Urgent Action Alert: Another Anti-FOIA Bill From ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council)

RINO Republicans (known as American Legislative Exchange Council/ ALEC players) are taking aim at FOIAs… again! BAM BAM and our 1967 Sunshine Law is devastated! Please take action tonight because tomorrow (Weds, March 29, 2023) is the last day of Arkansas’ legislative session!
 

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This time, it’s HB1726. It means casting a dark veil over our transparency law so government meetings can be done in secret! Why? Could it be because the legislators involved in the anti-FOIA bills have ties to ALEC? This is unbelievable, dear reader…

Take note who these traitors of freedom are, and make sure they never get elected again, even as a dog catcher.

Sadly, our Arkansas Republicans are ganging-up and attempting to totally dismantle over 1/2 of Republican Governor Winthrop Rockefeller’s crowning achievement, our FOIA law, by targeting the open meeting provisions of FOIA and more.

This dangerous last-minute bill was filed Monday, March 27, 2023. Here is the history of HB1726. It is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday morning, March 29, 2023, before the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee.

So, there is a Special Order of Business scheduled for ten minutes upon adjournment for both Anti-FOIA bills (HB1726 and HB1610) in Room 151 at the Capitol.

HB1726  To read the full text of the bill, click the hyperlink.

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DEFINITIONS USED IN THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; TO ADD PUBLIC RECORDS EXEMPTIONS; TO AMEND PUBLIC MEETINGS REQUIREMENTS; TO AMEND REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO CUSTODIANS PROCESSING PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Sponsors:

Rep. David Ray from Maumelle  
Sponsor of HB1726
Consultant/Communications Strategist (Majority Leader (or designee) 2021) 
[email protected]   501-916-0286

He is a big RINO player and needs to be exposed because he’s an ALEC Insider. He has lived in these states: TN, AR, LA, CA, GA, VA, KS, KY, & NY and his career experience includes:

• working as chief of staff to Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin

• the state director of Americans for Prosperity Arkansas

• a consultant

• a communications strategist: Communications Director for Tom Cotton, United States Senatorial Campaign, 2014 and

• Communications Director for Republican Party of Arkansas, 2013

• State Chair for American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

His allegiance is to ALEC, not to the voters he claims to represent. ALEC always represents Big Business’ bottom line. Let’s get Rep. David Ray out of office.

Here’s the ALEC oath: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) asks that the legislators raise their right hand and swear: “I will act with care and loyalty and put the interests of the organization first”. That means placing the corporate and special interests above their elected office! Hello?! This is a conflict of interest. One could conclude that the cabal wants their own appointed talking heads: a greedy corporate governance where their supposedly-elected officials put forth their destructive agenda for their bottom line.

Search Open Secrets for information on Americans for Prosperity and Koch brothers focus on elections and policy battles at all levels of government. Also, see ties with American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that provides a venue for lobbyists to meet behind closed doors with state legislators. ALEC is a bill-writing organization for every state in the country. That’s why there are so many copy-cat bills. So, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is an organization designed to link state legislators with corporations and create templates for state legislation. There are a plethora of corporate funders of ALEC. The secretive American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) gets support from Americans for Prosperity. Shamefully, there’s a lot of political dark money involved in these groups.

Charles Koch
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Special Note: here’s a model bill or a template from ALEC entitled “Transparency and Government Accountability Act”.  Now, this particular template may SOUND good… but we always need to read the entire wording in the bill and how it will affect government meetings and info in our state.

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Sen. Breanne Davis from Russellville
Sponsor of HB1726

[email protected]   (479) 970-0081

From the Arkansas Secretary of State, here are businesses under “Register Agent John Paul Davis” (Senator Breanne Davis’s Husband)

Will the real true conservative republicans in the legislature please stand up, please? Make a difference and vote no on these bad bills. We need representation by true conservatives.

Immediate Action Item for tonight March 28, 2023: Please contact the members of the House State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee TONIGHT March 28, 2023, and tell them you’d like them to VOTE NO on HB1610 AND HB1726. Do not amend our FOIA. We need to keep this blue-ribbon transparency law intact.

Rep. Dwight Tosh – Chair  [email protected]  870-926-0423

Rep. Mark D. McElroy – Vice Chair  [email protected]   870-222-8217

Rep. Rick Beck  [email protected]  501-912-1441

Rep. Mary Bentley  [email protected]   501-889-3556

Rep. Mark H. Berry  [email protected]   479-462-2863

Rep. John P. Carr  [email protected]   479-619-5104

Rep. Nicole Clowney  [email protected]   479-445-5337

Rep. Cindy Crawford   [email protected]   479-782-4693

Rep. Jimmy Gazaway   [email protected]   870-215-1243

Rep. Justin Gonzales   [email protected]  870-245-6365

Rep. Lane Jean  [email protected]  870-904-1856

Rep. Stephen Meeks  [email protected]  501-314-9250

Rep. Josh Miller  [email protected]  501-365-3599

Rep. Jon Milligan  [email protected]  870-219-1261

Rep. Jeremiah Moore  [email protected]   870-674-4373

Rep. Marcus E. Richmond  [email protected]  479-299-4416

Rep. Jamie Scott  [email protected]  501-398-2961

Rep. Kendon Underwood  [email protected] 479-644-8461

Rep. Jeff Wardlaw  [email protected]   870-226-9501

Rep. Richard Womack  [email protected]   870-403-6287

You can copy/paste this list of emails below to email all of the members at one time, if you like:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Here’s what Secure Arkansas previously wrote about HB1610, the other Anti-FOIA bill.

Sponsors:

Rep. Mary Bentley from Perryville
Sponsor of HB1610
[email protected]  501-889-3556

Bentley Plastics  https://bentleydrinkware.com/

Statement of Financial Interest for 2020

From the Arkansas Secretary of State, here are businesses under “Register Agent John M. Bentley, Jr. (Representative Mary Bentley’s husband)

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Senator John Peyton from Wilburn
Sponsor of HB1610 
[email protected]

(501) 362-5815  
He owns two auto auctions and two used auto dealerships.

From the Arkansas Secretary of State, here are businesses under “Register Agent John Payton”:

If these lawmakers are trying to block us from their private governmental meetings, why in the world would we consider supporting their businesses such as those listed above?

In closing, Secure Arkansas feels that it is important to write about how Republicans are dismantling our Constitution and transparency laws, etc. We will be writing an article and evaluating what happened during this Arkansas legislative session and how we were betrayed by so-called “Conservatives”.

Hopefully, our Sunshine Law will remain unharmed and shine on… or will the sun go down in Arkansas and darkness prevail?

As always, you can find our email articles posted on our website: SecureArkansas.com.  The Search box is a handy tool.  

For more information about a topic, just type it into the Search box on our website, and click Enter!

Securing the blessings of liberty,

Secure Arkansas
securetherepublic.com/arkansas
[email protected]

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