House majority leader Steve Harrelson declares on his blog, Under the Dome, that if everything holds, HB 1204, a tax increase on cigarette sales in Arkansas, will pass the House of Representatives. House speaker Robbie Wills writes on his own blog, “If everyone does what they’ve promised to do, we’ll have the votes to pass HB 1204 when we vote today.” As of yesterday, it looked like Mr. Wills and Mr. Harrelson had the votes, although not by much. State law requires 75 of 100 members of the House to approve the measure.
If it does pass (and Mr. Harrelson was whipping votes as late as 11:00 p.m. last night), it heads to the Senate. The bill, certainly the most interesting of this dreary and often silly legislative session, would fund a statewide health trauma system and other matters related to healthcare.
Rep. Harrelson will be live-blogging the vote which begins at 1:30 p.m.
Roby Brock of Talk Business expects high drama today. Once the votes are cast, both Mr. Brock and Mr. Harrelson expect there to be a procedural motion called “Sound the vote” which requires a roll call vote from all of the members in the House chamber. If you’re not present, your vote isn’t counted. Mr. Brock writes, “I’ve seen a close vote lost by the excuses a number of times before.”
UPDATE: Harrelson and Wills got it right. The bill passed 75-24. It now heads to the Senate for consideration.