Yearly Archives: 2016

Legislation that includes language similar to a bill introduced by U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) was signed into law ensuring that important veterans housing programs that were set to expire today continue

The House passed H.R. 5303, Water Resources Development Act of 2016 (WRDA). WRDA would authorize twenty-eight important Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works projects across the country. The bill addresses the needs of America's harbors, locks, dams, flood protection, and other water-related infrastructure.

Congressman French Hill (AR-02) will join representatives from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) and Habitat for Humanity of Central Arkansas for a “wall-raising” event and check presentation at 8:15 a.m. Friday, August 12 at 29 Purdue Circle in Little Rock, Arkansas. The media is encouraged to attend.

Congressman French Hill (AR-02) sent Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Bob McDonald a letter awarding the VA with the Golden Fleece Award for the mishandling of the $8 million solar panel project at the Little Rock VA Medical Center.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released its report on the VA Green Management Program Solar Panel Projects. The report was completed at the request of Senator John Boozman (AR) and Congressman French Hill (AR-02) following a 2015 news report that the Little Rock VA Medical Center tore down solar panels at the facility that had sat there for two years without ever being turned on.

U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) joined Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) to introduce legislation that authorizes federal homeless veteran programs. The Keeping Our Commitment to Ending Veteran Homelessness Act would ensure seven Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Labor programs would continue to operate in the next fiscal year. Without action, authorization for critical programs that provide outreach and services to homeless veterans and their families would expire on September 30, 2016.

U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Lisa Murkowski and (R-AK) and Jon Tester (D-MT) are leading a bipartisan effort urging Senate and House Armed Services Committee leadership to protect dual-military families, women and junior members of the Armed Forces. Boozman, Murkowski and Tester are joined by 15 Senators urging FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) conferees to eliminate changes to the military’s Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) in the final version of the bill

Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3), Congressman Rick Crawford (AR-1), Congressman French Hill (AR-2), Congressman Bruce Westerman (AR-4), and Chairman Rob Bishop (UT-1) released the following statements after the Assuring Private Property Rights Over Vast Access to Land (APPROVAL) Act (H.R. 3062) today passed out of the House Committee on Natural Resources by a vote of 19-11.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge disagreed with today’s decision from the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which essentially denies residents of San Diego County, California, the right of possession of a concealed handgun for self-defense outside the home.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today praised the U.S. Supreme Court for unanimously protecting private property owners, a position Rutledge had urged in a friend of the court brief.

U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), a member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, applauded committee passage of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016. The bill was reported out of committee by a vote of 19 to 1 last week.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge joined eight other attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Murr v. Wisconsin, which is challenging uncompensated regulatory takings of private property. The brief urges the Court to reject a new judicially created rule that would allow government too much latitude to heavily regulate land without properly compensating property owners.

Residents of 11 Arkansas counties who suffered damage from the severe storms of December – January have only until Tuesday, April 5, 2016 to register for federal disaster assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration

Federal assistance is being offered to help Arkansas communities rebuild infrastructure to higher, more disaster-resistant standards and state officials are encouraging local governments to take advantage of that funding