Measure to lower lawmakers’ reimbursements scrapped
A state House member says he is withdrawing a proposal to limit legislators’ travel reimbursements to the same rate state employees receive.
Rep. James McLean, D-Batesville, said he will not run House Concurrent Resolution 1003 during the fiscal session. The measure would reduce legislators’ mileage reimbursement rate from 51 cents per mile to 42 cents per mile, the same as state employees’ rate.
McLean said the House leadership asked him to drop the measure.
“It was impressed upon me that we need to strictly stay on appropriations bills,” he said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
McLean said he hopes to bring the proposal back in the future, either through legislation in the 2013 regular session or through the internal rule-making process in the House and Senate.
“I think it’s a question of fairness,” he said.
House member taken to hospital
A state House member was taken to a hospital from the state Capitol on Tuesday.
Officials announced on the House floor that Rep. Jon Hubbard, R-Jonesboro, was transported by ambulance to a Little Rock hospital. House spokeswoman Cecillea Pond-Mayo said Hubbard went to the Capitol infirmary about 1 p.m. to have medical personnel look at an abrasion on his hand.
Because he was short of breath, officials advised that he should be taken to a hospital, she said.
Pond-Mayo said she did not know to which hospital Hubbard was taken or if he was admitted. Nearly a year ago, Hubbard spent time in a Jonesboro hospital after suffering a mild heart attack during the 2011 regular session.
Senate honors late newspaper publisher
The Senate on Tuesday honored former newspaper publisher Ted Larimer, who died Dec. 31 at the age of 91.
Sen. Randy Laverty, D-Jasper, presented Larimer’s son, Tom, and his wife, Pam, with a citation on the Senate floor. Ted Larimer published the Green Forest Tribune for 46 years, was a former president of the Arkansas Press Association and served on a number of state boards and commissions.
Laverty said Ted Larimer also helped him publish a law book that his father wrote but did not get published before his death.
“He was an incredible man,” Laverty said, “admired, respected and loved by people of all political persuasions.”
Tom Larimer is executive director of the APA.
Also on the Senate floor during the ceremony were APA Business Manager Terry Cobb and Ashley Wimberley, marketing director of the association.
Toddler leads Senate in pledge
LITTLE ROCK — A toddler led the state Senate in the Pledge of Allegiance on Tuesday.
Three-year-old Hudson Jack Taylor, the grandson of Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, did the honors.
Williams said later he was told his grandson was probably the youngest person ever to lead senators in the pledge.
The boy’s parents, Josh and Tiffinie Taylor, watched from the gallery, along with both of his grandmothers, DeLona Williams and Debbie Taylor.