$60,212 spent by ballot-issue backers.

Money used on ads, signs for economic-development measure, group reports

A group backing a ballot proposal to ease limitations on public financing for large economic development projects spent $60,212 on advertisements during October, according to a report filed Monday.

The proposal, also known as Issue 3, would amend the Arkansas Constitution to remove a cap on the amount of bonds that the state could issue for such projects, while allowing counties and municipalities to issue their own bonds. The amendment also clarifies that chambers of commerce can receive funds from local governments.

The General Assembly passed a resolution in 2015 to place the amendment on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.

Only one ballot committee registered with the Arkansas Ethics Commission to raise money for or against the proposal. Jobs for Arkansas, which is campaigning in favor of Issue 3, reported that it raised $37,250 in October.

The group reported receiving 16 donations, half of which came from municipal and regional chambers of commerce. However, the biggest spender was Big River Steel Holdings, which gave $10,000.

That company received the largest-ever investment from general obligation bonds from the state, when the Legislature awarded it $125 million in 2013 to build a steel mill in Osceola.

Ballot committees are due to file their pre-election financial reports today with the Ethics Commission. The reports cover Oct. 1 through Oct. 29.

Shelley Short, the executive secretary for the ballot committee, said the group paid $57,446 to Heathcott Associates in Little Rock in October as part of a multimedia advertising buy. The group also reported spending $2,766 on yard signs.

One other committee filed its report early Monday. Fairness for Arkansans, a ballot committee set up by the Arkansas Bar Association to oppose a so-called tort reform amendment, reported receiving $597 in court costs as the result of a lawsuit against supporters of the proposal.

Fairness for Arkansans was one of two groups that successfully challenged a short description of Issue 4 set to appear on the ballot. The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled last month that the language in the amendment was vague, and it ordered that no votes on the issue be counted.

The justices’ decisions on ballot proposals have left only one petition-driven measure standing for this year’s general election — Issue 6, a constitutional amendment that would legalize medical marijuana. Three constitutional amendments proposed by lawmakers also will be voted upon: the one on economic development projects, another on allowing the governor to retain his authority when he leaves the state, and a third to lengthen the terms of executive branch county officials.