By John Lyon and Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — A bill to prohibit the sale or distribution of novelty cigarette lighters in Arkansas is on its way to the governor after passing in the House Tuesday in a 97-0 vote.
The Senate passed a measure that would require a majority of the nine-member Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission be experienced in the industry.
Rep. George Overbey, D-Lamar, a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 154 by Sen. Sharon Trusty, R-Russellville, told House members the bill would ban lighters that children might mistake for toys.
Describing a typical example, Overbey said, “A frog’s eyes will light up, he’ll start making his froggy sound, and then a flame will fly out of it.”
Overbey said the bill was filed in response to the 2007 deaths of two Russellville boys. Breydon Edwards, 2, and Peyton Edwards, 15 months, were killed in an apartment fire that authorities said started while one of the boys was playing with a lighter shaped like a motorcycle.
The bill passed in the Senate last month in a 34-0 vote.
After the House vote Tuesday, Overbey said he was “elated” with the result.
“I’ve followed this with Sen. Trusty from the start to today, and we have not had one negative comment in any committee hearing on this bill,” he said.
The Senate approved HB 1026 by Rep. Garry Smith, D-Camden, which would require a majority of the Oil and Gas Commission to have experience in the development, production or transportation of oil or gas.
Opponents questioned whether the measure was good public policy.
“I am not at all convinced that it is good public policy to guarantee this,” said Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, adding that currently the governor is responsible for making appointments to commissions and boards and HB 1026 would hinder that ability.
“I think this is bad public policy,” she said.
Sen. Mary Anne Salmon, D-North Little Rock, said she was concerned the measure would give the industry too much power, especially in the Fayetteville Shale natural gas play in northern Arkansas.
Sen. Gene Jeffress, D-Louann, the Senate sponsor of the bill, said the industry already has six representatives on the commission and it would be “common sense” to give those who know the industry a majority of the seats.
The bill passed, 20-7, and goes back to the House for concurrence in Senate amendments.
The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday endorsed Senate Bill 444 by Sen. Jim Luker, D-Wynne. The bill would allow inmates who have been convicted of sentences requiring them to serve at least 70 percent of their sentence, such as murder, kidnapping or manufacturing methamphetamine, to have their time behind bars reduced for good behavior, regardless of when they were sentenced.
Current law allows “good time” for inmates sentenced under the 70-percent law only if they were sentenced on or after Aug. 12, 2005.
The bill “immediately would allow us to free up up to 260 beds around the state for people who really need them,” said Rep. Steve Harrelson, D-Texarkana, a co-sponsor of the bill.
A bill to allow school boards to go into executive session to discuss a student’s appeal of suspension or expulsion squeaked through the House Judiciary Committee in an 11-5 vote, receiving exactly the number of “yes” votes the measure needed to clear the 20-member committee.
Testifying in support of House Bill 1091 by Rep. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs, was Kristen Gould, an attorney for the Arkansas School Boards Association.
Gould said school board members are sometimes put in an “awkward situation” when they want to bring up mitigating facts in an appeal hearing because they risk violating federal privacy laws. As a result, a school board typically will follow the recommendation of a superintendent, even when members believe it is too harsh, she said.
The bill would not result in harsher penalties for students because a school board cannot increase the level of punishment during an appeal hearing, Gould said.
Some committee members said they were reluctant to expand the list of topics that school boards can discuss behind closed doors.
The House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor endorsed HB 1552 by Rep. Lindsley Smith. The bill would require employers to make a reasonable effort to provide unpaid break time and private locations for working mothers to express breast milk.
