House favors plan for suicide hotline
A bid to create an Arkansas Suicide Prevention Hotline was approved by House lawmakers Tuesday.
Arkansas is one of only two states without a call center affiliated with the National Suicide Hotline. A call center operating in Springdale closed in 2015.
House Bill 1775 by Rep. Bob Johnson, D-Jacksonville, would direct the state Department of Health to establish and maintain such a hotline "to the extent that funding is available." With an 82-4 vote, the bill was sent on to the Senate.
Currently, suicidal callers from Arkansas are directed to out-of-state call centers such as one in Memphis. Arkansas ranks 10th among states in the number of suicides per capita.
-- John Moritz
Panel backs delay of first school day
School would start after Labor Day in September instead of in mid- to late August under a bill advanced by the House Education Committee on Tuesday.
Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, said House Bill 1937 would serve as a booster for the tourism industry, which sees Labor Day weekend as important to business. Joe David Rice, state tourism director, and Montine McNulty, executive director of the Arkansas Hospitality Association, said they supported the bill.
School organizations uniformly opposed the measure. Opponents included the Arkansas Education Association and the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators.
Education officials said breaks during the school year like those for Thanksgiving and Christmas would have to be shorter, and fewer days would be available for professional development.
HB1937 passed after Lowery said he would amend the bill so schools could meet during the week after Memorial Day, the last Monday in May.
-- Brian Fanney
Christmas booze lacks House votes
Arkansas' 68-year prohibition on Christmas Day sales of alcohol appears likely to remain in place this Dec. 25.
With a vote of 45-22, the House failed to pass House Bill 1761, which proposed to end the ban dating back to 1949. It applies to both liquor stores and bars. It needed 51 votes to pass; 33 lawmakers voted present or didn't vote.
"It seems like such a little thing," said Rep. Karilyn Brown, R-Sherwood, adding that she was unlikely to try to resurrect the bill.
-- John Moritz
Online travel firm sales tax rejected
The House Revenue and Taxation Committee rejected a bill aimed at specifying that online travel companies are required to collect and remit state and local sales and tourism taxes.
Senate Bill 663 by Sen. Jake Files, R-Fort Smith, would clarify sales and tourism tax laws so that "an accommodation intermediary" would be an entity furnishing, making available or otherwise arranging for the sale or use of a room, suite, condominium, townhouse, rental house or other accommodation to a transient guest, according to the state Department of Finance and Administration. The bill is projected to raise $765,000 a year in sales tax revenue and $235,000 a year in tourism tax revenue, the department said.
Files said consumers already pay these taxes in the form of "a service fee" to online travel companies, and similar legislation has been enacted in several other states, including Minnesota, New York and North Carolina.
But Rep. Bob Johnson, D-Jacksonville, said he views the bill as a tax increase that will cost consumers more money.
-- Michael R. Wickline
AG supports brief on abortion ban
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge on Tuesday announced the addition of her name to an amicus brief in support of Alabama's ban on dilation and evacuation abortion. Arkansas recently passed a similar ban, prompting abortion-rights groups to promise their own legal fight.
Rutledge will join 22 other state attorneys general on the brief, which was filed in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The brief supports Alabama's appeal of a U.S. district judge's decision to block the state's ban from taking effect.
Dilation and evacuation, dubbed "dismemberment abortion" by opponents, has been the most widely used method of abortion used in Arkansas for women in their second trimester.
Courts in four of the six states with similar laws have delayed such bans from taking effect. Only Mississippi and West Virginia have implemented bans on the procedure.
Arkansas lawmakers passed such a ban through House Bill 1032 by Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, in January. The law will take effect later this year, barring any court challenges.
-- John Moritz
School-performance bill heads to House
The Senate voted 23-4 for legislation under which Arkansas would use metrics in addition to standardized tests to assess a school's performance and give education officials more options to remedy the situation if a school falls short.
Senate Bill 647 by Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock, gives the Department of Education greater flexibility in how to intervene in academically failing schools.
The bill goes to the House.
Under current state law, schools go into academic distress when 49.5 percent or fewer students have tested as "proficient" or "advanced" on state-mandated math and reading exams over the previous three years.
There would be no more "academic distress" under SB647. Instead, schools would be assigned levels of assistance with varying roles for the state and the school district.
The bill also would allow the state to determine a school's success on measures other than test scores.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Senators approve wage law's repeal
The Senate voted 28-5 Tuesday for legislation that would repeal the state's prevailing wage law, which applies to state and local governments and the state's higher-education institutions.
The state's prevailing wage law "artificially inflates what the free market" would bear for labor costs for projects, said Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, who is the sponsor of Senate Bill 601. The bill goes to the House for further consideration.
-- Michael R. Wickline
School immunity measure advances
The Senate on Tuesday voted 33-1 in favor of granting school district superintendents immunity from civil liability and suits for damages for enforcing policies adopted by school boards if the policies are in compliance with state or federal law.
Senate Bill 621 by Sen. Greg Standridge, R-Russellville, also would give employees of the state Department of Education, including the state's education commissioner, immunity from civil liability and suits for damages for enforcing policies adopted by the state Board of Education or the Department of Education if the policies are in compliance with state or federal law.
The bill goes to the House for further consideration.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Governor to receive 2 tax-cut measures
The Senate on Tuesday voted to send the governor bills that would create an income tax exemption of up to $250 for teachers for certain classroom expenses, and exempt from sales taxes charitable organizations that sponsor annual music festivals, concerts, community events and shows.
The Senate approved House Bill 1014 by Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, 34-0. The bill would provide an income tax deduction per taxpayer for "qualified classroom investment expenses" for tax years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2017, according to the state Department of Finance and Administration.
Qualified expenses would include books, school supplies, computer equipment and software, athletic equipment, and food and clothing for teachers' students. The bill is projected to reduce state general revenue by $430,000 a year in fiscal year 2018 and thereafter, the department said.
The Senate voted 31-0 to approve House Bill 1221 by Rep. Warwick Sabin, D-Little Rock, which would exempt current sales tax collections by charitable organizations that sponsor annual music festivals, concerts, community events and shows.
Products upon which sales taxes are currently collected include T-shirts and event souvenirs; food; soft drinks and water; and sales of alcoholic beverages, including mixed drinks, beer and wine, the finance department said. Other vendors selling at these events would continue to collect sales taxes on their product sales.
The bill is projected to reduce state revenue by $125,000 in fiscal 2018 and $187,000 in fiscal 2019, the finance department said.
-- Michael R. Wickline
A Section on 03/22/2017