That do-nothing Legislature

At least when it comes to constitutional amendments

Notable news from the state Legislature involves what it hasn't done as well as what it has.

The current session is presumably winding down, with focus shifting to finalizing the budget and putting together the Revenue Stabilization Act, that last bit of business that governs how available dollars will actually be spent.

Brenda Blagg is a freelance columnist and a member of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Coalition. E-mail comments or questions to brendajblagg@gmail.….

But, as always, there is the mad rush to get bills pushed through committees. Or not.

Among the measures that should be front of mind for lawmakers at this point in the session are proposed constitutional amendments. Ordinarily, the State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committees in both the House and Senate work separately and in joint committee to narrow the list to the number they may refer to voters in the next general election.

There can be dozens of proposals in any given year, all of which are filed as joint resolutions. This year, House members filed more than two dozen proposed constitutional amendments. Senate members offered up another 16 proposals, although some are duplicates of those proposed in the House.

They are widely varied, as such proposals always are. Some advance ideas that have been offered up virtually every two years, like longer terms for county officials. Others are comparatively new ideas, like one to allow a governor to retain his or her powers when out of state. Still others are there in reaction to court decisions that don't sit well with someone, like multiple proposals this year affecting tort reform and another to reinstate voter ID in Arkansas.

Importantly, some proposals have strong constituencies that battle long before a session even begins to get their issue into the mix. Those forces have as much as anything else to do with what is happening -- or not happening -- this year.

The way the process normally works is, in a joint House and Senate committee meeting, lawmakers haggle over the various proposals until they choose no more than three to refer to voters.

The full House and Senate must eventually agree. Or not.

The word last week was that no constitutional amendments will be referred this year.

A joint committee meeting scheduled this week to begin the narrowing process was cancelled and the process has stalled.

"We just can't get to a constitutional amendment everybody agrees on, so we will forgo that this year for the first time in recent history," Sen. Eddie Joe Williams said. Williams, R-Cabot, chairs the Senate state agencies committee.

"There was no consensus. The ones that were floated on the House end, the Senate end was adamantly against, or the ones that were floated on the Senate end, the House was adamantly against," Williams said.

Credit tort reform and voter ID for the rancor and strong sentiment. Both are controversial, highly partisan issues.

Several lawmakers filed proposed constitutional responses to recent court rulings overturning elements of tort reform legislation that passed a dozen years ago. Other proposals would reinstate the voter ID law that was ruled unconstitutional last year.

While those issues, particularly tort reform, are priority measures for Republicans this session, Democrats don't look upon the proposals with such favor.

So what? Republicans control both houses of the Legislature and can get their way, right?

Not necessarily. The Senate committee involved in this process is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. If someone in that handful of Senate Democrats won't agree to fixes on tort reform or voter ID, those proposals are stuck in committee.

If they can't get passed out, Republicans are perfectly willing not to consider any other proposed constitutional amendments either.

"If there's nothing that's ready to pass out, we're just not going to call a meeting," said state Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena and chair of the House state agencies committee, last week.

So there.

This would reportedly be the first time since 1971 that the Legislature met in regular session and did not refer any proposed constitutional amendments to voters.

That is, of course, if that is what happens.

Until the session adjourns, lawmakers could still call that joint meeting and do the work to sort through roughly 40 proposals to choose one or more to refer to voters.

It isn't likely but it is possible.

And, to be certain, people inside and outside the Legislature are still pushing on lawmakers to get some of these issues to the ballot.

Brenda Blagg is a freelance columnist and a member of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Coalition. Email comments or questions to brendajblagg@gmail.com.

Commentary on 03/25/2015

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