Evening Update for the Arkansas Special Session Sept. 13, 2023
Readers, we had hoped this special session at the Arkansas Capitol would conclude Wednesday (tonight), but because of the disdainful approach of the legislators constantly arguing with their constituents and the rest of the Arkansas public who wanted them to back-off and leave ALL of our FOIA in intact and untouched… here we go again as we head into Thursday‘s special session!
What a waste of taxpayer money. The general public should turn in a bill to the state government for all the pain and suffering that we have had inflicted on us these last few torturous days. Legislators, we have warned you NOT to mess with our FOIA, but you did it anyway. Maybe some day you will learn the meaning of consequences…
We are disappointed in our Republican legislators who are enabling the cover-up for suspicious activities of Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Governor Asa Hutchinson, while deceiving the public and claiming it was for protection of the governor.
If it’s a matter of security, then let’s discuss how to handle that. Again, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is attempting to cover-up something. No other governor has worried about their security in the way she’s claiming she’s had threats. We think the Arkansas State Police can handle her security without our current FOIA being altered. Don’t you?
These FOIA bills and amendments were about covering up questionable records of both governors — Sanders and Hutchinson — and not about protecting Governor Sanders’ children from danger. We can see they are taking a stab to destroy our FOIA incrementally…
The public has been outraged from the very beginning of this special session due to the attempted strike at our beautiful Sunshine Law.
See the House Calendar for Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 including links to the House and Senate bills. The bills highlighted are the ones we are contesting. The Senate Calendar for the same day for bills to be considered there are listed below that. No FOIA bills will be on the Senate floor Thursday, but the Covid bill will be.
Bills for Consideration (8:30 AM) in the House
Regular Bills
TO AMEND THE PHILANTHROPIC INVESTMENT IN ARKANSAS KIDS PROGRAM ACT AND THE ARKANSAS CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM ACCOUNT PROGRAM; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
TO REDUCE THE INCOME TAX RATES APPLICABLE TO INDIVIDUALS, TRUSTS, ESTATES, AND CORPORATIONS; TO CREATE AN INFLATIONARY RELIEF INCOME TAX CREDIT FOR CERTAIN TAXPAYERS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
TO AMEND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
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Regular Senate Bills
TO PROHIBIT THE GOVERNMENT FROM MANDATING A VACCINATION OR IMMUNIZATION FOR CORONAVIRUS 2019 (COVID-19) OR ANY SUBVARIANTS OF CORONAVIRUS 2019 (COVID-19), OR BOTH; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
TO CLARIFY ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING THE LOCKING OF SCHOOL DOORS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
TO AMEND THE PHILANTHROPIC INVESTMENT IN ARKANSAS KIDS PROGRAM ACT AND THE ARKANSAS CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM ACCOUNT PROGRAM; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
TO CREATE AND TRANSFER FUNDS TO THE ARKANSAS RESERVE FUND SET-ASIDE IN THE RESTRICTED RESERVE FUND TO ALLOW THAT ADDITIONAL FUNDS MAY BE MADE AVAILABLE FOR STATE DEPARTMENTS, AGENCIES, AND INSTITUTIONS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
TO REDUCE THE INCOME TAX RATES APPLICABLE TO INDIVIDUALS, TRUSTS, ESTATES, AND CORPORATIONS; TO CREATE AN INFLATIONARY RELIEF INCOME TAX CREDIT FOR CERTAIN TAXPAYERS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
TO AMEND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
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Bills for Consideration (9:00 AM) in the Senate
House Bills For Third Reading And Passage
TO PROHIBIT THE GOVERNMENT FROM MANDATING A VACCINATION OR IMMUNIZATION FOR CORONAVIRUS 2019 (COVID-19) OR ANY SUBVARIANTS OF CORONAVIRUS 2019 (COVID-19), OR BOTH; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
TO CREATE AND TRANSFER FUNDS TO THE ARKANSAS RESERVE FUND SET-ASIDE IN THE RESTRICTED RESERVE FUND TO ALLOW THAT ADDITIONAL FUNDS MAY BE MADE AVAILABLE FOR STATE DEPARTMENTS, AGENCIES, AND INSTITUTIONS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
TO CLARIFY ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING THE LOCKING OF SCHOOL DOORS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
TO CLARIFY THE SENTENCING FOR A FELONY WITH A FIREARM.
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We don’t want to see the two yellow-highlighted bills HB1012 and SB10 passed.
See the short video in this Channel 5 News link: Amended FOIA bill passed through Arkansas Senate during special session
Legislators, if you vote for these bad, compromising FOIA bills to pass, YOU are voting for a cover-up!
Action Item: Readers, please continue to call/ text/ email your legislators and tell them you want them to vote NO on those FOIA bills. They keep information away from the taxpayers.
In closing, we must find a way to keep these sticky political fingers off our FOIA! And we need to get to the bottom of what these FOIA bills will ACTUALLY be protecting… or what information it will truly be blocking.
Also, these FOIA bills have emergency clauses on them; that means IF they pass (and we hope and pray they won’t), they would go into effect immediately.
Remember, the governor wants certain parts of SB10 to be retroactive back to June 2022! That was in Asa Hutchinson’s administration. We need to hear a good reason to implement this all the way back to June 2022, don’t we?
Didn’t Asa take several China trips with his son around that time???
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Here is a PDF of ALL Arkansas legislators with their names, email addresses, phone numbers, districts, and party affiliation.
We’ve also included ONLY their email addresses below, should you like to email them all at one time. (See if you can save these in your email sender so you won’t need to copy/paste all of them every time. Or save them on your computer so you’ll have them when you need them.)
brandon.anchor@arkansashouse.org
wade.andrews@arkansashouse.org
howard.beaty@arkansashouse.org
mary.bentley@arkansashouse.org
harlan.breaux@arkansashouse.org
keith.brooks@arkansashouse.org
karilyn.brown@arkansashouse.org
rebecca.burkes@arkansashouse.org
frances.cavenaugh@arkansashouse.org
nicole.clowney@arkansashouse.org
andrew.collins@arkansashouse.org
cameron.cooper@arkansashouse.org
bruce.cozart@arkansashouse.org
cindy.crawford@arkansashouse.org
matt.duffield@arkansashouse.org
denise.ennett@arkansashouse.org
sonia.barker@arkansashouse.org
deborah.ferguson@arkansashouse.org
kenneth.ferguson@arkansashouse.org
charlene.fite@arkansashouse.org
stephanie.flowers@senate.ar.gov
vivian.flowers@arkansashouse.org
jack.fortner@arkansashouse.org
denise.garner@arkansashouse.org
jimmy.gazaway@arkansashouse.org
zack.gramlich@arkansashouse.org
deanna.hodges@arkansashouse.org
grant.hodges@arkansashouse.org
mike.holcomb@arkansashouse.org
steve.hollowell@arkansashouse.org
ashley.hudson@arkansashouse.org
robin.lundstrum@arkansashouse.org
stephen.magie@arkansashouse.org
julie.mayberry@arkansashouse.org
mindy.mcalindon@arkansashouse.org
rick.mcclure@arkansashouse.org
austin.mccollum@arkansashouse.org
tippi.mccullough@arkansashouse.org
brit.mckenzie@arkansashouse.org
stephen.meeks@arkansashouse.org
jeremiah.moore@arkansashouse.org
kendra.moore@arkansashouse.org
milton.nicks@arkansashouse.org
stetson.painter@arkansashouse.org
aaron.pilkington@arkansashouse.org
chad.puryear@arkansashouse.org
jay.richardson@arkansashouse.org
scott.richardson@arkansashouse.org
marcus.richmond@arkansashouse.org
tara.shephard@arkansashouse.org
matthew.shepherd@arkansashouse.org
joy.springer@arkansashouse.org
trey.steimel@arkansashouse.org
gary.stubblefield@senate.ar.gov
kendon.underwood@arkansashouse.org
deann.vaught@arkansashouse.org
steven.walker@arkansashouse.org
danny.watson@arkansashouse.org
david.whitaker@arkansashouse.org
jeremy.wooldridge@arkansashouse.org
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