Tax Cuts and Stronger Ethics Law Enacted In 2011 Regular Session
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LITTLE ROCK - The major accomplishments of the 2011 legislative session include a wide-ranging series of tax cuts, stronger ethics laws for lawmakers and a highway program that Arkansas voters will be able to vote on in a statewide election.
The legislature enacted new laws to provide alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders, which include an expansion of parole and probation. The General Assembly also restored the state's depleted unemployment insurance fund, and it passed legislation to stabilize the fund by freezing unemployment benefits.
The "Financial Transparency Act" passed this year will make state agency spending accessible to anyone with a computer and access to the Internet.
Legislators voted to increase public school funding by 2 percent. Rural schools will get relief from a special $500,000 fund the legislature created to enhance state aid to schools with high transportation costs.
Arkansas businesses will compete on a more level playing field with large Internet retailers, thanks to legislation that obligates out-of-state firms to remit sales and use taxes on purchases made online.
In addition, the legislature wrote general revenue budgets for state government that hold the line on spending by the Department of Human Services, most other state agencies and institutions of higher education. The conservative budget approved by lawmakers does not grant a cost of living raise to state employees next year.
Public schools will get an increase to make sure they are adequately funded, as required by the state Constitution.
Also, the Department of Correction and the Department of Community Punishment will get slight increases in order to handle the growing number of prison inmates and to implement expanded parole programs.
Economic development initiatives enacted this session include replenishing the governor's "Quick Action Closing Fund," which is spent on infrastructure and job training to recruit industry to Arkansas.
The General Assembly tightened restrictions on the sale of over the counter cold medications with ingredients used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. The state Board of Health was authorized to restrict or prohibit the sale of new products that artificially mimic the effects of marijuana and other illegal substances.
Paperwork was simplified in the ARKids First health care program for children from low-income families, which means that about 20,000 eligible children will not be dropped from the rolls each year because their parents have trouble filling out forms.
A bill to prohibit the sale of lottery tickets in vending machines was passed by the Senate, but it failed in the House Rules Committee. Supporters of the bill said that in spite of precautions it is too easy for children to buy lottery tickets from machines.
State funding of colleges and universities will now partially depend on graduation rates and course completion rates, under legislation approved this year. It is part of a concerted effort among higher education institutions to help students remain in school
In the final days of the session, lawmakers were working on bills to make school choice less restrictive, to draw new maps for the state's four Congressional districts and to implement health insurance exchanges as required under the new federal health care law.
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LITTLE ROCK - The legislature is putting the final touches on the major bills of the 2011 session.
Both chambers have passed prison sentencing reform. The Senate State Agencies committee has chosen two proposed constitutional amendments to refer to voters. This week the committee will work on a new map with new boundaries for the state's four Congressional districts.
The Senate passed legislation to replenish the state's unemployment insurance fund and repay $337 million to the federal government.
Both chambers have passed legislation to put stronger controls on the sale of cold medications that contain ephedrine and other ingredients necessary for manufacturing methamphetamine.
A tentative agreement was reached by Senate and House leadership, with the governor, on which tax cut bills would be approved. They include legislation to make more purchases of used cars exempt from the sales tax, to create a "back to school" sales tax holiday in August, to lower sales taxes on the utility bills of manufacturing plants, to exempt single parents from the income tax if they are poor, to cut the sales tax on groceries by half a cent and to expand a tax break for tourism projects in the delta.
In all, the tax breaks would save Arkansas residents and businesses an estimated $37 million a year.
SB 750 is the 167-page bill to provide alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders. It will expand probation and parole, add new drug courts and give drug users less severe sentences than drug dealers. The governor supports it.
SJR 5 is a proposed constitutional amendment to allow cities and counties to create development districts, such as for large retail centers, and to issue bonds for improvements in the districts that could be paid off with local sales tax revenue.
SJR 2 would put the Highway Department on the same footing as other state agencies that operate under statutes passed by the legislature. Now it has constitutional autonomy. The five members of the Highway Commission control how hundreds of millions in tax dollars get spent each year, but they are not accountable to voters.
Each regular session the legislature may refer three proposed amendments to the next general election ballot. The Senate has chosen two and the House will choose a few, then the State Agencies Committees of each chamber will meet jointly to decide on which three to put on the ballot.
SB 437 puts more controls on sales of cold medications used in cooking meth. Only a licensed pharmacist or a registered pharmacy technician can sell the medications. The buyer must show a driver's license or an ID card issued by the state with a functioning magnetic strip.
SB 305 is the bill to authorize a bond issue to replenish the unemployment insurance fund, subject to approval by voters in a statewide election. When the economy stalled the state's fund was depleted and the federal government paid for unemployment benefits of laid off Arkansas workers. The state now owes Washington about $337 million.
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