Daily
Legislative Update
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
37th Day of the 87th General
Assembly
* * * CALLS TO ACTION * * *
MANUFACTURERS SALES TAX EXEMPTION FOR
UTILITY USAGE
Arkansas manufacturers should be contacting their legislators seeking
help in making
Arkansas
competitive with our surrounding states in regards to sales taxes charged on
manufacturers’ utility usage. Currently,
Arkansas
charges manufacturers a 4 percent 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 percent.
WORKERS’
COMPENSATION
HB 1362, the agreed bill between
management and labor, has been amended and the amendment is now engrossed
into the bill’s text. We expect the bill to be considered Wednesday by the
House Insurance & Commerce Committee. 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
HOUSE
SENATE
STATE CHAMBER/AIA BILL TRACKING
To date, the House
has filed 482 bills and the Senate has filed 374 bills.
The State
Chamber/AIA is tracking 208 bills and resolutions.
New bills added to the
State Chamber/AIA tracking today:
| |
HB 1464 |
Nickels
|
Raises the minimum wage from $6.25 per hour to $6.55 immediately
and to $7.25 on July 24, 2009. |
| |
HB 1471 |
Moore
Jeffress, J. |
Renames the tax credit for certain investments in
delta tourism business as the geo-tourism tax credit, allows transfer of
the credit and allows carry forward of unused portion to the next tax year. |
| |
HB 1477 |
Abernathy
Teague |
Creates new license categories for certain water well
construction jobs and increases fees for contractors. |
| |
HB 1478 |
Patterson |
Allows the Department of Workforce Services to share
unemployment insurance contribution information with the Department of Finance
and Administration. |
| |
HB 1479 |
WilliamsWilkinson |
Creates a Class D felony for the offense of damaging
wires and other fixtures of telephone, cable and electric power companies;
adds new restrictions and requirements on scrap metal dealers. |
| |
HB 1480 |
Maloch
|
Adopts portions of the revised Internal Revenue Code
to reflect technical changes. |
| |
HB 1481 |
Shelby
|
Increases the maximum age of operators and passengers
of motorcycles who must wear protective headgear from 21 to 25 years of
age. |
| |
HB 1482 |
Flowers
|
Requires annual safety inspection of motor vehicles,
certificate of inspection required for licensing; earmarks net revenue from
inspection fees for community health centers, autism, and school retirees
insurance costs. |
| |
SB 363 |
Teague
|
Clarifies the requirement that income tax deductions
for interest or intangible-related income paid to a related party must be
pursuant to an arm's length rate of interest. |
| |
SB 364 |
Smith,
T. |
Redefines noncompliant taxpayer for purposes of
business closure authority to include businesses that do not file employee
withholding returns for three months during a 24-month period. |
| |
SB 369 |
Johnson,
D. |
Authorizes and prescribes requirements for the county
collector to distrain goods or chattels of persons for delinquent personal
property taxes on personal property owned by the business. |
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.
ISSUES
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.
FOOD
TAX
SB
88 by Sen. Bobby Glover
would reduce the sales tax on food and food ingredients by 1 percent. This is
a priority item for Governor Beebe. HB 1454 by
Rep. Frank Glidewell would repeal the state sales tax on food if certain
conditions are met. Both bills are on this morning’s House Revenue and
Taxation Committee agenda. That committee has not taken any action on
exemption bills this session and is not expected to do so until revenue
forecasts and budget issues are clearer.
TOMORROW AT THE CAPITOL
Committee Meetings for Wednesday, February 18,
2009
JOINT
HOUSE
SENATE< /o:p>
House and Senate meet in joint
session at 10:00 a.m. in the House Chamber to hear an address by former
President Bill Clinton.
ISSUES
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 has been re-referred
to the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs 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.
YESTERDAY AT THE
CAPITOL
ISSUES
HB
1464 by Rep. Jim Nickels
was filed yesterday and has been referred to the House Public Health Welfare
and Labor Committee. It would raise the minimum wage from $6.25
per hour to $6.55 immediately, and to $7.25, the federal rate, on July 24,
2009. The bill also makes changes to tip wages that would undue an
arrangement that was negotiated in a recent special session.
HB 1479 by Rep.
Darrin Williams is another bill of interest that was filed yesterday. It
would create a Class D felony for the offense of damaging wires and other
fixtures of telephone, cable and electric power companies and add new
restrictions and requirements on scrap metal dealers. This bill has been the
subject of negotiations over the past few weeks and was filed as an agreed
bill by the parties in interest. The State Chamber/AIA supports this bill to
reduce the outbreak of copper theft in
Arkansas.
It has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
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
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