Daily Legislative Update

Friday, February 13, 2009
33rd Day of the 87th General Assembly

*   *   *   CALLS TO ACTION   *   *   *
MANUFACTURERS SALES TAX EXEMPTION FOR UTILITY USAGE
The legislature has been focused on the tobacco tax and it will likely be a few more weeks before tax exemption bills get any real consideration. However, it is now time to start letting your legislator know that the manufacturing community needs relief by reducing the sales tax manufacturers pay on their utility usage. Currently, Arkansas charges manufacturers 4% while Mississippi is the only surrounding state that charges any such sales tax and their rate is only 1.5%. It is very important that manufacturers’ make contact with their legislators and encourage the passage of a utility sales tax reduction for manufacturers. Look for an opportunity to visit in person with your legislator this weekend.

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
HB 1362, the agreed bill between management and labor, will be amended on the House floor tomorrow and therefore is not eligible to be considered in the House Insurance & Commerce Committee until its next meeting, which will be Wednesday, February 18. We met yesterday morning with a group of legislators, labor representatives, state officials and home builders to discuss the intent of our bill. It appears the primary holdup on our agreed bill was concern by a group of legislators over a bill that passed two years ago. We believe we cleared up all of the concerns. Please encourage your legislators to honor the workers’ comp agreement between management and labor and pass HB 1362 as soon as possible. 

TODAY AT THE CAPITOL
House convenes at 10:00 a.m.
The Senate does not meet.

Committee Meetings:
JOINT
None listed.

HOUSE

	9:00 AM	ROOM 138	AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT- HOUSE	Agenda
	9:00 AM	Room 151	STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS- HOUSE	Agenda
	9:00 AM	Room 149	INSURANCE & COMMERCE- HOUSE	Agenda
	9:00 AM	ROOM 428	CITY, COUNTY & LOCAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE- HOUSE	Agenda
	9:00 AM	130	AGING, CHILDREN AND YOUTH, LEGISLATIVE & MILITARY AFFAIRS- HOUSE	Agenda

SENATE
None listed.

ISSUES
IMMIGRATION
HB 1383 by Rep. Jim Nickels would authorize the Contractors Licensing Board to, after notice and hearing, impose civil penalties up to $200 per day and suspend or revoke a contractor’s certificate of license for knowingly employing illegal immigrants. The Board and the various contractors’ associations are opposed. This bill will likely be considered in the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee this morning

STATE CHAMBER/AIA BILL TRACKING 
To date the House has filed 457 bills and the Senate has filed 362 bills.
The State Chamber/AIA is tracking 194 bills and resolutions. 

New bills added to the State Chamber/AIA tracking today:

	HB 1441	Sample	Requires the Finance and Administration Department to perform a comprehensive review of the state's income tax structure and make recommendations to the House Revenue and Taxation Committee by January 1, 2010.
	HB 1447	Woods Key	Exempts up to $10,000 per year of bonus pay and all overtime pay from the Arkansas income tax.
	HB 1451	Hoyt Bryles	Levies a dairy stabilization fee of $.30 per hundred weight of packaged milk on milk wholesalers, with which the Agriculture Department will make support payments of up to $5 per cwt to milk producers based on certain calculations.
	HB 1453	Tyler	Authorizes the Department of Labor to seek recovery in court of fees charged or collected unlawfully by private employment agencies.
	HB 1454	Glidewell	Eliminates the state portion of the sales and use tax on food.
	SB 361	Luker Brown	Increases the fee per ton of fertilizer shipped for sale from $1.20 per ton to $2.40 per ton.

Please visit our tracking site here for the complete, searchable list of bills being tracked. The full text of each bill is also available at the site.

NEXT WEEK AT THE CAPITOL
Committee Meetings for Monday, February 16, 2009
JOINT

	11:00 AM	Room 272	JBC-SPECIAL LANGUAGE	Agenda
	11:00 AM	Room 130	PUBLIC RETIREMENT & SOCIAL SECURITY PROGRAMS-JOINT	Agenda

HOUSE
None listed.

SENATE

10:00 AM

ROOM 309

TRANSPORTATION, TECHNOLOGY & LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS - SENATE

Agenda

FOOD TAX
SB 88 by Sen. Bobby Glover would reduce the sales tax on food and food ingredients by 1%. It remains on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee agenda. HB 1454 by Rep. Frank Glidewell is a new bill filed yesterday that seeks to remove the state sales tax on food.

AUTHORIZATION FOR ADEQ TO GATHER INFORMATION
HB 1279 by Rep. Keith Ingram is a bill to allow ADEQ to access employer lists to gather required information to satisfy the federal EPA. The State Chamber/AIA agrees with this bill. It received a do pass from the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee last week and awaits consideration by the full Senate.

YESTERDAY AT THE CAPITOL
ISSUES
TOBACCO TAX
HB 1204 by Rep. Gregg Reep and Sen. Tracy Steele passed the Senate yesterday 28-7. It will now go to the Governor for his signature. This bill would provide funding for a hospital trauma system and other statewide healthcare needs.

NURSING HOMES
HB 1232 by Rep. George Overbey and Sen. Barbara Horn passed the House yesterday by a vote of 93-4. This bill contains an agreement negotiated between the trial lawyers and nursing homes.

CRIMINAL UCC FILINGS
HB 1161 by Rep. Lindsley Smith and Sen. David Johnson passed the House yesterday by a vote of 95-0. This bill would create the offense of fraudulent filing of a uniform commercial code financing statement, a Class A misdemeanor for the first offense, Class D felony for a subsequent offense, and provides for civil causes of action. This is a Judicial Council bill which is similar to legislation that has been enacted in other states to deal with the growing problem of fraudulent filing of Uniform Commercial Code financing statements. The action must be taken with the purpose to defraud or harass knowing that it is baseless in order to be prohibited conduct.

PRESIDENTIAL POPULAR VOTE ELECTION
HB 1339, which was given a Do Pass recommendation by the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee on February 4 has been amended a couple of times making changes to the sponsors list but was never considered by the full House for a vote. Yesterday the bill was re-referred to committee. Essentially this bill would allow the President of the United States to be elected by a popular vote.  We fear this would greatly reduce Arkansas’s relevance in electing our nation’s president.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION
State Senators: 501-682-2902
State Representatives: 501-682-6211
State Chamber/AIA Staff
Randy Zook, President/CEO: rzook@arkansasstatechamber.com
Kenny Hall, Executive Vice President: khall@arkansasstatechamber.com  
Angela DeLille, Director of Governmental Affairs:
adelille@arkansasstatechamber.com
State Chamber/AIA phone: (501) 372-2222
State Chamber/AIA web site: www.arkansasstatechamber.com