The placement of three state agencies -- including the commission overseeing Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium -- under new authorities moved through the House on Friday and onto the governor's desk.
The three bills, Senate Bills 255, 256 and 257, were presented as "efficiency" proposals in Gov. Asa Hutchinson's list of priorities for the 2017 session. The governor will sign the bills at a ceremony at War Memorial Stadium on Wednesday, according to his public schedule. The other bills concerned the Arkansas Energy Office and the Office of Health Information and Technology.
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There was no debate over any of the bills as they were approved one after the other during the Friday morning session.
"This is another step toward the transformation of the state government," said J.R. Davis, the governor's spokesman. "These bills provide efficiency to state government."
Moving Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium under the authority of the state Department of Parks and Tourism has been the most contentious of the three proposals. Still, SB255 was approved by a vote of 87-1 in the House with two lawmakers voting present.
In addition to moving the independent stadium commission to the parks agency, Hutchinson has proposed halving the state's general-revenue support to the 68-year-old stadium from $895,171 in fiscal 2018 to $447,647 in fiscal 2019.
The move would make decisions by the eight-member commission subject to the approval of the parks and tourism director, who in turn reports to the governor.
The only House lawmaker to vote against the proposal, Rep. Stephen Meeks, R-Conway, said he had concerns that upkeep on the stadium would become a drain on state coffers.
"Are we entrenching [the stadium] deeper into a government bureaucracy that is going to make it harder for us to divest ourselves of this?" Meeks asked.
Hutchinson has said that giving the stadium access to the resources of the Department of Parks and Tourism should provide increased marketing and grant solicitation. SB255 specifies that the operation of the stadium "shall be for the use of all the schools, colleges, and universities of the state under the supervision of the department."
During a committee vote on the legislation earlier this week, several lawmakers floated the idea of the stadium being used as a regional hub for soccer games in the South. The Little Rock Rangers of the National Premier Soccer League began playing home games at the stadium in 2015.
It recently was announced that the University of Arkansas Razorbacks football team moved its 2017 season opener against Florida A&M at War Memorial to a Thursday night, Aug. 31.
Hutchinson has pledged funds toward a feasibility study that will make recommendations for the future management of the stadium. Two consultants have submitted bids to conduct the study.
While a clearer picture of how the state will manage War Memorial Stadium will have to wait until the results of the study are released, Parks and Tourism Director Kane Webb said the stadium is in solid physical condition to continue to hold events.
"It's a good fit," Webb said. "Parks and Tourism is in the events business. We're used to dealing with customers."
The move is also supported by state Rep. Warwick Sabin, D-Little Rock, whose district includes the stadium, which he said was in tremendous need of support to produce more revenue.
"As it stands now, War Memorial and the park around it are underutilized," Sabin said. The park belongs to the city of Little Rock.
The other bureaucratic transfers approved Friday have attracted less attention.
The transfer of the Arkansas Energy Office from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to the state Department of Environmental Quality, written in SB256, passed the House by a vote of 90-0. Rep. John Payton, R-Wilburn, voted present.
The nine-person office gets about the $140,000 of its $8.6 million budget from the state, with the rest coming from federal grants. Its work includes energy-efficiency projects, and the move will allow the state's expected $13.9 million share of a settlement with the German car-maker Volkswagen to be routed through the Department of Environmental Quality.
SB257, which moves the Office of Health Information and Technology to the state Department of Health, was approved 91-0. The office now operates as an independent agency with a budget of $9.9 million, more than half of which comes from federal revenue.
A Section on 02/18/2017