John Burris: Avoiding ‘Rage Without Focus’

The 90th General Assembly – thus far splendidly absent notable drama – is reaching its halfway point. Debates over taxes and healthcare are temporarily suspended, creating an opportunity for other issues to get their deserved attention.

The remaining days will either be productive or a slow spiral into time wasted. Conservatives should not miss the moment to address some important policies that need reform.

The areas of elections, professional licensure, and regulation stand out the most. These issues comprise the nuts and bolts of state government. They’re often yelled about on the campaign trail, but rarely ever affected by serious conservative reform. The next few weeks should change that disappointing trend.

ELECTION REFORM
Special elections aren’t so much a policy themselves; they’re more of a method to achieve a policy, which is raising taxes for a sometimes, but not always, worthy goal.

Currently the state, cities, counties, and school boards can set special elections for any date they choose. Not surprisingly, the dates chosen are often at an in-opportune time, say maybe the middle of summer while most voters are distracted and disengaged.

A possible goal of special elections is to minimize voter participation and thereby make it easier to control the outcome. And the taxpayer pays for it all, by both providing for the additional election and in whatever policy is passed by a few hundred participating electors.

Former State Rep. Allen Kerr admirably championed reform last session. His idea was very accommodating. It simply required special elections to occur on specific dates, either the first Tuesday of November or the third Tuesday of May, in an even or an odd numbered year.

This meant once every six months our local jurisdictions had the opportunity to place an issue on the ballot for voter approval, but that the voter would have some degree of consistency about when he or she is expected to make consequential decisions. Seems reasonable.

Unfortunately the bill was passed out of the full House, but died in the Senate State Agencies Committee. Let’s hope for a renewed effort with a different outcome.

REGULATORY AND LICENSING REFORM
We’ve seen some promising attempts to reform the licensing and regulatory burden inflicted on our state. More should be coming. On these issues, it’s easy for conservatives to practice what has often been characterized as “rage without focus” – which is never an effective strategy. We know we don’t like the burdens, but how do we reform them? There are ways to do so.

The state of Texas has a potentially good model worth exploring. There, they created a Department of Licensure and Regulation. All non-professional licensing is managed through one efficient, professional entity. Additionally, regulations are sunsetted and required to expire every few years.

All of this is in stark contrast to the Arkansas way. Here, existing regulations are rarely revisited and instead just grow. Licensing is regulated independently, so we have dozens and dozens of boards and commissions, buildings and office spaces, and then the staffing to handle it all.

The licensed professionals enjoy our model, as they should. It creates barriers to entry that protect the established but hinder the entrepreneur. There’s a balance between consumer protection and over-exerting. We are among the most onerous states to obtain and maintain a professional license, meaning we’ve crossed the line into over-exerting.

Our regulatory burden is similarly high-ranking compared to our peers, with the high end being the wrong end. Changing our status quo should be bipartisan. It’s good for businesses and most importantly good for Arkansans on the lower end of the ladder but intent on climbing to the top.

Conservatives have a chance to finally address some fundamental areas of our government that need change.

The next few weeks will show who is serious about reforming the status quo, rather than those who just enjoy pretending like they challenge the system while never casting a vote to actually change it.