The Arkansas Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm 25 of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ appointees to state executive branch posts, boards and commissions.
The Republican governor’s appointments confirmed Wednesday include state Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Jim Hudson, state Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism Secretary Shea Lewis, state Department of Health Secretary Renee Mallory, and state Board of Education member Leigh Keener.
Other appointments the Senate voted to confirm included eight members of the State Plant Board; eight members of the state Board of Appraisers, Abstractors and Home Inspectors; three members of the Arkansas Fire Protection Services Board, and two members of the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy.
The eight appointees confirmed Wednesday to the State Plant Board include David Wallace Jr., George Dunklin, Jon Bierbaum, Kyle Batz, Robert Thorne, Robin Ralston, Sammy Angel and Garrett Frost.
The Senate’s action came after the Senate Rules Committee recommended the full Senate confirm this latest batch of gubernatorial appointees.
During the Senate Rules Committee meeting Wednesday, Senate Republican whip Ricky Hill of Cabot asked Rules Committee chairman Sen. Clint Penzo, R-Springdale, whether each of the senators, who had a prospective appointee residing in their district, were consulted by the governor’s office prior to the appointments.
In response, Penzo said “one slipped through the cracks this time,” but the senator looked into the background of the appointee residing in that senator’s district and indicated he approved of the appointment.
Afterward, Penzo declined to reveal the name of the senator to whom he referred.
During the Senate Rules Committee’s last meeting on July 21, Hill said senators need to make sure officials in the governor’s office consult the senator whose constituent is being considered for an appointment by the governor, before the governor makes that appointment with all gubernatorial appointments.
At that time, Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, said officials in the governor’s office now fully understand they need to consult with senators about prospective appointees in their districts, and he doesn’t expect the governor’s office to fail to do that in the future.
Historically, the Senate has confirmed or rejected gubernatorial appointees based on the wishes of the senator of the district in which an appointee resides in most cases.
Asked whether Sanders’ office is continuing the tradition of seeking prior approval of a senator in whose district a prospective appointee resides, Sanders spokeswoman Alexa Henning said Wednesday in a written statement that “The Governor’s office always strives to be good partners with the legislature and maintain open lines of communication.”
During the past two decades the Senate has rarely declined to confirm a governor’s appointees until earlier this year, when the Senate and the Senate Rules Committee rejected more than 30 of former Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s appointees.
During this year’s regular session, the Legislature enacted Act 794 to require the Senate president pro tempore to call for a meeting of the Senate at least once every three months between legislative sessions to consider recommendations from the Senate Rules Committee regarding confirmation of gubernatorial appointments. The regular session adjourned May 1.
Prior to Act 794 becoming effective April 12, the Senate could only consider confirming gubernatorial appointees during a regular, fiscal or special session.
Act 794 is one of two bills from the regular session that Sanders allowed to become law without her signature, according to records in the secretary of state’s office.
The other is Act 477, which will require the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to conduct a study, or hire or engage a third party to conduct a study, to determine the feasibility of developing a spaceport in Arkansas. Under Act 477, the feasibility study for developing a spaceport in Arkansas will be required to be completed no later than Jan. 1, 2024, if funding is available.
In April, Henning said in a written statement that “These are bills Governor Sanders didn’t advocate for or support but found no justifiable reason to object to them becoming law, so she allowed them to do so without her signature.”
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