Talk Politics

Covering Arkansas Politics

All Eyes On The Senate As Session Wraps Up

With major budget bills, Congressional redistricting and an Insurance Department funding impasse resolved, all eyes now turn to the Arkansas State Senate for the General Assembly’s conclusion.

House Passes Major Budget Bills

Months in the making, the Revenue Stabilization Act (RSA) cleared the full House of Representatives as lawmakers put a stamp of approval on the state’s $4.6 billion balanced budget bill.

‘fayetteville To The Fourth’ Map Clears House

A controversial Congressional redistricting plan – the "Fayetteville to the Fourth" map – today cleared the Arkansas House of Representatives on a party line vote of 52-46. The bill needed 51 votes for passage and now goes to the State Senate for consideration.

You can view the roll call of the vote at this link. Rep. Barry Hyde (D-North Little Rock) had his vote struck because he was not on the floor during the official vote count.

Crawford Among Freshmen Calling For Action

While all eyes have been focused on the Arkansas Legislature, there is a looming federal government shutdown over stalled budget talks in Washington, D.C.

How About An Insurance Department Compromise?

The scuttlebutt this morning is that lawmakers have been negotiating all night on a resolution to their stalemate on the Insurance Department budget, which has been tripped up by a minority of House members opposed to $1 million in funding for federal health care reform.

Health Insurance Exchange Stalling Final Budget

It feels like the movie Groundhog Day.

House Democrats Alter Redistricting Plan

After days of negotiations and partisan criticism, Rep. Clark Hall (D-Marvell) and Rep. Eddie Cheatham (D-Crossett) reworked a Congressional District map with an amendment to a new shell bill.

Senate Panel Takes Up Congressional Redistricting (updated)

State Senators took up a Congressional redistricting plan posed as an alternative to the House-led "Fayetteville to the Fourth" map.

Insurance Department Funding Bill Fails Again (updated)

A funding bill for the Arkansas Insurance Department was debated for a second day in the House of Representatives, but it met the same fate as a day earlier.

Insurance Dept. Funding Defeat Threatens More Than Health Care Reform

Political wrangling over health care reform could throw a monkey wrench in legislators’ plans to go home on Friday or it could shut down a state agency aimed at protecting insurance consumers.

Tax Cut Bills Now Law Of The Land

Six bills that were part of a tax cut-budget compromise between Gov. Mike Beebe and House and Senate leaders have all been signed into law.

Alternative Redistricting Plans Surface

An opponent of the "Fayetteville to the Fourth" Congressional redistricting plan is promoting an alternative map that divides several counties, but keeps major cities in existing districts. Also, State Senators prepared to make a move to push their versions of Congressional redistricting through a Senate panel.

Tolbert: Overwhelming Opposition To ‘fayetteville To The Fourth’

The Tolbert Report confirms the obvious: Fayetteville residents are indeed unhappy with a potential move from the Third to the Fourth Congressional District.

Tolbert: Pro-life Groups Struggle To Pass Legislation

Jason Tolbert of the Tolbert Report writes in his weekly Stephens Media column on the fate of at least 7 pro-life bills that have yet to gain any traction in this year’s Arkansas Legislature.

Tolbert noted:

With the significant gains Republicans experienced in the 2010 elections, many expected pro-life bills would have a much easier time passing the Legislature this year. However, the opposite seems to have happened.

With only a few days remaining in the regular session, pro-life groups have yet to pass a single bill.

Tolbert lists several reasons for why he thinks the pro-life legislation hasn’t had greater success. He cites factors such as a pro-Democrat House Public Health Committee, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s office issuing opinions on the constitutionality of the bills, and Republican sponsors of the bills versus Democrats.

"In this session, the partisan divide has been greater on almost every issue, including the right to life," Tolbert concludes. You can read more at this link.

Boozman Weighs In On Congressional Redistricting

U.S. Senator John Boozman (R) says Fayetteville should remain in the Third Congressional District, his former House seat.

Kuar: State Budget Legislation Unveiled

Arkansas’ $4.6 billion balanced budget has been agreed upon by legislative leaders and the Governor after a weekend of negotiations.

Bill To Regulate Federal Health Care Reform Passes Committee 11-7

The only new wrinkle in the debate over state regulation of federal health care reform were the 11 yes votes in the room.

Sides for and against the new federal law overseeing health care implementation raised the same arguments they’ve been raising for months. Supporters want the state to control its implementation of federal health care, while opponents argued that Arkansas regulators can wait until the federal courts decide the issue’s constitutionality.

HB 2138 was voted out of a packed House Insurance and Commerce committee room on a party line vote of 11-7. Two representatives who did not vote on Friday cast votes for the bill today: Rep. Keith Ingram (D-West Memphis) and Rep. Bobby Pierce (D-Sheridan). The bill must now pass the full House and State Senate.

"This bill is in the best interest of Arkansans," said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Fred Allen (D-Little Rock).

Former State Rep. Dan Greenberg argued that the committee was rushing to pass "a radical transformation" of the health care system. "It’s going to transform the doctor-patient relationship," Greenberg said.

He also suggested that lawmakers only have to "show progress" on the issue by January 2013. "All that’s required is that we have to be on track," Greenberg said.

Ray Handley, President of the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care and a former Hewlett Packard executive who helped build health insurance exchanges in other states, said that the insurance exchanges that HB 2138 would begin planning for will help consumers.

"The best analogy I’ve seen – they are for insurance what Travelocity is for plane tickets," Handley said. "If done right, this will let the consumer log on [and] shop for comparisons."

Glen Gallas, a small businessman from Hot Springs, TEA Party activist and former GOP Congressional candidate, said that he had a "definite and vested interest" in the issue.

"I think as legislators it’s fundamentally wrong to pass a law that doesn’t have details worked out," Gallas said. "We remember what happened to a sitting senator who voted against the citizens and voted against the will of the people on health care."

Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford said, "All of this political drama is about the federal bill that doesn’t have anything to do with this. What we have to do to take care of our people is that we have to demonstrate that we can do the planning process."

Rep. Allen spoke to Talk Business after the meeting about his plans for moving the bill forward in this video.

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Brummett: 2012 Elections Could Boost “conservative Advantage”

Political columnist John Brummett with our content partner, the Arkansas News Bureau, says that between redistricting, taxes, the Presidential election climate and 2010 GOP gains, the next election cycle could be another watershed year for Republicans.

Brawner: Prison Reform A Good Step; Medicaid Next?

Arkansas News Bureau columnist Steve Brawner compares the state’s efforts to reform prisons with future efforts towards Medicaid.

He’s complimentary of the Governor’s efforts to make changes to the state’s prison system and sentencing reforms.

The reforms represent a revolutionary idea — actually cutting real government spending instead of nibbling around the edges. Legislators deserve a pat on the back for making the very grown-up decision that the state’s resources are not unlimited and that it shouldn’t spend what it doesn’t have.

They’ll need more support when a parolee who would have been in prison under the old system murders someone. When that inevitably happens, those 14 House members and other opponents will have their I-told-you-sos ready, though they still won’t explain where they would have found that $875 million.

Brawner wonders if legislators and the Governor can find similar consensus on changes to the state’s Medicaid system, which is about a year and a half away from a major fiscal crisis.

Like prison reform, this idea would create a lot of opposition. But unlike prison reform, that opposition would not go away. One in four Arkansans is on Medicaid, and that’s a lot of voters. Medical providers would claim that they already aren’t compensated enough for the care they provide Medicaid patients — and they would have a point.

But as with the state’s prison system, Medicaid costs are rising so fast that they’ll drown the budget in red ink. That is, unless somebody does something more than just talk about it.

You can read more of Brawner’s thoughts at this link.

So How Democratic Is Washington County?

One of the primary arguments between those involved in the great "Fayetteville to the Fourth" Congressional redistricting debate is that the map pulls a large number of Democrats – even liberal Democrats – from the Third District into the Fourth.

But how Democratic are voters in the Washington County precincts in question?

An analysis of 2010 election returns for the 54 Washington County precincts in the "Fayetteville to the Fourth" map sends a mixed signal.

Gov. Mike Beebe won handily in the precincts over GOP challenger Jim Keet by a 13,053 to 6,214 margin. Green Party nominee Jim Lendall recorded 609 votes in one of the few areas of the state with a concentration of Green Party voters.

That equates to Beebe pulling 66% to Keet’s 31% and Lendall’s 3%. Beebe outperformed his statewide percentage of 64.4% in the Washington County precincts and Keet underperformed his statewide percentage by a small margin, about 2.5% below.

Clearly, a sign of some Democratic strength.

But Democratic Third District Congressional nominee David Whitaker and incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln didn’t fare so well in the bastion of Democratic voters, although both did better than their districtwide or statewide performances.

GOP Cong. Steve Womack handily defeated Whitaker by a 11,375 to 8,440 margin, or 57% to 43%. Certainly, the 43% Whitaker received is far better than his 28% district-wide performance, but still a sub-par showing for a Fayetteville resident Democrat.

Lincoln only pulled 42% of the vote – 8,359 votes – in her Senate re-election bid against GOP candidate and then-3rd District Cong. John Boozman, who received 53% or 10,612 votes. Nearby Mayor of Greenland John Gray, the Green Party nominee, scored 681 votes, or 3.4% of the vote, with the rest going to Independent Trevor Drown.

For Lincoln, her 42% was an improvement on her statewide 37% performance.

Of course, there are some stronger Democratic performing metropolitan regions in the state. For instance, Beebe carried Jefferson County with 78% of the vote and Lincoln garnered 60%. In Pulaski County, Beebe pulled 70%, while Lincoln settled at just over 51%.

The numbers in southern Washington County do show that Democrats perform better in these precincts than their districtwide or statewide percentages — not by much in some instances. They also show that Republicans can win the precincts in question by sizable margins. It may just depend on the candidate.