State lawmakers convicted of a federal crime in conjunction with their official duties would forfeit their state retirement benefits and the Arkansas Ethics Commission would have authority to increase its fines for ethics violations under a package of six ethics bills that legislative leaders signaled support for on Monday.
The lawmakers' support for these measures comes on the heels of five former lawmakers being convicted or pleading guilty to federal crimes during the past 2½ years.
"This is the continuation of an effort that the speaker and I have been working on since the beginning of the session to try to take some steps to restore trust in the legislative branch, and not just the legislative branch, but the entire political process in Arkansas," Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, said at a news conference in the state Capitol.
House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, and House and Senate Democratic and Republican leaders and other lawmakers joined Hendren at the event.
The legislative package has been a bipartisan House and Senate effort, Hendren said, adding that Senate Democratic leader Keith Ingram of West Memphis "got a lot of this rolling early by bringing some drafts and some ideas that we all have come together and began working on."
He said the six bills would:
• Require any elected official convicted of a felony crime to forfeit their retirement benefits "as long as that felony is in conjunction with their duties as an elected official." Sen. Mark Johnson, R-Little Rock, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 238.
• Increase the maximum fine that the Arkansas Ethics Commission may issue for ethics violation from $2,000 to $3,500 under Senate Bill 249 by Hendren. Current law allows the commission to assess fines of $50 to $2,000 and/or issue public letters of caution, reprimand and warning for ethics violations.
• Prohibit state elected officials from registering as lobbyists in Arkansas or, similarly, in any other jurisdiction while serving as a state elected official under Senate Bill 256 by Ingram. Act 1453 of 2003 barred state lawmakers from registering as lobbyists.
• Bar state elected officials and members of the citizens commission that sets the salaries of state elected officials from having more than one political action committee under Senate Bill 259 by Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs.
• Increase the Class A misdemeanor penalty for taking campaign funds and using them as personal income under Senate Bill 258 by Sen. Will Bond, D-Little Rock.
Under the bill, knowingly taking campaign funds as personal income would be a class B felony if the value of the benefit is $25,000 or more; a Class C felony if the value is $5,000 or more but less than $25,000; a Class D felony if the value is $2,500 or more but less than $5,000; or a Class A misdemeanor if the value of the benefit is less than $2,500.
• Prohibit direct contributions from one political action committee to another political action committee under Senate Bill 260 by Hester.
In addition, Hendren said he and Rep. Jana Della Rosa, R-Rogers, propose increasing the appropriation for the Arkansas Ethics Commission by about $186,000 to meet its request for two more employees and increase its operating budget and salaries.
Hendren said he doesn't consider this ethics package to be "the final solution to the problem."
"This legislation -- many of these pieces -- may require some more adjustment to ensure there is no intended consequences, that we don't inadvertently criminalize mistakes or people who are doing unintentional behavior that is not criminal or unethical. That's what the legislative process is for, and I am certain that we will end up with legislation that does what we are after," he said.
Shepherd said that "there may be other bills or maybe other possible rule changes or otherwise that you may see.
"But we felt that it was important to go ahead and put forth several of the bills that we had already found consensus on and go ahead and put those out so that members can go ahead and be discussing those and looking at them and we can continue the vetting process," he said.
Asked whether legislative leaders have concluded that the state law requiring lawmakers to disclose loans of more than $5,000 between themselves is sufficient or they are continuing to review the issue, Shepherd said that, "with regard to the loan issue, and there are a couple of other things that I am looking at in particular," he's trying to figure out if he wants to possibly propose a House rule or try to find consensus on legislation.
"Whether or not there is a [Senate] rule change with regards to loans or legislative change to loans, those discussions are ongoing," Hendren said.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson is generally supportive of the ethics bills and wants to review them more closely, said spokesman J.R. Davis.
Former state lawmakers who have either been convicted or pleaded guilty to federal crimes as a result of investigations since 2017 are Jon Woods, R-Springdale; Micah Neal, R-Springdale; Jake Files, R-Fort Smith; Hank Wilkins, R-Pine Bluff; and Eddie Cooper, D-Melbourne.
In addition, former state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, was indicted in August on 12 counts of wire and tax fraud that accused him of misspending campaign funds. Hutchinson resigned from the state Senate and pleaded innocent to the charges. The case is pending. Hutchinson is a nephew of the governor and cousin of Hendren.
Last month, a federal grand jury indicted former state senator and lobbyist Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, on conspiracy, bribery and and wire-fraud charges in an alleged scheme involving a nursing home owner and a now-imprisoned judge.
Baker's attorneys have said that he never asked the judge, nursing home owner or anybody else to do anything improper or illegal and that no one asked Baker to do anything improper or illegal. He has pleaded innocent to the charges.
A Section on 02/05/2019