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Senate committee hears competing accounts, tables bill to name new Petit Jean visitor center for Dr. T. W. Hardison
Summary
Senate Bill 8 would statutorily name the new Petit Jean visitor center for Dr. T. W. Hardison. Supporters cited local sentiment and history; the Department of Parks described rules and legal constraints. After discussion, the committee voted to table the bill.
Senate Bill 8, introduced by Senator Mark Johnson, would name the new Petit Jean State Park visitor center for Dr. T. W. Hardison. Supporters told the Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development Committee the change responds to a strong local preference to honor Hardison and to correct a prior commission action that they said left the founder’s name off the new facility.
“...this is just appropriate honor, really just a reinstatement of an existing honor to the gentleman who was probably more responsible than anybody else for the wonderful state parks we have in Arkansas,” Senator Mark Johnson said while presenting the bill.
Representative Rick Beck and local supporters recounted a September 2019 public meeting and persistent constituent pressure. Beck said residents felt a communications breakdown at the department level and sought legislative action after months without resolution.
Stacy Hurst, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, said department counsel concluded a prior commission vote to name the center for Richard Davies was inconsistent with state law. Hurst described a rules process the department developed after the issue surfaced: nominations can come from the public with petition signatures or from a commissioner with a second, followed by public hearing, commission review and final approval in consultation with the governor and secretary. “What he learned quickly was that it was contrary to state law,” Hurst said of the department’s counsel’s finding.
Committee members raised concerns that leaving ultimate authority in administrative hands (secretary and governor) could allow future renaming with changing administrations and asked whether the statute or amended rules were the better tool to protect a name in perpetuity. Senator Mark Johnson said the bill would make the designation statutory and therefore only changeable by act of the General Assembly.
After extended discussion and assurances that the commission had already moved to make the nomination, a motion to table Senate Bill 8 carried by voice vote. The chair said the matter will be revisited. The committee then proceeded to Senate Bill 148 (survey/GIS corrections), which received a motion to pass and the committee adjourned.
