Conservative politicians like ‘big brother’ legislation, too
By Roy Ockert Jr.
Feb. 17, 2015
Conservative politicians get themselves elected by preaching limited government, local control and individual freedom, but when they get a chance to govern, they often forget their principles and start passing laws that would, in theory, make liberals proud.
A prime example exists in the form of Senate Bill 202, which cleared the Republican-controlled Legislature last week (by 24-8 in the Senate and 58-21 in the House) and now goes to the governor.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, and Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, would ban cities and counties from passing anti-discrimination laws.
So much for local control and individual freedom. Big brother state government knows better.
SB 202 is a knee-jerk reaction to an anti-discrimination ordinance passed last year by the Fayetteville City Council that would have prohibited local acts of discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation, gender or similar characteristics. The ordinance stirred a local controversy and eventually was overturned in a referendum.
In other words, the majority prevailed.
But Hester and Ballinger don’t want a city council and local voters to decide whether their community should ban discrimination so they proposed a state law to take it out of their hands.
During Friday’s debate in the house Ballinger tried to explain the contradiction between his philosophy and his actions: “I’m a person who is all about home rule. I think if it’s something that can be and should be handled by the cities, counties then it ought to be handled and should be handled by the cities and counties. There are some things on a statewide basis ... things that need to be uniform. This creates uniformity for our businesses and for our citizens for that matter to know that things like our employment laws will be the same throughout the state.”
Translation: As long as the cities and counties do things I agree with, they can have the authority. That’s a great argument for federal laws, too.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who knows this is a bad bill and possibly unconstitutional, said Friday he will not sign it but rather allow it to become law without a signature. That way he can dodge the issue and the blame later.
“Senate Bill 202 passed with significant margins in the General Assembly, and I have a high regard for the discussion in the Legislature and respect for the legislative process,” the governor said in a written statement. “As governor, I recognize the desire to prevent burdensome regulations on businesses across the state. However, I am concerned about the loss of local control. For that reason, I am allowing the bill to become law without my signature.”
For that reason he should veto it as a matter of principle, instead of copping out.
This session has seen plenty of other “big brother” bills.
State Rep. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, got a bill passed in the House last week that would dictate to public schools that they must teach cursive writing by the end of the third grade starting next year. The Common Core, which by the way was a brainchild of conservatives, doesn’t mandate cursive writing.
Hendren’s eighth-grade granddaughter can’t read or write in cursive so he decided he would fix that with a new state law (HB 1044).
Hendren meddles further with public education in HB 1226, which would require the schools to teach students how to make correct change. That idea was inspired by Hendren’s trip to a Sonic drive-in, when the car hop had trouble giving him the right change for a $20 bill.
Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, who spoke against the cursive bill ad an unnecessary mandate, earlier tried to pass his own mandate for the state’s colleges and universities.
In 2013 Collins managed to pass a law allowing some people to carry concealed handguns on college campuses, but a compromise allowed each institution’s board to opt out — every year. Every single college and university did that for the two years the law has been in effect so Collins wasn’t satisfied.
He came back with a proposal, HB 1077, that would take away the boards’ authority, thereby allowing faculty and staff members with gun permits to carry on campus — for protection against a crazed shooter, if you will. So far, he hasn’t been able to get the bill out of committee.
Sen. Linda Collins-Smith, R-Pocahontas, also has a bill, SB 159, that would allow concealed-carry permit holders who work at county courthouses to take their weapons to work. County judges and circuit judges generally frown on that sort of thing, you see.
So far, though, no one has offered a bill that would allow guns to be carried into the state Capitol. Why is that? We’ve seen crazed shooters in capital buildings, too.
Some legislators also want more controls for the health-care industry.
The Senate last week passed SB 53, sponsored by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, which is aimed at preventing a doctor from supervising a chemical abortion via an Internet connection. The practice isn’t available in Arkansas and hasn’t been done, but Irvin and 28 other senators believe they can dictate medical procedures better than doctors.
Unfortunately, they’re just getting started.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.