The House chairman of the Joint Budget Committee pleaded today with House members to stop filing appropriation bills.

“I’m pleading with you to limit the filing of those bills, because I do not think it serves any purpose,” said Rep. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia.

Maloch said umbrella appropriation bills will be filed to cover the agencies and organizations that members want to help, and all House members will be invited to sign on as co-sponsors.

“We’ll have all the colleges and universities there, we have mechanisms for fire departments, boys and girls clubs and all of these type things,” he said.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that legislators cannot direct appropriations to specific local projects.

“These individual bills that are being filed are not going to be funded,” Maloch said.

The House approved numerous appropriations bills for state boards and commissions today but rejected one bill after Rep. Dan Greenberg, R-Little Rock, urged a “no” vote.

House Bill 1066, to appropriate $10,635 to the state Board of Registered Interior Designers, was defeated in a 60-30 vote, falling short of the three-fourths majority vote needed to pass an appropriations bill.

Greenberg said the board does nothing that cannot be done more cheaply and efficiently by the private sector. He cited a study that found that problems with interior designers are no worse in states where the industry is unregulated than in states where it is regulated.

“I understand why we have a sex offender registry, but there is no reason to have an interior designer registry,” Greenberg said.

Rep. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, said the money would come from fees the board collects, not from taxpayers.

Greenberg said consumers would save $10,000-$15,000 a year if the board did not exist. He said he plans to file legislation to dissolve the board.