State Capitol briefs

Rep. DeAnn Vaught watches on the House floor Tuesday as votes are tallied for her bill to allow a surcharge for natural-gas infrastructure expansion. The bill narrowly passed.
Rep. DeAnn Vaught watches on the House floor Tuesday as votes are tallied for her bill to allow a surcharge for natural-gas infrastructure expansion. The bill narrowly passed.

Senate passes bill on system trustees








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The Arkansas Senate unanimously approved legislation that would limit to two the number of retired members allowed to serve on the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System's board of trustees.

House Bill 1258 by House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, also would change the qualifications for six of the board's nine trustees. The bill now goes back to the House to consider a Senate-approved amendment.

The board has six appointees from the governor. The state treasurer, the state auditor, and the director of the state Department of Finance and Administration also serve on the board.

The governor appoints three members who are state employees and three members who are local government employees. Each appointee must have 10 years of continuous service with a public employer, and be a working or retired member of the system.

HB1258 would reduce the 10-year service requirement to five years and require these appointees to be retirement system members.

Executive Director Gail Stone warned a House committee last month that the original version of the bill could affect the continued service of trustees and retired state employees on the board -- Artee Williams, Ouida Wright and Bill Gaddy.

A Senate committee subsequently amended it to say, "No more than one of the three members who are nonstate employee trustees and no more than one of the three members who are state employee trustees may be a retired member of the system."

If approved by the Legislature, the bill would become effective immediately after the governor signs it.

-- Michael R. Wickline

Capitol-monuments plan gains approval

In a 27-5 vote, the Senate approved legislation establishing that before any requests for new Capitol-grounds monuments can be considered, they must first receive the approval of the Legislature.

House Bill 1273 by Rep. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, would require lawmakers' approval before such requests can be considered by the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission. Current law requires the General Assembly to approve monuments either before or after the commission has its say.

The bill also states that the commission can't consider removing a monument unless it's first approved by lawmakers. Current law does not give the Legislature a role in that decision.

Hammer's bill comes as a Ten Commandments monument has resulted in requests for a satanic monument and a wall for atheists. Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, and Hammer had sponsored Act 1231 of 2015, which requires the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission to permit a Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol grounds. The monument is in storage awaiting placement.

-- Michael R. Wickline

Scholarship-funds measure advances

The House Education Committee favors a bill Tuesday to allow a student who, in his first year of college, does not meet the minimum ACT score to qualify for the lottery-financed Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship to receive funds in subsequent years if he meets certain requirements.

Senate Bill 31, by Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, passed without dissent in a voice vote. The bill now goes to the full House.

A student needs an ACT score of at least 19 to qualify for the lottery scholarship. For last year's high school graduates, the scholarship provided $1,000 for students in their first years of college, $4,000 in the second and third years, and $5,000 in their fourth years.

The bill would allow a student who doesn't earn a 19 on his ACT test, but who is enrolled in college full time, earns 27 semester hours and achieves a grade-point average of at least 2.5 in his first year to qualify for the scholarship in his second through fourth years.

-- Brian Fanney

Prison-documents shield clears House

The House approved a bill Tuesday exempting emergency-preparedness documents held by the Department of Community Correction from disclosure under the state Freedom of Information Act. House Bill 1469 by Rep. Dwight Tosh, R-Jonesboro, passed 95-0. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Tosh said the Arkansas Department of Correction already has a similar exemption, and he had not heard any opposition to his bill.

It passed as other bills were filed to exempt security documents from disclosure. Rep. DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio, on Tuesday filed House Bills 1588 and 1590 to exempt from disclosure information possessed by Arkansas State Police concerning the Governor's Mansion.

-- Brian Fanney

Natural-gas lines bill gets House OK

The House narrowly approved a bill Tuesday aimed at expanding natural-gas lines to residents who don't have such service.

Senate Bill 265 by Sen. Ronald Caldwell, R-Wynne, passed 56-25. It was sponsored by Rep. DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio, in the House. It goes back to the Senate to consider a House-approved amendment.

The bill provides a procedure that enables natural-gas companies to present proposed natural-gas pipeline extension projects requested by potential customers to the Arkansas Public Service Commission for review, Vaught said. If the commission finds that the extension would be beneficial to those requesting the pipes, it can approve the project.

Limits ensure that existing customers average price increases of 8 cents to 10 cents per month to run the lines, Vaught said.

But Rep. Stephen Meeks, R-Greenbrier, said it was unfair to ask utility customers half a county away to pay for new customers to get gas lines.

"We're nickeling and diming people again," he said. "One of the reasons I ran for office was because I got tired of politicians nickeling and diming us, and this is what this is allowing to take place."

-- Brian Fanney

A Section on 02/22/2017

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