Inactive-entities bill sent to House

A bill that would eliminate 23 state entities, boards and commissions zipped through the Arkansas Senate on Thursday. The Senate voted 32-0 to send Senate Bill 356 by Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock, to the House for further consideration. English said the 23 state entities, boards and commissions are no longer active.

The bill would abolish the Arkansas Commission on Eye and Vision Care of School-Age Children, the board of advisors to Arkansas State University-Searcy, the Youth Justice Reform Board, the Arkansas Statewide Energy Consortium, the Electrical Energy Advancement Program Fund Board, the Academic Facilities Oversight Committee, the Records Retention Committee, the Arkansas Delta Music Commission, the Arkansas Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee and the Nongame Preservation Committee.

It also would eliminate the Medication Assistive Person Advisory Committee, the state Board of Disease Intervention Specialists, the Electrical Energy Advancement Program Fund, the Palliative Care and Quality of Life Interdisciplinary Task Force, the executive board of the Governor’s Commission on People with Disabilities, the Arkansas Suicide Prevention Council, the Children’s Behavioral Health Care Commission, the Healthcare Quality and Payment Policy Advisory Committee, the Suggestion Award Board, the Lottery Retailer Advisory Board, the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee and the State Technology Council.

Any funds, personal or real property under these entities would be transferred to the state Department of Finance and Administration under the bill.