Teacher-pay bill goes to governor
The Senate approved a bill Monday to increase the minimum teacher salary.
House Bill 1155 by Rep. Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, passed 34-0. It was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock. The bill heads to the governor for final approval.
The bill would increase the minimum teacher salary from $30,122 to $31,400 in the 2017-18 school year and $31,800 in the 2018-19 school year.
The change was recommended by the House and Senate Education committees in their educational adequacy report.
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The committees also recommended a public school spending increase of $45.6 million, or about 1.5 percent, with much of the money intended for teacher salaries. The state spends more than $3 billion on public schools.
-- Brian Fanney
Changes endorsed for new ethics bill
The Arkansas Senate voted Monday to change legislation, sponsored by House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, to strip out language that would have allowed foreign governments or a representative or affiliate of a foreign nation to pay for trips for the state's elected officials.
The amendment proposed by Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, to House Bill 1401 by Gillam, R-Judsonia, also eliminates provisions that would have allowed lobbyists to pay for "transportation for tours or briefings" in Arkansas to inform state elected officials.
Gillam said he was trying to save state taxpayer dollars on foreign trade missions by lawmakers through the original version of his bill.
Hester said Gillam had good reasons for his bill but that there were a lot of concerns from senators. On Feb. 12, the Senate rejected the legislation in a 12-9 vote with 13 senators not voting.
The amended bill also would create exemptions to the gifts that state elected officials are barred from accepting under state law.
The measure would exempt "anything of value provided by a recognized political party when serving as the host ... to all attendees as part of attendance of the event" for the official swearing-in, inaugural and recognition events of constitutional officers, and lawmakers, and "an official event of a recognized political party so long as all members of either house of the General Assembly affiliated with the recognized political party are invited to the official event."
It also would exempt nonalcoholic beverages provided to attendees at a meeting of a civic, social or cultural organization or group, and food and nonalcoholic beverages provided to participants in a bona fide panel, seminar, or speaking engagement at which the audience is a civic, social or cultural organization or group.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Constitution ideas rejected in Senate
The Senate on Monday rejected two resolutions by Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, to call conventions to amend the U.S. Constitution.
Senate Joint Resolution 7 would call for a convention to consider an amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Senate Joint Resolution 9 would call a convention to consider an amendment establishing that life begins at conception.
SJR7 failed 17-7 and SJR9 failed 17-6. The votes were then expunged. There are 35 members of the Senate, so the resolutions needed 18 votes to pass.
Rapert said lawmakers have decried the erosion of American values for years and lacked other avenues to undo gay marriage and abortion decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, spoke against SJR7 by quoting the 1967 Supreme Court decision invalidating laws prohibiting interracial marriage.
"They're not trying to marry you," she told senators, saying that it hurt no one to allow people to be happy in their own way.
Other lawmakers questioned whether a constitutional convention, if called, could consider more than authorized in the resolutions.
-- Brian Fanney
Charter-panel bill gets Senate's OK
The Senate passed a bill Monday to allow people outside the state Department of Education to sit on the Charter Authorizing Panel.
Senate Bill 304 by Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, passed 28-5. It heads to the House for further consideration.
Education Commissioner Johnny Key said the bill was broader than needed. Hendren said Monday that he grew tired of waiting for a bill from the department so he wrote his own.
Hendren said the commissioner should be empowered to choose whom he wanted to serve and that "we need to have people from inside the industry" to sit on the authorizing panel.
Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, who opposed the bill, said the panel should operate as originally envisioned and could call experts to testify.
-- Brian Fanney
Workforce-school proposal favored
The Senate approved a bill Monday to allow school districts to partner to set up workforce development centers.
Sen. Jim Hendren, Senate Bill 288's sponsor, said he filed the bill because schools in his district wanted to collaborate to teach students job skills, but there was no mechanism in state law to allow them to do so.
The bill passed 31-2. It heads to the House for further consideration.
Hendren said the schools have good programs that could be improved if they pooled resources.
He said some two-year institutions opposed the bill. The measure includes public vocational-technical schools and technical institutions as possible partners, but not two-year colleges.
-- Brian Fanney
A Section on 02/21/2017