Gov. Mike Beebe has indicated a special session will be called to address overcrowding in jails and teacher insurance. The House and Senate will consider a bill to add 600 beds to the Department of Corrections facilities and the Pulaski County Jail.

Lawmakers will also consider a plan to reduce insurance costs for public school employees by eliminating part-time employees and spouses who have other options for health coverage.

The session will begin on June 30 and last until July 2, 2014.

Gov. Mike Beebe issued a call to bring the General Assembly into special session to address the health insurance rate increase facing the Public School Employee Plan. The special session will begin Thursday, October 17, and is expected to conclude by the end of the day on Saturday, October 19, 2013.

Beebe is confident bipartisan efforts will pass bills designed to stabilize retirement plans for teachers and public school employees.

Photo of the Arkansas State Capitol courtesy of jglazer75 in Wikimedia Commons.

Rep. Warwick Sabin has suggested nearly a dozen changes to the state’s ethics and campaign finance laws potentially to be considered during a special session the governor may call to address teacher insurance costs. Sabin proposed the bills in an email to House and Senate members on Wednesday, October 10.

The changes would empower the Ethics Commission to initiate investigations, lower the minimum reporting amount for campaign expenditures from $100 to $50, and require the secretary of state to develop a searchable website for campaign finance records. The bills could only be considered in a special session if Gov. Mike Beebe included them in a proclamation.

Photo of the Arkansas State Capitol courtesy of jglazer75 in Wikimedia Commons.

Governor Mike Beebe has approved a proposed constitutional amendment to be placed on the November 4, 2014 general election ballot. House Joint Resolution 1009, the Arkansas Elected Officials Ethics, Transparency, and Financial Reform Amendment of 2014, passed both chambers shortly before the regular session recessed on April 24, 2013.

If affirmed by the voters, the constitutional amendment will ban corporate and union gifts to political campaigns, ban lobbyist gifts to legislative and executive officials, and provide 16 year term limits for legislators. The amendment would also increase the time between when a legislator leaves office and when a legislator is permitted to become a lobbyist from one year to two years.

The General Assembly is scheduled to reconvene on May 17, 2013 for a veto session before adjourning sine die.