Not ready for tax session, Beebe says
Posted on Thursday, March 20, 2008
Gov. Mike Beebe repeatedly declined to say Wednesday whether he had sufficient support to pass his proposed severance-tax increase in the state House of Representatives or the state Senate.
“Better than I was yesterday,” he said when asked where his vote count stood.
On Monday and Tuesday he said that a majority of the House and Senate supported his proposal but not the three-fourths required.
Wednesday, he said he’s “not yet” ready to call a special legislative session that he has said he hopes will enact his plan to raise the tax for the first time in 51 years.
Legislative leaders speculated about what Beebe’s clamming up might mean.
“They must be getting real close,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Jack Critcher, DBatesville.
“I would think he must already have the votes in the Senate and he’s waiting on the House,” he said. “He’s either there or pretty close to being there.”
Rep. Robbie Wills, D-Conway, designated to be next year’s House leader, had estimated Tuesday that Beebe’s plan had the backing of 55 to 60 of the 100 House members, but he raised that Wednesday to 65. Another 15 are leaning toward voting for the plan, he said.
Rep. Allen Maxwell, D-Monticello, vice chairman of the House tax committee, said he decided Tuesday to support it after a conversation with Beebe’s chief of staff, Morril Harriman, who is a former lobbyist and a former state senator.
Wills said 12 representatives have told him that they will definitely vote against it. He said that based on previous conversations he expects several others to vote against it.
“It’s looking good. I don’t know what else to say,” Wills said. “I think we are going to get 75.”
Seventy-five favorable votes are required in the House and 27 in the 35-member Senate, a standard set by Amendment 19 for raising the rates of certain taxes.
The state Republican Party chairman, Dennis Milligan, and House GOP leader Johnny Key of Mountain Home have declared their opposition to Beebe’s proposal. Key has said 15 to 20 of the 25 House Republicans oppose it.
There are eight Senate Republicans. Sen. Dave Bisbee, RRogers, on Wednesday became the fourth Senate Republican to announce his support for Beebe’s proposal.
“I think the momentum is in [Beebe’s ] favor,” said Senate Democratic leader Tracy Steele of North Little Rock.
But several Democratic representatives have described themselves as undecided about Beebe’s proposal this week.
They include House Speaker Benny Petrus of Stuttgart and Reps. Scott Sullivan of De Queen, Linda Chesterfield of Little Rock, Eddie Cooper of Melbourne, David Dunn of Forrest City, David Evans of Searcy and Tracy Pennartz of Fort Smith.
Cooper, chairman of the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, said he hasn’t had time to review Beebe’s proposal.
“I’m too busy dealing with flood damage,” he said. “I’d like to see the bill before I commit to something.”
Pennartz, who has a challenger in the May 20 primary, said she has many questions about Beebe’s proposal. She wants answers before she decides whether to vote for or against it, she said.
Evans, manager of community relations for Southwestern Energy Co. ’s Conway office, said he hopes to make up his mind by the middle of next week.
Southwestern is one of the natural gas producers that struck a deal with Beebe that reflects the governor’s proposal to set a base rate of 5 percent of the price of gas, with some exemptions. It’s aimed at heading off a proposed initiated act by former natural gas executive Sheffield Nelson of Little Rock, whose plan would set a 7 percent rate with no exemptions.
The governor wants the revenue from the severance-tax increase to be used to improve roads. It is projected to raise $ 57 million in the first year, ultimately growing to $ 100 million a year. The tax increase would begin Jan. 1.
Arkansas’ severance tax has been three-tenths of 1 cent per 1, 000 cubic feet since 1957. It raises about $ 600, 000 a year. Information for this article was contributed by Laura Kellams of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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