House City, County and Local Affairs Committee

January 15, 2025

 

Representative Justin Gonzales Representative Bart Schulz will be my vice chair, so if I happen to be out, he will take over. So I'll let the committee staff introduce themselves.

 

Katie Hickam I'm Katie Hickam and this is my first session here. I'm super excited.

 

Representative Justin Gonzales Got lots of firsts. Okay. I guess they don't have mics over there. So we have Yesenia Alvarado as a committee assistant and Sidney Sims as a committee attorney. She's not here. She's not here. I'm sorry. So this committee will be held on Wednesdays, 10:00. And Fridays, if we happen to be meeting on Fridays. I don't think that will happen. I think generally in the past, this committee has handled their business in one day of the week and we got that done on Wednesdays. 

We will need a quorum to start the meetings. A quorum is 11 committee members. If y'all could do your best to be on time and in your seat so it'll be easy to see a quorum and we can get started on time. That would be very helpful. 

Committee agendas are prepared in accordance with House rules. They will be prepared two days in advance. So if you want to bring a bill in a meeting in here, it's got to be prepared at least two days ahead of time. You will get notifications if you have a bill coming up in here. After a bill or resolution has appeared on the committee agenda and has been called up for consideration in the sponsor is not present, the item will be placed at the bottom of the active agenda. 

If a bill or resolution has been called up for consideration three times, it will automatically drop to the deferred list unless you contact staff and tell them you're not going to be here and don't want it put on the deferred list. If a bill is put on the deferred list, it takes two days to get it takes two days notice to take it off the deferred. That will give the public time to know that that bill is being put back on the active agenda and they can show up to testify if they so choose. 

If you have an amendment to the bill, it needs to be in writing and you will need to let staff know about that. I think you need five signed copies of that amendment. Most of y'all are aware of all this stuff. If you have a bill that is going to be controversial or if you have people coming in to testify for a bill that are coming in from a long ways, way out of state possibly, let me know or let Katie know and we'll get that on a special order of business and we'll have a day set aside to run that. So we'll be a little more organized with that. At that, I will give everybody up here a chance to introduce themselves. Representative Schulz, would you like to start?

 

Representative Bart Schulz Good morning, Representative Bart Schultz, District 28. I live in Cave City. This is my second term in the House, second term on this committee. I appreciate you guys. Don't ever hesitate to holler at me if you need me. Thanks.

 

Representative Justin Gonzales And we'll just go right down the line here. Johnny Rye. You want to turn your mic on? Okay. Another thing on the agenda that we didn't get cleared up, everybody needs to sign in on their little iPads, whatever you call them. So it's 10 and your district number. So if you'll sign in, then you can activate your mic. 10 and then your district number. Okay. You can borrow your neighbor's mike. I think you're on.

 

Representative Johnny Rye Okay. Thank you, sir. Representative Johnny Rye, district number 36. Honor to be with you guys and ladies.

 

Representative Tippi McCullough Representative Tippi McCullough, district 74 here in Little Rock. Going into my fourth term this time, and I think I've been on this committee three terms. Thanks.

 

Representative Mindy McAlindon Representative Mindy McAlindon, House District 10, Bentonville, Bella Vista, a little bit of Centerton. This is my second term and my second time on this committee. Great to be here.

 

Representative Rebecca Burkes Representative Rebecca Burkes. I am House District 11. I live in Springdale. This is my second term and second term on this committee as well.

 

Representative Tara Shephard Representative Tara Shephard. This is my second term and my first time on this committee and I'm looking forward to serving in building, learning more about how I can build local partnerships.

 

Representative Brit McKenzie Representative Brit McKenzie. I represent the great people of Rogers, Gateway, Garfield and Avoca. It's my first time on City County Local. Second termm.I'm looking forward to working with everybody.

 

Representative Alyssa Brown Representative Alyssa Brown. And normally I have a voice. It's just gone. And I'm going to represent District 41, which is Cleburne and Stone County. And this is my first term and excited to be on this committee.

 

Representative Brad Hall Representative Brad Hall. I'm from the huge metropolitan city of Rudy, Arkansas, and this is my first term. So we'll see how it goes.

 

Representative Wade Andrews Hey, y'all. I'm Wade Andrews, State Rep, District 98. I live in Camden, but my district stretches really from East Camden all the way to Lewisville. Most of Ouachita, part of Columbia, Nevada and Lafayette counties.

 

Representative Scott Richardson Good morning, everyone. I'm Scott Richardson. I'm from northwest Arkansas. Rogers Bentonville, little bit of Cave Springs. This is my second term. This is my second round on City County. Actually, I think this was my second choice, but I'm really happy to be on this committee. Other than that one little stint on that one little bill that we had last round, it was a lot of fun. So I'm looking forward to another great session.

 

Representative Stetson Painter Good morning. Stetson Painter, District 3, Northern Central Arkansas. The great town of Mountain Home and Viola. The best looking part of the state. And that's where everybody in your district comes and has hangouts on the lake. So appreciate it. First time being on the committee. Looking forward to working with everybody. Appreciate it.

 

Representative John Milligan I'm Representative John Milligan. I'm from Northeast Arkansas, District 33, starting my third term and my first time on this committee. So I look forward to working with each and every one on the committee and everybody in the audience.

 

Representative Ashley Hudson Thank you. I'm sorry. I was tardy. Ashley Hudson. I represent District 75, which is West Little Rock. This is my third term. Second time on this committee. I'm glad to see a lot of faces out here in the crowd that I recognize and looking forward to getting started. Thanks.

 

Representative Aaron Pilkington Aaron Pilkington, representative from District 45, Pope and Johnson County, includes Clarksville, the jewel of the River Valley. Second time being on this committee. I was on it back in my 2019 first session. I hated it so much, I swore I'd never come back. But this committee ain't acting right, so now I'm back.

 

Representative Fran Cavenaugh Representative Fran Cavanaugh, District 30, part of Lawrence, part of Greene, part of Craighead. This is my fifth term and my fourth term on this committee. Glad to be here.

 

Representative Mike Holcomb Good morning. Representative Mike Holcomb. I represent District 93. Starting my seventh term, six of those on this committee. I currently serve parts of Jefferson, Lincoln, Cleveland, and Drew County. And I'm excited about being back on one of the most important committees that we have on the House. Thank you.

 

Representative Justin Gonzales I think that takes care of all our members. I'm sorry. I had had one come in late.

 

Representative Karilyn Brown Hi, Representative Karilyn Brown. Yes, I did get here late. I represent District 67, which is about half of Sherwood and half of Jacksonville, and I'm serving my sixth term. And this is my second time on this committee by choice. Thank you. I'm looking forward to serving with all of you.

 

Representative Justin Gonzales All right. Next, we'll move on to legislative audit staff. Do you want to come to the table and introduce yourselves?

 

[Audience Introductions]

 

Representative Justin Gonzales Thank you very much. Thank you. Committee, that wraps up everybody in the room. I think these will all be good resources for y'all if y'all need somebody to reach out to for advice on legislation or help with whatever you're working on, be it dealing with sheriffs or cities, counties, whatever. So get their contacts and feel free to work with them and please do. 

One other thing that I want to talk about, the way I want to run this committee is I know in the past you've been used to asking for follow up questions. I don't want to do that. I want to give you all a little latitude to ask questions and work through these issues. If you're on a path trying to dig in and get to the bottom, answer to one of your questions, then just please continue on. I don't want to delay things by asking you to stop and ask for a follow up question. 

If I think it gets to the point of it's just going on and on and on and we're not getting anywhere, then I'll step in and stop you, kind of redirect things. But other than that, I really want you to be able to ask the questions that you want to ask. We've got a lot in the queue, I may ask you to stop, pause, and we'll come back to you or something like that. 

The other thing would be limiting debate. These committees are the only time that the public has time or is able to really come in and testify on these bills. And I think that's a very important part of the legislative process. And we need to be very cautious about how we limit that. So I will not be taking many requests to limit debate unless it is something that has just been beaten to death and we're not getting any new information. Then at that time, that's probably appropriate and we'll consider that. 

But other than that, I really want the public to have input, be able to freely sit at the table and testify, get their words in the committee. Because like I said, it's the only time they have to do that. Once these bills pass this committee and they get on the House floor, there's no more public input like that. It's up to us at that point. That's really it, I think. 

Do you all have any questions or anything you want to add? Mr. Vice Chair, do you have anything? All right. Well, I think that sums up everything we have on the agenda. With that, we are adjourned.