Arkansas State Chamber discusses ballot issues

The Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce president and vice president used the Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club’s nonpartisan platform Wednesday to discuss Issues 1-3 on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Randy Zook, and Executive Vice President Kenneth R. Hall, spoke to the club on Wednesday via Zoom.

Zook said Issue 1 will extend and make permanent a half-cent sales tax that has been paid since 2012 for state highways and bridges, county roads, bridges and other surface transportation.

“This half-cent tax has been dedicated to State Highways through the highway department, Arkansas Department of Transportation and city and county governments,” Zook said. “It currently generates about $300 million a year. … It’s an important, critical piece of financing for all three entities.”

If Issue 1 is not passed, the tax will

expire at its 10-year mark at the end of 2022.

“We are currently paying it, so it will not entail a tax increase; it will constitute a tax extension,” Zook said. “We will, of course, be free down the road, should circumstances change and the desire arise, we could indeed do away with the tax, ultimately, if people find that it is no longer necessary or if they choose not to support it.”

“I think,” he said, “anybody living in, or visiting, Hot Springs over the last few years, has seen the dramatic, transformative result of some of this financing over the past few years; namely the Highway 70 project; which makes that a very pleasant drive from Little Rock to Hot Springs now — or from anywhere else going into Hot Springs.”

Hall said Issue 2 will adjust term limits.

“Currently the term limits in Arkansas are 16 years, regardless of which chambers are served in, and regardless of when they are served,” Hall said. “They do not include the existing two-year terms that occur when redistricting resets the clock.

“Issue 2 would change the years to a cap at 12 consecutive years, and would also remove the lifetime cap, but would prohibit someone who has served 12 consecutive years from seeking election again until they’ve sat out for four years, and the two-year terms do count in the 12 years now.”

Issue 3, he said, will “reform” the ballot initiative process.

“First thing it (Issue 3) will do is it will change the deadline for the signature petitions to be filed from four months before the election date — which is always early July — to Jan. 15,” Hall said. “It would then set a lawsuit deadline of April 15 — currently there is not (a) lawsuit deadline — and it would eliminate the 30-day cure period.

“Then, it makes two increases in how measures will get there: First, it raises the voting percentage required by the Legislature to refer a measure to the ballot from a simple majority to 60%, and then it raises the number of counties from which supporters would have to get a minimum number of signatures from 15-45, which is also 60% of the counties.”

In addition to the three issues Zook and Hall discussed, which were referred by the General Assembly, the ballot will also have Issue 6, which is a measure referred by order of the people.

According to the Garland County Election Commission’s website, garlandcountyvote.org, Issue 6’s is “An Act to Amend the Definition of ‘Practice of Optometry.’” It is an act to amend the Arkansas Code regarding the definition of “practice of optometry” to permit licensed optometrists to use ophthalmic lasers for certain surgical procedures.

All four Issues on the ballot, sample ballots and early voting times, dates and locations can be found at http://www.garlandcountyvote.org.