Commerce measure falls short in Senate

A bill that would reappropriate balances of capital improvement appropriations for the state Department of Commerce’s Arkansas Economic Development Commission failed to clear the Arkansas Senate on Tuesday, after state Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, urged senators to vote against the measure.

The Senate’s 15-7 vote for Senate Bill 278 fell 12 votes short of the 27 votes required for approval of appropriation measures in the 35-member Senate. Eleven senators didn’t vote and two others voted present on the bill.

Afterward, Garner said the reappropriation includes Quick-Action Closing Funds that have been used in the past to entice Chinese companies to Arkansas. “We need to start holding China accountable and so far we haven’t even taken a baby step toward it,” he said.

Asked what changes that he wants to see, he said, “I would like to see some major reforms, starting at the top. That includes the current secretary [Mike Preston].”

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he expects the appropriation for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to pass the Senate.

“The appropriation funds the critical mission of economic development and job creation,” he said in a written statement. “Sometimes, it takes a number of votes for an appropriation bill to pass.”

Earlier this month, Garner’s legislation that would bar the Arkansas Economic Development Commission from establishing or maintaining an office in China failed to clear a Senate committee after Preston and the Arkansas Farm Bureau opposed the bill. In last year’s fiscal session, the Joint Budget Committee rejected Garner’s proposal to close the office after Preston said the department already planned to trim the office’s budget from $285,000 to $125,000 a year, starting in July 2020, and employ an American citizen as a liaison in China.