Dismang: Senate To Audio Live-stream Floor Debate, PO Votes There In Senate
by January 25, 2015 9:12 am 268 views
Senate President Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, says his chamber is moving forward with a plan to begin audio live-streaming the State Senate’s afternoon sessions as early as next week. The Senate leader also said he thinks – in the wake of Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s health care speech – that the votes are there in his chamber for reauthorization of the private option funding.
Appearing on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, Dismang said that an Internet provider issue has delayed the live-streaming process from starting at the beginning of the session.
“We’ve got most everything set in place and we actually hope to start live-streaming our audio next week at some point,” he said. “We’d hope to kick it off a little bit sooner, but we will be live-streaming the Senate.”
The State Senate will only audio live-stream its full chamber business through its web site, not committee meetings at this point. The Arkansas House of Representatives live-streams its floor and committee proceedings.
Dismang also discussed Hutchinson’s health care speech at UAMS on Thursday. Dismang is one of the chief architects of the private option.
Saying he was pleased with the governor’s remarks, Dismang noted, “One of the things he really did was take into account both sides of the argument, or the discussion.”
Hutchinson called for funding of the private option through Dec. 2016, while a soon-to-be-created task force will present long-term alternatives to the private option and larger health care reform by the end of 2015. A bill has been filed to create the task force and Dismang said action to put it in law will happen quickly.
“We plan to run that on Monday afternoon and get the ball started,” he said.
Dismang also said he felt the 75% supermajority of votes needed for private option funding renewal were there in the Senate’s current 34-member body.
“I believe at this point, for the bill itself that would set up the task force that he specified, I believe the votes are there for that. And I also think that we’re close if not beyond where we need to be for the appropriation,” Dismang said.
You can watch the full interview with Sen. Dismang, including his remarks on Hutchinson’s tax cut plan and the controversy involving the Robert E. Lee holiday, in the video below.