By John Lyon and Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — The state House on Thursday approved a bill to make sending a text message while driving a primary offense that can lead to a traffic stop and a traffic ticket.
In a 78-12 vote, the House approved House Bill 1013 by Rep. Ray Kidd, D-Jonesboro. Kidd titled the bill “Paul’s Law” after Paul Davidson, 41, of Jonesboro, who was killed in a collision with a vehicle whose driver admitted he was sending a text message.
The House also approved legislation to lower raises for lawmakers, constitutional officers and judges that Gov. Mike Beebe signed into law last week, while the Senate passed a bill to designate the state attorney general’s office a law enforcement agency.
Kidd’s bill approved by the House originally would have banned both texting and talking on a cell phone while driving, but Kidd said he amended the measure to improve its chance of passing.
“Some law is better than no law,” Kidd told House members.
A day earlier, the House approved HB 1119 by Rep. Allen Kerr, R-Little Rock, which would ban any use of a cell phone while driving by a person under 18 and allow a person age 18-20 to use only a hands-free cell phone while driving.
Both bills go next to the Senate.
The House voted 95-1 to approve HB 1268 by Rep. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, which would reduce from 3.85 percent to 3.5 percent the cost-of-living raises Beebe signed into law last week. Maloch said the raises previously approved were based on outdated Consumer Price Index data.
Beebe said last week he would not accept the raise approved for him.
The bill goes to the Senate, along with HB 1085 by Rep. Lindsley Smith, D-Fayetteville, which the House approved, 65-28. It would give a city council the power to fill a vacancy on the council without the possibility of veto by the mayor.
Smith said this has long been the practice in Arkansas, but the law is unclear. She said a 2008 court decision upheld a mayor’s veto of a council appointment, highlighting the need for statutory clarification.
Rep. Bryan King, R-Berryville, contended the measure would diminish the power of mayors.
In other action, the House approved:
—HB 1041 by Rep. Dawn Creekmore, D-Hensley, to make domestic battery a felony if the offender has been convicted within the past five years of aggravated assault on a family or household member or domestic battery; if the attacker knew the victim was pregnant; or if the battery occurred in the presence of a child.
—Senate Bill 39 by Rep. Steve Faris, D-Malvern, to create an advisory committee under the Department of Health to regulate the cosmetology industry, replacing the state Board of Cosmetology. The bill goes to the governor.
In the Senate, Sen. David Johnson, D-Little Rock, pulled from consideration a bill intended to fix a problem with the state’s minimum age for children entering kindergarten this fall. After several lawmakers raised questions, Johnson agreed to bring the measure back next week.
Johnson presented HB 1098 by Rep. Kathy Webb, D-Little Rock, which would allow some children enrolled in pre-kindergarten this year to enroll in kindergarten in the fall even if they do not meet the minimum age requirement set by the Legislature in 2007.
The law set a Sept. 1 cutoff date for students to reach age 5 to enroll in kindergarten this fall, two weeks earlier than previously.
Johnson said the measure was needed because the Legislature changed the age requirement for kindergarten but did not change the requirement for pre-kindergarten.
More than 500 children in the state who complete pre-k this spring will be ineligible for kindergarten this fall if the law is not changed, he said.
But Sen. Paul Miller, D-Melbourne, said he needed more time to study the issue after receiving complaints from some school officials.
“Right now, I just can’t vote for it,” Miller said.
The Senate did approve Senate Bill 112 by Sen. Robert Thompson, D-Paragould, that would designate the attorney general’s office as a law enforcement agency.
Thompson said the designation was needed so attorneys and investigators in the office can access the Arkansas Crime Information Center, to which only law enforcement agencies have access under state law.
The attorney general’s office requested the bill to help its lawyers and investigators handle an increase in state death penalty appeals filed by federal public defenders. Unlike many federal court jurisdictions, Arkansas allows federal public defenders to represent state death-row inmates.
The bill passed, 35-0, and goes to the House.
Earlier Thursday, the Joint Budget Committee endorsed SB 86 by Sen. Steve Faris, D-Malvern, which would appropriate $400,000 to the attorney general’s office to hire as many as two more attorneys and two investigators to help with the death penalty caseload.
The Senate also passed and sent to the governor HB 1036 by Rep. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, to extend alcohol sales in West Memphis restaurants to seven days a week and HB 1022 by Rep. Tracy Pennartz, D-Forth Smith, to create a $500,000 loan program for nursing students and faculty through the state Board of Nursing fund balances.
