Legislative Watch 
LEGISLATIVE
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1/21/05-The House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee voted against recommending a bill that would have increased the fine for littering.
HB1016, sponsored by Rep. Frank Glidewell, R-Fort Smith, would allow judges to fine a person caught littering $100 to $1,000. It would allow a judge to decide the fine and “may” also require community service.
Current law carries a $100 fine and mandatory community-service time.
Panel members voted down the bill after hearing from Robert Phelps, executive director of the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission.
Phelps told lawmakers that the problem with the bill is that it would have given judges leeway to issue a fine only without forcing the offender to spend eight hours of community service picking up trash along the highway.
Glidewell told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette he doubts he’ll bring up the bill again this session.
