Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Restaurants Relief topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate committee approves restaurant relief bill after stripping delivery‑fee cap
Summary
The City, County & Local Affairs Committee amended and approved legislation to help restaurants by easing outdoor‑dining rules and allowing quarterly sales‑tax remittance; a proposed temporary cap on third‑party delivery fees was removed after debate and testimony.
Sponsor introduced SB 479 as pandemic relief for restaurants, saying the bill "does 3 things": ease outdoor‑dining expansions, temporarily cap third‑party delivery charges, and let restaurants remit sales taxes quarterly.
The bill’s sponsor (introduced in the transcript as "Senator Tucker") told the committee the outdoor‑dining change would let restaurants expand seating without needing a new ABC permit if their alcohol‑permit type did not change, though they still must notify ABC and comply with local permitting. He described the delivery‑fee cap as a temporary 15 percent limit that would apply while the state emergency declaration remains in effect and for 90 days after, and said the quarterly sales‑tax change preserves fiscal‑year collections and the 2 percent early‑payment discount for businesses that qualify.
Restaurant owners who testified described steep losses during 2020 and ongoing cash‑flow pressures. Kathy Peck, owner of Trio’s in Little Rock, said her revenue was down "35% to 40%" in 2020 and that independent restaurants often operate on "4 to 5%" profit margins; she said third‑party delivery fees of "20 to 25 to 30%" were unsustainable for small operators. Don Dugan, who owns several Little Rock venues, said many operators have in practice used held sales‑tax receipts as short‑term operating capital during the crisis.
Paul Gehring with the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) opposed the sales‑tax delay portion of the bill, telling the committee that sales taxes are "held in trust" and that delaying remittance would affect the timing of city and county distributions; he said roughly "approximately 5,700 restaurants" are registered in Arkansas’ tax system, and the local distribution impact would not be quantifiable until implementation.
Committee members raised questions about fairness to other small businesses and about tying any temporary measures to an emergency declaration that the governor or secretary may extend. After debate, the sponsor circulated an amendment striking the delivery‑fee cap; the committee adopted the amendment and then voted to pass SB 479 as amended, retaining the outdoor‑dining change and the quarterly sales‑tax remittance provision.
What happens next: SB 479 was reported out of committee as amended and proceeds to the next stage of the Legislature. The committee record reflects voice votes on the amendment and on final passage; no roll‑call tallies were recorded in the transcript.
