Weekly House Update
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House Bill 1927, by Rep. Mike Kenney of Siloam Springs, would give a property tax rebate of up to $300 to Arkansas homeowners who are least 65 years old and whose income is less than $30,000 a year. The rebate money, estimated to be about $5 million a year, would come from surpluses that have built up in the Property Tax Relief Fund. Established in 2000, the fund receives tax revenue from a half-cent sales tax increase approved by the General Assembly to cover the cost of property tax credits of up to $300 per homeowner.

The graduated rebate is as follows: a $300 rebate for an annual income of $10,000 or less; $250 for incomes of $10,000 but less than $15,000; $200 for incomes of more than $15,000 but less than $20,000, $150 for incomes of more than $20,000 but less than $25,000, and a $125 rebate for those whose income is more than $25,000 but less than $30,000. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Other tax breaks during the week included:

• House Bill 1593 by Rep. Johnny Key of Mountain Home increases a tax credit for children in state-approved daycare programs. Some 2,500 families will be helped by the bill and will see their tax credits increase from about $93 to $279. HB 1593, which now goes to the Senate, will cost about $1.2 million in general revenue over the next two years.
  
  
• HB 1548, also by Key, to allow a tax deduction of up to $250 in expenses paid by elementary and secondary school teachers for supplies and other equipment. The bill goes to the Senate.
  
  
• HB 2579, by Rep. Joyce Elliott of Little Rock, to exempt the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame from state sales and use taxes. The measure goes to the Senate.
  
  
• HB 1628, by Rep. Tommy Roebuck of Arkadelphia, to double the income tax exemption, from $6,000 to $12,000, for military service pay. The bill goes to the Senate.
  

Earlier in the week, the House approved HB 2103, by Rep. Ken Cowling of Foreman, to give an $11.5 million tax break to the timber industry. The bill would eliminate the sales tax that pulp, paper and wood products companies pay on energy used in manufacturing their products over three years.

Also during the week, the House also approved HB 2338, by Rep. Benny Petrus of Stuttgart, to make voyeurism a Class D felony if the victim is under 17 and the perpetrator is a teacher, coach or other person in position of authority. A Class D felony is punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Currently the only charge for such a crime, loitering, is a misdemeanor. A misdemeanor charge for voyeurism can still be filed if the victim is 17 or older. The bill goes to the Senate.

The House also approved HB 1432, by Rep. Michael Lamoureux of Russellville, to allow people convicted of drug possession to be eligible for parole after serving one-sixth to one-half of their sentences. The bill goes to the Senate.

Both the House and Senate have now approved Senate Bill 999 allowing voters in Garland and Crittenden counties – or in Hot Springs and West Memphis – to decide whether to expand gambling at Hot Springs’ Oaklawn Thoroughbred Park and West Memphis’ Southland Greyhound Park. Gov. Mike Huckabee has said he will let the bill become law without his signature.

Senate Bill 999, which was presented in the House by Rep. Phillip Jackson of Berryville, allows the owners of the two pari-mutuel parks to ask for, and conduct at their expense, citywide or countywide elections to determine whether other “electronic games of skill” can be played at the parks. The measure would not allow games of pure chance, such as slot machines, but apparently would allow video poker games. Bill supporters estimate the measure would create an additional $1 billion a year in betting, and net revenues to the license owners of $100 million a year. Twenty percent of those net revenues would go to taxes, with 18 percent going to the state, 1.5 percent to the city where the track is located, and 0.5 percent to the home county.

In other business:

• The Senate passed HB 1734, by Rep. Sandra Prater of Jacksonville, mandating vision screening tests for children. Eye tests that indicate poor vision would go to the state Department of Education. The bill comes back to the House for concurrence in Senate amendments.
  
  
• The House passed a Senate amendment to HB 1012, by Jeremy Hutchinson of Little Rock, to allow the Arkansas State Police to receive training on federal immigration law. The Senate amendment requires the State Police director to present to the Legislative Council any agreement he reaches with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on the troopers’ training.
  
  
• The House approved HB 2415 by Rep. Jay Bradford of White Hall, to create a water conservation district that can receive state and federal money to preserve the major water supply aquifer below Jefferson County and South Arkansas. The bill is modeled after similar legislation that passed in 1999 and helped Union and Ouachita counties deal with water shortages. The Sparta Aquifer, which is being drained at a faster rate than it can be recharged, is the major source of well water for cities and industry in South Arkansas.
  
  
• The House approved two bills dealing with the titling, licensing and sale of damaged cars. HB 2896, by Rep. David Evans of Searcy, would require out-of-state buyers to pay $350, be a licensed car dealer in another state, and meet the requirements of the Arkansas State Police. In-state buyers would be required to meet similar standards but pay $35 for an identity card. The standards are aimed at people who disguise salvage cars as undamaged and sell them at a higher price. HB2718, by Rep. Marvin Childers of Blytheville, makes terms used by the state to describe salvage cars uniform with terms from across the country. Both bills go to the Senate.
  

In a joint session on Friday, March 18, an array of speakers lauded – and sometimes roasted -- the efforts of Reps. Jodie Mahony of El Dorado and Jay Bradford of White Hall. Speakers included Gov. Mike Huckabee, Speaker of the House Bill H. Stovall III, Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Argue, former U.S. Sen. and Gov. David Pryor, former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker.

Mahony and Bradford are serving their last term in the House and are prohibited by the state’s term limits law from returning to either chamber. Mahony has served in the General Assembly for 34 years – with 24 in the House, eight in the Senate, and the last three in the House again. Bradford is in his 23rd year, with the first 18 in the Senate and the last five in the House.

Mahony has focused on education, child support enforcement, services for the developmentally disabled, state budget matters and legislative oversight of state government. Bradford has worked on health care, ethics issues, and education, with special emphasis on welfare reform and how the state spends its $1.6-billion share of a nationwide lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

To paraphrase St. Paul and the speakers who heralded them, Mahony and Bradford fought the good fight, and they kept the faith.

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