By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — A 56-cents-a-pack increase in the state tax on cigarettes to fund a trauma system and other health programs cleared a Senate committee Wednesday with no votes to spare.
The Senate Committee on Revenue and Taxation endorsed House Bill 1204 in a 5-2 vote, giving the measure exactly the number of votes it needed to get out of the eight-member committee.
The bill is headed for the full Senate, where it could come up for a vote as early as Thursday, according to Sen. Tracy Steele, D-North Little Rock, who is carrying the bill in the Senate.
The bill, which requires a three-fourths majority in both chambers to pass, squeaked through the House last week with the support of exactly three fourths of the House membership. To pass in the Senate, the bill would need the support of at least 27 of the 35 senators.
Steele said he intends to present the bill for a vote in the Senate Thursday. Asked how many votes he expects the bill to receive, he said he would be “elated with 27.”
“It’s going to be another close vote,” he said. “We’re not there yet. We still have some concerns. I’ve had a few members tell me, ‘Talk to me after you get it out of committee.’”
Gov. Mike Beebe told reporters Wednesday the bill is “real close” to having enough votes to pass in the Senate.
“I don’t think they’ll bring it up if they don’t expect it to pass. So if it comes up tomorrow, you can bet that someone has been told that they’ve got the votes,” Beebe said after speaking at a rally in North Little Rock in support of HB 1204.
Beebe was seen Wednesday afternoon meeting with senators who remained undecided on the bill.
Senate President Pro Tem Bob Johnson, D-Bigelow, who supports the cigarette tax, said Wednesday he expects the measure to pass.
“I like our chances. When the votes are counted … I think we’ll be there,” he said.
Members of the Revenue and Taxation Committee who voted for the bill Wednesday were Chairman Paul Miller, D-Melbourne; Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle; Steve Faris, D-Malvern; John Paul Capps, D-Searcy; and Larry Teague, D-Nashville.
Sharon Trusty, R-Russellville, and Terry Smith, D-Hot Springs, voted against the bill. Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith, the minority leader in the Senate, was not present for the vote.
Teague, who had been undecided as recently as two days earlier, told reporters he decided the good the bill would do outweighed the bad.
“I’m a huge advocate of rural hospitals,” he said. “I’m totally committed to saving them. … A trauma system is going to really help rural hospitals.”
Supporters of HB 1204 say the bill would raise $85.4 million annually to fund a statewide trauma system, community health centers, in-home health care for the elderly, expansion of children’s health insurance and other health-related programs.
Smith tried Wednesday to amend the bill to require retailers to pay tobacco wholesalers when goods are delivered, but the committee rejected his amendment.
Glover said amending the bill would require sending the it back to the House, and he didn’t want to do that after the measure passed so narrowly there the first time.
“Something could happen and we could kill this bill,” he said.
Several tobacco sellers spoke against the bill, saying that when combined with a recently passed federal tax hike on cigarettes, the 56-cent state increase would jeopardize their ability to stay in business.
“What are you going to do when you put us out of business and you lose this revenue?” asked Greg McGee, manager of The Pipe & Tobacco Shop in Little Rock.
“Save $600 million a year,” Capps answered, referring to the amount of money state officials say Arkansas spends each year treating tobacco-related health problems.
——–
Arkansas News Bureau reporter Rob Moritz and Stephens Media reporter Jeremy Peppas contributed to this report.
