Dan Douglas

Dan Marshall Douglas (born 1957) is a farmer and real estate agent from Bentonville in far northwestern Arkansas, who is a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives. His District 91, which he has represented since 2013, includes part of Benton County.^[1]

Background

Douglas graduated from Bentonville High School^[1] and attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He is a former president of the Washington County Farm Bureau and a board member of the Illinois River Watershed Partnership though the Illinois River does not reach Arkansas.^[2]

He and his wife, Tara Lee Douglas (born 1948), have three children. He is United Methodist.^[2]

Political life

Prior to his state House service, Douglas was a justice of the peace for the Benton County Quorum Court, the equivalent to county commission in other states.^[2]

In 2012, Douglas was elected without opposition to the state House when the incumbent District 91 Republican Bryan King was elected to the District 5 seat in the Arkansas State Senate.^[3]

Douglas serves on these House committees: (1) Agriculture, Forestry, and Economic Development, (2) Energy, and (3) Public Transportation. He is the vice-chairman of the Subcommittee on Small Business and Economic Development.^[2]

Representative Douglas in 2013 co-sponsored a spending cap on the state budget, but the measure failed by two votes on the House floor. He voted to override of the vetoes of Democratic Governor Mike Beebe to enact legislation to require photo identification for casting a ballot in Arkansas and to ban abortion after twenty weeks of gestation. He was a co-sponsor of both of those measures. He further supported related pro-life legislation to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange, to make the death of an unborn child a felony in certain cases, and to forbid abortion whenever fetal heartbreat is detected.^[4]

Douglas co-sponsored legislation to empower officials of religious institutions to engage in concealed carry of firearms for church safety. He also voted to give similar power to university officials. He opposed the bill to reduce the fees for obtaining a concealed-carry permit. He did not vote on the House-passed measure to prohibit the governor from regulating firearms during an emergency. He voted for approved legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan. He voted against failed legislation to prohibit the closure of public schools after a two-year period of declining enrollment. Douglas co-sponsored legislation to establish a tiered system for lottery scholarships. He did not vote on the bill, signed by Governor Beebe, to permit the sale of up to five hundred gallons per month of unpasteurized whole milk directly from the farm to consumers.^[4]

References