By John Lyon and Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — The House on Thursday approved a bill to allow cities to use the power of eminent domain to condemn industrial plants in certain situations.
The Senate approved a bill to offer an incentive to production companies to film projects in Arkansas.
In a 71-18 vote, the House approved House Bill 2251 by Rep. John Lowery, D-El Dorado. Under the bill, a city or county could use the power of eminent domain to condemn an industrial plant if the plant is in imminent danger of closing and its owner is insolvent.
The bill would only apply to a plant that employs at least 50 people and has been operating for at least five years.
Lowery told House members El Dorado spent more than $20 million to upgrade its sewer and water system and lowered utility rates to attract a Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant, but the company has said it will shut the plant down, idling the remaining 600 workers. The plant previously laid off another 600 employees.
A Pilgrim’s Pride Plant in Clinton already has been shut down, and the company recently sold a Louisiana plant it also had planned to shut down not far from the El Dorado facility.
Lowery said his bill would give cities and counties a tool they could use as a last resort to recoup investments and save jobs when the owner of a failing plant is unwilling to sell. A municipal government likely would condemn a plant only if it had a buyer lined up, he said.
“Desperate situations call for desperate actions,” Lowery said.
Rep. Mark Martin, R-Prairie Grove, said he recognized the problem but disagreed with Lowery’s solution.
“We’ve got some basic premises and principles that this country was built upon, and one of them is not taking property by eminent domain in this way,” Martin said.
The bill heads to the Senate.
The House also adopted three Senate amendments to House Bill 1451 by Rep. Johnny Hoyt, D-Morrilton, and approved Senate Bill 934 by Sen. David Wyatt, D-Batesville.
The two bills seek to help struggling dairy farmers stay in business by imposing on milk wholesalers a fee of 30 cents per 12 gallons of milk sold and creating a fund to provide subsidies to dairy farmers when milk prices fall below production costs.
HB 1451, which would impose the fee, now goes to the governor. SB 934, which would create the subsidy program, passed in a 73-14 vote and goes back to the Senate for approval of a House amendment.
In a 99-0 vote, the House approved HB 2086 by Rep. Butch Wilkins, D-Bono, which would make committing identity fraud to gain employment a felony. The bill goes to the Senate.
The Senate approved HB 1939 by Rep. Rick Saunders, D-Hot Springs, which would offer a 15 percent rebate to production companies that film movies, televisions shows or commercials in Arkansas.
Sen. Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, who presented the measure on the Senate floor, said several of Arkansas’ neighboring states have had success in recent years attracting movies because of their incentives. Arkansas’ Motion Picture Incentive Act of 1997, which granted a sales tax rebate, expired two years ago.
“Hopefully, this will bring the industry back to Arkansas and keep a lot of those who are in the production side now from having to leave the state,” Broadway said. “This will put Arkansas back on the big stage.”
The bill, which passed 35-0, now goes back to the House for approval of a Senate amendment.
Also approved was Senate Bill 903 by Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, which would require all companies that help locate foreign exchange students to schools in Arkansas to register with the secretary of state’s office.
The bill, which passed 35-0, now goes to the House.
Madison said there have some recent reports of high school students from foreign countries having problems with the companies that helped them locate in Arkansas, and that currently there are no requirements for the firms to register in the state.
Elsewhere Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee endorsed SB 1001 by Sen. Hank Wilkins, D-Pine Bluff, which would require the attorney general’s office to operate a toll-free hotline people can call to report incidents of suspected racial profiling. The attorney general’s office also would have to keep statistics on racial profiling complaints.
Attorney General Dustin McDaniel supports the bill, which passed Monday in the Senate in a 34-0 vote and now advances to the full House.
Also Thursday, the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs endorsed Senate Joint Resolution 4 by Sen. Bill Pritchard, R-Elkins, that would allow senators and representatives to serve 14 years in the General Assembly. Senators now may serve two four-year terms and representatives may serve three two-year terms.
A joint meeting of the Senate and House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs committees is set for Wednesday to consider SJR 4 and nine other proposed constitutional amendments. Those recommended by the joint committee will then be presented to the full House and Senate for consideration.
The Legislature can recommend up three proposed constitutional amendments for the 2010 general election ballot.
