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Sabrina N. Lewellen, JD Deputy Director, Arkansas Senate Assistant Secretary of the Senate
ARKANSAS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
There are 35 members of the Senate and 100 members of the House of Representatives.
The Lieutenant Governor presides over the Senate. The Speaker of the House presides over the House.
Senators represent approximately 83,312 Arkansans and Representatives represent approximately 29,159.
ARKANSAS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SENATE LEADERSHIP President Pro Tempore
One Majority Leader One Minority Leader One Majority Whip One Minority Whip
Four Assistant Pro Tempore (One per Congressional district)
ARKANSAS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
HOUSE LEADERSHIP
Speaker of the House
Speaker Pro Tem
Four Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore (One per Congressional district)
One Majority Leader
One Minority Leader
ARKANSAS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
A Senate candidates must be at least 25 years old, a resident of Arkansas for two years and a resident of his or her senatorial district for one year before being eligible to serve in the Senate. Senators serve staggered four-year terms with one half of the Senate membership being elected every two years. Senators are limited to two four-year terms.
A House candidate must be at least 21 years old, a resident of Arkansas for two years and a resident of his or her district for one year. Members of the House serve two-year terms. They are limited to three two-year terms.
ARKANSAS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Constitutional Amendment 86, approved by voters in 2008, requires the General Assembly to meet in annual sessions. Regular sessions are held in odd-numbered years to address regular legislation as well as the budget. Regular sessions are limited to 60 days but may be extended by a two-thirds vote of the membership of both chambers. Extending the session beyond 75 days requires a three-fourths vote.
Fiscal Sessions are held in even-numbered years to address fiscal matters. Fiscal sessions are 30 days and can only be extended up to 45 days bye two-thirds vote of both chambers.
ARKANSAS SENATE
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
13
21
6 3
Democrats Republicans Women Minorities
Statistical Information
CURRENT SENATE DISTRICTS
ARKANSAS SENATE 2012 RACES AT A GLANCE
Number of Seats up for
Election
Number of Term Limited
Senators
Number of Incumbent Senators
Running for Re-Election
Number of Incumbent Senators
without an Opponent
Number of Incumbents Challenged
after Redistricting
11 13 24 11 35
ARKANSAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
0
20
40
60
80
100
48 51
17 12
1
Democrats Republicans Women
Minorities Green
Statistical Information
2013 HOUSE DISTRICTS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2012 GENERAL ELECTION
26 = Races with Non-Incumbents & opponents 12 = Non-Incumbents elected in the May Primary
Number of Seats up for
Election
Number of Term Limited
Representatives
Number of Incumbent
Representatives Running for Re-Election
Number of Incumbent
Representatives Without an Opponent
Number of Incumbents Challenged
After Redistricting
100 62 33 29 24
All nonpartisan staff
Senate Chamber – 13 permanent
House Chamber – 21 permanent
Bureau of Legislative Research – 119 permanent
No structured personal staff/or leadership staff
The Arkansas Senate Constituency Services Office is a nonpartisan entity charged with
assisting all 35 State Senators in investigating and resolving constituent
questions, problems and concerns through the provision of professional and
comprehensive casework, limited legal research, administrative support and other
necessary methods.
Provide prompt and thorough professional product to Senators and their constituents
Promote Senators to their constituents
Protect Senators
Preserve work product through record retention
Types of Cases
Correspondence
Letters of Support (LOS)
Letters of Recommendation (LOR)
Letters of Character (CL)
Letters of Inquiry (LOI)
Letters of Congratulations (LOC)
Thank you letters
Mass Mailings (more than 10 letters)
Attorney General Opinion submissions Flag requests Assistance with legislative, local, state & federal agencies in Arkansas and across the United States Organizing/scheduling meetings (Capitol) Miscellaneous casework Miscellaneous Senatorial requests
EXTENSIVE DATABASE
1,500 - 2,500 CASES/INTAKES ANNUALLY
GENERATE WEEKLY CASE REPORTS SENATORS CHOOSE EMAIL OR HARD
COPY
ORIGINAL DATABASE CREATED IN 1996 REDESIGNED 2012-2013 BUILT IN-HOUSE (BUREAU IT STAFF) USES OFFICE 2007 DATA STORED IN MICROSOFT SQL USES OUTLOOK FOR EMAIL AS OF AUGUST 1, 2013 = 22,261 CASES
ARKANSAS SENATE I-PADS
Senate iPads for general use. Not mandated by the Chamber.
Paper Distribution = 8 Senators, 2 staffers & sponsor
In the 2013 Regular Session, two Senate Committee Chairs decided to go paperless
Members can open the agenda on the iPad and click on link for desired bill
Senate has wireless printers for use with iPads
ARKANSAS HOUSE TABLETSAll 10 House Standing Committees went paperless this past session. This eliminated:
Copying and collating 23 copies of each bill, amendment, fiscal impact statement, and other materials (20 Representatives, 2 staffers and a bill sponsor)
Handling each member’s folder daily to ensure all bills are included, in numerical order, and are the most recent version
Copying engrossed bills and replacing older version
Distributing newly received amendments
ARKANSAS HOUSE TABLETS
Tablets contained latest version of all bills and all amendments processed by attorneys
Listed all bills on the committee agenda – in numerical order for ease in locating
Amendments “hidden” by staff until sponsor ready to present
Committee staff populates an amendment or fiscal impact statement to all tablets during the meeting, as needed
Members could print copies in meeting rooms
Can only view one document at a time – now a hard copy of the agenda is provided
Agenda must be republished before a meeting to link amendments/fiscal impacts processed after agenda was posted on the web or manually add the amendment. Then, staff must remember to “re-hide” items to keep confusion at bay as to which item is under consideration
It takes more time to remove tablets and bases from the safe and set them up. It was faster placing a paper packet at each seat
Decided committees would be paperless, but Leadership conceded to allow committee chairs to decide on paper agendas. Some allowed a couple of members to have a packet
Accommodating members that object to paperless – some very vocal during meeting
Members who are not tech-savvy are not accessing bills/amendments during the meetings
Senators and Representatives balance political, professional and personal lives every day. We want to positively add to the balance.
We try to meet legislators where they are
“We do…so you do”
Constant state of readiness – “be ready so you don’t have to get ready”
Sabrina N. Lewellen, JD
Deputy Director, Arkansas Senate Assistant Secretary of the Senate State Capitol Building, Room 320
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 501-682-5608