The House will consider a bill today to allow the governor to forgo calling a special election to fill the vacant lieutenant governor’s post this year.
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Senate Bill 139, which was approved by the Senate unanimously last week, was passed by the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday. The bill is scheduled to make its way to the floor of the House today for a vote and is expected to pass without opposition.
Springdale Republican Mark Darr resigned as lieutenant governor effective Feb. 1, more than a month after the state Ethics Commission levied an $11,000 fine against him for 11 violations of state ethics and campaign-spending laws.
Arkansas law now requires the governor to call a special election to fill the post within 150 days of the vacancy.
But with a general election that includes a lieutenant governor’s race set for November, several legislators questioned the need for a costly special election.
“This is a pretty simple, straightforward bill, one that most of you are familiar with,” Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, who sponsored the bill, told the House committee Tuesday.
Williams said if approved,the bill will save the state about $1.3 million. The bill would allow the governor to not call a special election if a general election is going to be held within 10 months to fill the lieutenant governor’s office.
Williams said the bill also allows the governor to delay special elections if it is “impractical or unduly burdensome” to hold them within 150 days. In those cases, the elections must be held “as soon as practicable.”
“The past several years it was not possible to call the election within 150 days, just physically because the Constitution requires the election to be on the second Tuesday of the month,” he said. “So, when it doesn’t fall exactly right, it’s hard to do. What this does is give the governor a little bit of leeway without violating the law.”
Rep. Andrea Lea, R-Russellville, said the next step for the bill will be a House vote, likely today. Williams added that Gov. Mike Beebe had said he would hold off on a special election if the bill passes.
Some lawmakers had also sought to reduce funding for the lieutenant governor’s staff in the fiscal year beginning July 1.
But the issue became moot this week; Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, announced that the four-man staff assembled by Darr will step down no later than June 30.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/27/2014