Governor favors road-bond plan

Input from voters key point in proposal, Hutchinson says

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Friday that he supports legislation that would refer to voters in 2018 a highway bond proposal financed with a sales tax on motor fuels.

The ballot measure proposed for the 2018 general election would authorize the state Highway Commission to issue bonds for 20 years. Approval of the bonds would lead to applying the 6.5 percent state sales tax on the wholesale price of gasoline and diesel.

The Republican governor, speaking in Little Rock, also defended Senate-approved legislation that would allow concealed-weapons permit holders who take eight hours of additional training to carry guns on state college campuses, at the Capitol and other places.

Hutchinson spoke a day after a House committee recommended the full House approve a legislative package that would raise more than $200 million a year for highway construction, repair, renovation and maintenance. The governor said one of the ingredients in fostering economic development is the state's highway plans.

The package includes House Bill 1726, which would allow the Highway Commission to issue bonds, subject to voter approval, and HB1727, which would apply the sales tax to the wholesale price of gasoline and diesel, a price that excludes state and federal excise taxes. Rep. Dan Douglas, R-Bentonville, sponsors the bills.

Hutchinson said Douglas heeded his request to change the legislation so the bond issue would be voted on in the 2018 general election.

"I think that is a significant step that gives the maximum amount of Arkansas voters the opportunity to express themselves yes or no," he told about 220 people attending a Political Animals Club luncheon at Pleasant Valley Country Club in west Little Rock.

"With that change, it is hard for me to see how we should not say that a new highway plan should be the option of the voters in 2018," Hutchinson said. "We are going to be referring tort reform as a constitutional amendment for the voters to decide. They are going to get to decide voter ID. I would like them to have the opportunity to also vote on a highway plan for Arkansas' future."

Hutchinson later told reporters, "I can't think of any good arguments against referring to the people an opportunity to vote on a highway plan in a general election.

"It is not going to be easy for the Legislature to do that, but it is their initiative," he said.

Douglas later said he plans to ask the 100-member House to approve his legislative package "whenever it is on the calendar." He said he believes the House will approve the bills.

Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, said he is leaning toward voting for Douglas' highway package.

Collins said he's been reluctant to support measures to raise more money for highways because highway dollars in the past haven't been distributed where the traffic is heavy. However, he said the five-member Highway Commission now has two members who understand Northwest Arkansas, so he's much more amenable to this legislative package. The Highway Commission oversees the operation of the Highway and Transportation Department.

House Democratic leader Michael John Gray of Augusta said he's undecided on the highway package.

"I think with the governor's support it probably gets out of the House," he said.

Matching highway funds

During his remarks to the Political Animals Club, Hutchinson also addressed an ongoing effort to produce more highway funds by matching federal dollars.

He said the state would be able to come up with $40 million to $50 million required to obtain $200 million in federal highway dollars available this fall under a new federal law.

In a special session last year, the Legislature enacted the governor's plan to rely on using 25 percent of the state's general revenue surplus, increased interest earnings from the treasury and several million dollars a year of reallocated state funds to provide the matching money needed to get the $200 million.

State officials haven't forecast a general surplus for fiscal 2017, which ends June 30.

But Hutchinson said his staff talked to Highway Department Director Scott Bennett and asked highway officials to review their budget, savings and efficiencies to see what the department could contribute toward ensuring the state has enough funds to match the federal dollars.

"Scott Bennett came back and said that because of their partnership with local governments, they could contribute about $19 [million], $20 million toward that match, which means the state will be able to meet that match whenever it comes up this August and September. We don't want to leave that federal money on the table," the governor said.

In a separate interview, Bennett said the department was able to "cobble" together a little more than $20 million from three sources.

First, he said, revenue from state taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel and from vehicle registration fees are coming in higher than anticipated, leaving about $3.1 million available.

Another $3.5 million set aside as an emergency inclement weather fund and used to replenish materials such as sand and salt has sat unused because of an unusually mild winter, Bennett said.

Finally, local governments provided their own money totaling $14 million, he said. Federal money can be used to pay up to 80 percent of the cost of qualifying projects, with the state required to come up with the balance.

Concealed-carry legislation

When pressed by an audience member about Senate-approved legislation that would allow concealed-carry permit holders with extra training to take firearms on college campuses, Hutchinson asked audience members to raise their hands to show whether they support or oppose it..

Most raised their hands when he asked if they opposed the carrying of firearms on campuses.

"This audience does not reflect the mood of the Arkansas General Assembly," Hutchinson said.

"I say that because we have a conservative Legislature, and so my criteria has always been that if you are going to have firearms in a sensitive area, and I consider college campuses a sensitive area, that you ought to have more training than the average concealed permit holder has," Hutchinson said. "So I have fought and stood firm for additional training that is included in the bill."

A reporter later asked Hutchinson whether he's comfortable with the idea of people carrying concealed weapons in the state Capitol, where his office is.

The legislation requires "enhanced training," he said.

"I don't advocate someone to start carrying weapons around campuses or capitols," he said.

"But you balance your own view of the world with the Second Amendment privileges and we have to adjust the security of the Capitol, I am sure," Hutchinson said.

"I have news conferences in the conference room and so there is some security adjustments that have to be made. But I think the bill right now is a good balance. We'll look at ways if we have to tighten it up down the road."

Information for this article was contributed by Noel Oman of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Section on 03/11/2017

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