Driver's license bill gets panel approval
The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed legislation Wednesday that would make it harder for judges to suspend a driver's license as a punishment for skirting courts or fines.
RELATED ARTICLES
http://www.arkansas…">Bid to require voter IDs moves on to full House http://www.arkansas…">Senate adds age, training to campus guns bill http://www.arkansas…">Governor signs agency changes http://www.arkansas…">Senate panel goes for notifications by online sellers http://www.arkansas…">Panel OKs boost in grocers' wine options http://www.arkansas…">Bill to soften life terms for minors advances
The sponsor of Senate Bill 113, Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, said he originally wanted to prohibit license suspensions as a penalty for anything other than driving offenses.
However, upon learning that doing so could jeopardize federal funding for welfare -- which requires that state courts have such authority to enforce child support payments -- Hutchinson said he decided to amend the bill. The bill goes to the Senate.
Under the amended SB113, judges wishing to suspend a license due to failure to pay a fine or to appear in court must first notify the Department of Finance and Administration, which will mail a notice to the person informing him that he has 15 days to clear up the matter.
According to the department, there were 45,817 license suspensions for non-moving violations in 2016, 41,000 of which were for failing to pay a fine or appear in court. That year, the state collected $2.8 million in fees paid to reinstate licenses.
-- John Moritz
Bill expands power to edit offender list
A bill that would make it easier for the state to take dead sex offenders off the public registry moved through the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
A provision in state law requires a court order to remove a person from the sex offender registry. While one judge has regularly approved such orders for dead offenders, a backlog has built up on the list, the committee was told before approving the bill. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Brad Cazort, an administrator for the Arkansas Crime Information Center, said that of 16,110 names on the registry, 1,087 are dead.
House Bill 1541, by Rep. Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, would allow the center to remove people from the registry without a court order if it receives "adequate proof" of death -- a death certificate or confirmation from a funeral home.
-- John Moritz
House backs tests of youths on civics
The House voted for a bill Wednesday that would require high school students to pass the civics part of the naturalization test given by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services before graduating.
That prompted one lawmaker, Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock, to declare that legislators should impose the same testing requirements on themselves.
House Bill 1539, by Rep. Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, would make students seeking a GED or diploma from a public high school answer correctly at least 60 of 100 questions given to people seeking naturalized citizenship.
Students could take the test as many times as they need, according to the bill.
Walker challenged Cozart to co-sponsor legislation that would require legislators to achieve a similar score before they could vote on bills. Cozart replied that he would. Cozart later expressed doubts that legislation would ever come to fruition.
-- John Moritz
Compensation caps lack votes in House
A proposal to end work-related total disability benefits after 450 weeks fell short of passage in the House on Wednesday.
The vote on House Bill 1586 was 57-27, but the bill needed 67 votes to pass in the 100-member House. The chamber then moved to expunge the vote, allowing the bill to be reconsidered.
The sponsor of the bill, Rep. John Payton, R-Wilburn, said other states have proposed caps on how long disabled workers can receive compensation benefits, and that not doing so would raise insurance rates for businesses.
But Democrats who spoke against the bill said it places a cost on human life, and would take away support for people who cannot otherwise work after 8½ years.
Payton responded by saying there are other safety net programs. Payton said later that he would work with colleagues on their concerns.
-- John Moritz
Lawmakers reject AETN appropriation
The House voted Wednesday to defeat an appropriation granting about $4.1 million in spending authority to the Arkansas Educational Television Network, a public television station which broadcasts out of Conway, in the event the Legislature authorizes the use of surplus funds from the General Improvement Fund for the station.
The House voted 68-15 against Senate Bill 318.
The House passed two other Senate bills allowing the fund to be used for capital improvement projects, as well as by the secretary of state's office and the Public Defender Commission.
The bills were packaged for a vote together, but Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, asked that SB318 receive a separate vote. Ballinger said he wanted the funds to go to projects such as highways, not television.
-- John Moritz
Mental-health bill adds to moratorium
A bill that would extend a moratorium on new mental health clinics in Arkansas that can receive Medicaid reimbursement cleared a Senate committee on Wednesday.
The moratorium has been in place, through state Department of Human Services rules, since 2008 as a cost-control measure, but department officials have said they plan to lift it as part of an overhaul of the Medicaid program's mental health benefits that will take effect July 1.
Senate Bill 206, sponsored by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, and recommended for approval Wednesday by the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, would extend the moratorium for an additional six months, until Jan. 1.
-- Andy Davis
Senators endorse ethics-law changes
The Senate approved scaled-back ethics legislation sponsored by House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia.
The Senate voted 26-7 for Gillam's House Bill 1401 and sent it back to the House to consider a Senate amendment.
The Senate voted Monday to strip out language that would have allowed foreign governments or a representative or affiliate of a foreign nation to pay for trips for elected officials, and also eliminated provisions that would have allowed lobbyists to pay for "transportation for tours or briefings" in Arkansas.
The bill would create some exemptions to the gifts that state elected officials are barred from accepting by law.
-- Michael R. Wickline
A Section on 02/23/2017