Arkansas House Democrats coming to a town near you
The Arkansas House Democratic Caucus will begin traveling the state on Saturdays to promote and discuss our legislative agenda and accomplishments while staying in touch with Arkansas voters. I'll post the weekly agendas before each Saturday's tour and will, of course, live blog each stop.
Arkansas takes Norman regional, heads to Tallaassee
The diamond Hogs won the college baseball regional in Norman, Oklahoma over the weekend by defeated top seed Oklahoma twice. We'll now travel to Tallahassee to meet Florida State for a three-game series for the opportunity to make it back to the College World Series in Omaha. Florida State beat Ohio State 37-6 over the weekend en route to breaking an NCAA record for runs scored. We have our work cut out for us.
The annual Bulldog 100 mini-car cup race is taking place this weekend over at the college. We ran the Bulldog 100 5K this morning, which is run partly on the track used for the mini-cars through a winding course in the heart of the college campus. Here I am with Stacy Warren (2nd overall female) and Monica Robertson (4th overall female). I finished 4th overall. The car races will take place for the rest of the day.
Below, the KTBS Channel 3 car prepares for the Stilwell Cup race in 2008. Race one begins in a few minutes.
Arkansas Supreme Court Per Curiam issued today on unpublished opinions
The Arkansas Supreme Court issued a Per Curiam today that is significant in a couple of respects. First, it makes Arkansas the first state in the union to publish and distribute the official report of its appellate decisions electronically. Several on the court have been instrumental in moving Arkansas Judiciary towards a fully automated system, particularly Justice Paul Danielson. The electronic publication is also possible due to Act 221 of 2009, which I sponsored and carried through the legislature.
The Per Curiam also abandons the distinction between published and unpublished opinions and makes every Supreme Court and Court of Appeals opinion issued after July 1, 2009, precedent. This is thanks in large part to Sen. Robert Thompson (D-Paragould), who sponsored legislation that mandated this very thing as applied to opinions from the Arkansas Court of Appeals. He sponsored Act 162 of 2009, and I carried it for him in the House. There were some who questioned Act 162's constitutionality, so this Per Curiam puts to rest the possibility of a challenge on the act. This will also ensure that all opinions released after July 1 will have precedential value for future analogous cases before appellate courts in the state.
The Democrat-Gazette has made its annual FOIA request regarding the payment of travel/mileage and per diem from each legislator. They'll normally publich an article with a list of the "top 10" legislators who took in the most income for the year (Edit: see below). If you don't know, legislators outside a 50 mile radius of the Capitol are paid mileage and per diem on trips to the Capitol for committee meetings and other legislative business. Legislators within that 50 radius are paid a lump sum. Here's my info for 2008:
2008 Salary: $15,347.00 2008 Per Diem: $2,508.00 2008 Mileage: $2,810.50 2008 Legislative Support Contract: $18,000.00
Total compensation as state representative for 2008: $38,665.00
The legislative support contract is designed for reimbursement of office expenses in my district office (long distance phone calls, postage, staff time devoted to legislative work, etc.); mileage is tied to the federal rate for meetings at the Capitol (292 miles round trip for me), and per diem was $130 in 2008 ($142 now) per day for legislative meetings at the Capitol. I pledged my 2009 raise (~$500) to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Arkansas.
Correction: Actually, the Democrat-Gazette ran the latest story on this in December, but it covered only 11 months of 2008. It's possible that this data is just being collected for comparison purposes.
Here's a picture update of work on I-49 on the Louisiana side of the state line. They're using proceeds from the stimulus package on this project from the Arkansas line to Shreveport. They're projecting its completion around 2014-2015. We have five miles left between Doddridge and the Louisiana line, and we'll use stimulus funds to complete about half of that leg.
I'm back in the office and see that I'm a little late on posting this, but Pulaski County Clerk Pat O'Brien announced his candidacy for Arkansas Secretary of State today for the 2010 Democratic primary. He's already raised over $100,000. Secretary of State Charlie Daniels cannot run again due to term limits. Here's a link to O'Brien's site.
I went over to Old Washington last night for our annual board meeting of the Pioneer Washington Restoration Foundation. I'll be serving as vice chair of the board this year under Jim Pilkinton of Hope. Pilkinton's father founded the board over 50 years ago in order to preserve the Williamsburg feel to the area. Here's a picture of the 1836 Hempstead County Courthouse -- one of the properties in the area. The building also served as the Arkansas Capitol from 1863-1865 during the confederacy. Here's a previous blog post on the Woodlawn House (c. 1852) at Washington. I'm headed down to Shreveport for a trial and will be away from the site for most of the day.
Speaker Robbie and Dana Wills are the proud new parents of Alley Reece Wills. Alley was born at 3:30 p.m. and is 7 lbs even, 19 1/2 inches long. Mom and Alley are doing well.
“I believe the people of Arkansas and our nation deserve a Supreme Court Justice who is able to interpret and apply the law fairly without political favor or bias,” Lincoln said. “Ensuring that a nominee meets this standard is an obligation I have sworn to uphold as a United States Senator, and moreover, is the standard that Americans expect for a lifetime appointment to our nation’s highest court.
“Judge Sotomayor has an inspiring story of success in the face of hardship. Arkansans can appreciate the fact that she has been no stranger to hard work, and her academic and professional record speaks for itself. She has been nominated by both Democratic and Republican Presidents and has been confirmed twice by the Senate with strong, bipartisan support under both Democratic and Republican majorities. I look forward to reviewing carefully the qualifications of Judge Sotomayor as her confirmation process moves forward.”
Rep. Monty Davenport announces for Commissioner of State Lands
State Representative Monty Davenport (D-Yellville) announced his candidacy for Commissioner of State Lands today. I served alongside Monty for three terms in the Arkansas House -- he also works as a real estate broker and cattle rancher. He said today that the entire state, especially local public schools, benefit when tax collection rules are applied fairly to all parties.
"I have known Monty since 2004 when he and I were running for our first terms in the House of Representatives," said Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. "He is one of the most honest and fair people I know. Monty's background with land issues and experience in state government undoubtedly make him the perfect candidate for Land Commissioner." As a current member of the Legislative Council, Davenport is House Chair of the Arkansas Game and Fish/State Police Subcommittee.
"As Land Commissioner, I will continue the good work of our current Land Commissioner and those before him. I'll work with our hard working and dedicated county officials to make sure that our state's land issues will be taken care of in a timely and professional manner," Davenport said. "My approach at the State Capitol will be to assist those folks who are caught in the system and provide practical ways to get their tax dollars back into our public schools and our communities." Current Commissioner of State Lands, Mark Wilcox, is term limited and cannot seek reelection.
Unlike the Arkansas legislature, which has the ability to extend regular legislative sessions by a two-thirds approval of both chambers, the Texas legislature is constitutionally bound to adjourn after 140 days, and there are war stories about members stopping the clock on the wall at midnight on the final day to finish up crucial legislation. The legislature in that state is heading towards a tense 140th day finale on June 1, and the issue of the week will be the voter id legislation, which failed here in Arkansas earlier this year. Here's an old KVUE report previewing this floor fight from a year ago:
Last week's filing at the Arkansas Public Service Commission seeks an expansion of the 870 area code, as numbers within the area are expected to be exhausted by the end of 2011. If approved, the filing could mean ten-digit dialing for those in the area code, which already exists here in Texarkana. Most phones here in Texarkana already require the user to dial 870 or 903 within the city.
They'll have a formal grand opening later, but Minton's Sportsplex opened its new gym on the Texas-side this morning at 5:00 a.m. The parking lot was full by 4:45. The renovation adds 65,000 square feet to the existing facility.
Update: Pictures from today's events here in Texarkana:
Original post: Thank you vets.
Our local service will take place at the World War II Memorial at the Miller County Courthouse at 11 a.m. followed by the annual Memorial Walk to the Korean-Vietnam War Memorial at Seventh Street and State Line Avenue.
The rain hasn't kept the crowds away at Riverfest. Today, Rep. Jon Woods' band "A Good Fight" will perform. Also on today's lineup: The Little River Band, 3 Doors Down, and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Here's a picture of the crowd waiting for Hinder courtesy of @Riverfest on Twitter.
Farm to Market 2148
In between rain showers yesterday, I went out on a 70-mile bike ride. I spent most of it hunched over my aerobars rather than sightseeing due to the wind. Here's a picture of the storm clouds from FM2148 out near Redwater, Texas.
Touring the new Alberto Culver plant this morning just east of Jonesboro. The plant began production on January 7, 2008 of hair products and lotions (VO5, Nexxus, Noxzema, St. Ives) and currently employs 200 over three shifts. Fascinating place- it's between the Frito Lay, Butterball, and Nestle plants. I'd like to find time to get over to the Nucor plant in Mississippi County at some point.
We'll spend today and tomorrow here at the Jonesboro Chamber of Commerce, ASU, and a few of the industrial sites in the area as part of this month's session of Leadership Arkansas. Posting will be light today.
As part of today's session with the Leadership Arkansas program in West Memphis, we're seeing some of the organizations associated with Southland. This is in Keith Ingram's House district. Here's a pic of a "retired" greyhound from inside the Mid-South Adoption Option Center, which is on the Southland grounds.
I'm trying out my new BlogPress iPhone app for posting to the blog. I'm headed over to West Memphis today for a Leadership Arkansas session via a hearing this morning in Howard County (Nashville). I'll spend tomorrow and Friday in Jonesboro for the rest of the Leadership Arkansas session.
