Subject: Thursday Morning Briefing
From: Talk Business <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 May 2016 11:46:25 +0000
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OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF NEW OVERTIME RULES FOR MILLIONS OF U.S. WORKERS: The Department of Labor will expand overtime pay to millions of American workers, President Barack Obama announced in an email and video message from the White House late Tuesday evening.

In total, the new rule is expected to extend overtime protections to 4.2 million more Americans who are not eligible under federal law, and it is expected to boost wages for workers by $12 billion over the next 10 years. Obama said millions of Americans who work more than 40 hours each week will now receive the overtime pay they have earned. Read more here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=ad3d0d5ed6&e=b5f4886f5f) on the subject from those who support and oppose the move.

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SIMMONS FIRST ACQUIRES SMALL TENNESSEE COMMUNITY BANK CNB FOR $77 MILLION: Growth-focused Simmons First National Corp. said Wednesday it has entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement with Citizens National Bancorp Inc. to acquire Citizens National Bank (CNB) of Athens, Tenn.

According to the terms of the deal (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=c88873685f&e=b5f4886f5f) , Pine Bluff-based Simmons will acquire all of the outstanding common stock of CNB in a transaction valued at approximately $77 million based on the company’s May 17, 2016, closing price. The purchase price will consist of 835,741 shares of Simmons common stock and $40.3 million in cash. CNB operates nine financial centers in eastern Tennessee with assets of $552 million, loans of $352 million, deposits of $473 million and trust assets of $217 million.

CHRIS MAY TO RETURN TO KATV IN LITTLE ROCK AS NEWS ANCHOR: During a staff meeting on Wednesday (May 18), KATV officials announced (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=51ed1db749&e=b5f4886f5f) that former news anchor Chris May will return to his post on the top-rated Little Rock television station on Aug. 1.

May, a Little Rock native, began his broadcast career at KATV Ch. 7, a content partner with Talk Business & Politics. After Little Rock, May landed at WHDH-TV in Boston from December 1998 to June 2006. He then was hired at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, where he worked from 2007 to 2015. Boston is the seventh largest TV market in the U.S. and Philadelphia is the fourth largest.

JONESBORO A&P TABLES O’REILLY CONVENTION CENTER REQUEST, SITE PLAN FILED FOR KELLER CONVENTION CENTER: Jonesboro Advertising and Promotions Commission Chairman Thom Beasley said Wednesday (May 18) that finances played a big part in tabling a request by the O’Reilly group for funding support of its convention center in Jonesboro. Meanwhile, a competing convention center project is headed to the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission for a site plan review next week.

Beasley said the request from O’Reilly Wednesday called for a 3% rebate on A&P taxes for five years, starting in 2018. The amount, based on the request made in March, would be $980,000, Beasley said. However, O’Reilly said in a letter sent to commissioners that “we would be open to any modification” of the request. The Jonesboro A&P Commission voted by voice vote to table the O’Reilly request until late 2017. Read more here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=2414ae9394&e=b5f4886f5f) .

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ARKANSAS HIGHWAY COMMISSION SUPPORTS GOV. HUTCHINSON’S HIGHWAY FUNDING PLAN: The Arkansas Highway Commission has announced (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=91cc92307a&e=b5f4886f5f) its support for Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s highway bill. In a statement released Wednesday, the commission said it was “pleased that the call for the Special Session includes a plan from Governor Hutchinson to address our most critical, immediate need for additional highway investment. … While we have concerns about the sustainability of some of the proposed funding sources beyond the first year, we appreciate and support the Governor’s efforts on this critical, immediate issue.”

Hutchinson has called legislators into special session May 19 and plans to address them at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. The session’s purpose is to find about $50 million a year in state funds so the state is eligible for $200 million in federal funds.

BILLS FILED FOR A ONE-YEAR PAUSE ON ACADEMIC DISTRESS LABELS; COMBINE SCHOOL AND OTHER VOTES: A bill filed for the upcoming special session would place a one-year moratorium on the state declaring schools to be in academic distress, while another would combine school and general elections when both occur in November.

House Bill 1001 by Rep. Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, and Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock, prohibits the Department of Education from identifying schools as being under academic distress for the 2016-17 school year, though the department can remove schools from that classification. The bill was written in the wake of last year’s passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which requires the state Department of Education to work with the U.S. Department of Education to create new accountability systems. Read more here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=49b3e2f6e1&e=b5f4886f5f) .

POLL: MOST ARKANSANS SUPPORT CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORMS - A package of campaign finance reforms had broad support in a poll conducted in March, according to numbers supplied to Talk Business & Politics by the reforms’ leading backer. In a survey of 500 likely Arkansas voters conducted March 10-16, 77% of respondents said the role of campaign money is a problem, according to Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.

Seventy-four percent of respondents would favor a combined package of reforms, including transparency, disclosure, lobbyist rules and enforcement. Of that, 49% would strongly favor it, versus 15% who would oppose it, including 8% who strongly oppose. Such a package would have the support of 81% of Democrats, 69% of independents and 74% of Republicans. Read more here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=a09b26c780&e=b5f4886f5f ) .

ARKANSAS AG ASKS FEDS TO MEET WITH STATES BEFORE PROPOSING NEW RULES ON PAYDAY LENDING: Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is calling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to convene a conference of the states to discuss the framework and ideas contained in a proposal by the Obama administration that federal officials say would end payday debt traps by requiring lenders to take steps to make sure consumers can repay their loans.

Rutledge, however, said the proposals contained in a March 26, 2015 outline of potential new federal standards for – and limitations on – credit lines, installment loans, deposit advances, automobile-title secured loans and payday loans was another case of the administration imposing federal regulations over states’ own interests. Read more here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=aa011cc6be&e=b5f4886f5f) .

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CTA CEO: LABOR DEPARTMENT’S OVERTIME RULE WILL CRIPPLE AMERICAN STARTUPS - Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, Consumer Technology Association (CTA), said Wednesday that the Department of Labor’s revised overtime rule will cripple U.S. startups raising the financial barriers to create a new early stage company and dramatically slow the speed to get a product or service to market. By forcing entrepreneurs to pay either $47,476 minimum salaries or pay overtime, the new final rules will “compromise the potential of our best and brightest innovators, crippling the very startups that are central to America's job growth and global competitiveness,” Shapiro said.

“Say goodbye to teams of young minds pulling all-nighters to create something new. This attack on American entrepreneurship – drafted by Washington bureaucrats who have never worked at a startup - discourages startups and innovation. We urge the (Obama) administration – or the next one – to reconsider this damaging decision,” said Shapiro, whose trade group represents the $287 billion U.S. consumer technology industry.

MINORITY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AGENCY AWARDS $31.5 MILLION IN GRANTS: U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is awarding $31.5 million in federal funding to 21 grant recipients as part of its MBDA Business Center Program.

The program is designed to help minority-owned firms create jobs, compete in the global economy and grow their businesses. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2012 Survey of Business Owners, minority-owned firms in the U.S. increased from 5.8 million in 2007 to 8 million in 2012, and employed 7.2 million people in 2012.

The grant recipients will join an established network of MBDA Business Centers across the United States and Puerto Rico. The recipients will receive the federal funds during a five-year period with a start date of April 1, 2016. MBDA will make additional announcements regarding grant winners and future grant opportunities.

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"If you work more than 40 hours a week, you should get paid for it or get extra time off to spend with your family and loved ones. It’s one of most important steps we’re taking to help grow middle-class wages and put $12 billion more dollars in the pockets of hardworking Americans over the next 10 years." - President Obama announcing an expansion of federal overtime rules.

"Establishing more formal review and communication procedures between the Commission and the Legislature promotes transparency and accountability for both bodies. We support efforts that help our elected officials and the public understand how we have been and are being good stewards of taxpayer dollars." - Statement from Arkansas Highway Commission on proposed legislative changes aimed at oversight of the commission.

"The U.S. energy system doesn’t turn on a dime, but it does turn faster than an oil tanker. It can respond to changes in price in less than a year, which is not the case for other resources elsewhere." - Stephen Beck, senior director of energy research for the North America Onshore Service at IHS Energy, on currently low oil and gas prices.

"Both institutions have their roots in rural markets and have successfully served the banking needs of their customers for more than 100 years." - Paul Willson, chairman of Citizens National Bank, which will be acquired by Pine Bluff-based Simmons Bank.
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