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Committee declines to advance bill to bar pensions for future public‑trust criminals
Summary
The committee did not advance Senator Johnson’s bill to deny pension benefits to public officials convicted of crimes involving the public trust; sponsors framed the proposal as prospective only and constrained by constitutional contract‑clause case law.
Senator Johnson presented legislation proposing to bar pension benefits for members who commit crimes related to their public trust. The bill’s text would prohibit new members who later commit a qualifying public‑trust crime from receiving a pension while preserving the right to a refund of employee contributions.
Johnson and cosponsors said they sought a narrowly drawn statute that would apply prospectively to unvested members and to crimes tied to public duties. He acknowledged constitutional and case‑law limits — including the Arkansas constitutional contract clause and Landers v. Stone (2016) — and said the bill was designed not to apply retroactively to vested members.
Committee discussion raised constitutional and practical concerns. The sponsor said he believed the General Assembly should act to send a deterrent message but accepted legal constraints requiring prospective application only. The transcript shows the sponsor’s closing remarks but no committee motion to advance the bill; the chair noted no motion was made and the bill did not move forward.
Ending: Committee members debated policy and legal limits; the bill did not advance out of committee at the hearing.
