Senate Judiciary Committee
January 15, 2025
Senator Alan Clark Let's get started. The chair sees a quorum. Truly. Most of you are familiar with all of us, I think. I think you know me. I'm Alan Clark, chair of the Judiciary Committee. And here to my left, your right, is Senator Tyler Dees, vice chair. Do you have anything to say this morning?
Senator Tyler Dees It's an honor to serve with you all. First time in Judiciary. Just a common man bringing common sense. The only time I'm around this many lawyers is usually in contract law and my business side. And so I'm just excited to try to not be sued by the time we finish committee. Just excited to serve with you all. Appreciate it.
Senator Alan Clark Let's go around and let each member who is here introduce themselves and give a little background about themselves. Senator Tucker, are you ready?
Senator Clarke Tucker Yes, sir.
Senator Alan Clark It's always fun to be the one to start. So, Senator Clarke Tucker.
Senator Clarke Tucker Thank you, Senator. Not to be confused with Senator Alan Clark. So yes, Clarke Tucker, senator for a good portion of Little Rock. Welcome to my district. We're in my district right now. And my day job, I am a lawyer, primarily civil practice. And glad to be back on Judiciary. I look forward to working with everybody here.
Senator Matt McKee Senator Matt McKee from west of Hot Springs, served on Judiciary Committee for the last two years. It's an enjoyable experience. I learned a great deal and looking forward to working with everybody this year.
Senator Blake Johnson Senator Blake Johnson from Corning, serve District 21, served on Judiciary for one session or one term in the past. A second go around and proud to be back.
Senator Terry Rice Thank you. Senator Terry Rice from the east suburbs of Bates, Arkansas, a dried up coal mining town four miles from the Oklahoma line. This is starting my 15th year on Judiciary. I've served four in the house and the rest down here. Anyway, last place I ever expected to be. But Senator Dees mentioned common sense and I think common sense fits in anywhere. And whether I seem to have any or not, I strive for it. So it's good to be back on Judiciary. Good to have Senator Clark back in the chair and look forward to serving. Thank you.
Senator Alan Clark Senator Dees, would you like to add anything else?
Senator Tyler Dees Senator Tyler Dees from Siloam Springs, Arkansas, and a family of three kids. A joy to have our family here for the swearing in just to remind us a little bit about home, why we're serving and the good people we get to represent. So an honor to get to represent northwest Arkansas on this committee and an honor to get to serve next to you, Senator Clark, as you chair this group. So excited to serve with all of you.
Senator Alan Clark Senator Alan Clark. I'm from the suburbs of the big city of Lonsdale, which means I live out in the woods. And that's approximately halfway between Benton and Hot Springs, just so you'll know where it is. I represent eastern Garland County, South and West Saline County, Northern Grant County, and almost all of Hot Spring County. I look forward to working with this committee. I think Senator Dees is about the only new one to the committee. Look forward to working with him.
And as we have demonstrated in the past, we will be dedicated to getting the people's work done. And I say that because one of my biggest frustrations coming to Judiciary when I was not on it years ago was not being able to get my bills run before the end of the session and trying to sign them out at the end with no testimony and trying to get them passed at the very end. And so we will work diligently to see that that doesn't happen, that we get everything run.
Everyone wants to know who their senators are, but maybe more important, other people don't realize it if they don't work with them, but without our staff, we wouldn't get anything done. If we look competent, it is because of the them. If we don't look competent, it's in spite of the fact that they tried to make us look so. But our staff is committee analyst Colby Little. This will be my first time to work with him. Our committee assistant, Emily Jamison. First time to work with Emily, too, I think. And so you all are in for an experience. And Caitlin Bennett, committee attorney. Is she here today? Okay.
And so next on the agenda is to review and adopt Senate committee rules. You all should have a copy of them. The only thing that I know of that is different here, normally we have to change it, but this time, number three, it's written in. It's already there for us. It says all amendments to bills must be in writing. Verbal amendments are not permitted, which is where it stops in most committees. Ours says minor technical verbal amendments are allowed. And that has worked very well for us.
Is there any changes or would somebody like to make a motion to approve the rules? Motion. Second from Senator McKee. Any discussion? All for the motion signify by saying aye. All opposed. Motion carried. We have our rules. None of y'all are freshmen, so I hope you had time to review them and didn't have anything you wanted to discuss.
The staff wants me to tell you, please leave your folders in the room after each meeting. I think we all know that. But they are a good reminder. We are scheduled to meet on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. in Room 171. And we will do that unless we get behind. If we get behind, Mondays upon adjournment of the Senate if there's not other conflicts would be the-- they've got us scheduled for Friday and I'm assuming you all prefer Mondays after Senate adjourns to Fridays. I see some nodding. Okay, so. So Mondays will be good. Thanks for your clarity there, Senator Johnson. So we may want to go ahead and get that set up for Mondays just so everybody's used to it being there. Otherwise somebody that doesn't agree with a vote will be crying surprise.
We have not everybody, I think, that will be with us throughout the session, but we have a number of folks here today that represent various agencies, organizations and associations. Would some of you or all of you briefly like to come to the table and introduce yourselves so we're familiar and the other folks are familiar? I'll start with the Prosecutors Association because I know they're always ready.
Bob McMahon Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm Bob McMahon, the prosecutor coordinator. I represent both my office, which is the Prosecutor Coordinator's Office-- we are a state agency. And also I represent the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association. So you'll see me or a member of my staff or various elected prosecuting attorneys. We will be here just about every day.
Daniel Shoe My name is Daniel Shue. I'm the elected prosecuting attorney for Sebastian County, the 12th Judicial District. I have served as legislative chairman for the past five legislative sessions. I'm also president of the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association this year and look forward to working with the committee in any fashion that you'd like. Thank you.
Will Jones Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I am Will Jones. I'm the prosecuting attorney for the Sixth Judicial District, which is Polaski and Perry County.
Lori Kumpuris Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I'm Lori Kumpuris. I'm the deputy prosecutor coordinator. I will always be here. Along we have a couple of other staff attorneys we may bring with us, depending on what the issue is. But if you can't find Bob and you need some questions answered, one of the two of us will always be around.
Senator Alan Clark All right. Thank you all. Thank you for being here. It seems like the next logical place to go was the public defender's office. Greg, you want to introduce yourself?
Gregg Parish Thank you, Mr. Chair. Gregg Parish with the Arkansas Public Defender Commission. I will be here. Unfortunately, you will also know, many of you know Jeff Rosensweig. He just had to walk out, but he will be here also. He had a court appearance in Hot Springs he had to go to. I will have other people here with me as well, Tina Lee, David Roup or Charlotte Bogan, possibly Brent Gasper as well, who departed BLR and I was fortunate enough to catch. Thank you.
Senator Alan Clark I'm going to pull a fast one. So anybody have any questions for Gregg? Thank you for being here. Who would like to introduce themselves next or their group?
Scott Bradley Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members. I'm Scott Bradley. I'm the director of the Arkansas Sheriffs Association. I think I've worked with most of you already. I'm available. I hope you have my cell number. If not, I got my cards in my pocket. I make myself available to you. If you have something you want the Sheriffs to see or know, I'll be glad to disburse that to them. Thank you for letting us be here this morning.
Mark Whitmore Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I'm Mark Whitmore. I'm with the Association of Counties. With me here today, Tayler Hanford, newly minted attorney that's joined the association. We've got other people that assist, that liaison. Of course, we handle all the different county officials. We assist with the sheriffs, the county judges, the justice of the peace, the circuit clerks, the county clerks, the assessors, collectors, treasurers and coroners. And so many of you know, Josh Curtis handles the collectors. Lindsay Bailey handles the assessors. They tag team a lot. Josh does the circuit clerks, Lindsay does the county clerks. But if you can just get a hold of any of us we will make sure we have the right person contact you. And of course, I want to make an observation. Lots of you Senators get questions from your constituents or other things about county government. Almost all of y'all have contacted us about something to do with county government, how it operates. Ask us any time. We'll get back with you and help you on constituent questions as well. That's about it.
Senator Alan Clark All right. Thank you all.
Jerry Cox Mr. Chairman, thank you for inviting us to be here. My name is Jerry Cox. I'm director of Family Council, and we've enjoyed working with all of you and many others. With me today is Luke McCoy. And most of you know Luke quite well. The rest of our team is Aaron Hogan and Sharice Dean, and you may see them out here later on today. In fact, they are in some other committees. But again, we've always enjoyed working with your committee and look forward to doing the same this session.
Luke McCoy Good morning. Welcome to be here. Let me know if I can help you in any way.
Senator Alan Clark Thank you all for being here.
Joseph Luebke Good morning, Mr. Chairman. My name is Joseph Luebke. I'm an assistant attorney general in the criminal division of the Attorney General's office. I'm on the legislative team for our office. I will be in the committee along with my colleague.
Brooke Gasaway Hi, I'm Brooke Gasaway. I'm also in the Criminal division. And either myself or Joe or maybe Alex Vinton will be here at every committee meeting.
Senator Alan Clark Thank you all. Thank you, Attorney General's office, for being here.
Richard Bearden Richard Bearden. Good morning. Representing the Arkansas Judicial Council. I was looking around and I don't see the staff from the administrative office of the court. Must be a quiet day over there today. So we'll be here representing the judges. Look forward to working with you. And we've got a new staff member. We've got one to introduce himself as well. Thank you.
Noah Sanders Senators also helping with Richard and the Judicial Council. So nice to meet you guys. Happy to be here.
Senator Alan Clark And your name again?
Noah Sanders Noah Sanders.
Senator Alan Clark Thank you. All right. Thank you all. I talked to AOC out in the hallway.
Trent Minner Good morning. I'm Trent Minner with government relations firm GC advisors and will be representing the Bar Association this session.
Senator Alan Clark Very good. Thank you for being here.
Josh Stewart Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members. My name is Josh Stewart. I represent the governor's office. You'll be with me all session, so I look forward to it.
Senator Alan Clark Good to have you here, Josh. Have we missed anyone?
Paul Calvert You'll know me. I'm Paul Calvert. I kind of wear two hats down here. I'm part of the Dave Elswick show, and he'll be broadcasting live. And then I also will probably be in this committee quite a bit watching and advocating for a few things. And I've got my wife Sarah with me here this year to tag along and keep me alive.
Senator Alan Clark Thank you, Paul.
Brooke Gasaway Hi, I'm Jodiane Tritt. And I'm the executive vice president of the Arkansas Hospital Association. I also am an attorney. So you'll see me in this committee when things impact hospitals and the health care delivery system when you need me. So glad to have you. Thank you.
Senator Alan Clark And thank you, Jodiane.
Melissa Weatherton Hi. Good morning. My name is Melissa Weatherton. I am over a portion of Medicaid for DHS. I'm a lawyer, so they asked me to stop by. We're going to have a four person DHS team in the committee. We'll be tagging in and out that are all lawyers in case anything comes up or any question regarding DHS that you need answered. So I'm happy to be here and look forward to session with you guys.
Senator Alan Clark Thank you.
Ben Beaumont Good morning. Good morning. I'm Ben Beaumont with the University of Arkansas system. And I'll be in the committees and dealing with issues involving higher education and look forward to get to know each of you. Thank you.
Senator Alan Clark Thank you for being here.
Kristen Harper Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members. Kristen Harper. I'm the policy director with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. We may not be here as some of the others in the room, but either myself, our executive director, Keisel Smith Brantley or Governmental Affairs Director Val Haber will be here from time to time. And I look forward to working with everyone. Thank you.
Senator Alan Clark Thank you for being here. Is that everyone? Let me tell all of you and I know I speak for each member of the committee how much we appreciate the time you spend with us. The longer you're here, the more you appreciate that. And your expert testimony, even when it's horribly wrong, that's when you testify adversely against my bill, but we really do appreciate you and the information. And sometimes when we horribly disagree with you, we learn a lot. We discuss that sometimes in backrooms, how valuable it was that even though we take different sides, what you had to say was very informative. And even though it may not have seemed to affect our vote, it caused us to consider our vote a great deal. So again, thank you all for being here and and thank you for introducing yourselves.
We've got one more order of business unless I have missed something. And we will need to determine-- they asked me and I said, I'm going to ask them. We need to determine when our committee photograph will be taken by the secretary of state's photographer. I'm going to say that next Wednesday probably would be a good time. So hopefully we'll tell the missing members. And y'all try to remember because I'll probably remember when I get here. So is that good then? We will be meeting at 10, so 10:00 a week from today. Any other business? Seeing none, thank you for serving. And we are adjourned.
