STATEOF ARKANSAS
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
PROCLAMATION

DR22-01

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS COME-GREETINGS:

WHEREAS: On or about February 2nd, 2022, severe winter weather, including snow, sleet, and freezing rain, began and continues to cause dangers, hardships, and suffering in the State of Arkansas which warrant executive action; and

WHEREAS: This severe winter weather is affecting Arkansas and surrounding states; and

WHEREAS: Great hardship is being brought upon businesses, citizens, and their public and private property within the State of Arkansas; and

WHEREAS: This winter weather is limiting commercial vehicles from accomplishing their designated responsibilities of hauling heavy equipment, oversized loads, transformers, necessary hardware, and other transmission and distribution equipment to line crews for the purpose of restoring power to the citizens of the State of Arkansas; and

WHEREAS: Workers and support vehicles and equipment will be traveling through Arkansas from other states in route to provide natural gas and electric utilities to residents of Arkansas as well as bordering states; and

WHEREAS: In the event of downed power lines, it is important to maintain a safe distance from downed power lines and from the line crews and equipment restoring power to the citizens of the State of Arkansas; and

WHEREAS: Freezing rain, sleet, snow, and ice accumulation has resulted in dangerous road conditions creating a backlog of deliveries by commercial vehicles transporting essential items of commerce to customers in Arkansas; and

WHEREAS: The extreme weather conditions surrounding Arkansas also require transporters of commodities to continue deliveries of essential items like groceries, poultry, livestock, fuel, pharmacy items, and medical equipment to meet the needs of Arkansans; and

WHEREAS: The winter weather has limited commercial vehicles from accomplishing their designated responsibilities of hauling feed and picking up poultry; and

WHEREAS: 49 CFR §390.23 authorizes the Governor of a State or Commonwealth to declare a regional emergency during the duration of emergency conditions, not to exceed thirty (30) days from the date of the initial declaration of emergency, and to exempt any motor carrier or driver operating a commercial vehicle to provide direct assistance in providing emergency relief during an emergency pursuant to 49 C.F.R. §390 to §399;

NOW THEREFORE, I ASA HUTCHINSON, Governor of the State of Arkansas, acting under the authority vested in me under Act 511 of 1973, as amended, do hereby declare that a state of emergency exists in the State of Arkansas as applied:

1. To commercial vehicles hauling heavy equipment, oversized loads, transformers, necessary hardware, and other transmission and distribution equipment to line crews for the purpose of restoring power to the citizens of the State; and
2. To commercial carriers transporting essential items of commerce during this emergency, including but not limited to groceries, pharmacy items, medical equipment, goods, commodities, fuel, poultry, and livestock to customers in Arkansas;
3. To commercial vehicles hauling feed and picking up poultry; and said state of emergency as well as the provisions of this Proclamation, shall exist and be in effect until such time as emergency conditions cease to exist.

FURTHERMORE: I hereby invoke the emergency executive powers vested in me under Ark. Code Ann. §§12-75-101 et seq., as amended, and suspend all provisions of regulating statutes prescribing procedures for the conduct of the Office of Procurement, the Division of Building Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, and all other State departments, agencies, and offices to render maximum assistance to the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality and the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management relative to the removal of any potential impediment to the rapid and orderly remediation of the disposal site and to rendering of assistance to political subdivisions.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Arkansas to be affixed this 3rd day of February, in the year of our Lord 2022.

Asa Hutchinson, Governor

Attest:

John Thurston, Secretary of State