House approves concurrent enrollment, tax cut bills

A state income tax cut dependent on continuing growth in state revenue was approved Monday in the Arkansas House of Representatives, which also gave its nod to another measure requiring the state to pay tuition when high school students take college courses.

Meanwhile, the Senate sent a bill to Gov. Mike Beebe's desk that would raise the age requirements for children entering kindergarten.

The tax-cut measure passed by the House would trim state income taxes by one-fourth of 1 percent starting Jan. 1, 2009, if state revenues for the fiscal year beginning July 1 rise above $4.7 billion.

The proposal by Rep. Ed Garner, R-Maumelle, would cut income taxes each following year by one-fourth of a percent if the net revenues are $250 million or higher than the previous year.

"It's a barrier to new capital investment in the state, new investment that would bring new jobs here," Garner said.

So far this session, Beebe has signed into law nearly $200 million in tax cuts, including a measure that reduces the state sales tax on groceries from 6 cents to 3 cents.

Richard Weiss, the state's fiscal chief, told lawmakers this month that the state's budget cannot afford any more tax cuts.

DeCample said the governor opposes Garner's proposal.

"It ties our future budgets and general revenue to triggers that are based on speculation that the state would have no control over," he said.

Garner's proposal, which passed the House on a 66-27 vote, now heads to the Senate.

The House voted 57-36 to approve paying for concurrent enrollment, when a high school student takes a college course and receives both high school and college credit.

"This is an enhancement bill," said Rep. Bill Abernathy, D-Mena, the bill's sponsor. "It adds to the opportunities of our public school students."

Opponents of the measure, however, said that it will take away money set aside for students to take Advanced Placement courses and exams.

"Mr. Abernathy has a wonderful bill, but he didn't fund the bill," said Rep. Janet Johnson, D-Bryant.

Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said the governor has reservations about the proposal, but would not say whether Beebe would veto the bill if it came to his desk. The concurrent enrollment proposal now heads to the Senate.

Senators voted 30-5 to send a bill to Beebe requiring a child be 5 years old by Sept. 1 to enter kindergarten in the 2009-2010 school year. By the 2011-2012 school year, children would need to be 5 by Aug. 1.

Sens. Denny Altes, Jim Argue, Paul Bookout, Shane Broadway and Bill Pritchard voted against the measure, which would make Arkansas one of the most restrictive states in the nation when it came to minimum age for kindergarten. Now, a child needs to be 5 by Sept. 15 of the school year.

The Senate voted 25-1 to expand the state's drug court program and create a division of drug court programs with the state's Administrative Office of the Courts.

Senators also passed a bill requiring magazine and books with pornographic covers to be hidden behind blinders at stores frequented by minors.

The House also approved legislation creating an Arkansas Milk Stabilization Board to look at dairy prices, and a proposal that would grant civil immunity to people offering emergency medical assistance under the state's "Good Samaritan" law.

By a 96-0 vote, the House approved dissolving the state office of information technology and shifting its responsibilities to the state Department of Information Services.

The Senate passed a resolution Monday to suspend legislative rules and allow Rep. Chris Thyer to file a school facilities bond issue proposal. The deadline for filing bills was March 5.

Thyer, D-Jonesboro, has said he plans to file a bill that would give Beebe the authority to ask voters to authorize up to $750 million in bonds for school building improvements. Thyer and Beebe have said the election would only be called if school facility needs went beyond the $456 million already recommended from the state surplus.

A similar resolution is now before the House.

Earlier Monday, a Senate panel endorsed a bill that would offer a per diem to children's psychiatric residential treatment facilities despite warnings from health officials that the state cannot afford the added cost.

The facilities would receive a per diem of up to $405 a day under the proposal by Womack, under the bill advanced by the Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor.

Arkansas Medicaid director Roy Jeffus warned the panel that the increased rate could cost the state $4.1 million for the coming fiscal year.

Beebe signed into law a bill that would give him the authority to split up the Department of Health and Human Services into two separate agencies, allowing him to end a merger enacted only two years ago.

Preparing for that, the Joint Budget Committee endorsed a bill providing $5 million to cover decoupling the agencies to the chagrin of Sen. Shawn Womack, the committee's co-chairman.

"We saved about $4 million when we put them together," said Womack, R-Mountain Home. "Now we're saying it's going to cost $5 million to pull them apart?"

Beebe says he is considering breaking up the department, but won't make a decision until the legislative session ends.

Beebe also signed into law a measure that would cut down on the physical activity requirements for public school students.

Associated Press Writer Jon Gambrell contributed to this report.