By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — The House on Friday narrowly passed a bill that would allow physicians and podiatrists to delegate some procedures to unlicensed employees, despite opposition from a nurses’ association.

Also Friday, a bill to require voters to present proof of identity when voting failed in a House committee.

In a 59-29 vote, the House approved Senate Bill 239 by Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers. The bill would direct the Arkansas State Medical Board and the Arkansas Board of Podiatric Medicine to adopt rules permitting a physician or podiatrist to delegate some medical procedures to an unlicensed employee.

The procedures would include administering drugs, as long as the drugs do not require specialized judgment and skill and are administered in the office of the delegating physician or podiatrist. The bill states that the delegating physician or podiatrist would be responsible for the employee’s actions.

The bill would require that the employee be properly trained.

“Unlicensed does not mean untrained,” Rep. Gene Shelby, D-Hot Springs, told House members. Shelby, an emergency physician, carried the bill in the House.

The Arkansas Nurses Association opposes the bill. Rep. Donna Hutchinson, R-Bella Vista, said the association unsuccessfully lobbied for an amendment that would exclude injections from the procedures that could be delegated.

“Do you think if this bill failed, Sen. Bledsoe might be willing to put in that amendment and end this feud that’s going on between two highly respected professions?” Hutchinson asked.

“I don’t know. You’d have to ask Sen. Bledsoe,” Shelby said.

Speaking in support of the bill, Rep. Ed Garner, R-Maumelle, said doctors routinely instruct patients to administer their own medications, including in some cases injections.

“My parents were trained in matter of moments how to give me an allergy shot,” he said.

The bill passed in the Senate Monday in a 22-4 vote. It now goes to the governor.

In a 94-3 vote, the House on Friday passed House Bill 1939 by Rep. Rick Saunders, D-Hot Springs, which would offer film companies a 15 percent rebate on production costs for projects filmed in Arkansas.

Saunders said Gov. Mike Beebe has agreed to provide funding for the rebates from his portion of the General Improvement Fund.

The House voted 96-0 to approve House Bill 1566 by Rep. Darrin Williams, D-Little Rock, which would make knowingly transmitting pornographic materials by electronic means to a minor a Class D felony punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Williams said incidents of men taking photos of their genitalia and e-mailing them to minors have been reported in Crawford, Yell and Nevada counties, but prosecutors have lacked a charge to file against the men.

The House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Friday voted down HB 1855 by Rep. Bryan King, R-Berryville, which would require voters to present proof of identification when voting.

The bill also would waive the $5 fee for an identification card if the applicant signs a statement that he or she is indigent.

“Under current law, there is no way to catch small-scale voter fraud or to enforce our laws against it,” King told the committee.

Several members questioned the need for the bill. Rep. Steve Harrelson, D-Texarkana, said the only incidents of double voting he has heard of were not acts of fraud but of forgetfulness, when people went to the polling place on election day after forgetting they had cast early ballots.

Rep. Dan Greenberg, R-Little Rock, a co-sponsor of the bill, noted that earlier in the session the Legislature passed a bill requiring that a person present a photo ID when selling scrap metal.

“Because being able to identify people who sell a dollar’s worth of scrap metal is just extremely important to the security of the state,” Greenberg said sarcastically.

The bill failed in an 8-10 vote, with every Democratic committee member who was present voting against the measure.