By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Just four months after Arkansas voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring annual legislative sessions, lawmakers are considering asking voters to repeal the amendment and bring back sessions only in odd-numbered years.

The Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs voted Thursday to endorse six proposed constitutional amendments, including a proposal by Sen. Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia, to repeal the 2008 amendment that created annual sessions.

But many lawmakers, including some who initially opposed annual sessions, say they would rather not go back to the old system.

“Even though I voted against annual sessions, I see a lot of merit in it, especially in a term-limited environment,” said Rep. Kathy Webb, D-Little Rock. “It helps us with the steep learning curve, so I’m not in favor of repealing it.”

Sen. Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, said he initially opposed annual sessions because “it’s going to be increasingly difficult to encourage people to come and serve because of time away from family and business and those types of things.”

But Broadway said he does not support going back to biennial sessions.

“Voters passed it,” he said. “I think we try it, see how it works. I think there’s going to be times when we are glad we have it.”

Broadway said one of those times will be next year, when the Legislature will convene for its first regular session in an even-numbered year. In even-numbered years the Legislature can consider only fiscal matters — unless lawmakers vote to take up other issues.

“We’ll set the lottery (scholarship) amounts in the fiscal session, which gives us flexibility, because you’ve started something new. You don’t have all the information you need to be able to set what those amounts are going to be” this year, Broadway said.

Some say switching to annual sessions has enhanced the Legislature’s position in the balance of power in state government.

“We’ve already noticed that when we request information from the heads of agencies, they respond much better now,” said Rep. Donna Hutchinson, R-Bella Vista.

“It empowers legislators over bureaucracy, in my opinion,” said Rep. Roy Ragland, R-Marshall. “As a third termer, it gives me another opportunity to look at the budget. Instead of looking at it one last time for two years, I’m going to have another chance to look at another one-year budget.”

Some say they don’t want to question the judgment of voters who passed the annual-sessions amendment with nearly 70 percent of the vote.

“The people voted for it,” said Rep. Steve Breedlove, D-Greenwood. “Let’s stand behind the people and see what we can do.”

“Personally, I voted against them (annual sessions),” said House Majority Leader Steve Harrelson, D-Texarkana. “I think that it severely limits the pool of people who can serve in the Legislature. But I believe the people spoke in 2008 that that’s the way it should be. I think that we should give it a chance.”

Malone said he questions whether voters really do think that’s the way it should be. He said he has heard from many in his district who said they misunderstood the 2008 ballot question.

The first sentence of the measure read, “An amendment providing that no legislative appropriation shall be for a period longer than one year.”

“A goodly number of people said that they voted for it, but they thought they were voting to limit us, not to have us go up there every year,” Malone said.

Malone also said he saw no need to take on the added expense of annual sessions when the old system was working well. He noted that Arkansas is one of only a few states operating with a budget surplus instead of a deficit.

The cost to hold a fiscal session in each even-numbered year has been estimated at $2 million.

“There just didn’t seem to me to be any reason to attempt to fix something that wasn’t broken,” Malone said.

Malone’s resolution now heads to a joint House and Senate committee, which will decide which proposed constitutional amendments to refer to the full House and Senate. The Legislature can refer up to three proposed amendments to the 2010 general election ballot.

The odds may be stacked against Malone’s resolution in the House. Speaker Robbie Wills, D-Conway, has said he will oppose any attempt to repeal the amendment that created annual sessions.

“I think everybody is just planning on coming back next year and just kind of accepting that for now,” said Rep. Gene Shelby, D-Hot Springs. “I don’t think it’s going to happen this time.”

“I respect the speaker and those that feel differently,” Malone said. “I just thought it was something that someone ought to put out there to have a discussion about — a little bit more than we did last time.”

Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle, filed a resolution similar to Malone’s that did not get out of committee. In explaining his proposal to committee members last week, Glover said he never wanted annual sessions, even though he voted for them during the 2007 session.

“I voted as a courtesy to put this on the ballot, thinking the people would vote it down,” he said.