Jim Dotson

James Michael Dotson (born 1978), known as Jim Dotson, is a businessman from Bentonville, Arkansas, who is a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives. His District 93, which he has represented since 2013, includes parts of Benton County. From 2009 to 2012, he was a member of the Bentonville City Council.^[1]

Background

Since 2011, Dotson has been an account executive for Cox Business, a telecommunications firm located in Springdale in Washington County, Arkansas.^[1] From 2005 to 2011, he was a sales representative for Digital Printing Solutions. Dotson is affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce, the local Rotary International, the National Rifle Association, and the New Life Christian Center in Bentonville. Dotson and his wife, Jennifer (also born 1978), have two daughters, Emma and Arianna.^[2]

Political life

In 2012, Dotson was nominated in the Republican primary election, having polled 1,625 votes to 1,354 for Duane R. Neal (born 1933), a retired industrial engineer and a former member of the Benton County Quorum Court, akin to the county commission in other states. Dotson was then unopposed in the general election for the seat vacated by Republican Jon Woods, who was instead elected to the Arkansas State Senate.^[3]

Dotson is a member of the House committees on (1 Advanced Communications and Information Technology, (2) Public Transportation, (3) and State Agencies and Governmental Affairs.^[1][2]

Representative Dotson in 2013 co-sponsored the proposed spending cap on the state budget, but the bill failed by a two-vote margin in the House. He joined the required two-thirds majority to override 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 had co-sponsored both measures. He also supported related pro-life legislation to ban abortion whenever fetal heartbeat is detected, to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange, and to make the death of an unborn child a felony in certain cases. He co-sponsored legislation to empower leaders of universities and religious institutions to engage in the concealed carry of firearms in the name of safety. He voted to prohibit the governor from regulating firearms during an emergency. Dotson supported 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. He did not vote on the legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan.^[4]

Dotson was re-nominated for a second term in the state House in the Republican primary held on May 20, 2014. He defeated his lone challenger, William P. "Bill" Burckart, 1,333 votes (64 percent) to 735 (36 percent).^[5] Burckart (born 1965), a construction company owner and a former colleague of Dotson's on the Bentonville City Council, had vowed if elected to stress the importance of economic growth in the private sector.^[6]

References