Panel recommends rule oversight of Game & Fish

Agency says constitution denies legislators that clout

The Arkansas Legislative Council’s Executive Subcommittee is recommending a new requirement that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission seek the council’s review and approval of proposed commission rules.

The proposal is stronger than what was offered in May. At that time, the Legislative Council changed its rules to require its Game and Fish/ State Police Subcommittee to consider proposed rules of the Game and Fish Commission for discussion, said Marty Garrity, director of the Bureau of Legislative Research.

But commission officials have declined to file their proposed rules with the bureau for the subcommittee’s discussion, saying they see the council’s rule as an infringement on the commission’s independence as granted under Amendment 35 to the Arkansas Constitution. Instead, the commission has filed its approved rules with the bureau.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, noted that another part of the Arkansas Constitution — Amendment 92 — allows the Legislature to require lawmakers’ approval of state agencies’ rules before they go into effect.

A council co- chairman, Rep. David Branscum, R-Marshall, said Tuesday that most state legislators don’t want to oversee the Game and Fish Commission’s rules, but they want an opportunity for the council’s Game and Fish/State Police Subcommittee to discuss the agency’s proposed rules.

Branscum said he wouldn’t be surprised to see the Game and Fish Commission eventually file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the council’s latest proposed rule change, if it is adopted. The council will consider the Executive Subcommittee’s recommendation at an Oct. 20 meeting, Garrity said.

“If the arrogance, perceived or real, of [ the Game and Fish Commission] does not change, it is the time for the courts to decide,” Sen. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, said Tuesday.

Branscum said an option instead of a lawsuit would be for the commission to do what was envisioned under the council’s current operating rules: file its proposed rules with the bureau for discussion by the council’s Game and Fish Subcommittee.

Asked about the commission’s stance on the legislative proposal for review and approval, commission spokesman Keith Stephens said Tuesday in a written statement:

“Our commission is meeting on Thursday in Malvern. I’m sure that topic will be discussed at the meeting. The commission highly values the positive and productive working relationship that exists between the Legislature and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.”

Last month, Sample and Branscum wrote a letter to Game and Fish General Counsel James Goodhart that said, “It is our understanding that your agency submits a rule to our office at the same time that the final rule is filed with the secretary of state’s office.