Special session on tax cuts and the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act begins
A special session of the Arkansas legislature began this morning at 11 a.m. Tax cuts are a topic of discussion, but the most contentious item on the agenda is the substantial restriction of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, including an exemption on any planning or provision of security services provided to the Governor and other executive officers.
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that FOIA requests are being “weaponized” to slow down her administration’s agenda. She also says FOIA requests are putting her family’s safety at risk. Representative David Ray of Maumelle is the lead sponsor on the bill. He spoke with Roby Brock on yesterday’s Capitol View. Ray tells him there should be access to records like travel expenditures, but that certain information in those records should be redacted.
“It would give away some of the methods and procedures of how the state police protect the governor,” said Ray. “Their movements, their tactics, those sorts of things. But as a general rule, those sorts of things should be provided and I think it will continue to be.”
“Under your bill, that information would not be disclosed, it would not be provided,” Brock said.
“Any determination on what’s going to be provided is going to be made by the frontline records custodian,” Ray said. “In that case it would be state police. But I fully intend that information related to financial records is going to be publicly available.”
State Senator Bryan King of Green Forest is one of a handful of Republican legislators who is not a co-sponsor on this bill. He says the Freedom of Information Act is the right of citizens to know what’s going on with the government.
“This is one of the most devastating… I don’t know if it almost doesn’t almost destroy our FOI ability and the citizen’s right to know here in Arkansas,” King said.
King said his Republican colleagues reached out to him a few weeks ago to discuss the bill and see if he would sign on as a co-sponsor.
“It was pretty clear after a little bit of discussion I was a hell no on this,” King said. “People that know me [know] that I believe in government transparency and that I believe that is the fundamental right. I believe our founding fathers put this as where they knew what their government was doing.”
King said he’s sympathetic to the security concern, but that should be a separate issue and just a small sliver of the changes being proposed. He says he doesn’t believe the objections of the people are being heard by legislators or the Sanders administration.
“I think they’ve got the votes, and they’re going to go steamroll it over,” King said. “I’ll sit here and say it right now, the next step is if this bill gets passed and is as destructive as it is, the next thing is to take it to a vote of the people and see about getting the citizens to vote on it.”
The special session is expected to last through Wednesday.
Federal judge blocks Delta-8 ban
A federal judge has blocked enforcement of an Arkansas law criminalizing the sale and transport of Delta-8 THC. U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson issued the preliminary injunction late last week against Act 629. Abtin Mehdizadegan, the attorney for the plaintiffs, says the Judge temporarily blocked the law because of how poorly it was written.
“Judge Wilson's order temporarily blocked the enforcement of act 629 because it is so poorly written that even someone of exceptional intelligence," the court said, "could not understand what it means and because it expressly violates federal law.”
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has yet to publicly respond to Judge Wilson’s injunction. Mehdizadegan said he expects Griffin to act responsibly to protect the constitution.
“Unfortunately I don't think the attorney general's office will do that and I expect that they will attempt to seek an interlocutory -- or an immediate appeal to the 8th circuit,” Mehdizadegan said
The case is scheduled to proceed to a bench trial late August of next year.
Jewish High Holidays begin this weekend
The Jewish High Holidays begin on Saturday, Sept. 15 at sunset with Rosh Hashanah the Jewish New Year, ending at nightfall Sunday September 17th. Yom Kippur starts on the Sept. 24. It’s the holiest day on the Jewish calendar—calling for fasting, prayer, and forgiveness.
Rabbi Jacob Adler says these holidays are a period of self reflection and repentance.
“or in Hebrew “Shuva” which means basically turning back to God and turning to the self that you really aspire to be,” Adler said.
Adler will sound the Shofar, a ram's-horn trumpet which is an ancient Jewish tradition sounded at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
“This year only on the second day we will be sounding the Shofar 100 times and the Shofar has many meanings but the one that touches me most is that it is a wordless prayer to God that expresses what words are not sufficient to express,” Adler said.
Rabbi Adler founded Minyan on the Hill, one of just a few Jewish congregations in the entire state.
Razorbacks defeat Kent State
Arkansas Razorbacks football had their first game in Fayetteville on Saturday, defeating Kent State 28-6. Arkansas starts 2-0 for the third consecutive season, marking the first time this has happened since 2000. Next Saturday the Razorbacks welcome Brigham Young University, kickoff is at 6:30 p.m.
