Legislature considers health care reform task force, Cuba relations, gun bill

It was meeting day Tuesday as several committees approved legislation, while a task force to study health care reform in the state met for the first time. The 16-member task force was formed after legislators approved Senate Bill 96 earlier in the session. The bill set a Dec. 31, 2016 expiration date on the Private Option in Arkansas as well as the task force.

The task force will meet this year to discuss ways to reform the system. The group has until Dec. 31, 2015 to present their ideas to Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the legislature.

State Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, and Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, will co-chair the task force, while Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, and Rep. Reginald Murdock, D-Marianna, were selected as vice-chairs. The group said it would live-stream its meetings going forward.

911 COMMITTEE EXTENDED
The work of an existing legislative committee looking into the state’s 911 system will continue after lawmakers found issues around the state, Rep. Scott Baltz, D-Pocahontas, said Tuesday. The Senate voted 34-0 to extend the committee’s work until 2017.

Baltz, who served as fire chief in Pocahontas and as a Randolph County justice of the peace before being elected in 2012, said the committee found problems ranging from inoperability of systems to wireless communications being spotty in rural areas.
Another problem has been funding, Baltz said.

In the past 20 or so years, there have been a loss in the number of landlines due to people buying and using cell phones. Typically, counties receive funding from taxes on individual phone bills, with the money going toward 911 in a county. While the funding has decreased, Baltz said 911 taxes from cell phone bills are bringing in “pennies on the dollar.”

Baltz said the committee also found issues with dispatcher training. He said he would like to see dispatchers train on a level similar to police officers and firefighters, perhaps at the state’s two-year schools.

The bill was sent back to the House.

COMMITTEES
A federal candidate may be able to run for more than one federal office simultaneously, under a bill approved by a Senate committee. The Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs approved Senate Bill 803, sponsored by Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs. The bill would amend state law on the practice.

“The appearance on the general election of the name of a party nominee for the office of President or Vice President of the United States in lieu of the names of the candidates for electors for the offices shall not limit or restrict the party nominee so named from being a candidate in his or her own right for any office to be filled at the general election,” Hester’s bill noted. “A person may be a candidate for more than one federal office in the same primary or general election.”

Hester told reporters after the meeting that he had Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., in mind when he filed the bill. However, Hester said Cotton did not ask him to file the bill. Under the original bill from Hester, a candidate could have run for both House and Senate seats simultaneously. However, he amended the bill to ban the practice.

When questioned by the committee, Hester brought up a situation in Texas over 50 years ago.

“This is certainly not a new idea. The Democratic Party did this for Lyndon B. Johnson in Texas many, many years ago. I think that whenever you have a candidate or a public servant that the people believe in, you’d like for them to have the opportunity to step up without losing their current position should they not be fortunate enough to win,” Hester said.

The bill now heads to the Senate.

HB 1450 AND HB 1626
The House Judiciary Committee also approved two safety-related bills Tuesday. House Bill 1450 would allow the director of the Arkansas Department of Correction to reward state prisoners for exhibiting good behavior.

Under the bill from Rep. Donnie Copeland, R-Little Rock, a prisoner could receive up to 90 days credit for completing a job training program and for not abusing infirmary privileges, 180 days for completing a general education program and up to a year for saving the life of a corrections employee or another inmate.

But, the prisoner could lose their good time credits if they escape, have illegal drugs, smuggle in contraband or are involved in a sexual-related violation under the bill. The bill was also amended March 4 to include language about the credits.

“Meritorious good time shall under no circumstances reduce an inmate’s time served in prison by more than one-half of the percentage required by law for transfer eligibility, unless the reduction by more than one-half of the percentage required by law for transfer eligibility is the result of the accumulation of meritorious good time,” the bill noted.

Copeland said while he supports the death penalty and “if you do the crime, you should do the time,” he said a program like this would build morale among prisoners.

The bill now heads to the House.

The committee also approved House Bill 1626 to allow an elected official who is a concealed carry permit holder to carry a concealed handgun in the courthouse where they work. Rep. Tim Lemons, R-Cabot, who sponsored the bill, said the reason he sponsored the bill was in response to a Sept. 2011 shooting at the Crawford County Courthouse in Van Buren.

According to published reports at the time, 48-year-old James Ray Palmer walked into the courthouse to see a circuit judge who heard his divorce case. Palmer, who was later shot and killed by police, shot an employee in the leg at the courthouse.

Lemons, who said Palmer fired at least 120 shots in and around the courthouse, told the committee that the bill was needed to help protect courthouses around the state. He said the courthouse in his county – Lonoke County – is nearly two miles away from the county jail, separated by I-30.

The bill, which has the support of the Association of Arkansas Counties, now moves to the House.

CUBA RELATIONS
The Senate Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development committee approved a resolution supporting a plan to restore trade between the United States and Cuba.

The resolution, House Concurrent Resolution 1006, was sponsored by Rep. David Hillman, D-Almyra. The resolution also encourages President Obama, Congress and the state’s congressional delegation to work on the issue.

The resolution passed by a 52-36 margin in the House on March 3 after some interesting debate. Supporters of the resolution said it would help the state’s farmers trade cotton, rice and soybeans in the Caribbean nation, while opponents stressed the country’s human rights record and that trading with the communist nation would only benefit its leaders.

The resolution now goes to the Senate.