URGENT ACTION ALERT: Another Anti-FOIA Bill from ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council)
RINO Republicans (known as American Legislative Exchange Council/ ALEC players) are taking aim at FOIAs… again! BAM BAM and our 1967 Sunshine Law is devastated! Please take action tonight because tomorrow (Weds, March 29, 2023) is the last day of Arkansas’ legislative session!
This time, it’s HB1726. It means casting a dark veil over our transparency law so government meetings can be done in secret! Why? Could it be because the legislators involved in the anti-FOIA bills have ties to ALEC? This is unbelievable, dear reader…
Take note who these traitors of freedom are, and make sure they never get elected again, even as a dog catcher.
Sadly, our Arkansas Republicans are ganging-up and attempting to totally dismantle over 1/2 of Republican Governor Winthrop Rockefeller’s crowning achievement, our FOIA law, by targeting the open meeting provisions of FOIA and more.
This dangerous last-minute bill was filed Monday, March 27, 2023. Here is the history of HB1726. It is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday morning, March 29, 2023, before the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee.
So, there is a Special Order of Business scheduled for ten minutes upon adjournment for both Anti-FOIA bills (HB1726 and HB1610) in Room 151 at the Capitol.
HB1726 To read the full text of the bill, click the hyperlink.
AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DEFINITIONS USED IN THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; TO ADD PUBLIC RECORDS EXEMPTIONS; TO AMEND PUBLIC MEETINGS REQUIREMENTS; TO AMEND REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO CUSTODIANS PROCESSING PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Sponsors:
Rep. David Ray from Maumelle
Sponsor of HB1726
Consultant/Communications Strategist (Majority Leader (or designee) 2021)
david.ray@arkansashouse.org 501-916-0286
He is a big RINO player and needs to be exposed because he’s an ALEC Insider. He has lived in these states: TN, AR, LA, CA, GA, VA, KS, KY, & NY and his career experience includes:
- working as chief of staff to Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin
- the state director of Americans for Prosperity Arkansas
- a consultant
- a communications strategist: Communications Director for Tom Cotton, United States Senatorial Campaign, 2014 and
-
Communications Director for Republican Party of Arkansas, 2013
-
State Chair for American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
His allegiance is to ALEC, not to the voters he claims to represent. ALEC always represents Big Business’ bottom line. Let’s get Rep. David Ray out of office.
Here’s the ALEC oath: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) asks that the legislators raise their right hand and swear: “I will act with care and loyalty and put the interests of the organization first”. That means placing the corporate and special interests above their elected office! Hello?! This is a conflict of interest. One could conclude that the cabal wants their own appointed talking heads: a greedy corporate governance where their supposedly-elected officials put forth their destructive agenda for their bottom line.
Search Open Secrets for information on Americans for Prosperity and Koch brothers focus on elections and policy battles at all levels of government. Also, see ties with American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that provides a venue for lobbyists to meet behind closed doors with state legislators. ALEC is a bill-writing organization for every state in the country. That’s why there are so many copy-cat bills. So, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is an organization designed to link state legislators with corporations and create templates for state legislation. There are a plethora of corporate funders of ALEC. The secretive American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) gets support from Americans for Prosperity. Shamefully, there’s a lot of political dark money involved in these groups.
Charles Koch
image credit
Special Note: here’s a model bill or a template from ALEC entitled “Transparency and Government Accountability Act”. Now, this particular template may SOUND good… but we always need to read the entire wording in the bill and how it will affect government meetings and info in our state.
————————————
Sen. Breanne Davis from Russellville
Sponsor of HB1726
breanne.davis@senate.ar.gov (479) 970-0081
From the Arkansas Secretary of State, here are businesses under “Register Agent John Paul Davis” (Senator Breanne Davis’s Husband)
| Name | City | State | Status |
| PERSPECTIVES GROUP FINANCIAL, INC. | RUSSELLVILLE | AR | Good Standing |
| 1 records found |
Will the real true conservative republicans in the legislature please stand up, please? Make a difference and vote no on these bad bills. We need representation by true conservatives.
Immediate Action Item for tonight March 28, 2023: Please contact the members of the House State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee TONIGHT March 28, 2023, and tell them you’d like them to VOTE NO on HB1610 AND HB1726. Do not amend our FOIA. We need to keep this blue-ribbon transparency law intact.
Rep. Dwight Tosh – Chair dwight.tosh@arkansashouse.org 870-926-0423
Rep. Mark D. McElroy – Vice Chair mdmcelroy1@yahoo.com 870-222-8217
Rep. Rick Beck rick.beck@arkansashouse.org 501-912-1441
Rep. Mary Bentley mary.bentley@arkansashouse.org 501-889-3556
Rep. Mark H. Berry mark.berry@arkansashouse.org 479-462-2863
Rep. John P. Carr john.carr@arkansashouse.org 479-619-5104
Rep. Nicole Clowney nicole.clowney@arkansashouse.org 479-445-5337
Rep. Cindy Crawford cindy.crawford@arkansashouse.org 479-782-4693
Rep. Jimmy Gazaway jimmy.gazaway@arkansashouse.org 870-215-1243
Rep. Justin Gonzales justinrory@yahoo.com 870-245-6365
Rep. Lane Jean l_jean@sbcglobal.net 870-904-1856
Rep. Stephen Meeks Stephen.Meeks@arkansashouse.org 501-314-9250
Rep. Josh Miller josh.miller@arkansashouse.org 501-365-3599
Rep. Jon Milligan jonmilligan@ymail.com 870-219-1261
Rep. Jeremiah Moore jeremiah.moore@arkansashouse.org 870-674-4373
Rep. Marcus E. Richmond richmond4staterep@gmail.com 479-299-4416
Rep. Jamie Scott jamie.scott@arkansashouse.org 501-398-2961
Rep. Kendon Underwood kendon.underwood@arkansashouse.org 479-644-8461
Rep. Jeff Wardlaw jeff@jeffwardlaw.com 870-226-9501
Rep. Richard Womack richard@richardwomack.com 870-403-6287
You can copy/paste this list of emails below to email all of the members at one time, if you like:
mary.bentley@arkansashouse.org
nicole.clowney@arkansashouse.org
cindy.crawford@arkansashouse.org
jimmy.gazaway@arkansashouse.org
Stephen.Meeks@arkansashouse.org
jeremiah.moore@arkansashouse.org
kendon.underwood@arkansashouse.org
Here’s what Secure Arkansas previously wrote about HB1610, the other Anti-FOIA bill.
Sponsors:
Rep. Mary Bentley from Perryville
Sponsor of HB1610
mary.bentley@arkansashouse.org 501-889-3556
Bentley Plastics https://bentleydrinkware.com/
Statement of Financial Interest for 2020
From the Arkansas Secretary of State, here are businesses under “Register Agent John M. Bentley, Jr. (Representative Mary Bentley’s husband)
| Name | City | State | Status |
| BENTLEY PLASTICS, INC. | PERRYVILLE | AR | Good Standing |
| 1 records found |
—————————————–
Senator John Peyton from Wilburn
Sponsor of HB1610
john.payton@senate.ar.gov (501) 362-5815
He owns two auto auctions and two used auto dealerships.
From the Arkansas Secretary of State, here are businesses under “Register Agent John Payton”:
| Name | City | State | Status |
| CENTRAL ARKANSAS AUTO AUCTION, INC. | BEEBE | AR | Dissolved |
| CLEBURNE COUNTY FINANCE CORPORATION | HEBER SPRINGS | AR | Good Standing |
| PAYTON AUTO, INC. | CLINTON | AR | Good Standing |
| PAYTON CHEVROLET, BUICK, GMC, INC. | HEBER SPRINGS | AR | Good Standing |
| PAYTON INVESTMENTS, INC. | WILBURN | AR | Good Standing |
| PAYTON SELECT AUTOMOTIVE, INC. | HEBER SPRINGS | AR | Good Standing |
| PINES RESORT, INC. | WILBURN | AR | Dissolved |
| SELECT AUTO RENTAL, INC. | HEBER SPRINGS | AR | Dissolved |
| SELECT AUTO TRANSPORT & RENTAL, LLC | WILBURN | AR | Dissolved |
| 9 records found |
If these lawmakers are trying to block us from their private governmental meetings, why in the world would we consider supporting their businesses such as those listed above?
In closing, Secure Arkansas feels that it is important to write about how Republicans are dismantling our Constitution and transparency laws, etc. We will be writing an article and evaluating what happened during this Arkansas legislative session and how we were betrayed by so-called “Conservatives”.
Hopefully, our Sunshine Law will remain unharmed and shine on… or will the sun go down in Arkansas and darkness prevail?
As always, you can find our email articles posted on our website: SecureArkansas.com. The Search box is a handy tool.
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Securing the blessings of liberty,
Secure Arkansas
securetherepublic.com/arkansas
info@securetherepublic.com
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