Terrible bills from the Arkansas legislature
- Sen. Bryan King
Last updated on Feb. 11.
Change the function of the legislature. A pernicious anti-government bill filed by Majority Leader Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Hot Springs) that caps state spending increases by 3 percent a year, or, if the three-year spending average has been less than 3 percent, that lower figure. It's unnecessary; the legislature already controls spending. But it could hamper future legislatures in times of economic prosperity. There'd be no room for the likes of economic development, raises for public employees or fulfilling funding requests from higher education.
Drug tests for unemployment benefits. Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson (R-Little Rock), in the news lately for using campaign money to pay a mistress, started his image rehabilitation tour with this bill, which requires drug testing of all unemployment compensation applicants and random drug testing thereafter of beneficiaries. This is right-wing cookie-cutter legislation that's been demonstrated elsewhere to be ineffective and costly. A Little Rock attorney has already promised to sue the state on Fourth Amendment grounds of the bill passes.
Guns in church. Sen. Bryan King (R-Green Forest) is back again with a bill that would allow concealed handguns in churches. Like all private property owners, churches would be allowed to prohibit guns, though, of course, they'd be doing so at their own peril. A church without an arsenal is a target, don't you know? Passed into law (2/11).
More charter schools. Republicans abhor government bureaucracy unless it serves their purposes. This bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Mark Biviano (R-Searcy) and Sen. Bruce Holland (R-Greenwood), strips the state Board of Education its oversight of charter schools in favor of a newly created five-member charter school commission. The Board of Education has been generally fair and receptive to the establishment and continuation of charter schools; the Billionaire Boys Club — rich charter school advocates from the Walton, Murphy, Stephens and Hussman families — clearly doesn't think it has done enough.
20-week abortion ban. This proposal, sponsored by Rep. Andy Mayberry and Sen. Bart Hester with 56 co-sponsors, is yet another move by Republicans to control women's bodies. Billed as the "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act," the bill would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks, a time when a fetus can begin to feel pain, according to the authors of the bill. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists says that doesn't happen until at least 24 weeks. Legal consensus holds that restricting abortions before viability — defined by medical experts as 23 or 24 weeks — is unconstitutional. Nonetheless, a number of states have recently passed similar measures. A challenge to an Arizona 20-week ban is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. It's expected to overturn the law. Passed in the House (2/4).
Voter ID. Sen. Bryan King has proposed two voter ID bills — one that would require voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polls and another that would refer a constitutional amendment, which would enshrine voter ID law into the state constitution, to voters. According to a database of alleged election fraud compiled by News21, there have only been six cases of alleged election fraud in Arkansas since 2000, and none of the alleged fraud would've been prevented by King's proposed law. There's no evidence that in-person voter fraud exists by any real measure anywhere (impersonating someone at the polls isn't a very efficient way to steal an election after all). There is, however, plenty of evidence that voter ID laws suppress votes, especially minorities, the poor and the elderly.
Fetal heartbeat abortion ban. Last year, Sen. Jason Rapert proposed a bill that would have required doctors providing abortions to test for a detectible fetal heartbeat in pregnant women. It failed when the Times and others pointed out that, for many women, such a test would involve insertion of a wand into a woman's vagina against her will. Unmoved, Rapert is back again with a new bill that requires similar testing. But now, under Rapert's bill, abortion would be prohibited if a fetal heartbeat is detected. This is almost certainly unconstitutional for all the same reasons the 20-week ban above is. Nonetheless, it's also been introduced in Mississippi and Wyoming as well. Passed the Senate and amended in the House Public Health Committee (2/8) to move the requirement for testing a heartbeat to 12 weeks and beyond. Despite Rapert's claim, it's still patently unconstitutional.
Considering a fetus a "child." Rep. Justin Harris proposed this personhood measure in disguise, which would redefine the definition of a child from birth to 18 to the time a fetal heartbeat can be detected until 18. It requires medical professionals to report pregnant women for child abuse for consuming alcohol or other narcotics. This would discourage women with addiction problems to seek prenatal care or drug treatment, discourage pregnant women from disclosing vital information about substance use to healthcare providers, and incentivize pregnant women with drug problems to terminate a wanted pregnancy rather than face drug charges. There is no additional funding in the bill for treatment for pregnant women or their children in this situation. It would just put pregnant women in jail (or a mother in jail after the child was born). There's an exception for substances doctors have advised are safe, but what happens when the first part of the bill enters legal code? Tax deductions for fetuses?
No transparency for concealed carry Sen. Bruce "Fireball" Holland proposed this bill to make the list of concealed gun permit holders secret. He was inspired by the publication in New York of names and addresses of permit holders. Here in Arkansas, they only list zip codes, so Holland's concern seems ill-founded. The downside: these lists have been a powerful check on law enforcement's often-spotty work on background checks. Why should gun owners get secrecy not afforded to dozens of other sorts of public records that the government maintains? Meanwhile, what are gun owners so afraid of? Don't guns make you safer? Passed Senate 24-9 (2/6)No coverage for medically necessary abortions Pro-life Democrat Butch Wilkins proposed a bill that was redundant in its purpose — making sure public money didn't go toward abortions — but puts a heavy burden on pregnant women who get health insurance on the exchange as part of the Affordable Care Act. The bill prohibits policies offered on the exchange from covering non-elective abortions. (No insurance policies cover elective abortion.) The federal health care law that allowed the insurance exchanges already prohibits federal dollars from being spent on abortion. Women who are part of the exchange would be able to buy insurance that would cover abortion, but the portion of the cost that would apply to a medically necessary abortion would be figured independently to insure only the buyer's money, and not federal dollars, is being spent. Should Wilkins' bill become law, women who are insured through the exchange won't be able, with their own money, to insure themselves against potentially enormous hospital bills that could result from procedures necessary to preserve their lives.
Speaking of...
-
Will the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce press a 'tort reform' initiative?
May 22, 2013I heard yesterday that the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce is expected to decide in June whether to mount a petition campaign to put a "tort reform" constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2014. /more/
-
Practicing law with Bro. Rapert
May 18, 2013Sen. Jason Rapert, author of the patently unconstitutional bill to ban most abortions in Arkansas at the 12th week of pregnancy, took heart yesterday at Judge Susan Webber Wright's indication that she was inclined to uphold the part of the law that requires women seeking an abortion in the 12th week of pregnancy or later to have an ultrasound and to be shown the results of that test. /more/
-
Judge Wright issues injunction against abortion law
May 17, 2013The word from the federal courthouse is that federal Judge Susan Webber Wright has issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the new Arkansas law that was meant to bar most abortions at the 12th week of pregnancy. /more/
-
UPDATE: Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, Bill Clinton on lawyer suspension list
May 17, 2013On March 8, the Supreme Court suspended the license of state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson for nonpayment of dues. /more/
-
Women's rights in court this morning
May 17, 2013Leslie Newell Peacock will be in federal court for us this morning for the preliminary injunction hearing on the lawsuit challenging the new state law prohibiting most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. /more/
-
The death and taxes open line
May 16, 2013The line is open. Closing out: * THERE THE GOP GOES AGAIN: The Arkansas Republican Party is in all-out assault mode on U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, today pounding him for saying seven years ago that he supported permanent repeal of the estate tax (dishonestly called a "death tax" by the Republicans) but joining in recent bipartisan approval of what is now a dramatically lower estate tax. /more/
-
The gold still rules in the Arkansas legislature
May 9, 2013I try to get excited about the 2014 constitutional amendment proposal forged by the Regnat Populist ethics reform group and the legislature. It's hard. /more/
-
How the Arkansas legislature has changed your life
May 9, 2013For better or for worse. /more/
-
The terrible 10 of the 89th Arkansas General Assembly
May 9, 2013They're the worst of the worst. /more/
-
How the private option flipped the Medicaid expansion debate
May 2, 2013It took a group of clever and obstinate young Republican legislators who refused to go along with Medicaid expansion but weren't ready to close the door on other ideas. They helped force a crafty veteran Democratic governor who was eager to go forward with expansion to consider alternative approaches. Throw in tireless and creative state health officials who happened to have a cozy relationship with their federal It took a group of clever and obstinate young Republican legislators who refused to go along with Medicaid expansion but weren’t ready to close the door on other ideas. They helped force a crafty veteran Democratic governor who was eager to go forward with expansion to consider alternative approaches. Throw in tireless and creative state health officials who happened to have a cozy relationship with their federal counterparts. Probably some luck. And, among everyone involved, it took a slightly crazy, seemingly unjustified optimism that somehow a solution was possible. /more/
- More »
Comments (9)
Showing 1-9 of 9
People who saved…
Readers also liked…
-
What the hell is going on in Bryant?
Jill Dabbs mounts a Republican revolution.
- Feb 22, 2012
-
The terrible 10 of the 89th Arkansas General Assembly
They're the worst of the worst.
- May 9, 2013
Latest in The Big Picture
-
Clinton School, all over the map
Nearly every first-year Clinton School for Public Service student will spend this summer working on an International Public Service Project.
- May 23, 2013
-
Out of whack Arkansas hospital charges
How is it that a "major and small bowel" procedure at National Park Medical Center in Hot Springs is billed at an average $333,470, but only $19,740 at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro? Or that "infectious and parasitic diseases with OR procedures" are billed at $257,369 at National Park and $44,446 at St. Bernards?
- May 16, 2013
-
Pigging out
Around 500 hearty souls braved the wind and the rain on an unseasonably cold May Saturday to attend the first annual Arkansas Times Heritage Hog Roast in Argenta.
- May 9, 2013
- More »
Event Calendar
-
Re: Best of Arkansas 2012
Where is the 2013 Ballot???
- on May 24, 2013
-
Re: Sister who opposed Faubus dies
What Orval Faubus did in 1957 was not a governor gone all mavericky. He was…
- on May 24, 2013
-
Re: Sister who opposed Faubus dies
This is what we've come to: Fighting among ourselves over points in an obituary.
- on May 24, 2013
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
Quick Links
Special Publications
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
