Week in Review at the Capitol- April 1st

The legislative session is like a roller coaster, lots of ups and downs, twists and turns, and just when you think you’d rather be gliding along on a merry-go-round, you hop on for another ride.

The final week of the 88^th General Assembly took House members on a fast and furious flight through a thunderstorm of debate on the federal healthcare law, state-owned vehicles, congressional redistricting and even monkeys.

To get the coaster rolling, a bill requiring out-of-state online retailers to collect sales tax from Arkansas buyers passed the House and will soon be signed into law. I opposed this measure because it amounts to taking more money out of the pockets of hard-working Arkansans.

The Legislature is not your ordinary rodeo. Midweek, House members wrangled over a $72.6 million state Insurance Department appropriation bill which included $1 million in funding for the federal healthcare overhaul. Concerned about tying the federal healthcare law to a bill that funds an essential state agency, House Republicans made several attempts to remove the $1 million from the budget bill.

Meanwhile, legislation to establish federally mandated insurance exchanges necessary to the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was en route to the House floor. As a result, a deadlock on passing the Insurance Department appropriation surfaced, with a majority refusing to strip the budget bill of $1 million in federal healthcare funding. Fortunately, House members lassoed a compromise on Thursday, agreeing to pull down the bill to implement the insurance exchanges and send the legislation to interim study. Consequently, the Insurance Department appropriation garnered the 75 votes needed to pass the House.

I believe the compromise helps ensure a slow and deliberate process for examining a federal law that will drastically alter our healthcare system. We now have a year to study the impact of the federal healthcare law, giving legislators sufficient time to act responsibly in the upcoming fiscal or general session. Until the Supreme Court rules on the law’s constitutionality or Congress acts, our state should not spend money implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

A congressional redistricting gerrymander slithered its way out of the Arkansas House, despite overwhelming opposition from concerned citizens, Democrats and Republicans alike. The “Pig Trail Gerrymander” or “Fayetteville Finger,” does not respect our state’s regional communities of interest and will devastate the continuity of Northwest and Southern Arkansas. I opposed this partisan power grab by the State Democratic Party and hope our colleagues in the Senate will take a principled stand for the people of Arkansas, reject this unfair and illogical proposal and look at reasonable alternatives.

Members took up some monkey business on Thursday when a bill to restrict Arkansans from owning primates failed in the House Public Health Committee. Proponents say citizens have a right to own a monkey, and noted that some individuals use primates as service animals. As a result, the bill was pulled from consideration and sent to interim study.

The personal use of state-owned vehicles by elected officials and state employees dominated newspaper headlines and coffee shop talk last year. In an effort to assure taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely, the House passed a bill to allow state agencies to furnish state vehicles with GPS devices to collect data for tracking purposes.

A $4.6 billion balanced budget for the 2012 fiscal year cleared the full House this week. The budget bill, known as the Revenue Stabilization Act, deals specifically with general revenue and prioritizes spending for public schools and prisons. I voted against this budget because it increases state spending too much.

We also approved a General Improvement Fund bill that sets aside surplus funds for special projects. The Governor controls $40 million, while the House and Senate each control $5 million. If you can recall, last month House members voted to use their share of the surplus for statewide projects, rather than funding lawmakers’ pet projects.

Over the course of the session and under the shining dome of Capitol Hill, we worked vigorously to cut your taxes, increase government transparency, hold the line on spending and move our state forward economically. As of Thursday, 903 out of 2,234 House and Senate bills had been signed into law.

The 88th General Assembly held the shortest session in two decades. However, because congressional redistricting is not complete, the House and Senate will reconvene on Monday to complete the process. Members will still return for a “sine die” on April 27, which is the final adjournment of the legislative session.

While we have recessed until next year’s fiscal session, I will continue my work to serve as your voice in the Arkansas House of Representatives. Please contact me with any issues, questions or concerns you may have. My email is david.meeks@arkansashouse.org

Funding Obamacare and the Department of Insurance

Here are Facts on the Insurance Department Budget:

It contains 1 million dollars to start implementation of the Federal Healthcare Exchange (aka Obamacare)

While the budget was in the Joint Budget committee, Senator Jason Rapert tried to have the million dollars stripped out and when that didn't happen tried to put an amendment in so it couldn't be spent. The amendment was voted down.

We have twice made motions on the House floor so that the money could be stripped out. We were blocked both times by the Democrats.

HB2138, the bill that would give the power to actually implement does contain a clause that would keep money from being spent until either Supreme Court rules it constitutional OR 11/15/11.

HOWEVER there is this clause at the end:

(c) Nothing in subsection (b) shall be construed to limit or prevent the commissioner from either spending any portion of the federal grant monies already procured by the State Insurance Department, or attempting to procure additional federal grants prior to the dates specified in subsection (b).

This is there way of being able to start spending money to implement Obamacare on JULY 1st, 2011 or even sooner.

None of us want the Department to go unfunded, but unfortunately it contains taxpayer money that would implement the healthcare bill that so many Arkansans oppose. The Democrats continue to adamantly oppose our efforts to have it taken out.

I am disappointed that Governor Beebe and House Democrats have taken this course of action and think implementing Obamacare is more important then funding the Department of Insurance.

As long as the money is still in there, I will continue to vote against it and encourage my colleagues to do the same.

Week in Review at the Capitol- March 25th

Christopher Columbus would have found it difficult to navigate a proposed congressional redistricting map that forcefully sailed its way through the House State Agencies Committee this week. Dubbed the “Pig Trail Gerrymander” for its suspicious meandering, creative carvings and raw partisanship, the redistricting proposal ruffled plenty of feathers during week eleven of the 88th General Assembly.

Entering the fourth quarter of the session meant two-a-days for lawmakers, with the House convening twice a day and legislative committees holding multiple daily meetings. Cruising full speed ahead, members passed a bill Monday to decrease voter fraud and ensure fair elections. The measure requires Arkansans to present a voter ID card when casting a ballot at the polls, and would allow county clerks to issue identification cards to individuals without driver’s licenses. House Bill 1797 is currently en route to the Senate for consideration.

Arkansas owes $330 million in unemployment benefits to the federal government. In order to responsibly address this debt, we passed a bill to place a cap on unemployment benefits and cut the benefit period by a week. The measure could potentially save our state $50 to $75 million annually, thus shoring up money to begin balancing our unemployment trust fund.

Midweek, the marble halls of Capitol Hill echoed with concerns of over four-hundred Arkansans who gathered to protest several bills threatening the livelihood of our state’s natural gas industry. The five measures would have imposed burdensome regulations on an industry that provides jobs for Arkansans and revenue for our state. After mounting opposition from conservative lawmakers like myself and hundreds of citizens, one bill failed to pass the House Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee, while the remaining four were successfully removed from consideration and sent to interim study.

Gerrymandering is the art of manipulating geographical boundaries to achieve a political advantage for a particular party. Every decade the Arkansas Legislature is charged with redrawing the boundaries of our state’s four congressional districts using U.S. Census data. This week, the State Democratic Party endorsed a proposed congressional redistricting map that unfairly gerrymanders Arkansas’ four congressional districts.

Conservative legislators believe the proposed "Pig Trail Gerrymander" or "Fayetteville Finger" map ignores the traditional communities of interest in Arkansas and only exists for raw partisan purposes. Most notably it puts the northwest city of Fayetteville into the fourth congressional district, which currently encompasses the southern region of our state. Arkansas has four defined regions, the Ozarks, Northeast Delta, Central Arkansas and Southern Timberlands. The full House is expected to vote on the “Pig Trail Gerrymander” early next week, and I intend to fight this partisan power grab to protect the people of Arkansas. You can view the map at www.arkansasgop.org.

The full House passed a resolution this week that would refer to Arkansas voters a constitutional amendment creating a half-cent temporary sales tax increase to fund construction of a four-lane highway system. I opposed this resolution because the taxes in Arkansas are already too high. It is time we look at where our state money is currently going and find ways to fund our roads from existing funds. This proposal is one of several constitutional amendments being considered by the Legislature. The General Assembly has the authority to refer up to three measures to the people in the 2012 general election.

A bill to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in Arkansas failed in the House Insurance and Commerce Committee Friday, falling short of eleven votes needed to pass. House Bill 2138 would have established insurance exchanges necessary to the implementation of the healthcare law. More than half the states, 28 and counting, are challenging the law in court on the grounds it violates the constitutional rights of their citizens. Until we know how the Supreme Court will rule on the federal healthcare law, we do not need to spend more money implementing the law in Arkansas.

House members also approved a bill that would allow public schools to adopt curriculum standards to teach the Bible for academic significance. The measure, which passed our chamber with a vote of 71-16, now goes to the Senate for consideration.

I also had the honor of closing out the week in the House by banging the final gavel as we adjourned. You can view that clip here: http://arkansas-house.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=539&meta_id=23192

What to watch for:

Despite opposition from an overwhelming majority of Arkansans, the Democrats are intent on implementing Obamacare here in Arkansas. On Monday, expect HB2138 and SB880, which would allow the job killing law to be implemented here to be brought back up in there respective committees.

Two pro-life Senate bills are headed to the Arkansas House for consideration. As a pro-life conservative, I intend to support these vital pieces of legislation.

A battle is brewing over congressional redistricting. Stay tuned for the finishing results.

The final significant piece of legislation lawmakers will approve before the session’s end is the budget bill, also known as the Revenue Stabilization Act. Because we held the line on spending to reduce taxes for Arkansans, the final balanced budget will be much smaller than originally proposed.

Since January 10, House members have tackled hundreds of critical pieces of legislation, and with just days to go until our scheduled April 1 recess, I will continue my fight to protect your values and move our state forward.

As your Representative, I am honored to serve you in the Arkansas House of Representatives. Please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. My email is david.meeks@arkansashouse.org

I also encourage you to visit www.arkansashouse.org where you can view live stream committee meetings and proceedings happening on the House floor from anywhere in the state.

Week in Review at the Capitol- March 18th

Sorry, I didn't post about the week of March 11th. Here is a very good post about what happened that week from Laurie Masterson: http://mastersonlog.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-picked-wrong-week.html

Now onto the week ending March 18th...

After weeks of dancing between an assortment of proposed tax cuts, House and Senate members came together like a good old fashioned do-si-do, announcing a deal to cut $35 million in taxes for Arkansans. From striking a deal on tax cuts to passing prison reform legislation, lawmakers did plenty of heavy lifting during week ten of the legislative session.

Earmarks didn’t stand a chance in the Arkansas House when members kicked off an eventful week, voting to reject appropriation bills that would have funded local pet projects for lawmakers. Rather than continuing an irresponsible state earmark practice, we opted to use this money from the General Improvement Fund to enhance the state overall.

A measure to toughen laws on sex offenders was passed by the full House on Monday. If approved by the Senate, the bill will prevent Level 3 or Level 4 sex offenders from working in organizations where children sixteen and under and present, such as daycares.

A bill to increase the severance tax on the natural gas industry was withdrawn this week after facing a swarm of opposition from concerned citizens and legislators. The tax increase would have killed jobs and crippled one of Arkansas’ most valuable industries.

In an effort to reduce escalating prison costs and curb inmate overpopulation, on Wednesday the House passed a measure to initiate positive reform in our state prison system. When signed into law, the bill will lessen sentencing for some non-violent offenses, expand alternative sentencing programs and potentially save the state $875 million over the next decade. Although we took a step in the right direction, our work as lawmakers to improve our state prison system is far from over.

If you want less of something, tax it. Unfortunately for Arkansans, midweek Democrat Senators on the Revenue and Tax Committee voted to block House Bill 1002, the Capital Gains Reduction Act, from reaching the full Senate floor for consideration. The bill, which passed the House with bi-partisan support, would have exempted new investments made in Arkansas after July 1, 2011 from the 4.9 percent capital gains tax. Arkansas’ high capital gains tax is hindering entrepreneurial spirit from materializing in the state. Reducing the capital gains tax would have unleashed Arkansas potential to become an engine for job creation and a magnet for business development.

Over the course of the legislative session, ten tax cuts have been proposed by House and Senate members. After mounting pressure from conservative lawmakers to hold the line on state spending and provide tax relief to Arkansans, six tax cuts totaling $35 million were agreed upon Thursday by both chambers and the Governor. The variety of tax cuts, three from the House and three from the Senate, include, a back to school sales tax holiday, single parent tax cut, an increased tax credit for ecotourism, tax cuts on used cars and manufacturers’ utilities, and a half-cent reduction in the grocery tax. By reducing the $109 million spending increase in Governor Beebe’s proposed 2012 budget, House and Senate members were able to decrease revenue flowing into state coffers to cut taxes and protect the pocketbooks of Arkansans.

Beginning July 2012, natural state citizens will be given an “online checkbook” to track state spending and monitor how your tax dollars are being spent. The measure, advocated by Lt. Governor Mark Darr, was signed into law Thursday and will undoubtedly enhance transparency in government and encourage public input as to how our state spends your money.

What to watch for:

It looks like this is finally the week the Democrats will try to push thru bills that will allow Obamacare to be implemented here in Arkansas. Late on Friday, Representative Hyde-(D) amended HB2138 to include language that will allow the state to implement the unpopular and job-killing Obamacare. You can view the language of the amendment here: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2011/2011R/Amendments/HB2138-H1.pdf

State Senator Johnny Key released the first of many congressional redistricting proposals this week. Keep in mind, the Legislature is charged with redrawing Arkansas’ four congressional district using 2010 Census data. Expect to see additional bills surface in the remaining days of the session.

The state of Arkansas currently owes the federal government an estimated $330 million in unemployment benefits. Arkansas is one of thirty states to borrow federal money to compensate for the number of individuals collecting unemployment benefits. Two Senate bills addressing this debt are currently en route to the Arkansas House.

With only three weeks left before the House is scheduled to recess, I will continue to work tirelessly to represent your views and values for a better, more competitive Arkansas. From Capitol Hill to our community, my top priories have always been to responsibly cut taxes for all Arkansans, promote job creation, protect Arkansas families and move our state forward.

As your Representative, I am honored to serve you in the Arkansas House of Representatives. Please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. My email is david.meeks@arkansashouse.org

I also encourage you to visit www.arkansashouse.org where you can view live-stream committee meetings and proceedings happening on the House floor from anywhere in the state.