We are finally winning some important battles! We have a lot of information (nine bullet points below) to share with you this weekend. We will break it down into three segments: action requests, updates, and reminders.
Action requested TODAY:
1.) HB 1371: This is the school choice bill, which will allow more families access to private schools (using donated money). This is on the agenda for Tuesday, March 16th. We believe the vote is down to three members of the education committee: Lee Johnson (HD 75) – 479-883-6393; Stu Smith (HD 63) – 870-612-3974; Chairman Bruce Cozart (HD 24) – 501-627-3232. Please call, text, and email these three urging their support of HB 1371.
2.) HB 1063: This bill provides permanent access to tele-health services. Please contact the members of the House Public Health Committee, requesting that they vote FOR HB 1063.
Click here for the House public health Excel file.
Click here for the House public health PDF file.
Updates:
3.) SB 254 bars ADH / ABC from issuing most mask fines. SB 254 has passed both chambers and was delivered to the governor on Thursday. Unless Asa vetoes (which we do not expect), it will become law this week and take effect immediately.
4.) SB 301 returns the fines to the businesses and individuals who paid them. SB 301 has now passed both health committees and the full Senate. It is on the House agenda for Monday, where we expect a big victory. Unless Asa vetoes (which we do not expect), it will become law in five days and become effective in 90 days. We expect the fines to be returned sometime this summer. If you didn’t watch the video of the vote in House Health, you must see it! Our legislators stopped ABC Director Doralee Chandler mid-sentence, and didn’t allow the ADH bureaucrats to even speak. It was phenomenal, and provides evidence that they are listening to us! Watch this video starting at the 1:10:00 mark. The fireworks take place around 1:15.
5.) SB 379 restricts the governor’s ability to declare perpetual emergencies and forces involvement of the legislature. SB 379 has now passed both health committees and the full Senate. It is on the House agenda for Monday, where we expect an overwhelming victory. It will become law within five days and is effective immediately if 2/3 of the House votes YES, which we expect.
6.) HCR 1003, which would have ended the state of emergency immediately, failed this week in the House Public Health Committee. It was not a long-term solution, because Asa could have immediately re-issued the emergency order. Some legislators were skeptical of it because they didn’t realize that the “goodies” in the emergency order could have been retained while getting rid of the mask mandate. In any case, this was a smaller battle, and it can be brought back up in the event Asa attempts to re-issue a new emergency later this month.
7.) The Supreme Court hearing for our lawsuit is scheduled for April 8th. We hope to get an up or down ruling as to whether Asa / Romero acted within the law when they restricted businesses and individuals without consulting the legislature. The lawsuit is now fully funded thanks to the generous support of many patriots in our group. Without our actions, the Asa / Romero regime would still have us locked down under single-branch control, subject to the latest whims of the regime. We now have the legislature actively involved, and we are only days away from passing crucial legislation that will forever limit the governor’s power and return much of that power back to the people.
Reminders:
8.) You can find all legislative contact info on our website: reopenarkansas.org/contact-lists. The contact info is sorted by chamber, party, and alphabetically.
9.) The legislators report that they are overwhelmed with e-mails. That means your efforts are making a difference! When you contact them, please be succinct and polite. Write only two to four sentence emails, and include “Support [bill #]” in the subject line.