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Senate Judiciary panel approves Sentencing Commission’s parole-eligibility rule implementing Protect Arkansas Act
Summary
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard Department of Corrections testimony on an administrative rule from the Sentencing Commission that sets minimum parole-eligibility thresholds (25% and 50%) for most offenses under the Protect Arkansas Act and voted to advance the rule after brief questioning about fiscal assumptions and the policy basis for longer eligibility periods.
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced an administrative rule implementing provisions of the Protect Arkansas Act after Department of Corrections legal counsel described how the Sentencing Commission assigned most offenses to new minimum parole-eligibility thresholds.
Tawny Rowell, chief legal counsel for the Department of Corrections, told the committee that under the Protect Arkansas Act ‘‘the Protect Arkansas Act changes those thresholds to 25 [percent] and 50 [percent] of sentence,’’ and that the rule preserves statutory 85 percent offenses and other statutorily defined categories. Rowell said the change primarily reclassifies some offenses from the shorter-eligibility bucket into the 50 percent bucket and noted one specific change moving second-degree assault into the higher category.
Committee members questioned the fiscal impact and the evidentiary basis for the rule’s public-safety rationale. One committee member pressed why the fiscal impact statement claims the rule ‘‘promote[s] public safety by ensuring that more inmates with more serious offenses are required to serve a larger percentage of sentence,’’ noting he had ‘‘not seen evidence to suggest that this is true.’' Rowell said the fiscal assessment was difficult because ‘‘the rule is just shifting’’ existing groupings and that the Sentencing Commission viewed the effect as an incapacitation measure for predominantly violent or serious drug offenses.
The committee also reviewed projected costs included in the rule’s fiscal analysis. Committee members referenced figures in the financial-impact assessment showing an estimated current fiscal-year cost of $498 and a next-fiscal-year cost of $28,393; Rowell said those estimates were based on assumptions carried over from the Protect Arkansas Act analysis and the existing sentencing buckets.
After questions, a motion to advance the review of the Sentencing Commission’s administrative rule was made and passed by voice vote. The record shows a committee-level approval to move forward with the rule review; the transcript records aye/no responses but does not include a roll-call tally or mover/second names.
Next steps: the committee advanced the rule for further consideration consistent with its agenda.
