A bill presented as an effective solution after years of calls for Arkansas to adopt tougher penalties for hate crimes was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday – although support from traditional advocates for these laws has been lacking after some lawmakers accused of pushing the “farce” legislation.
During more than an hour of debate on Monday night, Senate Bill 622 by President Pro Tempore Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, faced opposition from the Family Council, a faith-based advocacy group that was firmly opposed previous efforts to practice hate crimes bill.
The project received support from the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, whose president and CEO, Randy Zook, said Arkansas’s distinction in being one of the nation’s three states without a hate crime law makes it more difficult for companies to recruit people to work here.
At no time did anyone representing the LGBTQ community or minority groups – who have been pushing hard for hate crime legislation – speak for or against SB622.
Hickey, the sponsor and leader of the Senate, also made a point of not referring to the bill as a “hate crime” measure while speaking for its approval.
“Some people want to hear that they are hate crimes and others want to hear that they are not,” said Hickey. “Basically, what I think this project is, is good for entering Arkansas code and serves its purpose of protecting people.”
The bill’s presentation last week revived the discussion about the potential to pass a hate crime bill in the current legislative session, which is entering its fourth month.
Another proposal, Senate Bill 3 by Senator Jim Hendren, I-Sulfur Springs, was announced at the beginning with the support of Governor Asa Hutchinson. This bill, presented before the start of the session, was much more in line with hate crime laws passed in other states with specific protections for race, sexual orientation and gender identity, but it also faced vocal opposition from many Republicans. Hendren ended up leaving the GOP after filing it.
Rather than creating sentence enhancements for crimes targeting specific groups, as in Hendren’s bill, SB622 would allow prosecutors to limit parole eligibility and seek longer prison terms for violent criminals who target their victims based on in actions “mental, physical, biological, cultural, political, or religious beliefs or characteristics.”
This language disturbed groups representing LGBTQ and minority communities, such as the Urban League of Arkansas, the Anti-Defamation League and the Human Rights Campaign.
The Anti-Defamation League said in a statement last week that the project “is by no means a hate crime project and is nothing more than an insult to vulnerable communities targeted by hate”.
Addressing this concern on Monday, Hendren asked the committee to amend the bill to add text specifying that it would protect people based on their race, sexual orientation or gender identity. No one else on the committee agreed to support the amendment, and Hendren ended up voting in favor of the bill.
“I think the problem with the bill is demonstrated by the fact that whoever is sitting around the table,” said Hendren, referring to the presence of all white men at Monday’s meeting. (The only black member of the committee, Senator Stephanie Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, did not attend Monday’s meeting.)
“There is nothing wrong with any of us sitting around the table, but let’s face it, we are not the traditional victims of hate crimes,” said Hendren. “However, it is we who are sitting here defining what legislation against hate crimes should look like.”
Hutchinson, who supported Hendren’s bill at the start of the session, said last week that he would support the SB622.
The most significant opposition came from Family Council President Jerry Cox, who found hate crime laws ineffective after decades of pressure to tighten penalties at the state and federal levels.
“It is not a problem that will go away even if you pass this law,” said Cox. “Many of these laws are the beginning, not the end of the discussion.”
Zook, the mayor, said the bill focuses on one of the most important issues for the state’s top employers, who he said are struggling to recruit candidates who don’t want to move to Arkansas because of their distinction. as one of three states – along with Wyoming and South Carolina – that do not have a hate crime law.
Arkansas-based companies also face the threat of boycotts for the state’s lack of a hate crime law, Zook said, adding that lawmakers in Wyoming and South Carolina are currently debating their own versions of that legislation.
“If these two advance, then we will be the only state with that dubious distinction,” said Zook.
The Judiciary Committee submitted the SB622 to the Senate floor by verbal vote. It could be considered by the Senate plenary later this week.