[ad_1]
Attorney Phillip Treat has been hired as the new legislative counsel for the Arkansas Senate and Zachary Rogers, who has worked in higher education circles, has been hired as assistant to the president of the Senate pro tempore for the 94th General Assembly.
Treat and Rogers will begin work Nov. 7, said Senate President Pro Tempore-designate Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs. He said Treat’s salary is $134,400 a year, while Rogers’ salary is $70,000 a year.
The Senate Efficiency Committee on Thursday approved spending $60,000 for half of the cost to purchase weapons detection systems for the east and west entrances to the federal government to replace them. in metallurgical machines, if the House agrees to pay for half the cost of new systems.
Weapons detection systems are necessary to help maintain security in federal government, said Deputy Secretary of State and Chief Legal Counsel Kenneth Burleson. The systems include the Evolv Express weapon detection system.
“This has a lot of advantages over traditional metal players,” said Brent Stamp, the secretary of the state’s facilities director.
“The operator looking at the screen can see the person where that weapon is when it’s just come and go and go and go and do a second check,” Stamp said. the Senate Credentials Committee.
“He collects guns and knives, so when they see the red box and it hits that guy they pull it … they know exactly where to look for that guy,” he said. . “It also works on wallets, purses and bags, so the advantage is that you can have many people coming at the same time.”
A bill for the purchase of the systems passed by the Senate and House would allow the secretary of state to introduce the systems for the regular session, which begins on January 9, instead of following the secretary of state to request a bid to buy the system without receiving it. the systems were installed in time for the regular meeting, Burleson said. The price tag for the systems will increase by 30%, starting Tuesday, Stamp said.
The secretary of state will pay an annual maintenance fee of $30,000 for the new systems, Burleson said.
Asked if the House would pay half of the cost of the weapons detection systems for the east and west entrances to the state Capitol, House spokeswoman Cecillea Pond-Mayo said Friday that it would House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, will review the details of the proposal and consult with House leadership and the House Oversight Committee before making a final decision.
As for the Senate’s new legal counsel, Senate Secretary/Operator Ann Cornwell said Treat was appointed after 13 people applied for the position, one candidate withdrew, and four candidates were interviewed. .
Hester said Friday in a press release that “Experience and unique skills combined with humility and hard work are the qualities that prompted Phillip Treat to be hired next. [legal counsel] for the AR Senate.
“Following the gold standard set by [the Senate’s retired legal counsel] Steve Cook is a big challenge and I believe he is ready,” Hester said.
He said Cook will serve in the 2023 session to help Treat transition into a role as Senate legislative counsel. Deciding which Senate committee each bill will be sent to is one of the job’s duties.
Treat has served as an attorney at the Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus, PC, firm since July 2021 and has completed trial counsel duties for U.S. District Court Judge Lee Rudofsky since October -January 2019-July 2021 and Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Wood from May 2018 -November 2019, according to a copy of her resume.
His testimony shows that he also worked as a clerk for the law firms of Mitchell Williams and Anderson Murphy Hopkins in the summer of 2017 and as an attorney general in the attorney general’s office and in that office’s civil litigation division in the summer of 2016.
Treat received his bachelor’s degree, with a major in criminal justice and a minor in legal studies, from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 2015 and his law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law. Arkansas in 2018.
The new assistant to the president of the Senate pro tempore, Rogers served as program director of educational outreach for the American Council of Trustees and Alumni in Washington, DC, from August 2021-November 2022 and the program for academic research for the American Council of Trustees and Students from August 2020-July 2021.
He served as dean of students for Middleburg Academy in Middleburg, Va., from January 2020-August 2020 and as a college counselor and teacher at Middleburg Academy from August 2019-August 2020, he said. He was also a John Jay Fellow at John Jay University in Langhorne, Pa., from January-May 2018, and a graduate school director at Hillsdale Academy in Michigan from August-December 2016.
Rogers earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Colorado Springs in 2015, a master’s degree in political theory from Hillsdale College in 2018, and a certificate in in art education from the University of Dallas in 2022, she said.
[ad_2]
Source link
