Daily Legislative Update

Monday, February 16, 2009
36th Day of the 87th General Assembly

*   *   *   CALLS TO ACTION   *   *   *
MANUFACTURERS SALES TAX EXEMPTION FOR UTILITY USAGE
It is important that a clear message be sent to members of the legislature by the manufacturing community that help is needed to keep Arkansas manufacturers competitive with our surrounding states. Currently, Arkansas charges manufacturers a 4% sales tax on their utility usage while Mississippi is the only surrounding state that charges any such sales tax and their rate is only 1.5%. Please encourage your legislators to support a sales tax reduction for manufacturers’ utility usage.

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
HB 1362, the agreed bill between management and labor, was amended Friday and is expected to be considered Wednesday by the House Insurance & Commerce Committee. We believe all of the unrelated concerns have been cleared up. Please encourage your legislators to honor the workers’ comp agreement between the State Chamber/AIA and the AFL-CIO by passing HB 1362 as soon as possible. 

TODAY AT THE CAPITOL
House convenes at 1:30 p.m.
Senate convenes at 1:30 p.m.

Committee Meetings:
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

 

STATE CHAMBER/AIA BILL TRACKING 
To date the House has filed 463 bills and the Senate has filed 362 bills.
The State Chamber/AIA is tracking 197 bills and resolutions. 

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

	HB 1446	Cook Miller	Adds gas transmission and distribution facilities to the list of capital improvement facilities that Public Facilities Boards may finance.
	HB 1460	Davenport	Changes the definition of manufactured home under the Uniform Motor Vehicle Administration, Certificate of Title, and Antitheft Act.
	HB 1462	Edwards Thompson	Revises the Business Corporation Act, the Small Business Entity Tax Pass Through Act and the Uniform Partnership Act to allow any business entity to convert to or merge with any other business entity.

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

THIS WEEK AT THE CAPITOL
Committee Meetings for Tuesday, February 17, 2009
JOINT

	8:00 AM	Room 151	JBC-PERSONNEL
	9:00 AM	Room 171	JOINT BUDGET COMMITTEE

HOUSE

	10:00 AM	Room 151	REVENUE & TAXATION- HOUSE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	Room 428	PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION- HOUSE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	Room 149	JUDICIARY COMMITTEE- HOUSE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	Room 130	PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE- HOUSE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	Room 138	EDUCATION COMMITTEE- HOUSE	Agenda
	2:30 PM	ROOM 171	AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT- HOUSE	Agenda

SENATE

	10:00 AM	Room 171	INSURANCE & COMMERCE - SENATE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	OSC	STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS-SENATE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	ROOM 272	CITY, COUNTY & LOCAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE - SENATE	Agenda
	2:30 PM	Room 171	AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - SENATE	Agenda

ISSUES
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 seeks to remove the state sales tax on food and is also on the agenda in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee.

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.

NURSING HOMES
HB 1232 by Rep. George Overbey and Sen. Barbara Horn has been referred to the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee. 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 has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. It 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. Last week 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.

LAST WEEK AT THE CAPITOL
ISSUES
IMMIGRATION
HB 1383 by Rep. Jim Nickels would have authorized 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 opposed the bill. This bill failed on a voice vote in the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee on Friday.

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