Environmental Insights/2021 Arkansas Legislative Session: Mitchell Williams Law Firm Webinar

Mitchell Williams Law Firm presented a webinar on June 30th titled:

2021 Legislative Session: What’s in? What’s Out? What’s all the Fuss About?

The discussion was undertaken by Randy Thurman (Government Solutions) and Morril Harriman (Mitchell Williams Law Firm).

The moderator was Jordan Wimpy (Mitchell Williams Law Firm).

Randy and Morril are experienced legislative representatives, having served in the Arkansas House of Representatives and Arkansas Senate, respectively. Further, both Randy and Morril were active in the recently concluded 93rd Arkansas Legislative Session and provided a number of insights.

They have both had experience addressing environmental issues. Randy served for 20 years as the Executive Director of the Arkansas Environmental Federation. Morrill served as President of the Poultry Federation for six years.

The webinar discussion initially addressed the makeup of both the Arkansas State Senate and House of Representatives in terms of the divide between Democratic and Republican parties. Also noted was the fact that the Legislative Session lasted 107 days (and is actually not formally adjourned).

Legislation related to environmental/natural resource issues discussed included:

• Act 285 (allowing the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality [“DEQ”] to operate the Clean Water Act 404 dredge and fill program)
• Act 557 (moving various pesticide control authorities from the Arkansas Plant Board to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture)
• Act 361 (amending the makeup of the State Plant Board)
• Act 677 (requiring a solid waste disposal authority to prepare and submit an annual budget to the governing body of each municipality and county that are members of the authority for review and approval)
• Act 140 (prohibiting local governments from taking actions that discriminate against a utility service on the basis of energy source)
• Act 605 (designed to bring small water systems into compliance/requires implementation of rate studies, etc.)
• Act 694 (requires the Arkansas Public Commission to evaluate existing electric generating units and conduct prescribed analyses in determining whether life extensions of existing electric generating units are in the public interest)
• Act 639 (amends regulatory processes for assessing state plans submitted by the DEQ regarding the emission of CO2 from covered electric generating units and revisions of state plans)
• Act 1046 (foreign persons that are required to file under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act must file a copy with the Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture)

A copy of the slides from the webinar can be downloaded here.