Voting machine bill clears Senate
Friday, Mar 4, 2005

By Doug Thompson and Rob Moritz
Arkansas News
LITTLE ROCK - A bill requiring computerized voting machines to leave a paper record of votes cast cleared the Senate on Thursday without a dissenting vote.

House Bill 1360 by Rep. Ray Kidd, D-Jonesboro, passed 34-0. The bill had already passed the House and now goes to the governor. The bill arose from concerns that some voting machines did not leave a means for a recount if their tabulation of results was disputed.

The Senate also passed a bill giving a tax deduction of up to $10,000 off of net taxable income to the donor of an organ, such as a kidney. HB 1393 by Rep. Chris Thyer, D-Jonesboro, also passed 34-0 and goes to the governor. The bill is expected to cost no more than $76,000 a year. It includes a section commending Reps. Eric Harris, R-Lowell, and Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock. Harris donated a kidney to his son, Jackson, and Elliott donated a kidney to her sister, Gloria.

A bill allowing county clerks to close their offices for early voting at 5 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. on the night before an election also passed the Senate. House Bill 1417 by Rep. Bill Pritchard, R-Elkins, passed 23-2. The hour's difference will give the clerks more time to prepare for the next day's election, said sponsor Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville. The bill would also allow the clerk to designate an early voting location besides the clerk's office. The bill goes to the governor.

The use of electronically stored information in automated "event data recorders" in newer-model cars would be restricted in SB 51 by Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, D-Crossett. The "black box" bill, as Jeffress said it had been dubbed, makes the information stored in the device the property of the automobile owner. Collection or use of the information, except as evidence in court or an emergency, would require written permission of the owner. The measure passed 32-0 and goes to the House.

In the House, SB 232 by Sen. Jerry Bookout, D-Jonesboro, which would grant the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission the power to raise the annual fee for underground and aboveground storage tanks from $50 to $75, failed. The measure needed 51 votes, but it received 47. Forty-three voted against the bill.

Rep. Dustin McDaniel, D-Jonesboro, spoke for the bill, saying the money generated by the fee increase is used to clean up spills across the state.

Rep. Charles Ormond, D-Morrilton, spoke against the bill, saying farmers across the state have above ground tanks and a $25 increase would cause them problems.