House Judiciary Committee
February 4, 2025
Representative Carol Dalby
Members, if you'll begin taking your seat we're going to get started. Good morning. House Judiciary will come to order. Chair sees a quorum. Representative Beaty, before you get your seat good and warm, are you ready to go with Senate Bill 15? Are you going to present that this morning? Mr. Boyd's bill? I thought you were. If you're ready, we're ready to hear you. Members, if you'll turn to Senate Bill 15. You'll just identify yourself, Representative Beatty, you'll be recognized to present your bill.
Representative Howard Beaty
Thank you Madam Chair, Representative Howard Beaty, District 95, Ashley and Chicot County. Today I'm here to present Senate Bill 15. It is an act to amend the law concerning negligent discharge of firearms while hunting deer and to repeal 15-43-205. And basically what I would direct your attention to is the first paragraph of the bill that states the general assembly and the intent is the general assembly has become aware of the fact that many persons hunting deer in this state negligently allow their firearm to be discharged without exercising proper care to ascertain the object at which they shoot, thereby endangering the life, limb, and property of other persons.
Notice the intent of this section to deter the negligent use of firearm by deer hunters by imposing penalties thereof. If you look back at the history of this bill, the original bill was 1947 and it was amended in 1965 to add the teeth and the penalties. So you've got an outdated, you've got a law that was put on the books in 65 before there were any safety training, hunter education programs, even burnt orange in the field. You didn't have to wear that. I think that kind of came to prevalence back in 1960, an Outdoor Life article that was written that was stressing some of that to deter and have a little safety concerns there.
Also during this time we didn't have the law enforcement that we have in Game and Fish and other areas. So it was a problem at the time for folks deer hunting. So the legislature to try to protect the constituents passed this bill. It is also a bill that going back and looking historically, no one could find that this law had ever been used through the fine imposed. So with that I agree to run this bill with Senator Boyd to repeal this because it's another law that's on our books that's not utilized. It's just taking up space. So with that I'll entertain any questions.
Representative Carol Dalby
Representative Unger, you're recognized for a question.
Representative Steve Unger
Thank you Madam Chair. Do we have the same?
Representative Carol Dalby
Get your microphone down to where we can.
Representative Steve Unger
Do we have similar laws for hunting ducks and squirrels?
Representative Howard Beaty
As far as we could tell this is the only law that specifies a specific type of hunting and it was deer hunting. And again that first paragraph communicates the reason and the intent of the legislature with passing of this bill was to take care of a problem with deer hunting. There's nothing else in any other line of hunting that's out there. Plus we have other laws that would take care of the negligent discharge. We're not removing anything that would provide law enforcement an opportunity or an avenue for enforcement of someone that's operating recklessly and endangering life.
Representative Steve Unger
Thank you Madam Chair.
Representative Carol Dalby
Members have any other questions? Seeing no further questions, we have no one who has signed up to speak for or against the bill. Representative Beaty, you're recognized to close for your bill.
Representative Howard Beaty
Madam Chair I'm closed to the bill and I’ll offer a motion do pass.
Representative Carol Dalby
Members we have a motion to do pass on the table. Is there any discussion of the motion? Seeing no discussion, all in favor of the motion please say aye. Any opposed say no. The ayes have it. Congratulations, you have passed your bill.
Representative Howard Beaty
You know, Madam Chair, just a comment, being a part of this committee, it's a whole lot friendlier room than the last times that I've said at this end of the table. Thank you and thank you committee.
Representative Carol Dalby
We like our reputation of warm and fuzzy in here. Yeah, Representative Eubanks did point out correctly that all this guarantees is you get a motion in here if you're on the committee. Other than that, there are no guarantees. That's the hard part. Members, Senator Wallace had to step out for a minute. He's going to come back and take up his bill. So with that, we're going to skip down to House Bill 1317 and recognize Representative Shepherd. And we're still waiting on an amendment on that one. With that, House Judiciary will go into recess until we get everybody back in here.
[Recess]
All right, the House Judiciary will come back to order. Senator Wallace, before you get seated we're going to recognize you to come to the end of the table. Members we're going to be hearing Senate Bill 13. Senator Wallace, once you get to the end of the table if you'll identify yourself you're on to proceed.
Senator Dave Wallace
Madam Chair, members, Senator Dave Wallace, District 19.
Representative Carol Dalby
You're recognized. Glad to have you on our end of the Capitol and you're recognized to proceed with your bill.
Senator Dave Wallace
Thank you ma'am. It's good to be back in the House. You all don't know I was in the House my first two years. I sat with Captain Tosh over there and a few others. This bill, Senate Bill 13, is a narrowly tailored bill. It's designed to protect awards of money that's already been awarded to the state of Arkansas. There's no new money involved in any of this. And this is money obtained by the Arkansas victims of scouting in the Boy Scout Bank bankruptcy trust. So that's money set aside for people in Arkansas. This bill protects that.
There's a lawsuit going up through the chain that is arguing that the initial bill that I wrote four years ago is unconstitutional on sexual predators. If they win that case, without this bill, that money will leave the state of Arkansas and go to Texas or Michigan or California. So all this does is protect money that is already there. There's over 500 Arkansas victims who have made claims in the Boy Scout Bank bankruptcy trust. And again, this money has been awarded, will be awarded to those who have claims that have already been committed. With that, I will stand by and answer any questions that you've got.
Representative Carol Dalby
Members are there any questions in regard to this particular bill? Seeing no questions, we have no one who signed up to speak for or against. Members, are there any questions on any other matters to Senator Wallace while we have him at the end of the table? Representative Brown, you're recognized for a question.
Representative Matt Brown
Thank you, Madam Chair. Senator Wallace, as you can imagine, crime is at all time highs. And we were a victim of a crime even in the House last week. I didn't know if you might have any comments or any insight on that crime that we were all victimized by.
Senator Dave Wallace
I have been advised by my counsel, Captain Dwight Tosh, to plead the fifth. However, if the House has a confidential informant clause that provides complete immunity, I'll sing like a canary.
Representative Carol Dalby
Senator Wallace, we'll get back with you as we'd like to hear you saying like a canary. Members, we do not have anybody who signed up to speak for or against the bill. Senator Wallace, I'm assuming, are you closed for your bill?
Senator Dave Wallace
I am closed, ma'am.
Representative Carol Dalby
What's the will of the committee? We have a motion to do pass on the table. Is there any discussion of the motion to do pass? Seeing no discussion, all in favor of the motion, please say aye. Any opposed, say no. Ayes have it. Congratulations, you have passed your bill and we'll get with you. We'd like to hear you sing.
Senator Dave Wallace
Thank you, ma'am.
Representative Carol Dalby
Captain Tosh once said that justice should always be swift but not necessarily fair. Members, we're going to go into recess for just another few minutes. We're still waiting on the amendment for House Bill 1317. So with that, we're going to go into recess for just a moment. 1136 to deferred. And that cleans up our calendar for a little bit. We have a good number of technical correction bills, but we'll probably take those up next Tuesday for anybody that's here in the audience.
[Recess]
Representative Carol Dalby
House Judiciary will come back to order. The amendment to House Bill 1317 has arrived and is being passed out. Also members you have on your desk the impact assessment from the Arkansas Sentencing Commission that was previously passed out to you on this bill. So if you will take a few moments just to look at that. Representative Shepherd is at the end of the table and he will be recognized once he identifies himself to explain his amendment.
Representative Matthew Shepherd
Thank you, Madam Chair. Representative Matthew Shepherd. Committee, this amendment simply adds material to the term ‘false statements.’ This was pointed out to me just a little while ago and just for consistency and the fact that this is elevating the penalty to a felony, I feel like it should be added to the bill. So I would move for the adoption.
Representative Carol Dalby
Members, we have a motion to adopt. All in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? The amendment has been adopted. You're recognized to present your bill as amended.
Representative Matthew Shepherd
Thank you, Madam Chair. So House Bill 1317 is a bill that kind of addresses something that's been brought to the attention of our retirement systems, particularly through audit. Amy Fetcher, the Executive Director of APERS, is here and she could answer specific questions if need be. But as you can see, this bill merely elevates the penalty for making a material false statement related to a retirement system from a misdemeanor to a felony. You can see that previously it has historically been a misdemeanor offense, but you can also see in the bill that current law provides for a felony should you make a material false statement representation to the State Department for Social Security Administration disability determination.
And so this is just bringing some consistency between the two since they are somewhat similar in terms of the nature of the work that they perform. And as I was saying, this was brought to my attention, APERS and the retirement systems brought this to my attention and asked if I would consider running this. Sometimes in audit the retirement systems get asked why is it that no one is prosecuted for this offense? What are you doing to recover this?
Well, in part, when it's a misdemeanor offense, it probably doesn't give it the level of priority just as a matter of fact within the various prosecutor's offices. And when you elevate it to a felony offense, obviously that's going to draw some attention. It's going to probably take on greater importance, but it also will provide some additional tools available to law enforcement and the various prosecuting attorneys to be able to seek to address that. Again, it's based on the amendment that we've now added. It only concerns a material false statement.
It has to be, you have to knowingly make a material false statement or representation. And I would point out that Mr. Rosenswag was the one that brought this to my attention as far as making it material. And so I think we now have a bill that's very fair and seeks to address, you know, I think a concern that many legislators have raised in the past.
Representative Carol Dalby
Members, you've heard an explanation of the bill. Any questions? Representative Springer, you're recognized for a question? I'll turn your microphone on.
Representative Joy Springer
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just like to hear from the department regarding what causes this to have to happen. Thank you.
Representative Carol Dalby
Ms. Fetcher, if you'll identify yourself, you're recognized to answer the question. Thank you.
Amy Fetcher
Good morning. Amy Fetcher, director of APERS. To answer your question, a few years ago we had an overpayment where a member had died and we were not informed of the death because she died out of state. And sometimes it's just very difficult to get those and a daughter was on the account and kept receiving the retirement payments for quite a while. So it was an overpayment for us and an audit finding. And when we went through audit, one of the things they said is why do you not try to prosecute this? Why do you not go further with it? And as Representative Shepherd said, we just have not had any luck with that in the past.
Representative Carol Dalby
Members have any other questions? Seeing no further questions, we have no one who has signed up to speak for or against the bill. Representative Shepherd, you're recognized to close for your bill.
Representative Matthew Shepherd
I would move do pass as amended.
Representative Carol Dalby
Members we have a motion to do pass as amended on the table. Is there any discussion of the motion? Seeing no discussion, all in favor please say aye. Any opposed say no. The ayes have it. Congratulations you have passed your bill. Members that concludes what we're going to hear this morning. Once again, on Thursday make a note. We're going to take up House Bill 1049, House Bill 1263, and House Bill 1282. So those will be the three and at this time I'm anticipating we'll meet at the regular time at 10 o'clock on Thursday. Several of you have asked about when we're going to have our picture remade. We're still waiting for a date on that so I'll let you know when we know that. With that, we are adjourned.
