Representative Danny Watson appears at the Lions Club Meeting this past Monday, which was held at lunchtime in the Amigo Juan's annex. Watson updated attendees on the matter of whether Hempstead County would be approved as a location for potentially two state prisons, spoke on several bills passed by the Arkansas Legislature and signed into law and took questions.

Representative Danny Watson spoke at yesterday’s Lion’s Club meeting in the Amigo Juan's Annex about the current status of applications by the Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation (HCEDC) to have state prisons located in Hempstead county and described the process that unfolded once Watson found out about the need for new state prisons.  He also described and interpreted dozens of bills that were passed and signed into law during the most recent legislative session.

Concerning the possibility of one or two prisons locating in Hempstead County, Watson read a letter written by the Secretary of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, Joe Profiri:

“We are in receipt of your proposal regarding a land donation for a potential department of corrections facility. Due to existing backlog in the county jails, as well as the projected increase in prison population resulting from legislation passed during the 94th General Assembly, the legislature has pledged funding to provide for a larger facility than was contemplated by the original solicitation.  

“The scope of this project has increased. Therefore, the department is now conducting a comprehensive review of facility needs. We will retain your proposal, and we will contact you once we have determined the next steps in our process. Thank you for supporting the expansion efforts in the department.

Before the 2022 election, Watson said, he and 134 other legislators got notice from the Department of Corrections that “prisons will have to built.” Having learned of this Friday afternoon, Watson forwarded the message to Steve Harris, then executive director of HCEDC. When he ran into Harris later, Watson suggested to Harris that the HCEDC board think about the matter. 

Later, Watson was invited to attend a Friday meeting of the HCEDC at which there were no questions for Watson, who said in the days after, “slowly the word got out and leaving it up to the … board. ‘What do you want to do? Do you want to go for them or not.”  After that, Harris contacted the Arkansas Department of Corrections to learn the requirements for applying and of a three-week deadline for submission of the application for a 1,000-bed prison. In the three weeks, the HCEDC was only able to secure two potential locations before sending in the form.

Later, the HCEDC would learn the state would be building a 250-bed facility for those with 90-days still to serve who need transition services up to the point of release. The smaller amount of land and employees needed made this application easier to prepare, so it was sent, too.  Now Hempstead County is a waiting game to see whether its proposals will be chosen over a few competing locations.

Hempstead County was the only county to meet the deadline in applying for the larger prison. For the smaller, Hempstead and “two or three more” met the deadline. As Watson said, “Again, it might not happen but I got to feel this going to happen somewhere.”

Other proposals passing that Watson spoke of were:

• A $6.2 billion state budget, which contains language “to reduce the state’s top income tax rate from 4.7 percent to 4.2. It also reduces the corporate income tax rate from 5.3 to 5.1. The reductions will be retroactive to January 1 2023.” He said the budget devotes its highest funding increases to the Public School Fund and the Division of Corrections.  In particular, $31.7 million will go to Educational Freedom Accounts, which will, according to a Roby Brock piece in Talk Business and Politics, “give participating families access to up to 90% of the prior year’s statewide foundation funding to be used for private schooling or homeschooling.”

• Surplus Funds Spending Bill. “The House also passed another bill that outlines one time spending of state surplus funds. It directs $250 million to educational facilities $330 million to correctional facilities and $200 million to the State Crime Lab,” Watson said.

• An increase of per pupil funds in education staggered over the next two school years. Watson said he wished this was increased further but said “we did up it a little bit.” For the 2023-24 school year the increase is from Education I wish we could have got this up more than we did. But we did a bit a little bit. This bill and man's public school funded. It increases pupil funding from the current amount of $7,413 to $7,618 for the 2023-24 school year. The bill would increase the amount to $7,771 for the 2024 2025 school year.

• The LEARNS Act. “A lot of you have heard about it, the good, the bad, the indifferent, the ugly,” Watson said. “Basically, this is what the LEARNS Act says right now, and this is something in works that will be improved, I believe, as time goes on through the remainder of the year through Legislative Council. This is what keeps the state government going during the offseason like an athlete. This is the interim now. I serve on Legislative Council.”  Watson listed its provisions for raising the minimum pay of certified public school teachers to $50,000 while raising the pay of teachers making over $50,000 by $2,000; Teacher Incentive Funds for up to $10,000 bonuses; greater concentration of resources on moving all third graders to their grade-level of reading proficiency. On the matter of holding third graders not reading at their grade levels, Watson said his own son had been held back to retake a grade and it had boosted his confidence and proficiency.  LEARNS also will require all public school graduates to complete 75 hours of community service. About the requirement, Watson commented, “That is not asking too much, I promise you. I started reading some of the fine details of what that 75 hours of community work is. And it's this stuff that I enjoyed as a Key Club member in my high school years ago.” Watson added that the requirement might be a boon for civic clubs as former students join them as adults.

•  An Act calling for a feasibility study for a Space Port in Arkansas. Watson pointed out the key phrases at the end of the bill is “if funding is available.”  But, he asked, if it was shown to be feasible, why not pursue it? “The planners are liable to come down here on I-30 one day and see that big plot of land down there. But, hey, this is a different day in time so go forward.”

• Two bills, one of which reduces the amount of time an able-bodied person can collect unemployment from four months to three. “We are hearing it from the whole state of Arkansas, urban and rural. We cannot get enough workers,” Watson said.  The other bill reduces the amount of time a person can receive cash payments from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families from two years to one.

• The Protect Arkansas Act, which stops those convicted of certain felonies from early release from Arkansas prisons. Those offenses, said Watson, include “capital murder, murder in the first degree, aggravated robbery, right, and several crimes against children.” In addition, other offenses are reclassified as restricted release offenses, for which the convicted will be required after January 1, 2025 to serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentence. Watson told of hearing from law enforcement officers who were asked by arrestees whether they had committed a state or federal offense. This was because they realized Arkansas’ Department of Corrections would not be as likely to require the full sentence.

• Social Media Safety Act which will require age verification for use of social media in Arkansas. Watson said he realized many knew how to get around it, but the intent was to take a first step in preventing minors from seeing inappropriate content.

• Bill 1456, the Fentanyl Enforcement and Accountability Act of 2023. “It creates the offense of aggravated death by delivery for individuals who knowingly deliver fentanyl and causes the death of another person. It states a person who commits the offence, who is found guilty shall be sentenced to a term of no less than 20 years, no more than 60 years or life. If the person who delivers fentanyl causes the death of a minor, he or she will  will be sentenced to life in prison,” Watson said.

• Act 260 joins Arkansas to a Counselling Compact. Watson said this would mean counsellors licensed in other states in the compact will not have to become relicensed when moving their practice to another state in that compact.  As Watson added, “We don’t want to have any government red tape. We want to prevent that because we're hurting so much with such a shortage of that as it is.”

• Act 61 creates a court system whose purpose is to minimize family separations as a result of drug use disorders and mental health issues. “We are going to expound on that, like you haven't seen. That's going to be a tremendous asset,” Watson said.

• Car Registration. The time for registering a newly bought car is now extended to 60 days from 30. “We've had a lot of inquiries on that. They came to the DFA [Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration] and me [as] formally the co-chair of the House transportation, I say why not? So we did that. We had that law changed.”

• Act 396 allows paroled inmates or people sentenced to probation restricted driver’s licenses for the purpose of looking for work but limits the duration of the license to one year. Watson explained that the act prevents restricted license holders from being returned or remanded back into custody because of a driving without a license charge.

• Act 264 Theft of Catalytic Converters.   Catalytic converters, which treat vehicle exhaust before it is emitted from tailpipes, are often the targets of thieves who can easily remove them and then sell them for a high premium.  Act 264 moves theft of these parts to a Class C felony.  “The catalytic converters when they're stolen from vehicles,” Watson said. “It's normally the entities like ROC [Rainbow of Challenges], churches, Scout troops, senior citizens--the ones who can least afford to put a another catalytic converter on their vehicles. So we're trying to get tough.”

• Act 133 requires the Division of Corrections to reimburse counties for holding state prisoners from the first day those prisoners are held in the county jails rather than when the division receives commitment orders. “Needless to say all the sheriffs all across the state were unanimous [in support], county judges also to try to give them some reprieve from what's going on now.”

• Act 243, which creates a program to provide agricultural education starting in elementary grades.  “People, we really do not have anything organized as far as ag education in elementary schools,” Watson said.

• Act 161 explains the qualification to be a veterinary technician in Arkansas. Watson also spoke about attending a presentation by the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine.  “And, needless to say, we on the Agriculture Committee were eager to hear what they had to say.  Because my point is, we're taking notes, and they are collaborating with us [toward creating a veterinary school in Arkansas],” Watson said. Currently Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and Lyons College in Batesville are the most likely locations of this new school.

Watson said one of his goals as a legislator is keep young people from having to move to other states to seek jobs. He spoke of the sad day his son had to move out of Arkansas in 2002 to Louisiana on a career path that as of now has taken him most recently to Sacramento.  “He hasn’t been back yet,” Watson said, other than visits.

He closed by asking that the audience get in touch with him if they had questions and concerns and inviting the Lions to send a delegation to Little Rock to be shown around the capitol.

A brief question and answer period followed.  The first question was whether Watson knew the number of Arkansans dying every year from fentanyl overdoses.  Watson said he did not remember the exact numbers but he had heard them from Kevin Cleghorn, the President of the Arkansas Coroners’ Association: “When you hear that number, you want to get out of your mind. Because it increases every day. Sorry, I don't have that number, but it's something. What hurts me about it, so many times I see it. You don't get a chance to brag about it or talk about it.  By the time I know that it was laced with it, it is too late.”

A follow-up question came, asking what is being done to lower the price of Narcam, which the questioner said is $77 at pharmacies.  Watson thanked the questioner for the information and said, “I won’t have to write that one down. That is something I will forward and follow up on.”

Another questioner asked how the LEARNS Act’s requirements of reading to grade-level for third graders would be applied to the dyslexic.  Watson said, “I don’t have a specific answer. I will say that my daughter-in-law, that is one of her certifications where she teaches … But I will say this.  That is covered in the LEARNS [Act] extensively.”

The questioner responded that at present many students were going undiagnosed. Watson said, “We’ve had a lot of questions all across the state on that.”

Another questioner asked whether the third-grade reading requirement would be applied to students in private schools and in home schooling.  Watson said private schools can opt out of the requirement, as can those having their children home schooled. He said he would be in communications soon with Christi Zumwalt, Administrator of Garrett Memorial Christian School, “to see if they want to take advantage of anything.”  Watson reported that Hope Public Schools Superintendent Jonathan Crossley told him, “I’m looking forward to this,” in addition to the district’s conversion to the magnet school model.

At this point, Lions President Charles Looney interceded to read a note of thanks from Hope High School Principal Donald Patton for the Lions serving food to students taking the state standardized assessment tests. The meeting adjourned after this.