Change coming to Arkansas Legislature
Posted on Tuesday, November 18, 2008
LOWELL — It’s still being worked out in practice exactly how a proposed constitutional amendment will affect the Arkansas Legislature. But the changes could shorten regular legislative sessions, said state Rep. Eric Harris, R-Springdale.
On Nov. 4, Arkansas voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that will mean annual sessions for Arkansas lawmakers.
Previously, legislative sessions have been held only every two years. That schedule will continue, but under the amendment, there would also be a 30-day fiscal session in even-numbered years, and a three-fourths vote would be required to extend it for 15 days. By a two-thirds vote, legislators could decide to consider other policy questions at that session, too.
The amendment provides lawmakers with lots of latitude about how they will implement the amendment’s provisions, so it’s not yet clear exactly what the new law will mean, Harris said.
“ Now it’s in the hands of the Legislature to decide how they’re going to implement it. Obviously, there’s a mandate that they make appropriation bills for no longer than a year and that they have a session, not to exceed 30 days, in the fiscal session. Frankly, if they wanted to go down and meet for two days and validate the second year of the governor’s proposed budget, that’s a possibility, ” he said.
Harris is term-limited and will be leaving office before the next regular legislative session, which begins in January. He has been telling re-elected and other lawmakers what his intent was in offering the amendment. “ The intent of the amendment was that they would meet and have some budget hearing prior to that session because that’s when you really find out all the details and the facts of what makes up the budget, and that way, a lot more of the legislators could attend those hearings and understand what’s happening. Then they’d have another, however many days it took to reappropriate or readjust the budget. Then that would be the end of the fiscal session, ” Harris said.
Lawmakers have a while before they need to have much of the implementation plan in place, he said. In the upcoming regular session, they’ll only have to make sure appropriations are only for one year, he said.
Now, after 75 days, it will require three-fourths of the legislators to extend the regular session, up from only twothirds, Harris said.
“ The first issue will be after 75 days of the regular session. Then we’ll see how that affects it. That’ll be the first hurdle of the new law. … I believe it will actually shorten the regular (legislative ) session. … As a whole, we’ve (previously ) waited around to see that very last budget forecast to set the final budget, because you’re budgeting for two years and you have to go with the latest one you can get, … usually around the first of April, ” Harris said.
He told legislative leaders they could rely on earlier forecasts now because they’re budgeting for 12 months and not 24, Harris said.
“ As soon as that budget’s set, really, six months later you’re going to be back in session because the budget runs on a fiscal-year basis, not a calendar-year basis. So they’ll be able to come back in six months into the first year and see how things are working, ” Harris said.
But a critic of the amendment, state Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, insisted legislators already meet very often and didn’t need the amendment.
Language in the proposed amendment was not clear enough, and some voters didn’t know what they were voting on, he said.
“(The amendment ) says budget bills will be limited to budgeting for one year. Well, that’s a good idea. But right down below that it said, and the Legislature will start meeting every year instead of every two years. It’s not true that we don’t meet (between two-year sessions ), ” Hendren said. “ But it’s passed, and … most people didn’t know what they were voting for. ”
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