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By Don Zimmerman, Executive Director, Arkansas Municipal League
The 85th General Assembly of the State of Arkansas recessed on April 13 with sine die adjournment scheduled for May 13. Unless need is found to reconvene in the meantime, the session will conclude on that day. The Arkansas Municipal League's legislative package was largely enacted with more than 20 new laws coming from the bills you proposed, and only four failing enactment. Numerous other positive bills were enacted and few if any bad bills affecting municipalities passed. The League tracked 414 proposals this session out of the 3,176 that were filed. The total of 3,176 was an increase from the 2,885 filed in 2003. League-initiated bills become state law League proposals enacted were: · Act 46 by Representative George Overbey Jr. of Lamar to authorize four-year terms for town aldermen. · Act 1294 by Senator Jimmy Jeffress of Crossett to increase the provision of Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) information on local sales tax collections through additional DFA Web site postings. · Act 2189 by Representative David Johnson of Little Rock to allow the temporary use of abandoned vehicles prior to public sale. · Act 1252 by Overbey to allow for a reduction in the time municipal records shall be retained. · Act 44 by Overbey to clarify that the recorder becomes the city clerk upon changing from a second class to a first class city. · Act 133 by Overbey to clarify that the term of office for a city attorney in a town or a city of the second class is four years. · Act 169 by Overbey to clarify that contractors must comply with local laws, ordinances, rules and regulations as a condition of being bonded. · Act 190 by Representative Beverly Pyle of Cedarville to specify items that may be considered at the organizational meeting of city or town councils held in each January. · Act 2171 by Overbey to allow for additional services to be procured based on qualifications rather than by competitive bidding after designation by two-thirds vote of the governing body. · Act 436 by Overbey to clarify municipal authority to execute real estate and personal property transactions. · Act 1957 by Representative Gregg Reep of Warren to authorize the procurement of goods and services by using reverse Internet auctions. · Act 424 by Representative Tommy Roebuck of Arkadelphia and Act 499 by Senator Henry Wilkins IV of Pine Bluff to simplify municipal accounting laws and provide alternatives to Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) 34 by establishing a regulatory basis of accounting. · Act 45 by Overbey to repeal an antiquated police judge statute. · Act 1435 by Pyle to raise competitive bidding requirements from $10,000 to $20,000 for municipalities and municipal sewer committees. · Act 1819 by Senator Sue Madison of Fayetteville to establish a procedure for the annexation of property by passage of an ordinance if two or more municipalities surround the unincorporated area. · Act 1222 by Pyle to shorten the notice requirements on the disposal of discarded items. · Act 943 by Overbey to clarify that a building official is a department head subject to appointment or removal as any other department head. · Act 2136 by Wilkins to clarify and maintain consistency between the state's racial profiling laws and other constitutional and criminal procedures. · Act 279 by Overbey to grant municipalities powers previously delegated to municipal boards of health. · Act 75 by Representative Shirley Borhauer of Bella Vista gives additional authority on illegal dumping or littering. · Act 2094 by Senator Steve Faris of Malvern allows police or fire pension systems with $100,000 or more assets to hire professional management with fee limitations and reporting requirements. · Other bills of interest include the municipal aid turnback that was appropriated by Act 1384. It appropriated $27,506,526 for municipalities each year of the next biennium. This is the same amount that was appropriated and funded last session. Also of interest in appropriations was the General Improvement Fund, which this session allocated $52 million toward local projects, a large portion of which would go into municipalities. The legislature seems to be saying that municipalities should be able to survive on local sales taxes, general improvement fund grants and the same turnback as has been received for the last approximately 20 years. · Act 1373 by Madison clarifies that $5 can be assessed on each charge coming through local courts for jail expense purposes. · Act 1205 by Representative Robert Jeffrey of Camden requires that all expenses for a special election be paid by the entity that calls for the special election. · Act 387 by Senator Ed Wilkinson of Greenwood authorizes municipalities of less than 5,000 population to have the authority to appoint rather than elect their city attorney. · Act 444 by Representative Preston Scroggin of Vilonia establishes January 27 of each year as Firefighter Recognition Day. · Act 1237 by Borhauer establishes an election procedure as an alternative for the incorporation of new municipalities having a population of at least 4,000. · Act 1286 by Senator Jerry Bookout of Jonesboro increased the multiplier for Local Police and Fire Retirement System (LOPFI) retirement systems from 2.5 percent to 2.7 percent of final average pay if the position is not covered by social security with corresponding increases for those covered by social security. · Act 2084 by Jeffress and Faris provides for a contributory alternative for participants in the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System (APERS). A 5 percent contribution will be required of new hires effective July 1, 2005. · Act 1828 by Senator Shawn Womack of Mountain Home increases the definition of workday for a firefighter to a minimum of 12 rather than eight hours for sick leave purposes. · Act 1849 by Representative Marvin Childers of Blytheville creates a legislative task force on district courts to study the transition of district judges to state employment status and the funding and role of district courts. · Act 1924 by Representative Phil Jackson of Berryville prohibits a person from simultaneously holding a position on a county quorum court and city council. · Act 2133 by Madison provides that effective Jan. 1, 2006, upon receipt of a written request signed by a full-time municipal employee who is represented by a union or professional association, the municipality shall withhold membership dues of the union or professional association from the salary of the employee. · Act 2145 by Madison provides for special elections to be held on the second Tuesday of a month unless the second Tuesday falls on a holiday, in which case the special election shall be held on the third Tuesday of the month. · Act 2008 by Senator Jim Hill of Nashville postpones the effective date of Arkansas's compliance with the streamlined sales tax agreement to July 1, 2007, from July 1, 2005. · Act 2212 by Representative Mark Pate of Searcy reestablishes a cost of living adjustment for city and county administration of justice funds beginning in 2006. · Act 2231 by Representative Dustin McDaniel of Jonesboro provides that the State of Arkansas is a taxing unit for tax increment financing purposes. · Act 2275 by Senator Tracy Steele of North Little Rock authorizes regional mobility authorities.
Thank you for the assistance in the state legislature On behalf of the League staff, we would like to thank those members of the General Assembly who helped make this session a productive one for Arkansas's cities and towns. Also, we would like to thank the members and municipal officials who stayed in contact with their legislators to advise them of the impact of pending legislation. We feel as a result of the collective efforts of the state and local officials, Arkansas is poised to have better cities and towns over the coming years. The Legislative Bulletin on the League Web site further summarizes the bills that were tracked by the League. See www.arml.org and Legislative Advocacy and Comprehensive Legislative Bulletin.At the Convention in June a book of Acts affecting municipalities will be available to all delegates, and further explanation and discussion of the new laws will be a major part of the program. Please be sure your city or town is represented and updated on the new laws prior to most of the new acts effective date.
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