Members of the Arkansas House of Representatives on Monday approved a bill to end a government shutdown in Jefferson County, and another to give the attorney general more power over the direct democracy process.
County employees have worked without pay since the start of the year as quorum court members have repeatedly been unable to pass a budget in a slate of meetings. Rep. Glenn Barnes, D-Pine Bluff, spoke in favor of legislation he co-sponsored to end the shutdown on the House Monday.
"We have some 300 people who have gone a month and almost two weeks without pay," he said. "They are now losing their insurance, many are struggling to paying water, light, gas, house notes and rent, and they're in dire need of some legislation to act quickly."
Senate Bill 182 requires all local governments that fail to pass a budget by January 1 to continue to operate on the previous year’s budget until a new one is passed. The bill won final approval from the House Monday and was signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders soon afterward, going immediately into effect.
House members also advanced a proposal to grant the state attorney general more oversight powers in the ballot initiative process.
House Bill 1222 would require the attorney general to decide whether or not proposed ballot issues or constitutional amendments would conflict with federal law or the U.S. Constitution. It would also prohibit multiple conflicting initiatives covering the similar subject matter from being submitted in the same election cycle.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, explained the legislation on the House floor.
"Our current AG ballot title review process only allows the attorney general to reject a ballot title if it is found to be legally insufficient, basically meaning that it's misleading," he said. "And that language, while I'm very thankful that it's there, is really not strong or robust enough to protect us from a lot of other types of extremely problematic ballot titles."
Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville, spoke against the bill, saying it would give the attorney general undue influence over the ballot initiative process.
"The attorney general currently interprets the law all the time... the difference is, those opinions are not binding on those of us who get them. This decision about constitutionality or statute conflicts would be binding," she said. "That is something the attorney general's office has never been able to do."
Clowney gave an example of two proposed tax cuts as measures that could be seen as "conflicting" and struck down by the attorney general under the bill. Ray said it’s necessary to cut down on excessive ballot measures being referred to the attorney general for review.
Notably, efforts to legalize recreational marijuana in the state would be affected by the bill since the drug is illegal on a federal level. The bill passed the House on a vote of 62 to 30 and now heads to a Senate committee for consideration.
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