State representative Danny Watson and State Senator Steve Crowell sat down last week for an interview on how they viewed the recently closed legislative session and other developments in Hempstead County, including the potential for a state prison being located here.
They were asked first what they believed were the most important achievements of the session. Rep. Watson named two that he said were “definitely” on Governor Sarah Sanders’ “wishlist,” the passage of the LEARNS Act in March and the passage of the Prison Reform Bill in April.
Sen. Crowell concurred and added that “the thing with both bills is the governor is and her staff are very open to what’s going to happen. And we’re working hard on it and they are working extremely hard on it.” With regard to the LEARNS Act, Crowell said, “I don’t you can just throw money at certain portions of [the school system]. I think it had to be a turnabout, going from 48th, 47th in certain categories. And change is hard. But I think we’re going to see some amazing things in the next five to ten years.”
Crowell said he was gratified by a number of bills passed concerning child safety and five to prevent human trafficking by increasing sentences for those convicted of it and to allow victims to sue perpetrators. “We did the Library bill,” Crowell said, referring to a bill that gives parents a process for challenging items available to children in public and school libraries, does away with a defense from state law intended to protect librarians from criminal prosecution under obscenity laws and creates an offense for "furnishing a harmful item to a minor." It also says that challenged books would be relocated within libraries rather than removed.
“We did a lot of things to just protect, because in today's society, things have slowly snuck in,” Crowell said. “And a lot of people haven't noticed that. Good parents, great parents just may not have noticed it. But it's snuck in. And I'm really proud of legislation we did this year on that.”
Watson said that he had had to work on social issues more than he had previously because of his now being a member of the House Judiciary Committee. “Wow, what a lot of debate,” he said. “The sad part? I really feel with my biblical upbringing, that it's a shame we're having to even discuss most of these now with this day and time that we live in. And I'm not ever going to complain to one of my neighbors, or my constituency, because the first thing they're going to say is ‘Representative Watson, this is why we voted for you.’ So I'm not copping out, but again, it was a plethora things from transgender to you just name it, a lot of that stuff. And some of them were really, really, really sad. And you know, good and well, there's no winners or losers in this. You’re going to make half of them happy and half of them . . . So we can clear that up.”
Watson also talked about a bill that had passed requiring social media and adult websites to verify the age of Arkansas users. “As far as making it harder for the the kiddos under eighteen As far as online goes, we've tightened that up. In fact, I had a back and forth on that. Do we really want to do this? Is this fair government? … So it was unanimous, and it did pass that they'll have to verify now.”
Watson said he knew some parents may log on to streaming sites just to keep their children quiet, but “the bottom line is today we just can’t let it slide. Anytime we can put some teeth into like that, to try to do some accountability on this wayward world, we have to give it a shot is the way I look at it.”
Watson asked Crowell if he had been on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Crowell said no but he had been on the State Agencies Committee, where the most important action, he thought, had pertained to state elections. “A lot of people are unsure because of the national media about our elections. We passed 24 bills out of state agencies. And again, on the House side and the Senate side, they voted them out. After this session, we have been ranked in the top three most secure elections in the nation. We did 17 audits last year. And after 17 audits, there was not a single vote that was wrong. So we're pretty proud of that.”
“Absolutely,” Crowell said. “That was a great bill. We also passed the Delta Eight bill. There was a law on the books that you couldn't mask it as candy. If you were to look at some of the packaging, it looks just absolutely like it. And we decided to take it a step further to make sure that the amount of THC was even less, because there were kids bringing this ‘candy’ to school. And in fact, the week that Senator [Tyler] Dees [Republican of Northwest Arkansas] and a bunch of us started discussing it, there was a kindergarten that had kids get sick for a while from somebody bringing it.”
Concerning the $124 million tax cut bill that was passed by both houses and signed April 10 by the governor, there was criticism over the bulk of the benefits going to the wealthy. Rep. Watson in response to this said, “I don't look at it that way at all. I will say this, if we don't follow up with steps that could potentially make an Arkansas as business friendly of a state as possible, if we don't grab hold of what we can, so much of the other things that we're doing are just to no avail, I'm going to be honest.” He added that he could see the top tax rates going lower than that in the future, especially if the economy takes a downturn.
Asked to respond to the criticism that the spending contained in the LEARNS Act and tax cuts may be too big a financial hit for the state, Senator Crowell complimented the legislators this session and in the previous one for having “done a a great job” of “managing the state’s money.” Without the conservative policy of the legislature, Crowell said, the LEARNS Act, the tax cut and the prison reform bill would not have been possible.
Concerning the possible location of a state prison in Hempstead County, there has been discussion in the Quorum Court meetings and at least one meeting of those opposed to the proposal. Rep. Watson gave his view of the way the process of considering the county as a potential location stands now.
Watson said he had received an email from the Governor’s office during inauguration week that listed the need for a new 1,000-bed prison. He had the choice of whether to sit on the information, but instead he informed the Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director who at the time was Steve Harris.
Watson said the EDC soon sent in information pertaining to a site and had ended up being the only entity “for the thousand-man facility” that “met the state deadline.” Since then, Watson said he has not heard from the Department of Corrections about the proposal, though he knows Hempstead County EDC has been asked about utility availability. But in summary, Watson said, “The opportunity is there. I don’t know whether we’re really going to get the thing.” The second proposal concerns a community-corrections facility. Watson says for that one three other sites have submitted applications, including Prescott.
Senator Crowell said, “It’s a long process.”
Both noted that a lot of misinformation had been spread about the prison proposal.
Watson said it would be four or five years before something substantial happens and that once the state Department of Corrections gives the word that Hempstead County is to be chosen, many public meetings will occur in which citizens can offer feedback. Its progress will also depend on when Governor Sanders focuses her and her staff’s attention on the matter.
Watson and Crowell both were complimentary of the Governor and her staff’s responsiveness to communications with legislators and also to the House and the Senate for the spirit of collaboration when crafting and passing legislation.