When bright minds can’t afford college, Arkansas pays the price. That’s why the Arkansas legislature worked especially hard in the 2010 Fiscal Session to develop the guidelines for the Arkansas Lottery Scholarship.

Now the Lottery Oversight Committee is once again reviewing the scholarship guidelines to determine what, if any, changes should be made. The goal is to not only get more Arkansans to college, but to keep them there until graduation.

Right now any student with a 2.5 GPA or a 19 on the ACT qualifies for a $4,500-a-year scholarship to a 4 year university or a $2,250-a-year scholarship for a 2 year college. If a student did not complete the Smart Core curriculum in high school, he or she must have also scored proficient on end of course exams.

More than 30,000 students were awarded the scholarship this school year.

However, if lottery sales do not increase, The Department of Higher Education predicts there will not be enough funds to provide the existing scholarship to everyone who is eligible in the future.

There was a 5% increase in the number of students applying for the scholarship during the first and second year of the program. Most expected the increase to be between 1-2%.

Evaluating the increase in need and the decrease in lottery sales, legislators reduced the amount of the scholarship during the 2011 Regular Session. Previously, the amount of the scholarship was $5,000 for a 4 year university and $2,500 for a 2 year college.

You will not see us making changes to the scholarship during this upcoming fiscal session. Over the course of the next several months, however, members will be reviewing information critical to the scholarship program. Information such as how many of the scholarship recipients are continuing enrollment and how many students were college-ready by their first year will be factors taken into consideration. This will help us prepare for the 2013 Regular Session. At that time, legislators will have a better sense of what to realistically expect from lottery revenue.

When Arkansans voted in a state wide lottery in 2008, they did so believing this would improve access to higher education.

The General Assembly was tasked with developing such a scholarship program. We know this was not a one-time task. As we continue to learn more about the needs of students, we hope to support as many students as possible who want to learn more about the needs of the world.

As mandated by the constitution, the fiscal session will focus almost entirely on budget issues. A few legislators have said they hope to introduce a couple of non-budget bills, but under the constitution it will require strong support from a solid majority of lawmakers for the measures to be filed.

During the fiscal session, legislators will approve state agency budgets for Fiscal Year 2013, which begins on July 1 of this year. The vast majority of budgets are non-controversial and will authorize slight increases in spending over the current year. Spending from the general revenue fund is projected to total $4.7 billion and the governor has proposed a 3.5 percent increase, which means authorizing about $163 million in additional spending.

The additional spending, under the governor’s plan would be mainly in the Medicaid program. It would receive about $114 million of next year’s increase. Public schools from kindergarten through grade 12 would get $56.6 million of the increase. Some institutions of higher education would get $3.62 million in additional funding, but not every campus would get an increase under the governor’s proposed budget.

After he presented a proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2013, the governor next presented a series of proposed supplemental appropriations, totaling $30.5 million. They would authorize spending by certain state agencies between now and the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

The most highly publicized supplemental appropriation is the governor’s $2.7 million request for the Forestry Commission, which has had to lay off 34 employees and is unable to fill two other positions that were vacated when employees retired.

The agency relies on revenue from a severance tax on timber, which has declined because of a slump in construction. Its budget shortfall is a matter of concern in rural areas because 20 of the laid off employees work in fire protection.

It’s also a matter of concern to lawmakers who believe the Forestry Commission’s budget woes are due to mismanagement. Those legislators are reluctant to authorize additional funding unless they have assurances it will be spent wisely. Auditors are looking into the financial practices of the Forestry Commission and their report is due before the fiscal session begins.

Another supplemental appropriation requested by the governor would provide about $9 million to the Correction Department, which runs state prisons, so it can pay security officers overtime and the pay they accumulated over the holidays. Another $2 million supplemental would allow the department to reimburse county jails that have been housing inmates when state prison units are full. Also, the department would get a $1.4 million supplemental for a barracks in Little Rock to house prisoners whose work detail is in the capital city.

The Department of Community Correction, which also works with convicted inmates, would get $1.9 million for drug treatment, more electronic monitors, mental health treatment and reducing the case loads of parole officers.

About $3.4 million in supplemental funding would go to the State Hospital, a facility in Little Rock that houses and treats people with mental illnesses. The money would help bring the hospital up to national standards and ensure that it continues to receive federal funding.

In fact, it is a MAJOR blessing that Arkansas is required to have a balanced budget. Otherwise we’d be in as much financial difficulty as many states and even our national budget. Does not the concept of “budget” mean we live within our means? We certainly cannot “rob Peter to pay Paul” either. While I sympathize with all their “woes”, taxes aren’t the answer. We have to tighten our belts and prioritize our needs. Most agree cuts, or at least “freezes”, should be made, but each seems to think “not to my program”. It is a tight situation, notwithstanding partisanship issues.

Here are brief synopses of some of the more interesting situations. Career Education says it needs more money to expand the number of centers they offer for high schoolers. To increase funding, the Career Education department would like to limit the number of students from any one district attending to 60% of their total enrollment at their current funding level. If more than 60% attend, the home district would have to pay more per student, so legislators fear many students would be deprived of those classes and services. As it stands now, the 60% rule has been put on hold for another school year while other solutions are examined that do not affect any student’s education adversely.

The Workforce Services also feels they need additional funding. One of their programs in jeopardy is the TANF program. This program is officially the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. One of its key components includes vouchers for day care for the children of those clients who have joined-rejoined the workforce. I have even had two parents locally who have called and will have to give up their jobs if some solution can’t be found to help with day care costs.

The Medicare/Medicaid situation is so complicated I won’t try to explain, but it is an evolving issue. I’ll try to keep you posted.

Another budget session with the forestry commission finally resulted in a request of Director Shannon to devise a plan to rehire the foresters, firefighters and mechanics laid off and return them to the field before the fire season begins (ASAP!). This has been a positive move long overdue and we will hear more about that plan on Tuesday (January 31) at what should be the final budget hearing before the session. It is well past time to stop finger pointing and seek solutions to that problem.

The Administration of Justice Fund is also asking for more funds now to stay afloat until July 1, 2012, when the new budget kicks in. This fund is primarily financed through fines and collections of court costs. The lacking funds are needed to pay trial court assistants in our circuit courts primarily. We are looking into the sudden decline of these funds, finding money to pay the assistants for the rest of the 2011-12 year, and trying to assure this doesn’t happen again in the foreseeable future.

Naturally we have heard and discussed final budgets from every state agency and/or program you can imagine. Most budgets are fairly steady from last year and fairly ordinary. Some have required additional scrutiny. We have heard from the “Big 6” – the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Community Corrections, the Department of Education, the Department of Higher Education – and the Lottery Oversight Committee and nearly every other agency before, after and during state government. It has been a fascinating process for me as a “freshmen” and I have gained a huge amount of insight into the process. Next term I will ask to be a member of the Budget Committee.

As for facts, I have also learned that state revenues are flat, departmental needs are rising and everyone wants to preserve and enlarge their programs at all costs. “It’s all about ME!” I have learned that unemployment is down in Arkansas to 7.7% while the national rate is 8.5%. Arkansas’ rate has fallen 3 months in a row. Yet too many still lack jobs.

As for educational issues, while the percentage is better than last year, I am dismayed and (yes) horrified to realize that 49.3% of our students entering colleges must take remedial courses. 49.3%!! (What about those who do not go to college?) I feel we must do better than this and must seek answers and solutions to this problem. Again we must stop finger pointing and start finding solutions! I can’t reconcile that making them all attend a two-year institution is any solution. As Strother Martin told Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” There was an excellent article in Sunday’s paper about this very topic.

I am passionately committed to begin finding these solutions next session through the Education Committee. I believe it is time to stop finger pointing, nitpicking and one-upmanship; l believe it is time to unite and work together for the benefit of ALL the citizens of Arkansas. Thank you for this opportunity to serve. God bless America!!

Every year the state Department of Higher Education counts the number of entering freshmen who must take remedial classes their first year in a four-year university or a two-year college. Students are required to take remedial classes if their standardized test scores in English, reading and math are not high enough. On the popular ACT test, the required score is 19 or higher. A total of 23,176 students took the college admission tests.

This year’s report shows that 49.3 percent of students enrolling in an Arkansas public college or university had to take at least one remedial class. That is the lowest percentage since the fall semester of 1993. Our worst performance was in the fall of 2002, when 59.6 percent of new students had to take a remedial class.

There is a large difference in remedial rates between students entering a four-year university and those entering a two-year college. At the state’s four-year universities, 34.5 percent, or 5,101 students had to enroll in a remedial class. At two-year colleges the remedial rate was 75.5 percent, or 6,335 students.

One reason the remedial rate is higher at two-year colleges is that the students frequently are older, non-traditional students. When they enter college they have been in the work force or they have perhaps raised a family. Most importantly, they have been away from the classroom for several years by the time they take admissions tests.

The importance of remediation rates is that they measure the likelihood of students’ eventually earning a degree. Students have to pay for remedial classes, but they don’t get college credits for completing the courses. Therefore, having to take remedial classes throws them off schedule both financially and academically.

Universities and colleges have adopted several strategies to help remedial students, such as providing tutors, making classes smaller, offering preparatory programs in summer and grouping students together in several classes so they can support each other.

Based on the results of standardized tests, math is the toughest subject for students going to college. Of the incoming students who took the tests, 39.4 percent needed remedial help in math, while 30 percent needed remedial English and 25.6 needed remedial reading.

Of the Arkansas students who had to take remedial classes, a third had to take all three subjects – math, English and reading. About a fourth had to take remedial classes in two subjects and 41 percent had to take one subject.

Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund

Officials of the state Workforce Services Department reported to a legislative committee that the agency is paying down its debt to the federal government and is on track to eliminating its debt by 2015. The state will likely make a payment of $30 million this year on a debt of $330 million.

The legislature has taken action to stabilize the unemployment insurance fund, prompted by the state’s rising debt to the federal government. Act 861 of 2011 froze benefits for unemployed workers and Act 802 of 2009 raised the basic wage on which employers pay unemployment taxes, from $10,000 to $12,000.

Our legislative work resumed on January 4th. Both Wednesday and Thursday sessions that I attended dealt with the budget woes of the Arkansas Forestry Commission. After several “rehashings” of the same basic woes, most legislators agreed that it was time to move past the “posturing” and begin to work on finding solutions for the problems.

As of last Friday, thirty-six employees were “laid-off” by the forestry commission and the commission still needs about $2.7 million to operate through the end of the fiscal year (June 30). Governor Beebe proposes to budget that amount so they can operate until the new budget year begins. We must take care of this need for safety’s sake. Otherwise, a dry spring could prove catastrophic for areas already stressed by the drought of last summer. Wildfires could cause major, major problems. Careful budget deliberations will focus on funding for the forestry needs.

Another Education meeting regarding requirements for foreign language experiences in our school programs of work was also held to present and discuss more research and varying opinions. It would be fair to say it is agreed that some experience with a foreign language should be reinstated as a requirement in our public schools. Further discussion and debate will lead to a consensus during the interim for proposed legislation during the 2013 session.

Last week I participated in more Education meetings, including one that heard proposals to lower the age for beginning kindergarten. Presently a student must be 5 by August 1 to attend in a school term. Some parents think their children should be allowed to enroll at an earlier age. While this beginning date has been changed several times, I doubt any date would make every parent happy. (I tend to agree with the school official who quipped that it is most important to pick a date and stick with it, rather than promote changes every session.)

There is much discussion ongoing about setting certain clear and definitive testing scores for children to enter school earlier with the testing done by qualified psychological examiners at the parents’ expense. However, I fear this might further “muddy the waters” by limiting such opportunities to the wealthy and/or forcing another unfunded mandate upon the state. Undoubtedly, this matter will rise again – and again.

Other Education meetings dealt with schools listed as “In distress” whether it be academic distress, fiscal distress or facilities distress and how these relate to student learning. We received updated information on the “Common Core” curriculum and other adequacy related issues, including accreditation monitoring and changes in accreditation standards needed with Common Core, STEM and stronger Career Ed programs.

I also heard a lot about “partnership projects” with the state for funding new facilities. These were almost fascinating meetings. Yet I wonder if we sometimes find our schools pulled in far too many directions.

Further meetings discussed changes in the funding of lottery scholarships, including tier funding to reward students who “hang in there” and the nontraditional students in hopes of getting more “bang for our bucks”. No decisions have or will be made before the 2013 session. There will be much more study and research however. I am sure of that.

Recent Public Health meetings have consisted mostly of reports and reviews of rule changes in the Department of Human Services and the Department of Health policies. We also met the new state director of Medicaid and heard the annual report of vision screenings in Arkansas Public Schools and charter schools.

On Tuesday, January 17, budget hearings started in preparation for the fiscal session to begin on February 13. These hearings will help us understand and debate appropriation bills for several state agencies. As stated earlier, the Arkansas Forestry Commission finds itself in serious trouble for the remainder of this fiscal year without regard to the next year. The Administration of Justice Fund also faces an immediate shortfall allegedly due to a lack of fines collected. This fund pays for trial court assistants across our state.

Additionally, members will be hearing budget requests from the six state agencies that receive the most state funding – the Department of Education, Department of Higher Education, Department of Correction, Department of Community Correction, Department of Health and Department of Human Services. I trust all other agencies and programs budgets will also be scrutinized.

It will be an interesting preliminary hearing period in preparation for an interesting session in these unique financial times. With state revenues predicted as “flat” (staying about the same as last year), it will be a challenge to increase funding in such vital areas as education and Medicaid. Serving as State Representative is not a part time job. It is fulltime and beyond in order to study, research and keep abreast of all that happens, and needs to happen, in Arkansas.

I’ll keep you posted.

The grants were awarded under a program called STEM Works. The long range goal is to better prepare students in the fields that are most likely to provide well paid and secure jobs, now and in the future. STEM Works helps local high schools pay for the technology needed in modern classrooms. It also helps state colleges train a new generation of teachers who will work in technology fields.

Pilot projects were announced last summer, when Cross County High School in Cherry Valley and Lincoln High School in Washington County became the first “New Tech High Schools” to follow the STEM Works model.

At the time, state education officials said they wanted to add 10 more schools to the program, so they were pleased to announce last week that they have added 15 new schools and the technical center.

The Northark Technical Center, which serves 14 school districts in north Arkansas, will offer classes in engineering and biomedical sciences, with an emphasis on how those subjects are used in real workplaces. It is called “Project Lead the Way.” Also receiving money to initiate “Project Lead the Way” are these school districts: Gravette, Jonesboro, Prairie Grove, Riverview and Star City.

Nine districts will join Cross County and Lincoln as schools in the “New Tech Network.” Students will learn technology through hands-on projects, rather than using traditional classroom methods.

The nine districts are Arkadelphia, Dumas, El Dorado, Highland, Hope, Marked Tree, Riverview, Russellville and Van Buren. They will each receive $150,000. Cross County and Lincoln, the existing schools in the New Tech Network, will get $75,000. The districts in Project Lead the Way will get varying amounts of up to $95,000.

Another model that STEM Works will promote is based on the successes of the EAST Initiative in numerous Arkansas high schools. That stands for Environmental and Spatial Technology. Various state agencies have allocated $2.25 million for the STEM Works program and private industries have donated significant amounts.

Tiered Lottery Scholarships

The Senate and House Education Committees will look into changing how lottery scholarships are awarded, with a mind to encouraging students to stay in college to earn a degree. Currently, eligible students receive lottery scholarships in the same amount for up to four years. Students at four-year universities get $4,500 and those at two-year colleges get $2,225 a year.

With tiered scholarships, students would get greater amounts each year. Before the lottery scholarship program was established, Academic Challenge Scholarships used to be tiered. Freshmen received $2,500, for example. If students maintained the required grade average, they would get $3,000 as a sophomore, $3,500 as a junior and $4,000 for their senior year.

Legislators will look at how such a plan would affect lottery scholarship financing, and perhaps introduce a bill to establish tiered scholarships in the 2013 regular session.

First, the governor and the director of the Human Services Department reported that the state Medicaid program appears to have enough money to get through the next fiscal year without a major shortfall.

Medicaid officials had been concerned that the health care program would fall short of revenue by about $60 million next fiscal year, in part because of increased enrollment. They expected increases in Medicaid enrollment of 5 percent a year because more people become eligible when unemployment worsens. However, enrollment growth has remained at about 2 percent a year.

Another piece of good news came in the December revenue report, which showed impressive growth over the same month last year. Net revenue for December was more than 9 percent greater this year than last year. Tax rates have not gone up, so the increase is a very accurate indicator of increased economic activity.

State revenue officials cautioned that the December revenue report reflected only one month’s activity. It gives state agencies a small cushion against an economic downturn, but until the economy gets stronger we should not expect every month to produce such good numbers.

The long term prospects for Medicaid finances are mixed, paradoxically, because of the improved economic situation in Arkansas. Medicaid is a government-subsidized health care program that last year helped pay for medical services for 770,000 Arkansas residents.

The federal and state governments share in the costs of Medicaid. In poor states the federal government pays a higher percentage than in relatively prosperous states.

Per capita income in Arkansas grew faster than in many other states, and as a result the federal government share in Medicaid funding will drop from 71 to 70 percent in October. That decrease of 1 percent amounts to the loss of about $50 million in federal matching funds for Arkansas Medicaid. State government will have to come up with an equal amount, or else cut $50 million in services.

In other state budget news, the governor said he would ask for a supplemental appropriation of $2.7 million for the state Forestry Commission to get through the current fiscal year. The legislature will consider the request at the fiscal session, which convenes on the second Monday in February as mandated by the state Constitution.

About $1.2 million of the Forestry Commission appropriation would pay back a grant from the federal government that the Commission has already spent on operations. The other $1.5 million would pay Commission expenses until the end of the fiscal year, on June 30.

Also, the governor has said he may recommend asking for two other supplemental appropriations – one for the Correction Department and one for the Department of Community Correction. If the legislature approves the supplemental appropriations, they would authorize additional spending for the current fiscal year.

During the fiscal session, legislators will approve budgets for all state agencies. In preparation for the session they will conduct budget hearings in late January. State general revenue is projected to be about $4.6 billion for the current fiscal year. The bulk of that revenue is from state sales taxes, individual income taxes and corporate income taxes.

An earlier meeting held the week before seemed to result in a “blame game”. Most legislators felt this was counterproductive to finding a solution and the second meeting was held for clarification of the situation. This time Director John Shannon took full responsibility for the accounting errors that led to the crisis and pledged to work to improve the situation and prevent its reoccurrence.

Unfortunately the 39 dismissals stand at this point. The money just isn’t there to pay their salaries. Several factors determined the positions temporarily eliminated; including vacancies by attrition, newer employees and more immediate needs. Many of the positions were firefighters. However we were told that no one area will be left especially vulnerable to forest fires – with the exception of one county in southwest Arkansas. Employees will be called back as funding improves.

It is an unfortunate situation that should never have occurred, but now we must deal with it. A meeting will be held on January 4 to address solutions and future actions. The fiscal session to be held in February may hold some of the answers, but it is still an unfortunate and unnecessary situation that never should have happened had due vigilance been in place.

In the past two weeks other subjects debated, “hashed and rehashed” included the projected post office closings. Three representatives from the USPS appeared before the legislative council to explain/defend the closing of post offices, the majority of which are in rural areas. Studies showed that 35% of Arkansas post offices are on the list to potentially be closed. That means 207 out of Arkansas’ 600 post offices may be closed. The UAM post office is listed for possible closure. Unfortunately the three employees present were only representatives and not decision-makers for the postal service.

While opponents argue that most postal offices under consideration for closure are rural offices, four have been, or potentially will be, closed in the metro area, including the LR Pleasant Ridge Station, the NLR Main Street Station, the LR Southside Station and the Little Rock State Capitol Station. Part/most of the criteria for closing appears to be the negative net income generated by these offices. That means they are not making any profit and are actually operating under a loss. Much of this loss may be attributed to the high overhead expenses incurred by the lease agreements of many of the new post office buildings constructed in the late 1990s.

Since businesses must operate with a positive income in the least, this is a difficult subject. While smaller communities fear a further loss of convenience and their identity, no one wants more taxes, higher rates or government handouts/bailouts. Due to public outcry, most potential final closure decisions have now been postponed until May for further study. While Arkansas legislators have written letters and protested these closures, the USPS and the Federal government have the final say.

However, an old “post office” concept may be revived as a possible solution in some instances. This concept is called the Village Post Office. Similar to small town post offices early in our country’s history, a local business owner may contract with the postal service to provide stamps, flat rate shipping postage and space for post office boxes in his/her business. The PO boxes would actually be serviced by USPS employees, like the local mail carrier, to ensure security of mail. This would eliminate the high overhead costs of leasing the post office buildings though.

After the holidays, another meeting will be held to expound on this concept, including requirements and dates for filing such proposals. As I said earlier, village post offices are not entirely new concepts. We even have a set of old post office boxes on display at the General Store of the Drew County Historical Museum.

I have found it interesting/amusing that many fellow legislators are heavily in favor of all budget “cuts” unless it affects them. However, “everyone else” and their entitlements are fair game. That’s human nature, I suppose, and we are definitely all human.

This will be my last report until mid-January. I have found my first year as your representative most interesting. It has been a fulltime job for me as I feel I must continually listen, investigate and learn in order to serve you better. I have no agenda other than a better future for all of Arkansas. Thank you for this opportunity to serve. I appreciate your confidence and pledge to be fair and ever vigilant in your best interests.

I look forward to another year in your service. May you all have a happy, healthy New Year in 2012. God bless all of us and God bless America.

First, there is much concern about the effectiveness of the lottery itself. Is it producing enough revenue to continue existing scholarships and award as many new ones as in the two previous years? Are we getting enough returning claimants to justify our “target” students or should we be “targeting” more second year and beyond students who clearly intend to complete their education? Should more nontraditional students be awarded scholarships? Should requirements be raised?

The sad facts that 40+% of those freshmen awarded scholarships the first year did not return to renew their scholarships for whatever reason is disturbing. This observation has given rise to a prediction that some who did not return this year may return as nontraditional students in coming years. (Nontraditional students are those not enrolled straight out of high school.) I feel certain some tweaking in the scholarships program will occur in the 2013 legislative session.

Another program under study is the Educational Facilities Partnership Fund. Simply, this fund was established to aid school districts financially toward building projects in three categories – intermediate repair, transitional projects (conversion of existing space to new uses) and catastrophic situations. The projected ending fund balance for all current projects is about $26 million. This fund has really helped schools in select situations.

Academic year 2009-2010 reports were also submitted and studied relating to Adult Education in Arkansas. Last year 50,354 students were served in Adult Ed/Literacy programs with 31,550 enrolled for 12 or more hours of instruction. That’s quite a significant number! Additionally, 42% of the students were between the ages of 25 and 44. 84% of the students earned their GED degrees and 2,575 of those entered postsecondary education programs. I would say the programs are successful. However, due to their perception of inadequate financial support, consolidation of many centers is being considered.

Again discussions were held concerning the value of requiring a foreign language in the school curriculum. There is also much concern that the number of teachers of foreign languages is decreasing while the number of students seeking enrolment is increasing. The treatment of foreign language credits in the new Common Core curriculum and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills was also aired.

As I tell my colleagues and anyone who will listen, my heart lies in education, but I have attended other meetings to be knowledgeable and current about all issues that face us. I serve on the legislative auditing committee and attended our monthly two-day meeting recently. I am continually amazed at degree of “mischief” involving public moneys that occur. This month’s more “unsavory” reports dealt with several cases of “questionable” bookkeeping practices on various levels in a variety of circumstances. Happily I can also report great numbers of audit reports that were flawless.

I recently had the opportunity to visit with two representatives of a nonprofit organization in Arkansas that is putting their sport to work to benefit the needy in Arkansas. The group is called Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry (AHFH). Founded in 2007, the group donates venison (97%) to programs that feed the hungry. In the 2010-2011 hunting season, they contributed 69,444 pounds of meat that provided an estimated 277,776 meals to hungry Arkansans. (Other game donated were elk, bear, duck, beef, pork and an occasional alligator.) 63 local processors prepare the meat that I understand is distributed through the Arkansas Hunger Alliance programs. You will hear more about this program later.

I also attended several meetings of the Legislative Council regarding a variety of subjects, including state contract reviews from a wide range of state agencies and entities. All of these meetings are open to the public and range from the mundane to the fiery. Since they affect our economy, growth and public funds, I attend to earn about current and future issues. That is my job and it is a fulltime endeavor in order to represent you effectively. Please don’t let anyone try to tell you differently. Sometimes I think I need another 8 hours a day to help cover everything!

This concludes my report for this period.

Merry Christmas to each and all of you!

The ruling came in a lawsuit out of Lonoke County filed by rice farmers against a German multi-national corporation. The farmers claimed that their rice was contaminated by genetically altered strains that had not been approved for human consumption. The rice farmers won $5.9 million in compensatory damages and $42 million in punitive damages.

One of the more important provisions in Act 649 of 2003, Arkansas’ tort reform law, had limits on punitive damages of $1 million. The Supreme Court ruling upheld a Lonoke Circuit Court ruling that the limit on punitive damages was unconstitutional.

Act 649 also limited awards in medical malpractice cases to the amounts actually billed. That provision was stricken by a state Supreme Court ruling in 2009. Another 2009 ruling by the Supreme Court struck down a provision in Act 649 that changed how fault and liability would be assigned among numerous parties who are found to be at fault. Defendants would pay according to a formula, based on their degree of fault, rather than having the defendant with the most money paying the most in damages.

In each case the Supreme Court relied heavily on the separation of powers articles in the constitution, which outline the powers of the legislative, the judicial and the executive branches. The court ruled that provisions in Act 649 are the prerogative of the Supreme Court and its committees on rules, evidence and procedure.

Last week’s ruling by the high court struck one of the last remaining significant provisions of Act 649.

The German corporation had been conducting field trials of the genetically altered strains of rice. The tests took place in Louisiana, but the strains began showing up in Arkansas. The Lonoke County farmers argued that during the testing, the corporation had negligently allowed cross pollination with conventional strains of rice.

The presence of contaminated rice caused a severe decline in exports of Arkansas long grain rice from 2005 through 2008, because in many foreign markets genetically altered crops are prohibited. The loss of markets drove down the price of long grain rice and the rice farmers filed suit in Lonoke County Circuit Court in 2006.

In a pre-trial motion the rice farmers asked the circuit court to declare unconstitutional the limits on punitive damages in the Arkansas tort reform law. Their argument was that the limits violated the separation of powers doctrine in the state constitution.

States Against Robo-calls to Cell Phones

The Arkansas attorney general is one of 53 attorneys general from the 50 states and U.S. territories who have asked Congress to reject a federal bill that would allow telemarketers to make automated “robo-calls” to cell phones. Robo-calls for commercial purposes are prohibited in Arkansas and many other states, but federal laws pre-empt state laws.

A robo-call is a tape recorded message, rather than a call from a live person. Computers can cheaply generate thousands of robo-calls in brief periods of time. When a person receives a robo-call on his cell phone, it costs in either minutes or money.

H.R. 3035 is in the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives. It would open loopholes in state and federal “Do Not Call” statutes, under which people can sign up to prevent telemarketers from calling them. H.R. 3035 is supported by collection agencies and financial service industries.