Arkansas House votes loom for 2 road measures

Rep. Jeff Wardlaw (left), R-Hermitage, and Sen. Gary Stubblefield (right), R-Branch, answer questions about SB8, a bill to amend an Arkansas law concerning modification and review of permits issued by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, during the Senate Public Heath, Welfare and Labor Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, at the State Capitol in Little Rock.
Rep. Jeff Wardlaw (left), R-Hermitage, and Sen. Gary Stubblefield (right), R-Branch, answer questions about SB8, a bill to amend an Arkansas law concerning modification and review of permits issued by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, during the Senate Public Heath, Welfare and Labor Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, at the State Capitol in Little Rock.

The Arkansas House is expected to vote today on different parts of Gov. Asa Hutchinson's plan to raise more state highway money -- a bill that would raise $95 million a year and a proposed constitutional amendment that would ask voters in 2020 to approve another $205 million a year, the sponsors of the measures said.

Meanwhile, leaders of the House and Senate committees that review legislative proposals for constitutional amendments said they hope this week to further narrow their lists. During each regular session, the Legislature may refer up to three proposed constitutional amendments to voters in the next general election.

Asked what amendments he wants referred to the 2020 election ballot, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a written statement, "The top priority is the amendment to extend the ½ cent sales tax for highways. Beyond that, I want to leave the greatest amount of discretion with the General Assembly."

Rep. Andy Davis, R-Little Rock -- the sponsor of another Hutchinson plan, this one to reduce the number of state agencies that report to him from 42 to 15 -- said he hopes to introduce by Friday the 2,000-page-plus bill that details the changes. The governor has proposed the most sweeping reorganization of state government since 1971.

Today is the 50th day of the 92nd General Assembly's regular session, with a holiday break and the end in sight.

The House has approved House Concurrent Resolution 1007, under which the House and Senate may recess at the close of business March 20 -- which is a Wednesday -- and resume their work March 25, a Monday. Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, said he expects the Senate to approve the resolution. It's known as the spring break resolution in some legislative circles.

The House also has approved House Concurrent Resolution 1006, under which the House and Senate may recess April 12 -- if not earlier -- and reconvene before noon May 6 to take care of matters such as fixing bills or overriding any vetoes. The session would then adjourn.

April 12 would be the 89th day. The General Assembly met in regular session for 96 days in 2011, 101 days in 2013, 82 days in 2015 and 86 days in 2017. (Fiscal sessions, in even-numbered years, are of shorter duration.)

HIGHWAY MEASURES

Senate Bill 336 by Sen. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, would levy a new wholesale sales tax on gasoline and diesel, increase annual registration fees on electric and hybrid vehicles, and dedicate casino tax revenue and other state funds. Together, these changes would provide at least $95 million a year to the state Department of Transportation.

Approval of the bill requires a simple majority of the 100-member House, or 51 votes. The House has 76 Republicans and 24 Democrats.

"I think the votes are there, but how many, I really don't know," said Rep. Mike Holcomb, R-Pine Bluff, who is the House sponsor of SB336. "We may pick up some and lose some by Monday."

The Senate voted 27-8 to approve SB336 on Feb. 21. If the bill clears the House, then the Senate will have to consider concurring with a House-approved amendment that removed House Republican whip Brandt Smith of Jonesboro as a co-sponsor. Then the bill would go to Hutchinson for his signature.

House Republican leader Marcus Richmond of Harvey said, "This thing is going to pass," with votes totaling "somewhere in the 60s."

The wholesale sales tax on motor fuels would increase the tax on gas by 3 cents a gallon, to 24.5 cents a gallon, and the tax on diesel by 6 cents a gallon, to 28.5 cents a gallon. The new tax would be indexed and would not increase by more than one-tenth of a percent a year, meaning the maximum increase would be 1 percent over a 10-year period.

The wholesale tax would raise about $58 million more a year for highways and about $13 million more a year apiece for cities and counties.

SB336 also would increase registration fees for electric vehicles by $200 and for hybrid vehicles by $100 to raise about $1.9 million a year.

House Joint Resolution 1018 by Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, would refer to voters a proposed constitutional amendment that would make permanent the state's half-percent sales tax approved by voters in 2012 for a 10-year period. The original tax, in Amendment 91, has paid off highway bonds and interest.

Extending the half-percent tax is projected by state officials to raise $205 million a year for highways and $44 million a year apiece for both cities and counties.

Asked why he proposed permanently extending the tax rather than a 10-year extension, Hutchinson said Friday in a written statement, "It is important that we go to a pay as you go program for funding state highways rather than bonds that absorb about 25% of the revenue in interest and bonding costs.

"To do this, it is necessary to have consistency from year-to-year so that our highway department and contractors can do long range planning," the Republican governor said.

Wardlaw said he expects to ask the House to approve HJR1018 this afternoon. Both HJR1018 and SB336 were on the House's calendar early Friday night.

He said he anticipates HJR1018 will get at least the needed 51 votes. It would then go to the 35-member Senate, where 18 votes would be required to refer the proposal to voters. Senate Republican leader Bart Hester of Cave Springs said he expects the measure to get about 28 votes in the Senate.

[RELATED: Complete Democrat-Gazette coverage of the Arkansas Legislature]

No action by Hutchinson is necessary.

Richmond said he believes the vote on HJR1018 will be closer than the vote on SB336 because "you start getting tax fatigue."

House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, said Thursday that he thought the bill and resolution had a favorable chance of passing.

OTHER TAXES

Meanwhile, Davis said he hopes to run his House Bill 1565 in the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, possibly with some amendments.

Among other things, HB1565 is aimed at providing funding for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' bid to become a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center. He said he expects the legislation to raise about $10.5 million a year.

The legislation would create an additional tax on cigarette paper; create a tax on e-cigarettes; bar the sale of tobacco products to people under 21, with some exceptions; transfer sales tax and special privilege tax collections on medical marijuana to the UAMS National Center Institute Designation Trust Fund; pre-exempt the enactment and enforcement of local government regulation of tobacco products that would be more restrictive than state law or the rules of the Tobacco Control Board; and cut tobacco taxes under certain conditions.

Hendren said he expects to see lawmakers try to settle on a funding mechanism for the cancer center designation this week.

There are still some negotiations among lawmakers about how to raise the needed $10 million a year, with potential funding sources such as tobacco taxes and taxing e-cigarettes, he said.

Hendren said his bill that would increase the homestead property tax credit from $350 to $375 per parcel would probably come up in the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee on Wednesday.

Hendren's Senate Bill 447 also would transfer $8.2 million out of the property tax relief fund to the county voting system grant fund, to improve election equipment. The bill also would allow for other excess revenue in the relief fund to be transferred into general revenue and used for other tax cuts or assistance to school districts that lose revenue as a direct result of Amendment 79 to the Arkansas Constitution, which created the tax credit.

The Senate tax committee on Wednesday balked at House Bill 1321 by Rep. Lanny Fite, R-Benton, which would increase the homestead property tax credit from $350 to $375 per parcel and authorize a legislative study about future use of monies in the property tax relief fund.

BALLOT IDEAS

Sen. Ron Caldwell, R-Wynne, who chairs the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he hopes the committee finishes listening to pitches for proposed constitutional amendments Tuesday and begins the decision-making process Thursday.

Caldwell said he doesn't "see any traction" for a proposed amendment to overhaul the state's tort laws.

There is more interest in proposals on term limits and changing the process by which citizens can propose constitutional amendments and initiated acts, he said.

Rep. Dwight Tosh, R-Jonesboro, who chairs the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he hopes the committee either today or Wednesday finishes listening to initial pitches and then decides which proposals need further discussion.

Decisions about which two amendments to refer to voters -- besides the half-percent tax for highways -- are "still probably a few weeks away," he said.

Like Caldwell, Shepherd said the most prominent discussions among representatives have been on proposals on term limits and the ballot-initiative process.

"On the House end, I still think that the initiative process and term limits are the two," the speaker said. "Not that there's not discussion about tort reform or ending the fiscal session or some of the other things. But those are the two that I do hear the most about."

Hendren said there is a lot of interest among senators in a "compromise" term-limits amendment, after the state Supreme Court last fall struck a proposal from the ballot that would have limited lawmakers to serving a total of 10 years. He also said there is interest in a proposed amendment that would eliminate the fiscal sessions, held in even-numbered years.

Under Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution, approved by voters in 2014, lawmakers are limited to serving to total of 16 years in the House, Senate, or in combined service in the two chambers. Some senators are able to serve two more years if they draw a two-year term after winning in the election after once-per-decade redistricting.

Information for this article was contributed by John Moritz and Hunter Field of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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Marcus Richmond

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Elizabeth and Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin with Haley and state Rep. Andy Davis (R-Little Rock) at the 18th induction banquet for the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame at the Statehouse Convention Center

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, Senate President Pro Tempore-elect, talks Thursday along with Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, right, Senate President Pro Tempore, during a press conference about the proposed ethics rules for the Senate.

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