Highway Commission, Game & Fish Could Lose Independence

A potential constitutional amendment could take away the independence of the Arkansas Highway Commission, Game and Fish Commission, institutions of higher education and provide more legislative control over the state lottery.

SJR2, filed by Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, would amend the Arkansas Constitution to make those changes.

The resolution would have to be adopted as one of three legislature-referred proposed constitutional amendments for voters to consider in 2012. Lawmakers of the House and Senate State Agencies Committees will vote on possible referrals later in the session.

SJR2 would expand the size of the Game and Fish Commission from 7 appointees to 8. It would also designate an associate member to the commission "who is the head of the Department of Zoology at the University of Arkansas."

Legislative and public scrutiny has centered on the Game and Fish board, the highway panel and colleges and  universities, especially in the wake of the state employee car scandal of the last half of 2010.  Game and Fish commissioners have also been sharply criticized for an aborted effort to skirt the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

The resolution does not alter the make-up of the five-member Highway Commission.

The Game and Fish Commission gained its constitutional independence in 1944, while the Highway Commission became an independent agency in 1953.

Hutchinson’s proposed amendment, if referred by the legislature and approved by voters, would become effective July 1, 2013.