New laws ahead in 2020

Typically when a bill is passed in the state Legislature, if it does not have an emergency clause, it will take effect 90 days after we adjourn. But there are occasions when a specific date is written into the bill. This year, we passed several bills that will take effect Jan. 1,

2020. These impact everything from auto insurance to tax brackets.

Here are several pieces of legislation going into effect at the beginning of the year:

• Act 182 reduces the top income tax rate from 6.9% to 6.6%. This will lower again to 5.9% in 2021.

• Act 869 requires the implementation of the online insurance verification system by Jan. 1, 2020. In a routine traffic stop, the new online verification system allows the officer to confirm in real-time whether the vehicle is insured. Under the current system, the insurance data accessed by the officer may be up to 30 days old.

• Act 774 requires the Department of Finance and Administration to provide space on individual income tax forms for a taxpayer to designate more than one account for the direct deposit of the taxpayer’s refund beginning with returns filed for tax year Jan. 1, 2020.

• Act 1063 provides that a tow facility may tow heavy-duty motor vehicles as part of a law enforcement program if the tow facility is licensed by the Arkansas Towing and Recovery Board, passes safety inspections, and complies with state and federal laws.

• Act 564 requires the annual publication of the county budget and the annual financial report of the county.

• Act 653 prohibits state funding of human cloning and destructive embryo research.

• Act 1021 establishes the process for governing directed trusts and clarifies the applicability, principal place of administration, excluded powers, limitations, defenses, and duties and liability of trust directors and directed trustees.

• Act 866 prohibits a business that is subject to a business closure

By title only Dear editor:

If anyone besides Ed Cherry and Jack Sternberg still believe Donald Trump to be a moral, ethical human being, all doubts should be laid to rest this week with his pardoning of disgraced Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, and subsequent termination of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer.

Having been in the military and serving two terms in Vietnam, I know when members of your own unit inform and testify against you, it is one of the hardest things they’ll ever have to do, and it means you have crossed the line. Although Gallagher was found not guilty of most charges in a botched trial, he was found guilty of taking

“victorious” pictures with the corpse of a teenager he had killed. During the investigation itself, military police discovered a live grenade in the garage of his home. That alone should send him to Leavenworth.

Donald Trump, having skirted duty in Vietnam due to his bone spurs, doesn’t understand the mentality, spirit, nor code of our armed forces. In Vietnam, we heard horror stories of what was happening to captured American soldiers and Marines. That, not a sense of liberating South Vietnam, was the motivating factor in how hard we fought. You didn’t want to get captured.

The easy thing to do would be to take out our frustrations on captured Vietnamese. Fortunately for my unit, we had a seasoned and intelligent NCO in charge, and he pointed out that if word got back to the Viet Cong and the villages that we were committing atrocities, we were in effect becoming the most effective recruiter for the enemy.

Military tribunal aside, Gallagher’s actions undoubtedly fall into the category of “Conduct Unbecoming,” and he should have been stripped of any and all rank and benefits. with a dishonorable discharge.

True veterans who have seen combat get that, and don’t approve of Trump’s support for a disgrace to the uniform such as Eddie Gallagher. “Commander in chief?” I don’t think so. In title only.

Gunnery Sgt. Ron Collins, USMC retired Hot Springs