Day in the Life of a Republican Arkansas Legislator

by Rep. Dan Greenberg: In the Arkansas state legislature, we deal with issues of policy for only a few months every two years. Because our end-of-session deadline is imminent, we're trying to get everything wrapped up in the next two weeks. At this point, every workday seems about the same.

My day usually begins at around 6 a.m. I used to need an alarm clock, but because my 3-year-old and 6-year-old have recently decided that waking their parents up by bouncing on our bed is extremely fun, mechanical assistance is no longer required.

The time before our morning committee meeting starts is almost the only time of day that I am free to return phone calls and emails. I typically receive 100 emails a day during the legislative session and attempt to give appropriate consideration to them all. Generally, I give the most weight to email with (1) a signature with (2) an address in or near my district (3) that contains no insults, obscenities, or offers to let me be the middleman in a complex international financial scheme. Surprisingly, many emails fail these simple tests. I try to eat a decent breakfast and read the paper before dropping the kids off at school and going to our morning meeting.

When the session started, our committee meetings were under an hour. Now they can stretch to two or three hours. Bills can't get considered on the floor until the committee approves them. After committee meetings end, I usually run across the street for lunch. Some sort of group or trade association usually provides a meal; there's a different group every day. I try not to pay too much attention to what group is picking up the tab. I figure that if I can't remember who is providing lunch, there's no possibility of undue influence.

After lunch, legislators run the gauntlet by walking up the marble stairs that lead to the entrance to the House floor. This is where the lobbyists congregate. This was the place where a constituent tracked me down and forcefully told me that I should write a bill that would benefit his child by creating a new program that would cost taxpayers about $50 million yearly. When I told him I wouldn't do it because I couldn't get it passed, he got very upset with me. I think he thought we had $50 million just lying around someplace.

The main focus of the day is our afternoon session in Room 350, when all 100 House members meet to vote legislation up or down. Earlier today, we considered, discussed, and voted on over a hundred separate bills in the span of two hours. During that time, we make a lot of decisions really fast. Legislators confer with each other about the best way to vote. Pages dart up and down the aisles with pieces of paper. Staffers bring us notes from lobbyists or constituents who await us just outside.

Frequently, we interrupt our work to recognize a group in the gallery. The Speaker will ask us to applaud a group of seventh graders from one town or a Chamber of Commerce group from another. I am honored to applaud a veteran or a community leader, but at times we are a bit promiscuous with our standing ovations to tour groups.

Yesterday, the House passed bills written by Democrats to create higher taxes on milk and to make it easier for government to seize property via eminent domain. I voted against these and spoke against the property seizure bill. This was not appreciated by the sponsor; in the legislature it is thought to be not very nice to speak against someone else's bill. My own view is that it is not very nice to the people we represent to let bad bills go through without criticizing them, but sometimes it seems like this is a minority opinion.

At the end of the day, I go home and try to read the bills that will be presented on the House floor the next day. They can be found on the legislature's public website. As the kids race around the house, my wife sometimes pointedly notes that I am spending way too much time on the Internet. She's right, too.

Here's a more detailed account of what we did this week, written by House staff:

LITTLE ROCK – The first state lottery tickets could be sold this fall now that legislation implementing the games has been approved by the 87th General Assembly and signed into law. The first scholarships funded by lottery revenues will be awarded for the fall semester of 2010.

The final passage and signing of identical lottery bills – House Bill 1002 by Speaker of the House Robbie Wills of Conway and Senate Bill 26 by Sen. Terry Smith of Hot Springs – were among the highlights of the 11th week of the session. Within the next two weeks, Gov. Mike Beebe, Speaker Wills, and Sen. Bob Johnson, the Senate president pro tempore, each will have appointed three members to the newly established Lottery Commission.

The commission’s responsibilities include hiring a lottery director and deciding what games the lottery will involve. Those and other duties will determine when Arkansas has its first sales and joins 42 other states with a lottery, including neighboring Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Legislative leaders also will appoint a legislative oversight committee in the coming days.

Estimates on yearly revenues from the lottery range from $55 million to $100 million. Because of that uncertainty, the dollar amounts of the scholarships funded by lottery proceeds have been set on a sliding scale, depending on revenue generated and whether a particular award is for attendance at a two-year state college or university (from $1,250 a year to $3,000) or at the more expensive four-year schools (from $2,500 a year to $6,000 a year). Lawmakers hope to set specific amounts next February during their budget session, with the first scholarships good for the 2010-2011 school year.

Also during the week, the Joint Budget Committee received a revised revenue forecast for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The new forecast is more clouded than one received early in the year by lawmakers and used by them to approve tax cuts and other appropriation bills the past several weeks. The main effect of the revised forecast could be to move another $40 million, for a total of $100 million, from the state surplus to plug holes in the budget and establish a “rainy day fund” for the governor. The state has a surplus of about $300 million this year. The $200 million left in the surplus could go into the General Improvement Fund, to help rural fire departments, senior citizen centers, sewer and water projects, and community centers throughout the state.

Members of the committee also learned that the recent tax increases on tobacco will bring in nearly $15 million less than expected – from $86 million a year to $71 million. The administration had offered the tobacco tax increase, plus federal money, as a way to pay for a state trauma network, a new medical campus in Northwest Arkansas and about two dozen other health initiatives. State finance officials told skeptical lawmakers that a federal tax increase on tobacco brought about the lower numbers.

Meanwhile, meeting separately, the House and Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs committees have sent out their preferences for proposed constitutional amendments that could be referred to voters during the 2010 general election. Twenty-four proposed amendments were filed; the two committees sent out 10 recommendations. They will meet jointly to decide which ones to send to the House and Senate floors. The General Assembly can refer up to three proposed amendments on general topics every two years.

Also during the week, the House approved: [Editorial Note: Listing of bills does not mean endorsement of final action by Rep. Greenberg or ARRA News]
· HB 1985, by Rep. Rick Saunders of Hot Springs, to have the state pay for the costs of holding the general elections now being borne by counties. The bill also requires each county to hire an election coordinator. The bill goes to the Senate.
· HB 1929, by Rep. Bruce Maloch of Magnolia, requiring signed, and witnessed, parental consent for those younger than 18 to use a tanning bed at apartment buildings, tanning salons or spas. There is no penalty for a violation, according to the bill’s sponsor, who said the measure was more of an effort to raise awareness about the dangers of skin cancer. The bill goes to the Senate.
· Senate Bill 192 to make it a felony for a person to possess more than 10 absentee ballots issued to another person or to assist more than six voters in marking and casting ballots. Only a poll worker, county clerk or deputy clerk can provide such assistance. A violation is a Class D felony, punishable by up to six years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. The bill goes to the governor. Saunders, of Hot Springs, presented the bill in the House.
· HB 1860, by Rep. Bill Sample of Hot Springs, to ensure that a driver’s license or official I.D. card issued by the state to a person who is not a U.S. citizen expires on or before the date that person is to leave the country. The bill goes to the Senate.
· HB 1895, by Rep. Allen Kerr of Little Rock, to prohibit “crash taxes,” a nickname given to invoices seeking hundreds of dollars from motorists involved in traffic accidents. The invoices are sent by private vendors seeking money – plus a cut -- to pay the costs of officers and other rescue personnel who respond to the accident scene. While there’s only been anecdotal evidence of such incidents in Arkansas, supporters say they want to make sure it doesn’t happen anymore. Cash-strapped cities and counties in at least 15 states have entered into such collection practices, aimed primarily at out-of-town motorists who pay no taxes to support the emergency response. The bill prohibits Arkansas counties and municipalities from entering into agreements with those vendors. The bill goes to the Senate.
· HB 1894, by Rep. Nancy Duffy Blount of Marianna, to allow the state to contract with private entities and colleges and universities to provide an education to prison inmates. Inmates or their families will pay for the service, just as they already do in existing education programs. The bill goes to the Senate.
· SB 493 and SB 494 requiring the state Department of Human Services to place a notice on its Web site within three days of a report of a death or near death of a child in state custody. The agency also would have to make available to the public non-identifying information from child abuse hotline reports and children’s death reports, and release regular reports on deaths, near deaths and abuse of children in state care. Rep. Steve Harrelson of Texarkana presented the bills in the House. The bills go to the governor.
· SB 780 to prohibit public servants convicted of a felony related to their job from holding a position in government again. Sample, of Hot Springs, presented the bill. It goes to the governor.
· HB 2251, by Rep. John Lowery of El Dorado, to give cities and counties the power of eminent domain over industrial plants in limited circumstances, giving local authorities to market the property to other industrial prospects. The bill goes to the Senate.
· Approved Senate amendments to HB 1451, by Rep. Johnny Hoyt of Morrilton, which aims to help struggling dairy farmers by imposing a wholesale fee of 30 cents per 12 gallons of milk sold. The bill goes to the governor. A related bill, SB 934, sets up a subsidy program to help Arkansas dairies. It goes back to the Senate for concurrence on a House amendment.
· Approved HB 2086, by Rep. Butch Wilkins of Bono, to make committing identity fraud to gain employment a felony. The bill goes to the Senate.
· Approved HB 2004, by Rep. Karen Hopper of Mountain Home, to eliminate the requirement that members of the National Guard or Army Reserves who also are teachers or school administrators pay the cost of hiring a substitute when the teacher-soldier is on military leave. The bill goes to the Senate.
· Approved HB 1378, by Rep. Allen Maxwell of Monticello, to give income-tax relief to head-of-household taxpayers with two or more dependents. Those taxpayers were inadvertently left out the last two times lawmakers approved tax relief. The bill goes to the Senate.

Dan Greenberg is an Attorney-at-Law and State Representative (District 31), Arkansas General Assembly. Although he directly represents northern Saline County, he also represents all Arkansans with public stands for limited, transparent and responsible government.

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