The 90th General Assembly convenes at 9 a.m. today for its third special session called by Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and the Senate sponsor of the governor's highway funding bill said Wednesday night that he's still working to line up enough support to get the legislation through the Senate transportation committee.
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"We are closer than we were at this time [on Tuesday]," said Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs.
Five votes are required for the legislation to clear the eight-member Senate Transportation, Technology and Legislative Affairs Committee. The bill has to get committee approval before it is considered on the Senate floor.
"Whenever we get a bill that has been filed, so I can see what we are actually talking about, I will be able to tell you if I am a 'no' or I am a 'yes,'" said the committee chairman, Sen. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs.
Another committee member, Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, said, "There have been as many Bigfoot sightings in the past 20 years as there have been of the final draft of the governor's highway bill over the last week."
Hester said he would file the legislation this morning.
Hutchinson's legislation relies largely on using portions of state surplus funds and increased state investment returns to raise about $50 million a year in state money to obtain an additional $200 million a year in federal highway funds. The Legislative Council was told Wednesday that the surplus for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, could be between $160 million and $185 million, based on conservative budgeting and lower-than-expected income tax refunds. The news came from Richard Wilson, assistant director of research at the Bureau of Legislative Research.
The governor is scheduled to address a joint session of the Legislature at 9:30 a.m. today. In addition to highway funding, the session will address a variety of other issues, including some pertaining to education, levees and the Arkansas History Commission.
Sen. Greg Standridge, R-Russellville, on Wednesday became the fourth member of the committee to say he'll vote for Hutchinson's highway funding bill.
"We have got to get something done here," Standridge said.
A day earlier, committee members Sens. Jake Files, R-Fort Smith; Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs; and Bobby Pierce, D-Sheridan, said that they would vote for Hutchinson's bill.
The committee's other members are Sens. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, and Ronald Caldwell, R-Wynne.
"We feel optimistic where we are," said Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis. "We feel we have the best bill on the table that meets the immediate needs of the highway infrastructure without raising taxes on Arkansans."
Sample, Hickey, Caldwell and Standridge have circulated draft legislation that would raise the state's gas and diesel taxes by 8 cents a gallon. They said their plan would raise more money than Hutchinson's plan. Sample said it's unlikely their bill will be introduced.
King said he's undecided about the governor's highway funding bill.
He said that it's "misleading" for Hutchinson's legislation to obligate the state to use 25 percent of future surpluses to increase state highway funding because no one knows how much future surpluses will be. He added that Department of Human Services programs and the state's prisons aren't going to become cheaper.
Caldwell said Wednesday night that he's undecided about Hutchinson's bill.
Hickey, who has said he is undecided about the Republican governor's bill, could not be reached for comment by telephone on Wednesday night.
Hester said the final version of the bill will require a 20-member subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council to oversee the Highway Commission. The subcommittee will have four members from each of the four congressional districts, plus the council's co-chairmen and vice chairmen. An earlier version would have required the subcommittee to have at least two members from each congressional district, he said.
The change is aimed at alleviating concern that the oversight subcommittee could become stacked by lawmakers representing particular parts of the state, Hester said.
The oversight subcommittee would review the Highway Commission's criteria for distributing funds and setting spending priorities for highway and road construction contracts. The subcommittee would report to the Legislative Council, which meets between legislative sessions.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, said the five-member Highway Commission's praise for Hutchinson's highway funding bill on Wednesday improved its prospects.
The commission said that "passage of the governor's proposal would allow Arkansas to fully utilize and not forfeit available federal highway dollars, something that is clearly in the best interest of our citizens of the great state of Arkansas, the motoring public and our highways.
"While we have concerns about the sustainability of some of the proposed funding sources beyond the first year, we appreciate and support the governor's efforts on this critical immediate issue," the Highway Commission said in a written statement.
"Since the adoption by voters of Amendment 42 (the Mack-Blackwell Amendment) to the Arkansas Constitution, the Highway Commission has operated in an environment of greater stability with clear authority and responsibility," the commission said. "Formal procedures for legislative review of commission processes, as proposed for consideration in the special session, will be beneficial as long as they are applied within the confines of the constitution."
Dismang said, "No one has intended to cross the constitutional boundary with the review process."
According to legislative records, the 77th General Assembly was the last General Assembly to be called into special session more than two times.
Then-Gov. Bill Clinton called the 77th General Assembly into special session three times in 1989 and 1990, after calling the 76th General Assembly into special session four times in 1987 and 1988.
Davis said each of three special sessions that Hutchinson has called has been for a unique circumstance.
The first was for the Legislature to authorize a bond issue in a bid to help Lockheed-Martin win a federal defense contract, the second was to overhaul the state's version of Medicaid expansion into what is now called Arkansas Works, and the third is to increase highway funding, he said. .
"It's impossible to predict unique circumstances," Davis said when asked whether special sessions would continue to be routine under Hutchinson.
Dismang said he would like to believe that Hutchinson won't be calling the Legislature into special session this frequently in future years.
A Section on 05/19/2016