Bill to cut wait list returned to House
The Senate on Friday approved a bill that would have the state Department of Human Services eliminate the developmental disabilities waiting list within three years.
House Bill 1491, by Rep. Josh Miller, R-Heber Springs, was approved 34-0 and returned to the House to consider a Senate amendment.
The bill would require the department to eliminate the waiting list as it existed on March 1. More than 3,000 people are on the list.
Under the bill, the department would reduce the list as soon as possible using available funding streams, "unless the department determines that an adequate number of providers for individuals with developmental disabilities does not exist within the state."
The bill states that an individual who applies for coverage or enrolls in the program after March 1 may be placed on a waiting list if funds or resources aren't available.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Prison study bill OK'd by committee
A bill that would require the Legislative Council to study the state Department of Correction was recommended for approval Friday by a legislative committee.
Senate Bill 487 by Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, would identify areas of improvement and require a final report be submitted to the governor and legislative leaders by Dec. 1, 2020.
Elliott told the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs that she met with Gov. Asa Hutchinson recently, but the governor "continues to be against the bill."
A message left for Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis was not returned as of late Friday.
Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelley held up documents and said the prison system is already evaluated in depth for accreditation and by federal and state agencies.
Benny Magness, chairman of the Board of Corrections, said in an email after the meeting that SB487 is "too vague on its surface" and that the timing is flawed.
"All the agencies that work with corrections will be looking at major changes when the state government transformation bill is passed," Magness said. "With transformation, the Board will be looking at some significant changes and most assuredly much of the information produced by this audit or study will be outdated."
-- Jeannie Roberts
Parole info measure advances to House
The Senate on Friday approved a bill that would require the state Parole Board to release findings of fact when it denies parole to a person otherwise eligible for parole or transfer from the state Department of Correction.
The Senate voted 21-7 to approve Senate Bill 313 by Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, sending it to the House.
Current state law requires the Parole Board to send a monthly report to the chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, the Legislative Council and Board of Corrections, as well as the governor, showing the number of people who apply for parole and those who are granted or denied parole during the previous month for each criminal offense classification.
The bill would require the report to include "a detailed reason" for each denial of parole, including the findings for why the Parole Board denied a person who is otherwise eligible.
If the board made such a denial because it determined the release would be a detriment to the community in which the person would be released, the board would be required under the bill to tell that person and his attorney and make available to the public the findings of fact used by the board. Redactions would be permitted of information prohibited by law from disclosure.
The bill also would require the board to detail why the board denied the transfer of an inmate from the Department of Correction to the Department of Community Correction.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Monuments bill fails in committee
A bill that would protect certain public monuments, including those referring to the Civil War, from removal or defacement stalled in a legislative committee Friday.
Senate Bill 515 by Sen. Mark Johnson, R-Little Rock, failed to get a motion in the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs. The bill had previously failed in the Senate in a 16-9 vote, which was expunged so Johnson could rerun it.
SB515 also would set criminal penalties for violating the law and would funnel requests for changes to public monuments to the Arkansas History Commission.
Rep. Megan Godfrey, D-Springdale, said the bill doesn't fully define historical figure or event.
Rep. Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, said he was concerned with the bill's broad definition of "public monuments," which includes "statue, memorial, gravestone plate, nameplate, plaque, historic flag display, school, street, bridge, building, preserve or reserve" that is located on public property and has been named after a historical person, event, military organization or military unit.
Jason Carter, an attorney with the Arkansas Municipal League, echoed Collins' sentiments and said the current vandalism laws are sufficient to protect public monuments.
Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, said SB515 would protect public monuments against the "slippery slope" of public opinion.
"One of the things that we've seen across the country is that wanting to take down Confederate monuments has not stopped at that," Lowery said. "You have some municipalities that have actually entertained the potential of taking down anything that refers to George Washington or Thomas Jefferson because they owned slaves."
-- Jeannie Roberts
Panel rejects bill on campaign reports
Legislation that would require independent expenditure committees -- which campaign for or against candidates -- to file campaign finance reports more often with the secretary of state's office fell one vote short of clearing the eight-member Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee on Friday.
The action came a day after the committee endorsed House Bill 1893 by Rep. Jana Della Rose, R-Rogers, and then the Senate voted 19-9 to re-refer the bill back to the committee at the request of Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado.
State law requires independent expenditure committees that spend more than $500 in a calendar year to file reports by 30 days and seven days before an election and by 30 days after the end of the month in which the election was held.
"The only thing that bill does is not in current law, is it says the reporting they are required to do just needs to be done on the same schedule and at the same trigger point as candidates, because they advocate for or against candidates and it is unfair that they get to go all the way until the election before they have to disclose this information," Della Rosa said.
"I have no idea who is against this bill and I am frankly, you can tell, very irritated that I have no idea who is against this bill because ... if they can tell all of you guys that they are against it, they know where this table is and they can come and speak just as I can. This is an unfair situation," she said.
"We can pass this if we wanted to, but I think that is going to have a severe constitutional challenge by these entities who want to do this," Garner said.
-- Michael R. Wickline
A Section on 04/06/2019