By Jason Tolbert

Arkansas voters approved an amendment to the state constitution last year that impacts the way our state Legislature has done business for over 100 years. Amendment 86 now provides for the Arkansas General Assembly to meet every year instead of every other year.

Sessions that fall on odd numbered years, as did the previous 2009 session, will be considered the “regular session.” Sessions in even numbered years will be called the “fiscal session.” This year will be the first and is likely to set the precedent for how future fiscal sessions take place.

By the amendment’s design, fiscal sessions are supposed to be shorter in length and focus only on the budget for the upcoming Arkansas fiscal year. The session is limited to 30 days with an extension of an additional 15 days if three-fourths of both the House and the Senate agree.

The big question is: Can state legislators limit themselves to the somewhat boring task of reviewing the state budget, or will they choose to file bills on more exciting issues such as raising taxes or recognizing the catfish as the official fish of Arkansas?

Even the new name — fiscal session — sounds about as exciting as reconciling your checkbook at the end of the month. With new live streaming video on the Internet, how can legislators get people to log on and listen to several hours of discussion on funding for the Boll Weevil Eradication Committee? Even I, a self-professed political junkie and a numbers nerd, think this sounds a bit dull.

The temptation to spice things up a bit will no doubt be difficult to resist.

But if Gov. Mike Beebe has his way, the session will certainly stay focused only on budget matters, according to his spokesman Matt DeCample.

“The governor does not see any nonbudget issues that would require attention this session,” said DeCample.

The one possible exception he noted could be the new lottery legislation, which might need some tweaking, but he does not think that will even be necessary.

On the Joint Budget Committee, House Chairman Rep. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, and Senate Chairman Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, both agree.

“The leadership in both the House and Senate want to follow the intent of the constitutional amendment as we understand it — that this is a fiscal session to consider appropriation bills,” said Maloch.

He did admit this might be a challenge, particularly with legislators not on the Budget Committee hanging around the Capitol with little to do. To help pass the time, Maloch says the various House committees will have regular meetings where interim study proposals can be considered without actually introducing new bills.

Baker says the Senate will allow similar meetings. In addition, the schedule will be adjusted to minimize the time legislators not on the Budget Committee will have to be in Little Rock.

One bit of interest might be the pressure placed on the budget by the declining state revenues that Arkansas is currently experiencing.

Beebe will present his proposed budget to the Joint Budget Committee later this week, and DeCample says it will be a “tightly built budget.” DeCample did not go into detail about where the belt-tightening might be focused, saying instead it should be across the board.

From where I sit, a boring fiscal session is not only what I expect but also what I prefer. Boring means the legislators will be focused on how to efficiently trim the budget during a difficult economic time without passing on the burden to the taxpayers through an increase in taxes, which would require a two-thirds majority vote just to be introduced.

Boring means the Legislature may actually finish its work during the time allotted without the need for the session to drag on. In this case, boring is good.

——-
Jason Tolbert is an accountant and conservative political blogger. His blog — The Tolbert Report — is linked at ArkansasNews.com. His e-mail is jason@TolbertReport.com.