Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Disaster Relief Bills Passes After Tornadoes Hit

In the wake of deadly tornadoes and severe weather that afflicted Arkansas, the Senate suspended its rules to take immediate action on several disaster relief bills.

Senate Bill 581 appropriates $5.5 million from the Disaster Relief Fund for emergency grants in areas that have been declared disaster areas. It has an emergency clause so it takes effect as soon as the governor signs the bill.

The bill allocates $500,000 for each of 11 counties that have suffered tornado damage since July 1, 1995.

SB 465 prohibits price gouging by merchants in counties that have been declared disaster areas. Under the bill, for 30 days after a disaster is declared, merchants could not raise prices of certain items by more than 10 percent of what they cost before the disaster struck. The items include food, blankets, diapers, medical supplies, hotel rooms, flashlights, batteries, plywood, hammers and nails.

SB 465 also prohibits unjustified price inccreases of more than 10 percent by contractors and repairmen in disaster areas. The prohibition lasts for 180 days after the disaster has been delcared.

The ban on price gouging would not apply if merchants could prove that their overhead costs had forced the increases, or if the price increases were a direct result of the natural disaster.

The Senate also passed SB 491, which protects consumers who have filed claims for damages after a natural disaster.

The bill prohibits insurance companies from canceling property and casualty coverage of policy holders who file claims for damage caused by natural disasters.

SB 465 and SB 491 were passed by both the Senate and House and were ready for the governor to sign.

Two other measures to accelerate disaster relief were passed by the Senate. One is SB 569 to allow a county quorum court to appropriate more than 90 percent of anticipated revenues for the year, if the county has been declared a disaster area. The bill gives county governments greater flexibility to provide emergency relief. The other bill, HB 1971, allows counties to use equipment and labor on privite property for cleanup after a natural disaster.

Also, last week, the legislature gave final approval to SB 320 to expand research into the causes of breast cancer. It will benefit women in parts of the state lacking medical services by offering early detecton and follow-up diagnoses, and by expanding education and awareness programs.

Both the Senate and House had passed SB 348 to provide health insurance to children in working families who don't qualify for Medicaid, but cannot afford health insurance. This legislation could have an extremely beneficial long-term impact on the health of Arkansans. Health experts estimate that 118,000 children in Arkansas have no health insurance.

Both the Senate and House passed SB 473 to increase the amounts of Academic Challenge Scholarships from $1,500 to $2,500 a year. Both chambers also passed SB 474 to double the number of Governor's Scholars each year, from 150 to 300. However, the increases in scholarshp amounts will not take effect unless the state has sufficient funds to pay for them.

The senate passed SB 453, which requires high schools to provide just one core curriculum. They had offered -- a college preparatory and a technical curriculum.

ARKANSAS HOUSE

State representatives responded quickly to the devastating tornadoes and storms that struck Arkansas recently and approved legislation to provide disaster relief, including two proposals to deliver more than $10 million in assistance to the hardest hit counties.

The House through Thursday, March 6, also approved bills to offer health coverage to thousands of uninsured children, to partially repeal Arkansas' motorcycle helmet law, to strengthen boating safety and to set new standards for the number of nurses employed by school districts.

In addition, House members elected Rep. Bob Johnson of Bigelow as speaker-designate of the House, placing him in line to succeed speaker Bobby Hogue of Jonesboro when the 82nd General Assembly convenes in 1999. Johnson is serving his second term representing Perry County and portions of Conway and Pope Counties.

Representatives whose districts received damage during the heavy storms and tornadoes that struck the state on Saturday, March 1, and killed at least 25 Arkansans reported to their colleagues on the extent of devastation, gave first-hand reports of relief efforts and expressed appreciation for the outpouring of support for storm victims.

In response to the emergency, the House approved several pieces of disaster relief legislation and took steps toward adopting others. Alma Rep. Ed Thicksten, House chairman of the Joint Budget Committee, presented two bills to provide the disaster relief grants to storm-damaged areas. One would deliver a total of $6 million in grants to 12 counties declared disaster areas by the president. The other would provide a total of $4.24 million in grants to 13 counties declared disaster areas by the governor.

Other aproved bills in the package of disaster relief legislation would: