The Arkansas General Assembly quietly adjourned on Wednesday morning, wrapping up one of the shortest sessions in recent years.
The Senate met for about a half-hour and the House met for about 20 minutes before each adjourned.
The chambers recessed the regular session on April 2 and returned Wednesday to formally end the 82-day regular session. The 2013 regular session lasted 101 days and the 2011 session lasted 96 days.
The Republican-dominated Legislature cut income-tax rates for Arkansans with taxable income between $21,000 and $75,000 a year and authorized the use of federal funds to purchase private health insurance for some low-income Arkansans through fiscal 2016. It also enacted more restrictions on abortion and loosened some restrictions on concealed-carry gun permit holders.
During the session, lawmakers also approved legislation cutting reimbursements for certain legislative expenses, a step that the citizens salary commission required before their new pay raises could go into effect.
The Senate on Wednesday approved and forwarded to the governor one final piece of legislation -- Senate Bill 633, requiring people who repeatedly fail the written driver's test to pay $5 every time they retake the exam.
Existing state law only allows the $5 fee to be charged the first three times the test is taken, according to the Department of Finance and Administration. If signed into law, people failing the test four or more times will be charged $5 every time they retake it. Sen. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs, is the sponsor of SB633.
Last year, the state administered 43,000 tests to people who had failed the exam three times or more. With the law in place, that number of tests would generate $215,000 a year for the Arkansas State Police, the finance department said.
Also Tuesday, the Senate approved a rule change to open the door for Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, to seek re-election to the leadership post for 2017 and 2018.
Dismang, who has served as the Senate's leader since November, said he didn't request the change.
"I had some members ask about it and inquire if I would supportive of it and I said I would be," he said.
Dismang said he hasn't decided whether he wants to seek the leadership post again.
"I am not in a rush. That's a decision that I will make first and foremost with my family back home and then talk to members again if we do decide to move forward. But at this point, I do not have a time frame [for a final decision]," he told reporters
House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, said he's encouraging Dismang to seek another term as the Senate's leader.
Earlier this month, Gillam announced that he planned to seek re-election for a second term as House speaker.
Both Dismang and Gillam would have to be re-elected to their legislative seats to be eligible to serve as chamber leaders in 2017 and 2018.
Gillam said that, if re-elected to his leadership role, he would like to see his longtime friend return as well.
"It'd be great to have him on the other end and to continue our working dynamic we've had," Gillam said.
Although legislators are headed for home for now, they could be summoned back to Little Rock by Gov. Asa Hutchinson later this year for a special session.
Gillam said he also expected that lawmakers would return in a few months for a special session, though, he said, he wouldn't speculate as to exactly what the scope of that session would be.
"We're going to be here, ready to work if we're called to come in," Gillam said. "Whether or not we're dealing with economic development or teacher insurance, whatever the topic is, we'll have to see at the time when the governor is ready for it."
In other business, Sen. Greg Standridge, R-Russellville, was sworn into office by Court of Appeals Judge Kenneth Hixson in the Senate chambers before the Senate adjourned after meeting for about 30 minutes.
Standridge assumes the Senate District 16 post vacated by former Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, who resigned Nov. 10 to be Hutchinson's transition director and chief of staff.
Aside from gloating about defeating the Senate in the chambers' annual fundraiser basketball game that raised $37,000 for central Arkansas youth groups, and an impromptu roast of some members including Gillam, the 100-member House did not vote on legislation Wednesday.
Before heading home, House members unanimously voted on a rule change that spells out that committee chairmen, vice chairmen, and leadership figures can still collect $3,600 a year in home office expenses.
In late March, Hutchinson signed legislation into law that eliminated lawmakers' eligibility for up to $14,000 a year in office expenses. The independent citizens commission had made legislators' pay raises contingent on the change in reimbursements.
Rep. Bill Gossage, R-Ozark, explained to legislators that members can still recoup about $3,400 each in office expenses, so long as they fell between Jan. 1 and March 27. That's the pro-rated amount they would have received for the first three months of the year.
Instead of earning $15,869 a year in salary, legislators now make $39,500 a year.
The House speaker and Senate president pro tempore's salaries are now $45,000, up from $17,771 a year.
Metro on 04/23/2015