5 minute read
The Capitol Report
By Jodiane Tritt, Executive Vice President, Arkansas Hospital Association
The extended session of the 93rd General Assembly began on September 29 and ended on October 15, with the primary purpose of creating Arkansas’s Congressional districts based on the census numbers, though legislators did file bills outside of that scope. The AHA worked against legislation that would make it more difficult to comply with federal mandates for employee vaccination and fought to protect a hospital’s ability to require COVID-19 vaccination for hospital employees. SB 739 did become Act 1115, which requires that employers who mandate COVID vaccines for their employees must offer vaccine alternatives, including weekly testing (ultimately paid for by the employee if there are no other funds available) or positive antibody tests every six months. That act will become effective on January 13, 2022.
The United States Constitution, Article VI, § 2 gives Congress and federal regulators virtually unlimited authority – if they choose to exercise it – to preempt state and local health laws. The CMS and OSHA regulations are clear that in cases of conflict for health care facilities, CMS regulations control. Further, both the CMS and OSHA regulations are clear that where state law or regulations are inconsistent, the federal regulations supersede the state.
Congressional redistricting did occur, too. Redistricting for the United States House of Representatives is required by the United States Constitution, Article I, § 2. Congress is given authority to pass laws regulating elections and has provided that the 435 seats in the House should be reapportioned every ten years (also after the decennial census). The Arkansas General Assembly redrew the districts for the state’s congressional seats during the extended session of the General Assembly that adjourned sine die on October 15, 2021.
Governor Asa Hutchinson also announced his intention to call a special session to take up tax cuts. That session is expected to begin on December 7, 2021. Our governor has consistently proposed more than $300 million in income tax breaks and, in late October, offered a threephase plan. Phase one would increase the tax credit for low-income earners who make about $22,900 or less, from $29 to $60, which would cost $19.6 million annually. Phase two would combine lower and middle-class income tax brackets and would create a total reduction of $132.7 million in taxes for this group. The third phase would drop the upper income tax rate from 5.9% next year to 5.5% the following year at a cost of about $109.6 million. The rate would then drop to 5.3% the following year costing the state another $27.4 million in annual revenues. State officials project the plan would reduce general revenue by $133.25 million in fiscal year (FY) 2022, $293.9 million in FY 2023, and $321.3 million in FY 2024. The bulk of the tax cuts would impact those making $82,000 or less per year.
Industry leaders are pushing legislators to also consider instituting a corporate tax cut, which is to drop from 6.2% to 5.9% on January 1, 2022, under a 2019 law; to 5.7% on January 1, 2024; and to 5.5% on January 1, 2025. Legislators and executive branch officials are continuing negotiations and are working to assure that the state can maintain its long-term reserve funds instead of using that fund to finance the proposed tax cuts. Tentative dates for the 2022 fiscal session budget hearings are set for Tuesday, January 11, 2022, though Thursday, January 20, 2022. Prefiling of appropriation bills begins January 10, 2022, and the fiscal session is set to begin on Monday, February 14, 2022.
Outside the legislative sessions, Article 8 of the Arkansas Constitution requires redrawing the boundaries of the state’s 35 Senate districts and 100 House of Representatives districts following each federal decennial census. The Board of Apportionment, consisting of the Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General, was created in 1936 by Amendment 23 to the Arkansas Constitution to redraw all 100 House 35 Senate Districts so that each district meets various legal criteria, including that each district be comprised of about the same size population and may not be drawn to allow for discrimination based on race or ethnicity.
The Supreme Court has ruled that when drawing state and local legislative districts, states may deviate
somewhat from perfect population equality to accommodate traditional districting objectives, among them: • Complying with the Voting Rights
Act. • Preserving the integrity of political subdivisions. • Maintaining communities of interest. • Creating geographic compactness and contiguity. • Accommodating geographical barriers (e.g., national forests, military reservations, lakes, roadways, and rivers).
These are guidelines – not hard and fast rules. Counties and cities have meandering boundaries along highways and rivers and are not compact. Municipal boundaries may cross county lines. Communities of interest must be identifiable and concentrated. Racial and language-based minority interests must be protected under federal law. All of these guidelines necessitate sound judgment, and the courts recognize that redistricting bodies must occasionally use discretion in such situations.
Now that the lines have been drawn, incumbents are assessing whether they are willing and able to represent their “new” districts. As each legislative seat is open and all statewide offices are too, it is now as important as ever to reward those incumbent elected officials who have supported hospitals and to support candidates who commit to supporting hospitals during their elections. Thank your elected officials who have been strong supporters of our hospitals and be sure to vote in the upcoming elections!
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