Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, has proposed adding two security officers to the appropriation for Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge's office in the next fiscal year and changing state law so that the Arkansas State Police would no longer be responsible for the safety and security of the lieutenant governor and her family.
A spokeswoman for Rutledge said Tuesday that the lieutenant governor opposes Hester's proposal.
Act 422 of 1973 requires state police to provide security for the governor and lieutenant governor and their families.
"We care about everyone's safety, all members, all constitutional offices," Hester said Tuesday in an interview.
The state police has responsibility for the security of the governor and lieutenant governor under state law, "but no lieutenant governor since Win Rockefeller has used full-time security detail until now, and ... we have to understand what that cost looks like," he said.
Rutledge was sworn in as the lieutenant governor Jan. 10 and formerly served as the state's attorney general.
Under the Arkansas Constitution, the position's duties are to preside over the 35-member Senate with a tie-breaking vote and to serve as governor if the state's chief executive is impeached, removed from office, dies or is otherwise unable to discharge the office's duties. Two of the state's governors during the past 30 years were lieutenant governors first.
In 2003, Arkansas State Police Col. Don Melton cut then-Lt Gov. Win Rockefeller's security force from five officers to one amid state budget cuts, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's archives.
After Win Rockefeller died in July 2006, Arkansas State Police Director Col. Steve Dozier said when Rockefeller was young he "was often in the shadow of state troopers assigned to his father's security detail and today, as our state's lieutenant governor, he died with state troopers assigned to that same protection detail outside his room."
In November 2013, then-Lt. Gov. Mark Darr said Arkansas State Police officers drove him between his home and sites around the state so he could talk on his cellphone without endangering himself or others, and he had been chauffeured at least four times at taxpayer expense. At that time, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said the state police had provided transportation on occasion for lieutenant governors in the past.
Hester said Tuesday the cost for the lieutenant governor's security detail is more than $600,000 a year and "we feel like we can provide protection for less cost than that." He said that cost is for at least four full-time officers with different shifts and different days.
He said his proposal is responsible and respectful for the taxpayer, but also provides the protection the lieutenant governor thinks she needs.
Hester said he plans to present his proposal to the Joint Budget Committee's personnel and special language subcommittees.
Rutledge spokeswoman Sandy Hall said Tuesday in a written statement that "Lieutenant Governor Rutledge opposes the amendment to increase her office's budget and believes the current law, which has been in place for nearly 50 years and is consistent with other states, is appropriate."
The lieutenant governor's appropriation for fiscal 2024 starting July 1 is Senate Bill 18. The current bill would appropriate $343,438 to the lieutenant governor's office and includes a chief of staff/legal counsel, communications/policy director and executive assistant/scheduler.
Hester has proposed an amendment to SB18 that would increase the office's total appropriation to $543,438 and add two security officers with maximum authorized salaries of $75,000 a year.
Under his proposed amendment, the lieutenant governor may hire and employ in the manner described under this proposal security personnel to maintain peaceful order and provide protection to the lieutenant governor as the lieutenant governor carries out her official duties.
The employees designated as security personnel are considered as full-time law enforcement officers with the full range of responsibilities and authority as afforded to a law enforcement officer certified by the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training under the proposal. The security personnel also would have statewide jurisdiction while acting within the scope of their employment under the proposal.