Harsher road-text fines clear Senate
A bill that would increase the penalties for texting while driving cleared the Arkansas Senate on Monday.
Senators voted 21-4 to approve Senate Bill 374 by Sen. Will Bond, D-Little Rock, sending it to the House for further consideration.
On March 6, the bill fell three votes short of the 18 required for approval in the 35-member Senate before the Senate expunged that initial vote on the bill to clear the way for Monday's vote.
The bill increases the penalty to $250 the first time a motorist is ticketed for driving while texting and $500 for a second offense. The penalties could be doubled in the event the offense involved a traffic crash.
Bond has said the new bill is modeled after a 2016 Louisiana law that he said has been "vetted down there and has tighter language" and is a more reasonable approach for responding to a dramatic increase in traffic deaths. Traffic-safety experts blame distracted driving for contributing to that increase.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Senators pass bill aimed at CashMax
The Senate voted 29-2 for legislation that Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, said is aimed at driving CashMax from Arkansas. The company has offices in Hope and North Little Rock.
Senate Bill 658 specifies that the fees a credit services organization charges count as interest under state law.
The cost of credit at CashMax can total up to 280 percent, as calculated by the company under the federal Truth in Lending Act. But company officials say the majority of the costs are actually fees, so the loans are in line with the 17 percent cap on interest in Arkansas.
Rapert's bill would end that practice.
-- Michael R. Wickline and Brian Fanney
Senate approves' mass picket' ban
The Senate voted 22-6 to approve legislation to create the offense of "unlawful mass picketing."
The proposed crime would be defined in Senate Bill 550 as protesting in a way that blocks people from accessing workplaces or homes, blocks a public roadway, or threatens violence near a home. The measure is sponsored by Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado.
The bill would make the crime of unlawful mass picketing a Class A misdemeanor, subject to up to a year in jail. It goes onto the House for further consideration.
-- Michael R. Wickline and John Moritz
Bill advances for child-abuse panel
The Senate voted 18-3 for legislation that would create the 18-member child maltreatment investigations oversight committee.
Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, said the committee would include five lawmakers under his Senate Bill 556.
The committee's meetings would be closed under the Freedom of Information Act. Correspondence between committee members and information considered by them also would be exempt from public disclosure.
The legislation also would allow lawmakers on the committee to disclose confidential information they obtain to other legislators, the governor, the governor's authorized staff members and members of Congress, Clark said.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Pro-Israel measure backed by Senate
In a 29-0 vote, the Senate approved a bill aimed at prohibiting the state from contracting with and investing in companies that boycott Israel.
The legislation is Senate Bill 513 by Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs.
Hester said 17 states have approved similar legislation.
"The intent is to show support for Israel," he said.
-- Michael R. Wickline
Panel favors billfor guns in cars
Legislation that would allow gun owners to lock away their guns inside a car while at work, even if their employers do not want to allow guns on their property, advanced through the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.
With a voice vote that included one audible dissenter, the committee sent Senate Bill 33 on to the full Senate for consideration.
The sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R- Texarkana, cast the bill as "common sense" policy that would guarantee workers could remain armed on their way to and from work.
-- John Moritz
'Ag-gag' bill goes on to full Senate
Legislation dubbed the "ag-gag" bill by animal-welfare groups was endorsed by a Senate committee Monday, after no one spoke against it.
Approved with broad support by House lawmakers last week, House Bill 1665 would create an avenue for civil litigation against anyone, including an employee, who releases documents or recordings from a nonpublic area of commercial property with the intent of causing harm to the owner. With favorable review by the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday, the bill moves on to the full Senate for consideration.
As the bill has moved through the Legislature, animal-welfare groups such as the Humane Society and Mercy for Animals have sent out emails to lawmakers and the public saying the bill aims to stifle whistleblowers from disclosing abusive practices regarding livestock. However, no activists spoke against the bill during the committee's public comment period.
Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, a dairy farmer and the Senate sponsor of HB1665, said the bill would do nothing to subvert state and federal protections for people who expose illegal practices.
-- John Moritz
Panel says yes to lobbyist loan ban
The Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced legislation to prohibit lobbyists from giving loans to legislators and constitutional officers.
The legislation is Senate Bill 7 by Sen. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis. It would amend Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution, which bars state elected officials from accepting certain gifts from lobbyists.
Only Sen. Trent Garner, R- El Dorado, voiced opposition to the measure after asking whether they were voting to amend the constitution. Voters approved Amendment 94 in November 2014, which allows lawmakers to amend it with a two-thirds vote.
The Senate committee declined to recommend approval of Ingram's Senate Bill 5 that would limit legislators and constitutional officers to having one political action committee apiece. Garner questioned whether there was a relevant problem of lawmakers having multiple "PACs," which can receive donations and give to other campaigns.
Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, questioned whether limiting PACs was limiting free speech. Ingram said it was not a widespread problem but that she believed some lawmakers in previous sessions had "circumvented the law."
-- John Moritz
Deceptive-trade lawsuit limit fails
A bill that would limit class-action lawsuits brought under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act failed to pass in the House on Monday.
House Bill 1742 by Rep. Laurie Rushing, R-Hot Springs, would allow the attorney general's office to file class-action lawsuits under the act, but consumers would have to file individually.
It failed to pass, 41-38.
Rep. Michelle Gray, R-Melbourne, who presented the bill, said frivolous class-action lawsuits have been brought under the act that deter business and ultimately harm consumers who, she added, pay higher prices to cover lawsuit costs.
But Rep. Douglas House, R-North Little Rock, said the bill shuts down legitimate lawsuits.
Arkansans have sued under the existing law to challenge fake organic foods, pyramid schemes, flooded cars sold as new vehicles and improper mortgage fees, he said.
-- Brian Fanney
A Section on 03/14/2017