The Arkansas Health Care Association filed documents Wednesday to become a ballot-question committee after a self-described left-leaning Little Rock attorney and blogger filed a complaint against the nursing home group.
Matt Campbell had argued that the group's sizable contributions toward a constitutional amendment bid required it to open its books to the public.
On Wednesday, the Arkansas Health Care Association filed a 19-page document containing the names of several hundred nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and other medical operations that had contributed a total of $330,000 through the association to Health Care Access for Arkansans.
That group supports a proposed constitutional amendment limiting the noneconomic damages and lawyer fees that can be awarded in lawsuits against medical care providers. The Arkansas Health Care Association represents nursing home and long-term care facilities. The amendment's backers gathered enough signatures to place the proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot.
According to its filing, the association "is not required to disclose the entire set of all contributions we receive or all expenditures we make which are unrelated to ballot question advocacy" based on "our counsel's discussions with the [Arkansas] Ethics Commission."
Instead, "we believe that our disclosure requirement is limited to those contributions and expenditures which are related to ballot question advocacy."
Rachel Davis, executive director of the Arkansas Health Care Association; Campbell; and Graham Sloan, executive director of the Arkansas Ethics Commission, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Due to the amount contributed by the association and the size of its finances, Campbell said in the July complaint that the association itself should file as a ballot question committee and disclose its finances.
According to Campbell's complaint, Arkansas Code 7-9-402(2)(B) says that any group that is not an approved political action committee that uses 2 percent or more of its annual revenue or operating expenses for contributions to another ballot question committee is also a ballot question committee.
Health Care Access for Arkansans has collected about $606,610 in contributions, according to state records.
The Arkansas Health Care Association made a $250,000 contribution to Health Care Access for Arkansans in May and gave another $80,000 in June. The association's most recent financial information from 2014 shows that the group had $2.4 million in revenue, $2.3 million in expenditures and $1.5 million in assets.
"By every available metric, then, the $330,000 given to Health Care Access for Arkansans by [the association] in 2016 makes AHCA a ballot-question committee," Campbell said in his complaint.
Metro on 08/11/2016