A bill to change the way state Plant Board members are selected passed effortlessly in the House on Thursday with only one vote against it.
The Plant Board membership process currently requires agriculture industry trade groups to nominate two candidates each with one of the candidates chosen by the governor, subject to Senate confirmation.
Under Senate Bill 191 “the governor will appoint these members directly, again, subject to Senate confirmation,” Rep. Les D. Eaves, R-Searcy, said on the House floor Thursday.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. David Wallace, R-Leachville, member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development, and co-sponsored by Eaves, who is co-chairman of the Administrative Rule Review Subcommittee.
Senate Bill 191 passed unanimously in the House Committee on Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development on Wednesday; the bill passed in the Senate and Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development earlier this month.
The bill has received almost no opposition from lawmakers in committees or regular sessions and is expected to become law.
The selection process for Plant Board membership was invalidated in 2021 by the Arkansas Supreme Court and later that year, a Pulaski County Circuit Judge removed nine members on the board, leaving the bare minimum number of members to form a quorum.