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Arkansas Legislative Watch
ARKANSAS LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
BRENT STEVENSON
Week six of the 86th General Assembly is in stark contrast to previous week where it seemed that all actions were progressing at a snail’s pace. This week the number of introductions increased, the committees produced a higher rate of recommendations, and much of Governor Beebe’s Balanced Budget Program was enacted.
Taxes were still the dominant issue. The removal of 3 percent of the sales tax on food was approved by both the House and Senate and signed into law on Thursday with much pageantry including former state Senator Bud Canada present. Canada was a long-time advocate of the removal of the sales tax on food when he served in the Senate with Governor Beebe. The bill also contained the provisions that were being promoted by Speaker Petrus and House Revenue and Tax Committee chairman Kevin Anderson’s proposal to implement to the tax reduction on food in the form of a tax credit rather than as a tax exemption to be applied at the point of purchase.
SB 119, by Sen. Barbara Horn of Foreman, and HB 1420 by Rep. Allen Maxwell of Monticello, each progressed toward enactment this week. These are identical bills providing for the sales tax exemption on electricity and natural gas used as energy for manufacturing. SB 119 has been approved by both the House Revenue and Tax Committee on Thursday and HB 1420 passed off the House floor on Thursday by a vote of 98 to 2. It is now ready for action by the Senate and it should be on the governor’s desk by the end of the week. As approved, these bills will provide a 1½ percent reduction in the sales tax on energy for manufacturers beginning July 1, 2007 and reduces the tax by an additional ½ percent beginning on July 1, 2008. This is a very significant beginning to a program that will eventually result in the removal of all sales taxes of manufacturing energy.
On Friday, the House passed HB1443, by Rep. Kevin Anderson. This bill’s provision’s will remove individual tax payers, with an income that is below the poverty level developed by the United States Congress, from the income tax rolls in Arkansas. This bill represents the third portion of the tax relief package agreed to by Governor Beebe and leaders of the House and Senate. The vote in the House on HB1443 was 100-0.
The controversial issue of the General Improvement Fund is signaled to be the focus of next week. HB 1427 is making its way through the process, would create a commission, appointed by the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, to function as a reviewing and funding body that would distribute state funds for local project that have previously been funded by a direct appropriation in the past. The House and Senate memberships want to develop an alternative method of distributing these funds that will avoid the controversy of last session. HB 1427 passed the House on Friday by a vote of 78-20.
Two major areas of concern remain to be developed for this session. The matter of funding for the Public Schools facilities has not been initiated as of this date, look for a number of the education package bills to be introduced next week. This week, in a speech to the County Judges Association, Governor Beebe let it be known that he is entertaining the idea of raising the diesel fuel per gallon tax by 5-cents to provide an additional $100 million for highway improvement projects that have been identified by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. The net result to the AHTD would be $70 million with the residual $30 million split between cities and counties.
ARKANSAS LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
BRENT STEVENSONBSA Capitol Headlines
Friday, February 2, 2007 Vol. 5, Ed. 4
01-30-2007
House votes to eliminate BMI
LITTLE ROCK - The House voted Monday to repeal the state-mandated measurement of students' body mass. The Legislature adopted the nation's first such program in 2003 as part of former Gov . Mike Huckabee's Healthy Arkansas initiative to curb obesity in children, but the... - Arkansas News Bureau
01-30-2007
Bill for incentives to make, use biodiesel pending, Petrus says
LITTLE ROCK - House Speaker Benny Petrus said Monday that legislation would be filed as early as today proposing financial incentives for the production and distribution of biodiesel fuel in Arkansas. Petrus, D-Stuttgart, said more than 60 House members had signed on as co-sponsors by... - Arkansas News Bureau
01-30-2007
$9.4 million committed to save ivory-billed land
Federal and state officials on Monday committed $9.4 million toward conserving 6,250 acres of wetlands and hardwood forests in the Cache River and Bayou DeView watersheds - land considered crucial for the ivory billed woodpecker. The money will be used to create a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program in... - ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
01-31-2007
Senate unanimously approves grocery tax reduction; House test awaits
LITTLE ROCK - The Senate unanimously approved Gov. Mike Beebe's proposed grocery tax reduction Tuesday, setting up an early showdown in the House, where leaders back an alternate tax cut plan. By a 35-0 vote, the Senate endorsed SB185 by Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle,... - Arkansas News Bureau
01-31-2007
Committee endorses homestead exemption, nixes break for local governments
LITTLE ROCK - The House Revenue and Taxation Committee endorsed legislation Tuesday that would raise the state's homestead exemption on property by $50, from $300 to $350. Without discussion, the committee unanimously sent HB1030 by Rep. Scott Sullivan, D-De Queen, to the House for a vote as early as today.... - Arkansas News Bureau
01-31-2007
Complaint filed over destruction of Huckabee hard drives
LITTLE ROCK - Political gadfly Jim Parson's filed a complaint Tuesday with the Pulaski County prosecutor's office over former Gov. Mike Huckabee's order to crush computer hard drives in his office before stepping down as governor. The 73-year-old Parsons of Bella Vista, the self-proclaimed "inspector general of... - Arkansas News Bureau
01-31-2007
Beebe: Delta aid no call for ill will
Gov. Mike Beebe said Monday that Northwest Arkansas shouldn’t begrudge the Delta any additional assistance that state government may provide. “They frankly deserve the same quality of life, the same opportunity and the same chance at the American dream that you all enjoy in Northwest Arkansas,” Beebe... - Fayetteville: Northwest Arkansas Times
01-31-2007
Prosecuting attorney’s office says complaint citing Huckabee empty
Jim Parsons of Bella Vista, a self-described “gadfly,” tried to file a criminal complaint Tuesday accusing Mike Huckabee of illegally destroying computer hard drives as he left the governor’s office. The complaint went nowhere fast. Parsons staged a news conference outside the Pulaski County prosecuting... - ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
02-01-2007
Halter announces lottery proposal
LITTLE ROCK - Lt. Gov. Bill Halter on Wednesday announced plans for a proposed constitutional amendment to create a state lottery, proceeds from which would be used to fund college scholarships and teacher bonuses. Rep. Will Bond, D-Jacksonville, filed House Joint Resolution 1005, a lottery proposal... - Arkansas News Bureau
02-01-2007
Committee tables payday lending bill
LITTLE ROCK - A bill that would impose a fine on payday lenders for charging interest rates above the 17 percent state usury limit stalled in a House committee Wednesday. The House Insurance and Commerce Committee deferred action for a week on legislation that would fine lenders $300 per offense for charging interest in excess of 17... - Arkansas News Bureau
02-01-2007
Bill to replace off-road fuel sales tax with per-gallon tax advances
LITTLE ROCK - Legislation that would replace Arkansas' 6 percent sales tax on the purchase of off-road diesel fuel with a 6-cent per gallon tax won a House committee's endorsement Wednesday. The change proposed in HB1202 is necessary because the recent rise in the... - Arkansas News Bureau
02-01-2007
Homestead exemption sails through House
LITTLE ROCK - Legislation to raise the state's homestead exemption on property by $50 , from $300 to $350, sailed through the House on Wednesday. HB1030 by Rep. Scott Sullivan, D-De Queen, passed 99-0 and goes to the Senate. The Senate passed bills giving local governments greater authority to require cleanup... - Arkansas News Bureau
02-02-2007
Income tax relief bill passes committee
LITTLE ROCK - Income tax relief legislation billed as an alternative to Gov. Mike Beebe's plan to reduce the state sales tax on groceries won a House committee's endorsement Thursday. A day after the Senate unanimously passed Beebe's proposal to reduce the 6 percent... - Arkansas News Bureau
02-02-2007
Committee endorses bill to increase retiree income tax credit
LITTLE ROCK - A bill that would boost the income tax credit for Arkansas retirees by $4,000 and automatically and make automatic adjustments based on the consumer price index won a House committee's endorsement Thursday. The House Revenue and Taxation Committee advanced HB1336 by Rep. Johnny Key,... - Arkansas News Bureau
02-02-2007
House OKs change in off-road diesel tax, chicken litter credit
LITTLE ROCK - The House on Thursday approved legislation to replace the state 6 percent sales tax on off-road diesel fuel with a 6 percent per gallon tax. The House also approved a proposed tax break for buying transporting excess chicken litter from Northwest Arkansas.... - Arkansas News Bureau
02-02-2007
Illegal immigrant hiring bill set for amendment, hearing
LITTLE ROCK — A bill to bar state agencies from signing contracts with businesses that hire illegal immigrants is likely to be back before a Senate committee next week . Members of the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee today recommended that the measure by Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren, include a provision... - Fort Smith: Southwest Times Record
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