The Washington County Quorum Court has a Legislative Affairs Committee that considers and recommends changes in state law. Sometimes it is self-serving stuff like wanting to extend their terms of office from two years to four, but sometimes it is innovative like wanting the ability to exempt groceries from the county sales tax, which is one of their eight proposals this year.
We commend the Quorum Court for backing the change in state law to exempt groceries from the regressive sales tax. That shows more sense and courage than we have come to expect from Governor Mike Beebe, who will only approve a reduction of the state sales tax on groceries from 3% to 2% next year. Other local ideas are less appealing, like the one to allow counties to sign no-bid contracts for asphalt. We know what kind of mischief that can lead to among local chums.
State Representative and County Judge-elect Marilyn Edwards should be able to provide some insight into the best strategy for enacting the county's legislative proposals. JP Steve Zega is Chair of the Quorum Court's Legislative Affairs Committee, and he should be an effective advocate for the package of bills ... unless he gets distracted thinking about other legislation.
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