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Committee approves bill changing registered-forester composition for Arkansas Forestry Commission hearings
Summary
House Bill 1487 would set the registered-forester representation on the commission’s registered foresters committee to exactly three commissioners plus non-commissioned ad hoc members and a UAM representative; the committee passed the bill by voice vote.
Representative Howard Beatty presented House Bill 1487 to the House Committee on Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development, saying the measure would amend the composition of the committee that reviews registered forester applicants, rulemaking and disciplinary matters.
Beatty said Act 691 of 2023 created the registered foresters committee and that the act required all registered foresters on the Forestry Commission to serve on that committee. He said that requirement can create quorum problems and the appearance of bias in quasi-judicial hearings when commissioners who later have prior knowledge of a case do not recuse themselves. The proposed amendment would require exactly three registered foresters from the commission to serve on the committee, supplemented by non-commissioned ad hoc members and a representative from the University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM).
"This is a bill that's brought by the Department of Ag," Beatty said, describing the committee makeup and the Supreme Court concerns he said had prompted the change. He told the committee the change would preserve forester input in hearings while lowering the risk of recusal-related quorum problems.
No one signed up to speak for or against the bill in the excerpted record. Representative Brown moved a do-pass motion, the committee responded by voice, and the chair announced the bill had passed the committee.
