Sunday, March 15, 2015

Heading for Week Ten

It seems like yesterday I was sworn in and now we are beginning week ten. Due to time constraints this will be a few weeks in pictures with brief descriptions.

The Kelsey Smith Act was signed in to Arkansas law on Friday. This was my second piece of legislation to be signed by the Governor. Above is Senator Bart Hester presenting in the Senate and next is the bill on the board in the Senate. The next two images are the signed bill and Kelsey's parents Missey and Senator Greg Smith holding the important piece of legislation. 




The Arkansas Democrat Gazette called this piece of legislation "the most humane legislation introduced in this legislative session or any other." WOW!!!! I passed this through the Judiciary committee HB1855 the "Courthouse Dogs Child Witness Support Act," these specially trained dogs will sit next to children in court while they testify after being sexually abused. After trained these dogs will let the children pet them or lay their head in their lap when the child becomes emotionally upset. It goes to the floor on Monday, I pray I can do it the justice it deserves. I cannot express how much I love this bill.


 This is a picture of one of my pages and constituents, 12-year-old Eagle Scout ,Seth Rippetoe from Rogers. I spent Friday with him and his family. This image is him taking a note to the Speaker of the House, Jeremy Gillam for me.



 This is an image of my friend and colleague, Representative Michelle Gray presenting her bill to continue to protect our 2nd Amendment rights. It was very highly debated, but passed. Great job Representative Gray.


This is a picture of the pro death penalty shell bill I filed. A shell bill only has a title that can be filled in before the session ends or never. There was a lot of media coverage about this bill that went from Arkansas to all over the country. The media stated I wanted to bring back the firing squad in Arkansas, to which I received many emails and phone calls with people saying how proud they were of me to suggest such an idea. I was pretty much hailed a hero, except by a few liberals, but as you can plainly see I never suggested in the bill that the firing squad be brought back. Sorry to disappoint my supporters. However, who knows what next week will bring, perhaps a solution to the death penalty issue????

We will see...