Daily Legislative Update

Wednesday, February 18, 2009
38^th Day of the 87^th General Assembly

*   *   *   CALLS TO ACTION   *   *   *

MANUFACTURERS SALES TAX EXEMPTION FOR UTILITY USAGE

A priority issue for the State Chamber/AIA is to work toward a full sales tax exemption for Arkansas 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 percent. We know that achieving a full exemption will take work over multiple sessions. There is a lot going on behind the scenes on this issue; we need manufacturers to contact their legislators and encourage their support for a manufacturers’ utility sales tax reduction.

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

HB 1362, the agreed bill between management and labor, appears to be snake bit. A new flaw was discovered in the bill’s title that will require an additional amendment. The bill will not be considered by the House Insurance and Commerce Committee before Friday. 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

8:00 AM

Room 272

JBC-SPECIAL LANGUAGE

Agenda

HOUSE

	12:00 PM	428	HOUSE RULES	Agenda
	Upon Adjournment of Both Chambers	OSC	HOUSE RULES	Agenda

SENATE

	11:00 AM	Room 207	EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE	Agenda
	11:00 AM	Room 272	PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE - SENATE	Agenda
	Upon Adjournment of Joint State Agencies Committee Meeting	Room 171	JUDICIARY COMMITTEE - SENATE	Agenda
	Upon Adjournment of Both Chambers	OSC	STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS-SENATE	Agenda

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.  

STATE CHAMBER/AIA BILL TRACKING 

To date, the House has filed 496 bills and the Senate has filed 400 bills.

The State Chamber/AIA is tracking 216 bills and resolutions. 

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

	HB 1484	Tyler Baker, G.	Increases the exemption from sales tax on purchases of new or used motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers from vehicles costing less than $2,500 to the first $5,000 of the purchase price.
	HB 1490	Adcock	Creates a sales tax exemption for the sale of hearing aids.
	HB 1491	Overbey	Exempts short-term vehicle rentals from sales tax when the rental is part of a warranty or extended service contract, whether the rental is provided by the dealer, manufacturer or a third party.
	HB 1494	Flowers	Requires a certificate of inspection be obtained before registration of a vehicle, provides that the fee be less than $10, and no more than $30 for overweight vehicles and trailers, and authorizes traffic stops for suspected noncompliance.

	HB 1496	Greenberg	Provides that a legal signature on a document may be made manually or by device, by use of any name, including a trade or assumed name, and by a word, mark, or symbol executed by a person with intention to authenticate in writing.
	SB 393	Elliott Webb	Authorizes code enforcement officers of municipalities to serve citations for code violations by registered mail to the person's last known place of residence; prohibits imprisonment over violations served by registered mail.
	SB 395	Faris	Authorizes the President Pro Tempore of the Senate to administer oaths to Senate members and witnesses; authorizes the Senate and House to certify to the circuit court a refusal to appear under subpoena or produce subpoenaed material.
	SB 399	Wyatt	Sets out new requirements and procedures for petitioning for an access easement.

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

NURSING HOMES

HB 1232 by Rep. George Overbey and Sen. Barbara Horn is on this morning’s Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee agenda. 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 is on today’s Senate Judiciary Committee agenda. 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.

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.

TOMORROW AT THE CAPITOL

Committee Meetings for Thursday, February 19, 2009

JOINT

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

HOUSE

	10:00 AM	Room 130	PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE- HOUSE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	Room 138	EDUCATION COMMITTEE- HOUSE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	Room 149	JUDICIARY COMMITTEE- HOUSE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	Room 151	REVENUE & TAXATION- HOUSE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	Room 428	PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION- HOUSE	Agenda

SENATE< /o:p>

	10:00 AM	ROOM 309	AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - SENATE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	Room 171	INSURANCE & COMMERCE - SENATE	Agenda
	10:00 AM	OSC	STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS-SENATE	Agenda

ISSUES

MINIMUM WAGE--correction

HB 1464 by Rep. Jim Nickels, which is on tomorrow’s House Public Health Welfare and Labor Committee agenda, was reported incorrectly in yesterday’s Update. This bill will only raise the minimum wage from $6.25 per hour to $6.55 immediately, and to $7.25, the federal rate, on July 24, 2009. Rep. Nickels had provided us a draft of the bill that contained language that would also make changes to tip wages, which is how we described this bill in yesterday’s Update. However, Nickels removed the tip wage language from HB 1464 and will file a separate bill to address tip wages.

SCRAP METAL

HB 1479 by Rep. Darrin Williams is on tomorrow’s House Judiciary Committee agenda. 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, which has been the subject of negotiations over the past few weeks, 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.

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.

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. The bill remains on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee agenda. 

YESTERDAY AT THE CAPITOL

ISSUES

FOOD TAX

HB 1454 by Rep. Frank Glidewell was tabled by the House Committee on Revenue and Taxation yesterday. The bill would repeal the state sales tax on food if certain conditions are met. The 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. HB 1454 may be brought off the table if a committee member makes a motion to do so.