BY STATE REPRESENTATIVE NATE BELL –
We’re in the last few weeks of the 2015 legislative session and several of the bills I’ve filed or presented during this session are now law.
Act 21 permits ADE to grant waivers for Governor’s scholars under certain conditions. I filed this bill after learning that a young man from Mena faced losing his scholarship due to a religious commitment. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assemb…/…/2015R/Acts/Act21.pdf
Act 159 restricts county clerks from personally benefitting from judicially ordered sales of real or personal property. I filed this bill at the request of Polk County Clerk Terri Harrison. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assem…/…/2015R/Acts/Act159.pdf
Act 102 protects the rights of public employees to exercise their rights under the Freedom of Information Act without retribution. I filed this bill after learning of negative employment actions against a state employee who requested documents under FOIA. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assem…/…/2015R/Acts/Act102.pdf
Act 103 renames the Arkansas Geographic Information Office to Arkansas Geographic Information Systems. I filed this bill at the request of the agency to make their name more clearly indicate their mission. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assem…/…/2015R/Acts/Act103.pdf
Act 163 clarifies the law permitting sheriff’s to charge a reasonable fee for non-criminal fingerprinting. I filed this bill at the request of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Previous law was unclear on this and there was no consistent policy when audits were conducted. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assem…/…/2015R/Acts/Act163.pdf
HB1269 is on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature. It will establish a standard form for collection of independent candidate petition signatures and require that they be certified as legally collected by the petition gatherer. I filed this bill after encountering multiple situations involving illegally collected petition signatures. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/…/2015R/Pages/BillInformation…
Act 306 establishes the University of Arkansas E-Versity. This law permits the University of Arkansas to move forward with a fully online program designed to assist degree completion in adult learners with some prior college. I believe this will greatly improve access to high quality learning for those of us who are geographically isolated from most opportunities to earn bachelors degrees.
http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assem…/…/2015R/Acts/Act306.pdf
Several of my other bills have passed committees or have passed out of the House and are awaiting Senate action. They include HB1006-The Compact for a Balanced Budget, HB1087 which will remove the law barring employees and employers from being “friends” on social media, HB1381 addressing home school testing, HB1610 addressing unopposed elections and HR1023 honoring Arkansas 4-H.
I have filed several bills designed to increase election turnout, reduce regulations and combine state agencies, boards and commissions. Those bills continue to move through the legislative process and I’m hopeful that they will soon become law.
You can see the complete list of bills I have sponsored at http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2015/2015R/Pages/MemberProfile.aspx?member=Bell. I appreciate the opportunity to represent you in Little Rock and I do my best to respond to all constituent contact. It is extremely difficult for me to take phone calls during the legislative session as I am in meetings most of the day and night. The most reliable way to contact me during the session is to send email to nate.bell@arkansashouse.org.
About Author
Jeri Pearson
Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.
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