Bill separating Lee, King holidays fails in panel

A House committee has for the second time voted down a bill that would split Arkansas' observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Robert E. Lee's birthday into separate holidays.

The State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee rejected House Bill 1113 after more than an hour of discussion. The bill, sponsored by Nate Bell, R-Mena, previously fell in a voice vote last month. It failed on a 10-7 vote Wednesday.

Afterward, Bell said his bill will not pass.

"I don't intend to beat a dead horse," he said. "The committee has spoken emphatically this time and made it pretty clear they're not interested in passing this bill."

Bell said he would support another, similar bill sponsored by Rep. Frederick Love, D-Little Rock, though it would have to make it through the same committee.

"The people who support this bill have been somewhat silent," Bell said of his effort. "There is a lot of intimidation out there and I get that. I certainly can't tell you why people make the votes they make. Obviously all of us are tasked with doing our best to represent the folks back home. I'm sure their votes today reflected the inputs that they've had from their districts."

Bell told the committee earlier Wednesday that he is a "son of the South" who respects Lee, but the dual observance puts Arkansas in a bad light and costs it economic development opportunities.

"It is important that those who seek to encourage racial division are deprived of a tool, of that annual opportunity, to exploit Gen. Lee as if he were pro-slavery or racist," Bell said. "This bill is important to improve the image of our state and perceptions of our state around the nation and around the world."

Bell's bill, House Bill 1113, would leave Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday in January and also create a Nov. 30 observance in honor of Lee and Patrick Cleburne, a Confederate general who lived in Helena-West Helena. It also would end Arkansas' observance June 3 memorial for Jefferson Davis, "who indeed did fight to preserve slavery," Bell said.

The committee also heard during Bell's opening remarks from Grant Tennille, the former director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

Tennille said he couldn't name any specific cases in which Arkansas lost out on economic development because of the dual Lee-King observance, but added that it's a question of "how many calls haven't we got?"

"I am not here to debate the merits of a Robert E. Lee holiday," Tennille said. "I am only here to say that the world looks at the kind of environment that you create, and businesses look at the kind of environment that you create. It's time for us to acknowledge that there are people on the planet who see the dual observance of this holiday as a tremendous slight. I'm not arguing whether that's right, wrong or indifferent; I'm just telling you it's true."

Rep. Jack Ladyman, R-Jonesboro, said he believes companies don't consider what holidays a state observes, though they do look at how many there are. Rep. Josh Miller, R-Heber Springs, asked why the change is necessary given that Arkansas hasn't had problems.

"To me, I think it's pretty neat that we in the state of Arkansas are able to peacefully and happily celebrate both men on the same day," he said. "Why would you think that you would be aiding the removal of racial barriers by disrupting what has been going on and what has been going on peacefully?"

Rep. Charlotte V. Douglas, R-Alma, suggested the bill be changed to honor King on the third month in January and Lee on the fourth.

"If we could do that and it would respect both men, I think that would be a good solution," she said, noting that she still wanted to hear from citizens who signed up to speak for and against the bill later in the meeting.

Bell said he would entertain that change if she supported the bill.

Eighteen people signed up to speak against the bill and nine for it, though the committee later limited debate to 10 minutes on each side and not everyone spoke.

Kelly Duda, the first to take the microphone, spoke in favor of separating the holidays, saying states shouldn't celebrate anyone who "oppressed a group of people."

"The inherent conflict of interest here is obvious," he said.

Robert Edwards, meanwhile, called HB1113 a "racist" bill and questioned the argument about economic development, noting major car manufacturers in Mississippi and Alabama, the other two states with a dual observance.

"It doesn't appear that a dual holiday is impacting economic development, as you have been misled to believe," he said.

See Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full coverage.