Rep. Mark Perry, D-Jacksonville, which would allow the Department of Education to classify a school district as being in distress for up to five years. Currently a district can be classified as in fiscal, academic or facility distress for up to two years before it faces penalties such as a takeover by the state or annexation into another district. The department has asked for more time to help districts remedy problems.
TAX BREAK
In a 32-0 vote, the Senate approved Senate Bill 108 by Sen. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, which the state finance department estimated would reduce state general revenue by $13.6 million in fiscal 2020 and ultimately cut general revenue by about $63.4 million in fiscal 2024.
The bill would increase the five years in which net operating losses can be carried forward for tax purposes to 10 years for losses occurring on or after Jan. 1, 2013. Businesses can use the losses against income earned in the future.
WATERWAY BILL
In a 20-13 vote, the Senate approved House Bill 1929,which would lift regulatory burdens from municipalities and industries that discharge minerals into Arkansas waterways.
Teresa Marks, director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, has said she’s worried that the measure would lead to an immediate schism between her agency and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
The House of Representatives approved two bills to prevent employers and institutions of higher education from requiring or requesting user names or passwords for social media accounts of prospective employees or students.
House Bill 1902, sponsored by Rep. Nate Steel, D-Nashville, would prevent institutions of higher education from requiring or asking for the user names and passwords, but included exceptions for accounts opened at the request of or provided by the institution. Steel said the bill did not include accounts that are set up to impersonate an institution.
Steel’s companion bill, HB1901, would prohibit an employer from requesting that information from employees and job applicants. He said that after filing the bill, he heard from several people who showed him job applications requesting user names and passwords. HUMAN TRAFFICKING
The House approved 85-0 a bill that would require businesses and certain public areas to post information about a human-trafficking hot line.
House Bill 1581, sponsored by Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, would require certain private clubs, sexually oriented businesses, transportation hubs and businesses cited as nuisances for prostitution to post signs for the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline.
SECOND AMENDMENT SAFEGUARDS
The House Judiciary Committee failed to pass a bill that would exempt firearms, accessories and ammunition manufactured in the state and that remains in the state from federal law and regulations.
Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, said House Bill 1752 would ensure that the Second Amendment rights of Arkansans are unaffected by future regulations imposed by the federal government.
The bill would require the Arkansas Public Defender Commission to defend a resident prosecuted for federal firearm laws and regulations.
But Didi Sallings, executive director of the commission, said her attorneys are not trained to handle federal cases.
Six members voted for the bill, five others voted against it and nine others didn’t vote on it.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/29/2013