Statues bill again sent to the House

The House is again going to consider a bill that would name civil-rights leader Daisy Gatson Bates and musician Johnny Cash as the Arkansans the state wishes to honor in the U.S. Capitol Building.

Before the start of the current legislative session, lawmakers signaled their desire to replace the two current statues at the Capitol, of attorney Uriah Rose and former Gov. James Paul Clarke, in part because of Clarke’s segregationist attitudes and the relative lack of awareness of who the two are.

Choosing who would replace Rose and Clarke, however, has been more difficult.

The Senate allowed each of its 35 members to select their top preferences by secret ballot, and arrived at Bates and Cash. In the House, however, some lawmakers expressed frustration that the lower chamber had not been allowed to make one of the picks.

A narrow vote to approve the statues bill, Senate Bill 75, appeared to pass earlier this month in the House. Opponents, however, quashed the vote on a procedural motion, and had the bill sent back to committee, where it was considered again Wednesday.

“There’s easily 30 good folks that could be on this bill,” the bill’s sponsor, Sen. David Wallace, R-Leachville, told the committee.

However, he said, the bill as written had enough support on the House floor. A voice vote by the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Wednesday sent the bill back to the House floor.