Category Archives: Legislature

Tax cuts – that’s the easy part

Legislature, State government

Arkansas Legislature, Arkansas Works, Jeremy Hutchinson, Mickey Gates, Jim Hendren, tax cutsBy Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

When people have a lengthy agenda to complete, they can start with the easier stuff or the harder stuff. The Arkansas Legislature this session understandably started with the easier stuff.

The easier stuff is cutting taxes. Gov. Asa Hutchinson is determined to cut Arkansas’ top rate to 5.9 percent so it won’t be the highest in the region. He says it sticks out like a sore thumb when he’s trying to recruit business and industry.

The hard part was working out the details and making sure the budget didn’t take too big a hit. Both pretty much have been accomplished. It still has to get through the House after passing the Senate, but while there still may be small hurdles to overcome, it eventually will happen.

The tax cuts are easier because the state has some extra money. That’s happened because policymakers here govern relatively responsibly – way more so than in Washington, D.C. – and the state is benefitting from a strong national and global economy and a seemingly generous federal government.

None of those should be seen as permanent realities, including the last two. We’re experiencing one of the longest economic expansions in modern memory, and what goes up will eventually level off. The Brits’ increasingly messy divorce from Europe is just one of many factors worldwide that could gum things up. If the global economy slows down, it will affect Arkansas. Continue reading Tax cuts – that’s the easy part →

The four words Dr. Pakko forgot

Independents and third parties, Legislature, State government
Dr. Michael Pakko
Dr. Michael Pakko, shown in a file photo.

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

When Dr. Michael Pakko testified against a bill making it harder for third parties to compete Tuesday, he didn’t use the four words that would have been the most persuasive to lawmakers.

Pakko, the Libertarian Party of Arkansas chairman, spoke against Senate Bill 163 by Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado. Garner’s bill would increase the number of signatures third parties must collect to qualify for the ballot. It’s currently 10,000. Garner’s bill would increase it to 3 percent of the total votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. In 2020, that would be about 26,746.

Under current law, any political party not attaining 3 percent of the vote in a presidential or gubernatorial election is a “new” party and must collect signatures the next time. Pakko’s Libertarians have been inching toward that percentage in recent elections. Last November, their candidate for governor, Mark West, won 2.9 percent of the vote.

On Tuesday, the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee met earlier than expected and dispensed with the bill on a voice vote before Pakko arrived.

Given a chance to speak at the meeting’s end, Pakko called it a “clear effort to suppress competition in Arkansas’ political process.” He pointed out that more than half the state legislative candidates in 2018 were unopposed, so it’s not like Arkansans have too many ballot choices.

“The fact that it includes an emergency clause makes it even more evident that it’s intended to stifle competition in the 2020 election to the benefit of current incumbent politicians and their entrenched political parties,” he said.

It also runs afoul of a 2006 case, Green Party of Arkansas v. Daniels. There, a judge ruled that a previous 3 percent limit was unconstitutional and required the state to give the Green Party a spot on the ballot. In fact, that ruling led the Legislature to adopt the 10,000-signature threshold, Pakko said.

And that’s when he didn’t use the four words that would be most effective with lawmakers as the bill moves through the House. Continue reading The four words Dr. Pakko forgot →

Capitol corruption determined by culture

Legislature, Politics, State government

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, spent his 10-minute address Monday talking about one issue: legislative corruption.

The Air Force colonel and ex-F-15 fighter pilot made his remarks on the opening day of the 2019 legislative session after being sworn in as Arkansas Senate president pro tempore.

Three days earlier, his former colleague, ex-Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, became the seventh ex-legislator charged with wrongdoing. Five of the others have been convicted, and two are in prison. The sixth, former Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, Hendren’s cousin, has been indicted. Continue reading Capitol corruption determined by culture →

These legislators will make things interesting

Legislature, Politics, State government

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Legislators from across Arkansas will gather at the Capitol next week to begin three months of controlled chaos that thankfully occur only once every two years.

Some of the 135 lawmakers will be particularly interesting to watch.

Before listing them, for any left-out legislator who happens to read this column, notice I wrote “some” and “interesting.” Sometimes important work doesn’t create headlines. Sometimes, you’re doing something I just don’t know about yet. And sometimes it’s just not your year.

In no particular order, starting with the Senate … Continue reading These legislators will make things interesting →