Daylight Saving Time, field burning among bills filed ahead of session

The Arkansas General Assembly convened Monday to begin the regular session of the 95th General Assembly. District 10 Senator Ronald Caldwell, R-Wynne, said several of the bills that have already been filed to be considered during this session deal with Daylight Saving Time. "The coming session is going to deal with three or four things," said Caldwell. "We usually have about 2,000 bills introduced and about 500 to 600 of them are passed. We will just have to see what takes place during this session. Several people have introduced bills dealing with Daylight Saving Time, although I don't think anything will change on that." Caldwell said that a bill filed by District 30 Rep. Frances Cavenaugh, R-Walnut Ridge, would levy fines against farmers who burn their fields without taking proper precautions. "In our area, we have a bill concerning the burning of agricultural fields," said Caldwell. "Representative Frances Cavenaugh out of Walnut Ridge has introduced a bill that would levy some pretty hefty fines on burning fields, if it caused an accident or if certain precautions were not followed. I have not read the bill. We will have to see what it says when it comes to committee. "That will begin in the House as she is a House member and it will probably be two weeks before it comes to the Senate," continued Caldwell. According to Caldwell, a prison that was proposed by Gov. Sarah Sanders is set to be brought before the General Assembly during this session. "Also, one of the controversial issues is going to be the prison that the governor wants to build in Franklin County, near the town of Charleston," said Caldwell. "Originally, it was said that the prison would cost $400 to $450 million. Now, that estimate may go up to $1.5 billion. It is a situation where we need more bed space in the prison system, but we don't have the extra billion dollars to spend on the prison. "When you start looking at spending a billion dollars, there are a lot of places to spend it, other than prison systems," continued Caldwell. Caldwell said he will introduce some bills during this session, mainly dealing with the merger of East Arkansas Community College with the University of Arkansas system "I will introduce some bills during but it will not be anything major," said Caldwell. "In fact, I sent one over on Monday to the Bureau of Legislation Research to draft. They will send it over to me to sign and I will then get it filed. It is merging East Arkansas Community College with the University of Arkansas. All of that has been done behind the scenes. All of the boards have given their approval. The Legislature has to do it and there should be no problem. Everyone is on board with it." When asked about the continued publication of public notices in printed newspapers, Caldwell said he has supported public notices being published in newspapers in the past. "I guess the topic of public notices would come up during this session," said Caldwell. "That is not anything that I would bring up. I have supported having public notices in newspapers before. A lot of the municipalities and counties have asked that it be done in a different manner because of the expense of it. There is also the fact that so many city newspapers have gone by the way side and no longer print." Cross County is the only county in Arkansas where a newspaper is not printed. According to Caldwell, in the past he has supported the stance of the Arkansas Press Association, however, he will not commit to a bill until he has read it fully. "I would guess that it would come up but it is not something I would do," said Caldwell. "I never commit to a bill until I have read it. In times past, I have supported the stance of the Arkansas Press Association. Again, I never commit to a bill until I read it and see what the circumstances are. Historically, I have supported public notices being in newspapers. Again, as you get to having fewer newspapers, the issue comes to light as to why we are requiring something that doesn't exist. We will just see how it works out. Again, we are assuming something will be filed."

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