Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Legislative Report

From Senator Mike Ross

When the 81st General Assembly convened on January 13, it was the first session of the Arkansas legislature to be accessible to citizens everywhere in the world through the "information superhighway."

The legislature recently opened its own website (http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/).

Information available on the site includes committee memberships and the agendas of scheduled meetings. It is during committee meetings that legislators closely review bills, and in committee hearings where the public can express opinions about bills. Also, amendments to bills are discussed and approved in committee.

The web site contains biographical information about members of the State Senate and House of Representatives, as well as the names and positions of legislative staff.

Photographs of legislative activity and significant events at the state Capitol will be placed on the web site.

The public and the media are welcome to download all photographs and textual information. Therefore, copies of bills are available to anyone with access to a computer and a connection to the Internet. It no longer will be necessary to come to the Capitol in person for a copy of a bill.

Whenever bills are amended, the most recent amended version will immediately become available on the web site. This is important because so much legislation is amended frequently before it is ready for final passage, and even short amendments can make significant changes in the substance of a bill.

The General Assembly's web site has been accessed more than 3,300 times since it went on line December 16.

The 81st General Assembly marks an era of new leadership in state government. It will be the first session as the state's chief executive for Governor Mike Huckabee. Lt. Governor Win Paul Rockerfeller, who was elected in November, will preside over the Senate for the first time.

Senator Wayune Dowd of Texarkana, an 18-year veteran, will be the President Pro Tem of the Senate. Dowd will preside over the Senate whenever the lieutenant governor is absent, and as Pro Tem he also will be second in the line of succession to be acting governor should the governor and lieutenant governor leave the state at the same time, or are unable to serve.

The Speaker of the House, Representive Bobby Hogue of Jonesboro, will be serving his second term in that position. In 1995 Hogue successfully campaigned to succeed himself as speaker.

Previously the House, like the Senate, had rotated its top leadership position among senior lawmakers. However, the passage by voters of a term limits amendment was influential in promoting House members to change its method of selecting the speaker.

The state Insurance Department has approved decreases in premiums for workers' compensation insurance to take effect April 1.

The decreases average 4.7 percent in office and service industries, and 7.6 percent in riskier industries whose worker's comp is administered by a state-assigned pool.

Insurance officials attribute the lower rates to legislation passed in 1993 that expanded workplace safety programs, stiffened penalties for fraud, required managed health care for injured workers and limited the type of injuries for which workers can file claims.