By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — The Senate passed a bill today to prohibit federal funding for abortions offered through an insurance exchange in Arkansas except where the life of the mother is in danger.

In a 27-8 vote, Senate Bill 113 by Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, passed after Bledsoe ignored calls by opponents to amend the measure to include exceptions to the ban in cases of rape and incest.

Also today, a House committee advanced legislation that would prohibit drivers from using a hand-held cell phone in a school zone.

The Senate-approved abortion bill would ban health plans offered through Arkansas’ insurance exchange, which is to begin operating as part of the federal health insurance law in 2014, from providing abortion coverage except as optional supplemental coverage offered outside the exchange.

Women could get abortion coverage not covered by the bill, but they would have to buy a supplemental policy on their own, Bledsoe told senators.

“They just can’t get taxpayer funds,” she said.

The federal health care law allows states to opt out of abortion coverage by the state exchanges. Bledsoe said her bill is identical to legislation approved in five other states in recent months.

The measure now goes to the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.

Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, said the bill would impose an unnecessary regulation.

“My focus today is on folks who are paying their own money to be a part of the exchange,” she said. “Why should you tell me what my policy is going to cover with my own money?”

She said that under the proposal, a woman would have to know in advance that she was going to have an abortion to acquire the supplemental insurance.

“People just don’t plan on having abortions,” she said.

Elliott said the bill needed amendments to add fairness.

“Rape is nothing more than an assault,” Elliott said. “Suppose you are a man and you are in the (insurance) exchange, you get mugged and beaten, bloodied, that is an assault on you. You are going to be covered. But (an abortion is not covered) if it’s an assault on a woman who is part of the exchange, and she’s raped and she gets pregnant.”

Among the bill’s supporters, Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, said most Arkansans oppose the use of public funds for abortions.

“I do not think that my taxpayer dollars, my constituents’ taxpayer dollars or your constituents’ taxpayer dollars should be utilized in a forced manner for something that we don’t agree with in this state,” Rapert said. “We talk about, think about the lives of those we are here to protect and serve … I think we’re here to protect and serve the interests of our constituents and not force their dollar to be utilized for something they don’t agree with.”

Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, said the bill is designed to protect the unborn who have no say in the matter.

Bledsoe later told reporters she decided to exclude exceptions for rape and incest from the bill because they were not included in Amendment 68, approved by votes in 1989 to ban public funding for abortions in Arkansas. A federal judge later struck down the amendment’s limited exemption after Congress extended abortion funding to poor women who were victims of rape or incest.

Matt DeCample, spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said the governor would prefer to to see women who are victims of rape and incest included in the bill, but added he would support whatever the Legislature approves.

The Senate also approved SB 31, which would appropriate $500,000 to replenish the governor’s emergency fund.

The House Transportation Committee on today endorsed HB 1049 by Rep. Fred Allen, D-Little Rock, which would prohibit the use of a hand-held cell phone by a driver passing through a school zone during hours when children are present outside the school building, except in an emergency.

Under the bill, a driver could not be stopped solely for failing to comply. A first offense would result in a warning and a second offense would result in a $50 fine.

Talking to reporters after the hearing, Allen said talking on a cell phone can be distracting to a driver and can cause accidents. He said he made the bill specific to school zones because “we have to protect our kids.”

Allen also acknowledged that limited scope of the bill likely helps its chances of passing. The bill goes to the House.

Today in the House, members approved House Bill 1060 by Rep. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville, which would allow solid waste disposal districts to charge haulers a fee of up to $2 per ton. It would replace a fee that was earlier ruled unconstitutional.

The House also approved HB 1157 by Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, which would increase the probationary period for newly recruited state police officers from a year to 18 months. The Arkansas State Police requested the change, Westerman said.

The bills go to Senate committees.

The House also approved non-binding resolutions urging President Obama and Congress to end travel and trade restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba and discouraging legislators from creating task forces to study specific problems when existing legislative committees are able to do the work.

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Reporter John Lyon contributed to this report.