Capitol Notebook: A Little Bit Of Everything At The Capitol On Thursday

There was a lot of debate Thursday as the state Senate discussed an abortion bill while the state House discussed cursive writing.

Meanwhile, a bill that would ban the use of handheld devices while driving was introduced Thursday afternoon.

And in the House, jail funding and cursive writing legislation advanced.

SENATE & HOUSE ACTION
The Senate voted 29-4 Thursday to approve Senate Bill 53, sponsored by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View.

The bill would require doctors to be present when so-called “webcam abortions” are conducted. Supporters of the bill have said it would protect the life of the mother, while opponents have said the bill would violate the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade.

Our content partner, KUAR, reported Thursday that Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he supports the legislation.

A similar bill, House Bill 1076 sponsored by Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, is working its way through the legislature.

The House voted 83-4 Feb. 13 to approve that measure, while the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor committee approved the Mayberry bill Wednesday.

The Mayberry bill is expected to be heard by the full Senate on Tuesday.

The Irvin bill now heads to the House.

The House also voted 95-0 Thursday to approve a bill that would help counties with funding in housing state inmates in county jails.

The bill, House Bill 1316, appropriated $10 million to help counties with the issue. County judges and sheriffs around the state have discussed the funding issue for several months, saying it has cost their counties’ budgets millions of dollars, as well as placed an unfunded mandate on counties.

The bill, sponsored by the Joint Budget Committee, now heads to the Senate.

Also, the House voted 66-21, with six people voting present, to pass a bill to require cursive handwriting to be taught by the third grade in the state’s public schools.

Rep. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, said the idea for the bill came after he had heard that his granddaughter had not been taught the writing skill in school.

The bill brought lawmakers to the well of the House to make their case.

Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena, who voted no, said communications changes in a digital world have made cursive writing nearly obsolete. Rep. Andy Davis, R-Little Rock, who also voted no, said it was a matter for local school boards to decide.

However, Rep. Justin Harris, R-West Fork, who voted yes, said cursive writing needed to be taught.

“Texting isn’t everything,” Harris said to laughter in the gallery. “Our kids need to know how to communicate (with one another).”

COMMITTEES
A plan to help people with intellectual disabilities receive job training sailed through a House committee Thursday with the sponsor telling her story on the issue.

The House Education Committee voted to approve House Bill 1255, sponsored by Rep. Mary Broadaway, D-Paragould.

The bill would create the Building Better Futures Program. The program would “allow students with intellectual disabilities to broaden their career opportunities through education and job training in an inclusive and age-appropriate environment.”

Broadaway said the bill was a “two-year labor of love” that grew out of a way for her and her husband to help their son with autism.

The work began when her son was in junior high school, Broadaway told the committee.

Their son, who is now 22, completed a program at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville – five and a half hours away from their home in Paragould, Broadaway said.

At the time, the program – Project Launch – was the only program of its kind in the state. Broadaway said the decision she made to send her son to Fayetteville was “the toughest decision in my life.”

Now, her son has a job and lives in an apartment by himself.

Broadaway told the committee there are now three other programs in the state to help people in similar circumstances.

One of those programs is at the Pulaski Technical Institute’s south campus in Little Rock.

The pilot program now has 11 students who receive instruction, lab and student mentoring that is focused on success, Bentley Wallace, vice president for economic development at the school, said.

Wallace said the program is funded through private donors, state funding and tuition that is paid by the students.

The cost is roughly $7,500 a student per year, Wallace said.

The students in the program receive training in culinary skills and go to class Monday through Friday, with a schedule similar to college students, the college’s website noted.

One of the students said he has benefited from the program.

“It has helped me tremendously,” Quinton Robinson told the committee.

Robinson said the program has helped land an internship and he is scheduled to graduate this year from the program.

Rep. Charlotte Douglas, R-Alma, asked Robinson about the different types of food he has learned to prepare.

Robinson said he has learned how to make bread pudding, soup, grilled pork chops and pasta in the classes.

“Bread pudding, it is not easy (to make),” Robinson told Douglas.

The bill now goes to the full House.

The Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs committee passed a bill Thursday that would allow government employees to seek public information without fear of retribution.

The committee approved House Bill 1163, sponsored by Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena.

The bill would make it “unlawful for any public employer to discipline, to threaten to discipline, to reprimand either orally or in writing, to place any notation in a public employee’s personnel file disciplining or reprimanding the public employee, or to otherwise discriminate against a public employee because the public employee exercised the right to communicate with an elected public official or exercised a right or privilege under the Freedom of Information Act of 1967.”

Bell has said he has received calls from public employees around the state about allegations of retribution in similar situations.

The bill now heads to the full Senate.

NEW BILL
Rep. David Fielding, D-Magnolia, also introduced a bill Thursday that would prohibit the use of handheld wireless devices while driving a vehicle.

According to the bill, a driver “shall not operate a motor vehicle on the traveled portion of a public street or roadway while using a handheld telephone or wireless device.”

The device can be used during an emergency or if the driver is pulled over to the shoulder or safe area near the road.

However, a police officer, firefighter, emergency medical personnel or other public safety personnel would be exempt from the law.

A driver could also be pulled over by police if an officer were to see the driver using a wireless device. A person convicted of the misdemeanor offense could receive a $50 fine for the first offense, a $150 fine for a second offense within two years and a third offense could net a driver a $200 fine and a suspended license for up to one year.

FRIDAY SCHEDULE
The following are a list of committee meetings scheduled for Friday in the Arkansas General Assembly:

House Committees
9 a.m. – Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs, Room 130.
9 a.m. – Insurance and Commerce, Room 149.
9 a.m. – State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, Room 151.

The House will convene at 10 a.m. Friday.