BENTONVILLE -- A last-resort effort to raise more money for state highways will come Monday, the sponsoring legislator said Saturday during a forum at which lawmakers also discussed the new law to end life-without-parole sentences for youths.
Rep. Dan Douglas, R-Bentonville, will ask the House to expunge the vote on his House Bill 1726 on Monday, he said at the forum hosted by the Rogers/Lowell and Greater Bentonville chambers of commerce. Expunging a vote allows a bill that has been defeated in one House vote to be reconsidered. An attempt last Monday to expunge the vote fell six votes short of the 67 needed.
HB1726 would put a 20-year bond issue for roads before the voters in the next general election. However, the bill would only take effect if voters also approved applying the state's 6.5 percent sales tax to the wholesale price of diesel fuel and gasoline.
Despite support from the governor, the bill failed in the 100-member House. It needed 51 votes but only got 38, with 35 voting against and 27 either not voting or voting present.
"I'm going to say from the well that this is your last chance to do anything to fund highways," Douglas said.
"We need $150 million a year just to maintain the highways we have, much less build anything new," he added. The bill could finance up to $200 million a year in highway projects, mainly for the resurfacing and repair of existing roads.
"It's a choice of maintaining our highways or managing their decline," he said.
Another proposal, House Bill 2085 by Rep. Johnny Rye, R-Trumann, would divert sales tax collections on Internet sales to highways. Amazon announced last month that it would begin collecting taxes on its sales to Arkansans and remitting them to the state government.
"In my opinion, it's not worth a flip," Douglas said of Rye's bill.
The new sales tax revenue the first year is expected to be $32 million -- a fraction of road expense, Douglas said. Further, the bill would divert money the state is already receiving from some Internet sales delivered through local outlets such as Walmart and Academy Sports.
"I wish it would work, but we're struggling to make ends meet now," Douglas said.
Parole law
Also at Saturday's forum, state Rep. Rebecca Petty, R-Rogers, detailed the successful effort to pass a bill to end life-without-parole sentences for youths.
Petty, who lost a daughter to kidnapping and murder before becoming a state representative, was a staunch opponent of a similar bill in the 2013 session. But she co-sponsored Senate Bill 294 by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, after helping draft provisions that ensured parole -- not early release or a limited sentence -- was allowed. Petty said the bill, which became Act 539 last week, also ensures that victims' families are kept informed of parole hearings and other steps in the parole process, among other protections.
Recent U.S. Supreme Court cases were going to force retrials of many prisoners who were convicted as youths if the law was not changed, Petty said, adding she wanted to ensure families of victims did not have to go through that.
"Retrying many of these cases would be impossible," Petty said. "Recalling all the witnesses, all the people involved, can't be done. People go on with their lives."
Metro on 03/26/2017