House Revenue and Tax Committee

January 21, 2025

 

Representative Frances Cavenaugh [00:00:00] So with that, this is going to be our organizational meeting. We'll just go through and introduce ourselves, kind of tell you how I would like to run the committee and kind of going forward with that. I'm going to see if Vice Chair has any remarks he'd like to make before I move on.

 

Representative David Ray [00:00:19] Thank you, Madam Chair. David Ray, House District 69. I'm just excited to be here. This is my second term on Rev and Tax. And I think if you look at all the committees and the subject matter that they review, you'd be hard pressed to find another area where we've made more substantive, significant progress for the people of this state than in the area of tax policy over the last ten years or so. And so I'm excited to continue that work, both what we can do here in the session and then once we get out of session, really using the interim period to our advantage, to plan strategically for the future and the path ahead. So I'm happy to be back on this committee and looking forward to working with all of you again.

 

Representative Frances Cavenaugh [00:01:04] Thank you. At this time, I want to go ahead and introduce our staff. We have Brandon Smith, who's our analyst. I think everybody recognizes him. We have Theresa Smith over there doing our administrative. And then we have Jerry Thompson and he is actually shadowing and he's working with the Black Caucus. So he's shadowing. So we're glad to have them here. I know they'll be a big help to us during the session as we move forward. With that, members, I would like for you to take the time to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you and what you're doing on this committee and anything you think's relevant for us to know. And with that, Representative Jean, we'll start with you.

 

Representative Lane Jean [00:01:44] Thank you, Chairman. Lane Jean. I'm from District 99, which I cover parts of Columbia, Lafayette and Miller County in the southwest corner of the state. This is my eighth term and this is my seventh time to be on Rev and Tax. The only reason I didn't get on it one time, I picked, for our friend, I thought he was my friend, a spot on Education so he could get on there because he was down in seniority. And that year Rev and Tax filled up before I could get back on it. But I've been on Rev and Tax for the last 7 of the 8 terms that I've been here. Anyway, I look forward to working with everybody.

 

Representative Jim Wooten [00:02:24] I'm Jim Jordan. It's my fourth term, and I look forward to working with all of you. I had the opportunity to share with most of you. Just glad to be here. Thank you, Madam Chair.

 

Representative Ron McNair [00:02:43] Ron McNair. I represent District 4, which is South Boone County. Served on Rev and Tax. Took a venture into Education last term. So I'm happy to be back here.

 

Representative Rick McClure [00:02:56]  Rick McClure, District 29. Most of Hot Spring and a small portion of Saline County. And two terms ago I was in here and not last time. So this is my second time and looking forward to a good session.

 

Representative John Maddox [00:03:13] John Maddox, District 86, that is all of Polk, Montgomery and a portion of Howard County. This is my first term on Rev and Tax and I look forward to being here and working with everyone and potentially continuing to do the good work in cutting Arkansans' taxes.

 

Representative Les Warren [00:03:34] I'm Les Warren, District 84, which is Garland County and City of Hot Springs. I am sure serving in my fifth term. I've been on Rev and Tax all five terms. Got broken in by Joe Jett with the internet sales tax and they decided they would start with the lowest ranking member and I was number 100. So I had to make the first vote on Internet sales tax. And I was a yes. So I probably made enemies right there, but I stood my ground.

 

Representative Les Eaves [00:04:12] Representative Les Eaves. I represent Searcy, Kensett and Higginson and I am significantly younger than Lane Jean. So this is only my sixth time on this committee. And just real excited that we finally have a good chairman on this committee.

 

Representative Richard McGrew [00:04:33] Richard McGrew, District 85, which is western Garland County and the Hot Springs area, Hot Springs Village. And this is my third term and I've been here all three terms.

 

Representative John Carr [00:04:45] I'm John Carr. I represent the central portion of Rogers in northwest Arkansas. This is my third term, second time on Rev and Tax. And I'm excited to be here.

 

Representative Johnny Rye [00:04:56] Representative Johnny Rye, District 36. It covers about half of Poinsett county and about a third of Craighead County. And I've watched this committee the last 10 years, and it looks like there's been some very, very good tax cuts that come through, but very, very pinpoint to where it would be a good situation without any type of throwback that would be too much. It looked like it was done exactly right. And I'm just glad to be with you all.

 

Representative Rebecca Burkes [00:05:32] I'm Rebecca Burkes, District 11. I cover portions of Springdale, Lowell and Rogers. It's my second term in the House and my second term on this committee. I appreciate the thoughtful work that we did last session, and I'm excited to start again.

 

Representative James Eaton [00:05:47] Good morning. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm James Eaton. I think I'm the only freshman here. I represent District 26, which is Madison County and parts of Franklin and Carroll County. I feel very fortunate to get on here. This was my first selection, so it worked out great. Glad to be here.

 

Representative Frances Cavenaugh [00:06:05] Thank all of you. And I would like the members and the audience to introduce themselves. And we'll start with Secretary Hudson. If you'd like to introduce yourself and your team. End of the table will be fine. Thank you.

 

Jim Hudson [00:06:31] Good morning, members. Jim Hudson, secretary, DFA. This is on one of our home committees for DFA, so we will be staffing it. Every time you're here, you know, large number of us. I'm not sure I'll be here every time, but I'll try to make most of the meetings. The key staff member for DFA that you need to know is Paul Gehring. And Paul, if I can get you just to kind of stand up so they can see you. And Alicia Austin Smith is his deputy as well. 

Paul is our chief legal counsel at DFA. But frankly, I think Paul is the most knowledgeable person about Arkansas income tax and sales tax law in the state of Arkansas. So he's just a great resource for you to be familiar with as you file your bills and BLR kind of gets the work done. Once we see that language, we will begin working on any fiscal impacts statements that might be applicable to it. Paul will lead that effort. And then any issues or any concerns or suggestions that we have to make your bill better then Paul will be coordinating as well. And then Charlie Collins is over there as well. Charlie leads our revenue division, so he helps on the effort. Autumn Hemphill is beside him. She handles our sales tax and use tax. And Judy Bowers beside her handles income tax.

 And Eileen Henderson, she's actually in charge of our audit, both on the sales tax side and the income tax as well. Joel Dipippa as well as one of our attorneys in the revenue division. I almost missed Joel. And then Robert Brech. Robert is in charge of the math in terms of the state budget. So he's a great resource as well. We're just excited to be here with you this session and we look forward to a good relationship. Reach out to me personally if you ever have a concern about anything that's going on. And if something's not moving fast enough, I'll see what I can do to help kind of get things going the right direction for you. With that, happy to take any questions you may have.

 

Representative Frances Cavenaugh [00:08:33] You are getting off lucky today. No questions.

 

Jim Hudson [00:08:35] I know that it won't be a pattern.

 

Representative Frances Cavenaugh [00:08:37] It will not. I appreciate that. And tell me if you would like to introduce yourself.

 

Selby McCollett [00:08:50] This is actually my first time at the table, so I'm really excited. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. My name is Selby McCollett. It I'm the governor's budget director. I also have the privilege of managing her tax portfolio. So very excited to have been able to cut the income tax three times since the governor's come to office and obviously do a lot of other really important work with this committee. Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns about either the budget or any sort of tax related things. Jim, as he mentioned, is my spirit guide in this world. But if you have concerns about Jim, let me know too. Thank you.

 

Representative Frances Cavenaugh [00:09:30] Thank you. I appreciate that. I really don't see anybody else in the audience. But you've met most of the people that we'll be dealing with in this actual committee. We only have one freshman, so most of us already know who it is. What I want to do is kind of tell you how I'm going to try to approach session this time. What we're going to do is, of course, everybody knows in this committee we're not going to take any votes because we don't really know what we've got to work with. We don't know what we're going to have. 

As session goes forward, we'll know that. Every one of us in here would like to cut every tax that we hate. But we all know that if we do that, we blow the budget. So we have to be deliberate in what we do. We have to think about what we're doing. But in the same instance, what I'm going to allow to do is if the bill has no fiscal impact, either to general revenue or special language, then we can go ahead and take a vote on that. Okay. If it's just a clean up bill, something that we've got to do, technically, I don't have any trouble with that. If it is a bill that affects general revenue or special language, we are not going to take any votes on that. We're just not going to do it till we know what we've got to work with. 

With that being said, I'm going to allow you to present your bills. We're going to hear the bills and we're going to debate them, but we're not going to take any votes. So that way at least you can present your bill. We know what we're working with. So that's kind of how I see us running the committee this time. With that, if there are bills on the agenda, we're going to start hearing them Thursday if we have the fiscal impact. So just be aware that if you've got a bill filed and you don't want to run it, you need to let me know you want to put it on deferred so that we'll have those on deferred. Otherwise we're going to do the work so we know what we've got, bills we're looking at, and then we're going to move forward. 

But we're not going to, again, I'm going to emphasize we're not going to take any vote. And I've had members approach me about it's a small impact or it's a large impact. I don't care if it's small or large, we're not going to take a vote. So any questions? All right. Seeing none, that's kind of how we're going to work. And with that, I appreciate every one of your willingness to serve on this committee, because I do think it's an important committee. It's an important committee that works with Budget because everybody knows that if we don't handle this committee properly, we're a budget buster. So we've got to be able to handle this correctly. With that, I appreciate everybody coming and we are adjourned.