A Senate bill aiming to increase the Arkansas Legislature's involvement in executive declarations of public-health emergencies and state public-health directives was endorsed Thursday by a House committee.
Senate Bill 379, by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, would allow the Senate president pro tempore or a majority of the 35 senators to call the body to convene to act on a resolution terminating an emergency. It also would allow the House to convene at the direction of the speaker or a majority of the 100 state representatives to consider such a resolution. The bill allows for a resolution of that kind vetoed by the governor to be overridden by a majority vote in both chambers.
The legislation also sets a minimum threshold for what constitutes a statewide emergency related to public health as either including at least 19 of the 75 counties or equal to at least 25% of the state population.
Additionally, the bill directs the House and Senate to each meet in a "committee of the whole" within eight business days of the declaration of an emergency to vote on a resolution terminating the emergency.
The Legislative Council would have the ability to reject extension of an emergency beyond 60 days as well, under the legislation.
State law currently allows the Legislature to terminate a governor's emergency declaration through a concurrent resolution.
Rep. Jimmy Gazaway, R-Paragould, said the Arkansas Emergency Service Act of 1974 "gives the governor almost ultimate power during states of disaster emergency with very little, if any, for the Legislature."
"We had an old statute that really hadn't been tested or dusted off after its initial passage," he said.
Gazaway said SB379 was not intended to criticize Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who he said "had to make some very tough decisions."
"We want to ensure that we're consulted, and the current law as it exists does not provide for that, and the people's representatives deserve the opportunity to weigh in on these issues," he said.
No one spoke for or against the bill at Thursday's committee meeting. The bill now goes to the House.
The Senate voted 27-4 to advance the bill last week.
Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, said then that she worries about "chaos" resulting if the governor declares a public-health emergency and the Legislative Council rejected that declaration over disagreements about science.
Hutchinson told reporters last week that if the Legislature sends him the bill, he'll sign it.
The committee's decision to advance the bill was made after it rejected House Concurrent Resolution 1003, which called on the governor to end the public-health emergency.
The resolution, from Rep. Justin Gonzales, R-Okolona, would have called on Hutchinson to end the emergency. It failed to gain enough votes after some committee members raised concerns about how ending the emergency order would affect telemedicine laws the Legislature is working on. That legislation seeks, to make permanent or long-term some things the governor's emergency order allows.
[CORONAVIRUS: Click here for our complete coverage » arkansasonline.com/coronavirus]
In other business Thursday, the committee advanced Senate Bill 301 by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, which would require the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division and the Health Department to return fines to businesses that were sanctioned during the public-health emergency between March 11, 2020, and Feb. 28, 2021. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Division received $37,950 in fines between July 1 and Feb. 2.
The Legislature already has sent to the governor Senate Bill 254, which would prohibit the state from penalizing businesses if their customers flout public-health guidelines during the coronavirus pandemic. Hutchinson previously said the bill would "undermine" the state's ability to enforce health guidelines in restaurants and bars. SB254 is sponsored by Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs, who said state agencies that enforce health guidelines, including the Health Department and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division, should be focused on their normal, pre-pandemic work.
Information for this article was contributed by John Moritz of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.