Military vehicles, agency mergers, the state's DWI laws and a Southern bloc primary are on the agenda for a special legislative session that starts today and officials hope will wrap up by week's end.
Barely a month after the official end to the 2015 regular session, Gov. Asa Hutchinson formally called on legislators early last week to return to the Capitol to handle a handful of issues ranging from government reorganization to the approval of a state bond project to bolster a bid by a defense contractor to make a new series of vehicles for the United States armed forces.
Article 6, Section 19 of the Arkansas Constitution grants the governor the power to convene the General Assembly for an "extraordinary occasion" to handle unresolved matters.
In October 2013, former Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe called a three-day special session to address funding for teachers' insurance. He called lawmakers back again for three days in June 2014 to address the same matter, as well as discuss funding for more bed space in prisons and jails.
Hutchinson and legislative leaders predict this week's special session will also be brief.
Super Project
The pressing priority for the session is the proposal by Hutchinson that the state offer an $87.1 million incentive package to Lockheed-Martin if it gets a defense contract to produce a new line of what are known as joint light tactical vehicles for the U.S. Army and Marines.
Lockheed-Martin, which has a Camden plant that would build the new vehicles, is competing with two other contractors for the bid. The Department of Defense signaled its plan to award the contract to one vendor with a $456.9 million earmark in the fiscal-2016 U.S. budget.
A cost-benefit analysis submitted to lawmakers Friday estimated that the state of Arkansas will net $16.3 million over the next 25 years if the project goes through.
It also noted that its projection was "conservative" and could be much higher as suppliers and other businesses grow in the area to support the joint light tactical vehicle production.
By 2040, the company's Camden facility would produce about 55,000 joint light tactical vehicles, which are meant to replace the U.S. military standard Humvee. The contract would help keep 556 existing jobs at the Camden plant and create another 589 jobs by 2025, officials say.
Hutchinson said last week that $83 million of the $87.1 million would go to the company to improve equipment and infrastructure.
Another $2.5 million would be dedicated to the costs of financing the bond and $1.645 million would go to training facilities at Southern Arkansas University Tech to help with training future employees at the plant.
State Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, like many legislators, said he expected the proposed aid for the "super project" at the Lockheed-Martin plant will have broad support.
Still, Ballinger said, he wishes that government incentives weren't necessary, but that states, just like businesses, operate in competitive climates.
"I wish we were not in an environment where you paid people to come and locate business in your area. I wish it were in an environment where our regulations, our tax clime or our work force is what attracted people ... so we could get away from what looks like 'crony capitalism,'" Ballinger said. "However, that is the environment and that's the game we're playing. If we're going to continue to get these big economic-development [projects], we have to be willing to compete."
House Majority Leader Rep. Ken Bragg of Sheridan said he didn't know of any members who want to block funding for the project but said that were some members with questions and concerns.
But the Republican said the skepticism is nowhere near the level it was in 2013 when Beebe used Amendment 82 to lend aid to the Big River Steel project near Osceola.
Amendment 82, enacted in 2004, allows the state to fund super projects so long as the funding does not exceed 5 percent of the state's general revenue from the past fiscal year.
The allure of long-term-job opportunities, as well as the cachet of a top-tier defense contractor, makes the proposal popular, Bragg said.
"It'll put into place a lot of supplier vendors," Bragg said. "Technically it's an automobile manufacturing plant. ... It has a lot of long-term potential especially with the buyers and vendors who might be relocating."
The House minority leader, Rep. Eddie Armstrong, D-North Little Rock, said Democrats are supportive of the project, saying the potential for good-paying jobs in the southern part of the state is very appealing.
"We need to make ourselves ready and available to attract and bring in new industry and especially employment in jobs in our state," Armstrong said.
SEC Primary
In addition to the aid package for Lockheed Martin, lawmakers will also consider moving the state's political primaries from May to March to participate in a so-called SEC Primary.
Supporters say the earlier primary date will increase the chances that Arkansans -- and other Southerners -- will have a voice in the presidential primaries before the contest has already been decided.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is running for the Republican nomination. Former Arkansas first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton -- who went on to serve as the nation's secretary of state -- is seeking the Democratic nomination.
A proposal to join an assortment of other Southern states in a primary nicknamed after the Southeastern Conference stalled in the Arkansas Legislature this past session.
That legislation would have moved up the state's presidential nomination to March, leaving the primaries for other offices in May. Having two primaries instead of one would have cost the state an additional $2 million, according to officials with Hutchinson's office.
A corollary step would have been pushing the state's fiscal legislative session from February to April.
Rep. Camille Bennett, D-Lonoke, said she doesn't know many Republicans, and fewer Democrats, who feel that it is an issue that needs to be addressed, and suggested that the impetus was coming from the Republican National Committee.
Bennett, among other lawmakers, worries that pushing up the primary will ramp up the election cycle, making campaigns begin earlier.
"The biggest advantage [to an earlier primary] is it helps incumbents," Bennett said. "However you feel about that, if you have to file as early as November 1st for a primary, most people haven't thought about whether they want to be elected a year ahead of time."
State Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, whose uncle, Asa, supports the SEC Primary, said that a relevant presidential primary will increase turnout and make Arkansas more of a player in national politics.
"The argument against it is it'll be cold going door to door," Hutchinson said. "I don't see that as a huge impediment if it means we can increase voter turnout and give Arkansas a greater say in the direction of our country."
Reorganization
There will be other items for lawmakers to debate during this week's session.
Gov. Hutchison has proposed a series of moves to merge smaller agencies and departments to increase government efficiency.
Hutchinson's proposal, if approved by the Legislature, would merge the Arkansas Department of Rural Services and the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
The plan also includes placing the Arkansas Building Authority under the Department of Finance and Administration, and the Land Survey Division under the Arkansas Geographic Information Office.
Estimates from the Department of Finance and Administration stated that the reorganization could eliminate 19 positions with a $1.4 million savings, as well as allow for 15 positions to be eliminated through attrition. The attrition could save taxpayers another $1 million.
Ballinger said the governor's proposals are a "good first step" in reducing the size of government and taxpayers' burden.
Representing a rural district, Ballinger said he hopes to see the state's economic-development experts take more of an interest in rural-development concerns, something he thinks is possible with Hutchinson's proposed mergers.
"How do you eat an elephant? Well, you do it one bite at a time. Each bite is not significant. but you have to start somewhere," Ballinger said. "Maybe ... people will be thinking about small businesses and farms that, frankly, for my district, ought to be considered in economic development that haven't been considered in the past."
Armstrong said that the proposed mergers in government agencies, on top of tax cuts that reduced the amount of funding for some government services, could hurt Arkansans down the road.
He voiced skepticism about the precise amount of savings.
"You may see some things unfold that will be of caution to the average voter," Armstrong said. "I don't want to call it smoke and mirrors, but you don't know what you don't know."
Other topics
Officials with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said that a recent ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court that found the state's DWI law requires a "culpable" mental state for prosecution could put the state at risk of losing federal money.
To stay eligible for as much as $50 million in federal road money, a tweak in the law is needed, officials said.
Most places make it illegal to drive under the influence even if the driver did not intend to be intoxicated.
Other issues will be making technical corrections to past bills, making sure state law syncs up with federal law for farm-equipment traffic on interstate highways, and the confirmation of some gubernatorial appointments.
Metro on 05/26/2015