House committee concurs on several Senate amendments; amendment to HB1695 fails on roll call

At a meeting of the City, County & Local Affairs Committee of the Arkansas House, members voted to concur in Senate amendments to several House bills and debated changes to municipal lien procedures. Representative Justin Gonzales presented Senate Amendment 1 to House Bill 1701 (an ADEQ-requested technical amendment) and the committee concurred by voice vote. Representatives also concurred by voice with two Senate amendments to House Bill 1555. A motion to concur in Senate Amendment 1 to House Bill 1695, which would adjust timelines and notice language related to municipal liens, was debated, the committee recessed to correct drafting errors, and the motion ultimately failed on a roll-call vote.

The votes mattered to cities, title companies and lenders because the HB1695 amendment package addressed time frames for perfecting municipal liens, notification language for lienholders and removal of a proposed notice to the land commissioner. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality requested the technical change to HB1701, and representatives of the Arkansas Municipal League and trade groups worked with sponsors on HB1555 and HB1695 to reach compromise language.

Representative Justin Gonzales, a House member from District 89, presented Senate Amendment 1 to House Bill 1701 and told the committee, “This is an amendment that the, ADEQ asked for. It doesn't change the substance of the bill. I'll take any questions.” The committee took no questions and concurred in the amendment by voice vote.

Representative Stetson Painter, House District 3, presented two Senate amendments to House Bill 1555 that sponsors said reflected negotiations with Senator Hester and the Arkansas Municipal League. Painter said the committee needed to “concur with amendment 1 first then we could go to the next amendment number 2” so the agreed language would appear correctly in the engrossed bill. The committee concurred in Senate Amendment 1 and then concurred in Senate Amendment 2 by voice votes; no public witnesses signed up on those items.

Representative Jay Richardson, House District 49, presented changes to House Bill 1695, describing three categories of edits: clarifications requested by bankers to preserve lienholder notice, a change requested by the Land Title Association about liens, and a provision removing a notice to the land commissioner's office about purchasing delinquent property. Richardson said the edits were “all in line and it was all agreed upon legislation and asked for a good vote.”

John Wilkerson of the Arkansas Municipal League explained the substance: title companies opposed extending time frames that had been proposed in the original bill, so the amendment reverted to existing time frames for cities to perfect liens; the amendment removed the proposed notice to the land commissioner; and the bankers association added language to ensure lienholders would receive notice of liens or foreclosure actions. Wilkerson summarized, in part, “the title companies did not wanna extend those time frames. So we went back to the existing time frames … and then, of course, the other 2 issues, taking out the notice provision, with the land commissioner and then, the bankers association adding language to ensure that they had notice of the lien, any foreclosure process.”

One member of the public, Paul Calvert, testified in opposition to the HB1695 amendment package, saying it would expand municipal lien authority and noting his own experience: “This is a, a bill that's kind of touches close to an issue that I've had personally. And my biggest beef is that it's, expanding the power of the cities to impose liens.”

Committee members discovered a drafting error in the engrossed amendment text (an incorrect numeric string on page 2, line 29–30 that created an apparent “3 65” instead of the intended text). After pausing the meeting to correct the text, the committee reconvened and took a voice vote on the motion to concur in Senate Amendment 1 to HB1695. A roll-call vote was then requested and recorded; the chair announced, “Sorry. Your amendment has failed.” The transcript does not record a final roll-call tally in the body of the discussion provided here.

The committee did not adopt the contested amendment to HB1695; sponsors and stakeholders indicated remaining issues concerned lien timing and notice language. The committee concurred in the ADEQ-requested technical amendment to HB1701 and two amendments to HB1555 that sponsors characterized as negotiated compromises with municipal interests. No further actions were recorded in the provided transcript excerpts.