The Arkansas House of Representatives is reviewing its rules for selecting committee members with an eye toward making changes beyond the 2017 regular session, says House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia.
The discussion comes after Democrats -- the minority party in the Legislature -- seized a majority of the seats on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee despite Republican gains in the 2016 elections.
"I do feel like there is probably an improved method that could bring about a better result for the institution, so we are going to be open to having those discussions and talking to folks over the next couple of months and seeing what kind of options there are that might be good for us," Gillam said in a recent interview.
"I told everybody that we were too far into the game this time and too far through the process this time to pull the rug out from under everybody," he said. "Plus, there was no consensus on what an alternate method should be." Any changes would take effect after the next elections in November 2018, he said.
Two weeks ago, House Democrats gained 11 seats on the 20-member House tax committee.
The House's practice has been to allow members in each of the four congressional district caucuses to choose committees on the basis of seniority. House rules limit each caucus to five members on each committee.
The House will be composed of 75 Republicans and 25 Democrats starting Jan. 9, after Republicans stripped eight seats from Democrats and one from an independent. After the elections, Reps. Jeff Wardlaw of Hermitage and David Hillman of Almyra bolted the Democratic Party for the Republican Party.
House Republican leader Mat Pitsch of Fort Smith blamed himself for what he described as "a breakdown of communication lines" with a representative in the 4th Congressional District caucus for allowing the Democrats to gain a majority on the tax committee.
"It was really on me. That's why I don't want to say any other names," said Pitsch, who declined to name the representative.
The Democrats' move led Republican Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011-15, to tweet that it's "an affront to voters and outrageous. Unacceptable." He also tweeted, "Committees should reflect voters will. The old way of doing things has got to go."
The Republican-controlled Senate on Nov. 16 decided that its eight-member committees will consist of at least five Republicans and no more than three Democrats. The senators select their committees on the basis of seniority. The Senate will include 26 Republicans and nine Democrats, starting Jan. 9, after Republicans unseated two Democratic incumbents in the Nov. 8 election.
The Senate's action came two years after four Democrats decided to serve on the eight-member Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee. Afterward, Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, who unsuccessfully proposed a constitutional amendment to change the state's tort laws in 2013, tweeted: "So much for tort," and Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, declared, "I have a better chance of winning a Brad Pitt lookalike contest than voter ID coming out of that committee."
And two years ago, four Democrats also decided to serve on the eight-member Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senate Republican leader Jim Hendren of Sulphur Springs said that what happened two years ago factored into the Senate's 26-7 virtual party-line vote to change its rules for committee selection.
For the first time since Reconstruction, Republicans gained control of the House and Senate in the 2012 election. They increased their ranks in the 2014 and 2016 elections.
In August, the Republican Party of Arkansas' State Committee adopted a platform supporting "the updating of the rules governing both chambers of our legislature to reflect our party's growing majority.
"[W]e support an update [of House and Senate rules] to guarantee that the majority party of each legislative chamber comprise the majority of the membership on each chambers' legislative committees, and that each chair of a chamber's legislative committee be held by a member of the majority party for that respective chamber," according to the state GOP's platform. "We further support allowing each party's legislative caucus to determine among themselves which of them are to serve on legislative committees, as we believe the best legislators should serve on the committee that best suits their talents instead of assignments being subject to seniority or random lot."
Pitsch said these rule changes were recommended in the state party platform, "but I didn't see anybody recommend it at the legislative level."
Gillam said the platform language "was a done deal before I even knew about it."
"We operate as an independent institution from the two parties, and so I felt like they are obviously free to express their wishes and what they want to do," he said.
Gillam said Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, at one point tossed out the option of having the four congressional district caucus chairmen make committee appointments.
"But there wasn't enough consensus to be able to get behind anything really up until now and I don't know there is a consensus to really get behind a particular pattern even now," he said, noting it takes 67 votes to change the 100-member House's rules.
Lowery said he initially presented the idea of capping the number of House committee seats for the minority party while maintaining the seniority system. He said he later brought up the idea of having congressional district chairmen, in consultation with the speaker, make the appointments and capping the number of committee seats for the minority party. The chairmen of the four congressional district caucuses could be elected by a majority vote of each congressional caucus, he said. The practice now is for senior members of each caucus to be the four chairmen.
Gillam said House speakers in at least 41 states make committee assignments in one way or another on the basis of information from the National Conference of State Legislature and the states, but he hasn't thought about how that would work for him.
As for his future, "I have not ruled anything out other than it is still my intention for this [coming two-year term] to be my last term in the House of Representatives, and after that, I'll see where the good Lord takes me," said Gillam, who has served in the House since 2011. Running for secretary of state in 2018 is an option, he said.
Rep. Andy Davis, R-Little Rock, one of two candidates seeking election at the end of the 2018 fiscal session to be speaker for the 2019-21 Legislature, said, "In general, I think the committee selection process could be improved for the people of Arkansas in that we put a lot of weight on a number that was drawn out of a fishbowl -- the seniority number.
"I would really like to see us do something where we could better put people in positions where they are experienced or qualified or otherwise interested in serving, as opposed to being somewhat limited to a number that we drew out of a bowl," he said. Freshmen decide seniority by drawing numbers; they then move up in seniority with each election.
Davis said he's not proposing any particular rule changes at this time.
"One of the problems with our current selection process is that it has induced chaos," he said, referring to the congressional district caucuses deciding their committee selections at the same time.
"I think we would be better suited to select similar to our Senate colleagues, where every member is in the same room and you watch every member select one at a time and if you did that you would eliminate a lot of the gamesmanship that has been developed over the years in trying to project majorities and chairmanships, and trading and jockeying to get somebody on a committee that wouldn't be on [it otherwise]," Davis said.
Rep. Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, another House speaker candidate, said he has no specific ideas for changing the committee selection rules, although they need to be reviewed and compared to rules in other states.
"My focus is on the coming session and how you select the [Arkansas] Supreme Court and a lot of other issues are front burner for me at this point," Shepherd said.
Shepherd said Republicans wanted to have a majority on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, but "it's a chaotic process."
Rep. Michelle Gray, R-Melbourne, said she more than likely will run for House speaker in 2018 as well, and she doesn't like the idea of the speaker appointing committee members.
"I would like the speaker to work in conjunction with these four [congressional district chairmen], but, ultimately, it be the four chairs who work with the members to put them where they need to be. I like that better than the selection process where we select ourselves ... and it not just be literally drawing out of a hat for a seniority number and shooting in the wind to get a committee," Gray said.
Asked if he had any suggestions for House rule changes, House Democratic leader Michael John Gray of Augusta said, "I would love to be part of that conversation.
"I respect why the majority party, whichever party it would be, would want to restructure it where they had complete control," he said. "I understand that states do it differently from us. I think anytime regardless of what the issue is that we are not open to at least seeing what changes should be made, then we are not doing our jobs."
For his part, Gray said Democrats aren't going to attempt to use their majority to block Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson's proposed tax cut.
If a bill stalls in committee, a two-thirds vote of the 100-member House is required to extract the bill from the committee to the House floor.
"Everything we do down here is taxpayer money, so we owe it to the voters, we owe it to our colleagues [and] we owe it to follow the governor's lead here. The governor has said the budget can stand X dollars in tax cuts. We just want to make sure that those tax cuts are responsible and that the people of Arkansas are getting the best possible deal that they can get and that the priorities are in place," Gray said.
"I think it's just a matter of making sure that the people who are hopeful for a tax cut are actually seeing it, whether it be at the top of their paycheck or at the grocery store or wherever it may be, and ... it's not just tax breaks for certain parts of the population," Gray said. Last year, the Legislature enacted a $100 million-a-year tax cut for Arkansans with incomes between $21,000 and $75,000 a year.
Earlier this month, Hutchinson said he would ask the Legislature, which convenes Jan. 9, to enact a tax cut that would become effective in the last half of fiscal 2019. The tax cut, taking effect Jan. 1, 2019, would reduce general revenue by $25 million in fiscal 2019 and would reduce revenue by $50 million a year thereafter. He prefers an income-tax cut but hasn't made a decision. Fiscal 2019 starts July 1, 2018.
Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, has suggested repealing a 2013 law that would reduce the sales tax on groceries from 1.5 percent to 0.125 percent. The tax will be reduced under the law with savings of about $65 million a year when the state stops making desegregation payments to Pulaski County school districts. He wants to use the money from repealing the grocery tax cut, plus Hutchinson's proposed $50 million-a-year tax cut, to help finance individual income-tax rate cuts of more than $100 million.
Repealing the 2013 law would be challenging, with or without Democrats controlling a majority of the House tax committee, Collins said.
Gray said nearly eliminating the sales tax on groceries is one of former Gov. Mike Beebe's top campaign promises, and Beebe, a Democrat, was elected in 2006 and 2010 with a mandate.
"I think the people of Arkansas said the tax on groceries is something that we wanted you guys to eliminate and we are working toward that. I think this is one of those cases where you've got to listen to the taxpayer here and they have asked us to eliminate that, so to back up from that, I don't know if that is the right thing to do," he said.
Rep. Scott Baltz, D-Pocahontas, said the only reason he decided to join the House tax committee is because he wants the committee to consider legislation exempting military retirement benefits from state income taxes. He said he later decided to co-sponsor a bill by Rep. Charlene Fite, R-Van Buren, to do that. The state projected a similar bill would have reduced state tax collections by $13 million in fiscal 2018.
"I meant no ill intent. I just wanted somebody's bills heard because we need to take care of our veterans," he said. "I am not going to get into a bunch of games [over tax cuts]. If it is good for the state of Arkansas and good for our people in my district, I'm willing to support it."
A Section on 11/26/2016