Arkansas House Commentary - Feb 13, 2011: New Bills to Watch

Justin Harris

By Rep. Justin Harris: Wintry weather and record snowfall didn’t prevent the House chamber from heating up week five of the legislative session. House members wasted no time in getting down to business.

After observing “Ronald Reagan Day” Sunday, the full House convened and as expected passed the highly publicized ethics reform legislation of which I was a co-sponsor. House Bill 1284 will implement a one year “cooling off” period before lawmakers can become lobbyists, and remodel legislative travel policy to be more cost efficient. When ethics reform is signed into law, we will be the first Assembly to ever place limitations on our behavior during and after we serve the people of this great state.

A bill designed to create a sales tax holiday for the purpose of back to school shopping was filed Tuesday by Rep. Matthew Shepherd. House Bill 1369 would provide economic relief to Arkansans by reducing the cost of school-related items. The measure would exempt clothing and accessories, school and art supplies and instructional materials from state sales tax the first weekend of August every year. If approved by both chambers and signed by the Governor, Arkansas families would enjoy the benefits of tax-free school shopping as early as August 2011. I fully intend to support this beneficial piece of legislation when it reaches the full House floor.

House members also passed a bill that would help to prohibit public employees from “double dipping,” or receiving salary and retirement benefits simultaneously. Rep. Allen Kerr’s House Bill 1018 would define “terminate” under eligibility requirements in the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System. Therefore, a public employee would no longer be able to cheat the system and take themselves off payroll to fabricate termination before returning to work. “Double dipping” is nothing more than unprincipled politics as usual and I am proud to be a part of its termination!

On Wednesday, Rep. Ann Clemmer filed House Joint Resolution 1005 which requires that 35 percent of the Arkansas Lottery’s proceeds be used for scholarships. Currently, only 22 percent is used to provide college scholarships to Arkansas students. More money equals more scholarships for students!

What to watch for:

• My Bill, HB1008-No Instate Tuition for Illegal Immigrants, will be back up for a vote in the Education Committee on Thursday.
• HB1292, which I have cosponsored, eliminating Illegal Immigrants from receiving State Benefits will be in Committee on Wednesday. This will be major legislation, in the fact, we are facing major shortfalls in AR Medicaid.
• Tax cut proposals will continue to surface in the House and Senate Committees on Revenue and Taxation next week. On the House side, look for Rep. Shepherd’s Back to School Tax Holiday (HB 1369), Rep. Lane Jean’s bill to decrease the sales tax on natural gas and electricity for manufacturers (HB 1052), and Rep. Ed Garner’s Arkansas Capital Gains Reduction Act of 2011 (HB 1002).

As your Representative, I am honored to serve you in the Arkansas House of Representatives.
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Justin Harris is Arkansas State Representative (R-District 87). Although he directly represents Crawford and Southern Washington Counties, he also represents all Arkansans with his public stands for limited, transparent and responsible government. He is both a fiscal and social conservative and is the owner of Growing God's Kingdom preschool in West Fork, Arkansas.

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