Switch to the mobile version of this page.

Arkansas Times

Arkansas Blog

Archives | RSS

« UPDATE: Guns and fetuses — abortion… | We're over the hump in God, Guns an… »

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Ethics UPDATE: Ethics bill will combine with legislative pay, term limits expansion

Posted by Max Brantley on Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 12:27 PM

SIGNING UP: GOP Sen. Jon Woods signs ethics petition. Hes on board also with related measures to increase his pay and allow him to serve longer.

SIGNING UP: GOP Sen. Jon Woods signs ethics petition. He's on board also with related measures to increase his pay and allow him to serve longer.

Regnat Populus, the organization pushing a ballot initiative for stronger ethics laws in Arkansas, says a "comprehensive" ethics reform bill is expected to be filed today. The group will still be at the Capitol canvassing lawmakers for signatures on the initiated act to prohibit lobbyist freebies for legislators; impose a two-year waiting period (the Gilbert Baker rule) on moving to the lobby, and to prohibit direct corporate contributions to individual campaigns (but not to or from PACs).

Paul Spencer, head of the committee, says a filed bill is not a passed bill. Canvassing will proceed. Call the roll on signatories.

UPDATE: The legislative effort is going to be a constitutional amendment. It was filed in shell form today by Rep. Warwick Sabin.

He promises more information later, but says there's emerging bipartisan legislative consensus in support of the Regnat Populus measure, in combination with changes in the existing term limits law and putting legislative pay in the hands of a citizens commission. The last would provide a way to pay increases on which the legislature itself didn't have to vote.

Republicans such as Sen. Jon Woods, also a sponsor of the amendment, are, in other words, supportive of better ethics if they can have higher pay and stay in office longer. The pay commission will come in separate legislation Woods plans. Term limits light would give this bunch 16 years or so total, where the limit is now six years in the House and eight in the Senate (with vagaries of reapportionment allowing some senators a few more years depending on the luck of the draw). A having-it-both-ways kind of measure. Stick around long enough to accrue all the power and all the perks, from pay and retirement to solid gold health insurance, while still claiming you support term limits.

As a matter of principle, I've always opposed term limits and supported higher pay for public service. As a matter of politics ....

Tags: Regnat Populus, ethics

        
Tweet
Share

Speaking of Regnat Populus, ethics

Regnat Populus plans lawsuit over petition restrictions

April 25, 2013

by Max Brantley

Regnat Populus, the grassroots group that succeeded in putting its ethics initiative in a legislatively proposed constitutional amendment heading to the ballot in 2014, has circulated a statement touting its achievement and defending some of the items grafted onto that amendment to achieve legislative approval, particularly an extension of term limits and a mechanism to raise legislative pay. /more/
Morning report: Won't you go home Arkansas legislature?

April 19, 2013

by Max Brantley

The Friday morning warmup: * THE RUSH TO ADJOURN: "Deliberative" is not a word that applies to the death rattle of the Arkansas legislature — not when the Senate rushes out, with virtually no debate, $150 million or so in tax cuts on everything from baling wire purchases to multi-million-dollar windfalls on unearned income for corporate capitalists. /more/
Ethics update: Amending the amendment

April 14, 2013

by Max Brantley

I've done some emoting on the blog and in my column about the proposed constitutional amendment, SJR 9, crafted by Rep. Warwick Sabin and others to incorporate some of the Regnat Populus ethics initiative into a multi-pronged proposal with some benefits for legislators. /more/
Greed rules

April 11, 2013

by Max Brantley

The Arkansas legislature earns its low regard daily, last Friday with committee approval of a constitutional amendment labeled "ethics reform." /more/
The legislative pay raise and junket protection amendment passes

April 9, 2013

by Max Brantley

The fix is in. When the deeply split Arkansas House passes something 71-12, you know something is amiss. /more/
The Sunday night oily ethics line

April 7, 2013

by Max Brantley

* COMPLAINT AGAINST SEN. BOOKOUT ON CAMPAIGN SPENDING: Interesting story in the Jonesboro Sun about an ethics complaint filed by a Jonesboro resident against Sen. Paul Bookout (Is he still in the Senate? /more/
Ethics group fights measure to limit referendum process

April 3, 2013

by Max Brantley

I wrote yesterday about the effort backed by Arkansas's duopoly casinos at Southland and Oaklawn, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and others to cripple the referendum process by, among others, severely limiting signature gathering by paid canvassers. /more/
Friday night line

March 22, 2013

by Max Brantley

The evening line is open. Finishing up: * DATE GONE WRONG: ABC reports on a KAIT story about a Jonesboro man who arranged a fake assault during date with a woman at Crowley's Ridge State Park so as to impress her. /more/
A call to arms on initiative legislation

March 18, 2013

by Max Brantley

Regnat Populus has issued a rallying cry for good government advocates to fight Sen. Keith Ingram's bill to make it far more difficult to qualify popular initiatives for the ballot. /more/
The people rule: looking ahead to 2014 initiated acts

March 14, 2013

by Jay Barth

Last week, a proposal by state Rep. Butch Wilkins (D-Bono) to raise the state's minimum wage was easily, and unsurprisingly, defeated in a House committee. However, thanks to Arkansas's initiative process, Arkansas voters may yet see the proposal again in the fall of 2014. /more/
More »

Comments (17)

Showing 1-17 of 17

Add a comment

Subscribe to this thread:

By Email

With RSS

Showing 1-17 of 17

More by Max Brantley

Connectivity: Business and governance by citizen legislature

Little attention has been given to an interesting little story Michael Cook wrote about the other day in Talk Business.
- by Max Brantley
- Mar 27, 2013
Exxon Mobil's oil leak report

Exxon Mobil has established a webpage with information on the major spill of heavy Canadian crude from a break in its Pegasus pipeline near Mayflower.
- by Max Brantley
- Apr 1, 2013
More »

Readers also liked…

Will Arkansas raise the minimum wage?

Ten states began the New Year with increases in their minimum wage rates. According to this article, 19 states and the District of Columbia now have minimum wages above the $7.25 federal rate.
- by Max Brantley
- Jan 2, 2013

Event Calendar

« »

May

Events Movies Music Art Theater

most recent comments

Top Commenters

Slideshows

Site Index

News

Cover Story / Arkansas Reporter / The Week That Was / Smart Talk / The Insider / The Observer / Editorial / Max Brantley / Ernest Dumas / Gene Lyons / Bob Lancaster / Words / Guest Writer / Letters

Entertainment

A&E Feature / To-Do List / In Brief / Movie Reviews / Music Reviews / Theater Reviews / A&E News / Art Notes / Graham Gordy / Books / Media / Dining Reviews / Dining Guide / What's Cookin' / Calendar / The Televisionist / Movie Listings / Gallery Listings

This Week's Cover

Cover of this issue of The Arkansas Times

Quick Links

Special Publications

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

Browse Posts

Browse Blogs

Browse News

Browse Data

Browse Entertainment

Browse Dining

Browse Guides

Browse Archives

Browse Best Of Ark

Browse Contact / Subscribe

Arkansas Blog

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Ethics UPDATE: Ethics bill will combine with legislative pay, term limits expansion

Posted by Max Brantley on Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 12:27 PM

Speaking of Regnat Populus, ethics

I've done some emoting on the blog and in my column about the proposed constitutional amendment, SJR 9, crafted by Rep. Warwick Sabin and others to incorporate some of the Regnat Populus ethics initiative into a multi-pronged proposal with some benefits for legislators. /more/

The Arkansas legislature earns its low regard daily, last Friday with committee approval of a constitutional amendment labeled "ethics reform." /more/

The fix is in. When the deeply split Arkansas House passes something 71-12, you know something is amiss. /more/

* COMPLAINT AGAINST SEN. BOOKOUT ON CAMPAIGN SPENDING: Interesting story in the Jonesboro Sun about an ethics complaint filed by a Jonesboro resident against Sen. Paul Bookout (Is he still in the Senate? /more/

I wrote yesterday about the effort backed by Arkansas's duopoly casinos at Southland and Oaklawn, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and others to cripple the referendum process by, among others, severely limiting signature gathering by paid canvassers. /more/

The evening line is open. Finishing up: * DATE GONE WRONG: ABC reports on a KAIT story about a Jonesboro man who arranged a fake assault during date with a woman at Crowley's Ridge State Park so as to impress her. /more/

Regnat Populus has issued a rallying cry for good government advocates to fight Sen. Keith Ingram's bill to make it far more difficult to qualify popular initiatives for the ballot. /more/

Last week, a proposal by state Rep. Butch Wilkins (D-Bono) to raise the state's minimum wage was easily, and unsurprisingly, defeated in a House committee. However, thanks to Arkansas's initiative process, Arkansas voters may yet see the proposal again in the fall of 2014. /more/

Comments (17)

More by Max Brantley

Little attention has been given to an interesting little story Michael Cook wrote about the other day in Talk Business.

Exxon Mobil has established a webpage with information on the major spill of heavy Canadian crude from a break in its Pegasus pipeline near Mayflower.

Readers also liked…

Ten states began the New Year with increases in their minimum wage rates. According to this article, 19 states and the District of Columbia now have minimum wages above the $7.25 federal rate.

Event Calendar

Re: Gun control group to spend against Pryor

Re: UA prof writes on the 'junk science' of 20-week abortion bans

Re: UA prof writes on the 'junk science' of 20-week abortion bans

Here's a valuable piece of writing for Science Progress from the classrooms of the University of Arkansas by Dr. Lisa Corrigan, co-chair of the gender studies program of the Fulbright College.

The House and Senate Public Health committees met today to hear updates on the “private option” plan for expanding healthcare coverage.

The Little Rock metropolitan area (which includes Conway, Sen. Rapert) is a place with a rich and deep religious tradition.

Politico reports that the gun control group backed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is following through with plans to buy TV time — $350,000 worth — criticizing U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor for helping defeat some modest gun measures recently, particularly universal background checks.

The Pettaway Neighborhood Association is organizing opposition for a proposal before the Little Rock Planning Commission May 30 to convert the abandoned Job Corps Center building at 20th and Vance along I-30 to a home for pregnant teens.

Public for the first time, the woman who married Damien Echols discusses their relationship

For the vegetarian banh mi sandwich.

Our news partner Channel 4 has a news story that deserves repetition in full. More national headlines for the small people of Arkansas should follow directly.

Perhaps U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin might want to reconsider his earlier decision not to include Republican Rep. Loy Mauch on the list of Republican candidates he'd asked not to use his campaign contributions, having read some of what they'd written.