From The Old State House, It’s Talk Business & Politics

Talk Business & Politics will broadcast a portion of our Sunday TV show from the Old State House Museum, where the Arkansas House of Representatives will meet next week for a special session.

The session will focus on changes to the Public School Employees Insurance Fund as well as additional funding to ease prison overcrowding at the state and local levels and possible lottery restrictions.

Rep. Harold Copenhaver (D-Jonesboro), who has co-chaired a task force studying the insurance issue, will be a guest. He’ll lay out the plan legislators have put together for the session and Copenhaver has agreed to answer scores of questions from teachers and public school employees on the insurance changes.

Also, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mike Ross will be our guest to field questions on his jobs proposal for Arkansas.

The last formal legislative session at the Old State House was in 1909 when it was Arkansas’ state capitol. After that, the General Assembly moved to the new state capitol at its present location, which was the site of the former state penitentiary.

The Legislature did meet again at the Old State House in 1951 to dedicate the place as a museum. They met once more in 1983 for one day of short commemorative business. Then-Gov. Bill Clinton actually spoke to lawmakers on the historic occasion.

Thanks to the archives of the UA David and Barbara Pryor Center for Oral and Visual History and KATV News, you can re-visit the 1983 event in the video below.

Talk Business & Politics airs Sundays at 9 am on KATV Ch. 7.