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Senate committee approves SB 225 to clarify AEDC roles, recommends moving energy office oversight to ADEQ
Summary
Senator Pitch presented Senate Bill 225, saying the measure clarifies AEDC—s roles, updates foreign-trade-zone language, incorporates minority- and women-owned business programs, and states the energy office should be overseen by ADEQ; the committee passed the bill by voice vote and no roll-call tally is recorded in the transcript.
Senator Pitch told the Senate Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development Committee that Senate Bill 225 is one of four bills related to AEDC and is intended to clarify the commission’s statutory roles and scope. "Basically senate bill 225 is one of four AEDC bills," Senator Pitch said, adding that the bill "incorporates the programs that have grown into their scope of purview, for instance, minority owned, women owned businesses."
Pitch said the bill corrects how foreign-trade-zone provisions apply to AEDC and would move the energy office from AEDC oversight to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) (the transcript refers to ADEQ by acronym). When asked how many foreign-trade zones exist in the state, Pitch said there are two such zones and noted subzones exist, citing Fort Chaffee as an example.
Senator Pitch moved that the committee pass the bill. The motion was seconded, the committee responded 'aye' in a voice vote, and the Chair announced the motion carried, congratulating Senator Pitch. The transcript records a voice vote only; no roll-call tally of yeas and nays is included.
Why it matters: The bill consolidates and clarifies AEDC responsibilities that have expanded in practice, addresses confidentiality concerns about wage information requested during economic development recruitment, and proposes administrative reassignments — notably transferring the energy office oversight to ADEQ — that change where related staff and programs report.
What’s next: The committee approved the bill; the transcript does not provide a roll-call vote tally. Another bill mentioned earlier, Senate Bill 16666, was placed on deferred status and was not run during this meeting.
