AAC
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Legislative Corner
L e g i s l at i v e t a n g e n t s
Second fiscal session, looking ahead to 2013
W
ith the beginning of the New Year, the second fiscal session since the passage of the 86th amendment is slated to begin Feb. 13. Pre-filing began Jan. 9, and as of this writing, there has been one appropriation bill, HB 1002 by Rep. Garry Smith, filed seeking funding for lignite research; two House concurrent resolutions, HCR 1002 by Rep. Kathy Webb, to amend the Revenue Stabilization Act; and HCR 1003 by Rep. James McLean, to allow legislators to claim the same mileage rate as state employees; and SCR 1, which is the Senate companion bill to Webb’s resolution. Nothing in any of these pieces of legislation is earth-shattering, nor do we expect any major legislation that would affect county finances in either a positive or a negative fashion. We will, of course, keep you apprised of the legislation introduced, especially if it impacts county government. Although the 2012 fiscal session of the 88th Arkansas General Assembly does not appear to be fraught with contentious substantive issues, that will certainly not be the case for the 89th General Session in 2013. I would like to spend the next few minutes visiting with you about 2013. Our goal here is to help you and your respective associations be better prepared and more successful in each legislative session, and 2013 is no exception. We are already brainstorming here at the AAC as to how you — and by extension, we — can better represent those issues of importance to county government. We’ve found the earlier we can begin to discuss the various legislative ideas or issues that come from each of our member associations, the better we do with that legislation. That means we would like for you to start thinking now about those issues pertinent to your office or your county that you see on the horizon for 2013. We request you send your ideas to your respective legislative chairs in your association and, if possible, that you copy
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me with those ideas so that I can add them to my 2013 legislative master file Jeff Sikes here at the AAC. AAC Legislative Director After this fiscal session has ended, we will be meeting with you as your associations meet in order to discuss any and all ideas that might be submitted. Our goal is to work with you all so that by your regular June association meetings you will have most of your issues ready for a vote by your association. If you do not adopt your legislative package during your regular June meeting, we would ask that you prepare for a formal vote and adoption of your association’s legislative package no later than the Association of Arkansas Counties annual conference, set for Aug. 8-10. Once we have your legislative package in hand, your AAC legislative committee and board of directors will meet, probably in late September or October, to go over each association’s package for inclusion in the overall AAC legislative package. After we have adopted the AAC legislative package, we will present it to the members of City, County and Local Affairs Committee and begin soliciting sponsors. This is a rough timeline of what we would like to achieve this year in regard to the preparation of our legislative package. We will be visiting with you more in the future regarding strategy and lobbying. It is our intention to put together workshops in 2012 to assist you in better understanding the legislative process and working with your legislators. Keep on the lookout for those invitations in the future. And, as always, we need your energy and your ideas. Please let us know any time you have information or insight that could help us improve the operation of county government.
ur goal is to work with you all so that by your regular June association meetings you will have most of your issues ready for a vote by your association. If you do not adopt your legislative package during your regular June meeting, we would ask that you prepare for a formal vote and adoption of your association’s legislative package no later than the Association of Arkansas Counties annual conference, set for Aug. 8-10.
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COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2012
