The 75 House members who voted Thursday to raise the state’s cigarette tax included some who were feverish with more than excitement.

Rep. Frank Glidewell, R-Fort Smith, informs that three House members who supported the tax increase were sick with fevers Thursday, but “the governor had enough squeeze” to make them show up. He needed every one of them to get to a three-fourths majority. The vote ended up 75-24, with no votes to spare.

House Speaker Robbie Wills, D-Conway, writes that he knew of one supporter of the cigarette tax bill who came in for the vote despite being sick. He says supporters tried to find an opponent to “pair” with the sick member — a practice that allows two members on opposite sides of an issue to sign a form in advance locking in their votes — but found no takers.

Wills writes, “In a shocking display of pettiness, the leaders of the opposition enforced a strict ‘no pair’ policy. … So, the sickly supporter had to come to the chamber to cast his vote …”

One Democrat who stayed home sick Thursday was Rep. J.R. Rogers of Walnut Ridge. Glidewell says he expected Rogers to vote against the bill. No one answered a phone call to Rogers’ home today.

A repentant Rep. Mark Martin apologized today for heckling a fellow member on the House floor in the middle of the cigarette tax debate Thursday.

The Republican lawmaker from Prairie Grove interrupted Rep. Gregg Reep, D-Warren, while Reep was presenting House Bill 1204, the bill to raise the tax on tobacco products to fund a trauma system and other health programs. The hotly debated bill passed in a 75-24 vote, receiving just enough “yes” votes to reach the necessary three-fourths majority.

As part of his presentation, Reep was explaining that Arkansas balances its budget when Martin shouted “It’s the law!” Martin was referring to constitutional mandate that the Legislature approve a balanced budget. House Speaker Robbie Wills of Conway later cautioned the membership about breaches of decorum.

At the start of today’s House session, Martin took the floor and said his behavior the day before did not live up to the House’s standards or his own.

“Sometimes even the smallest mistake can set us on a slippery slope that we don’t even realize actually will push the whole institution down,” Martin said.

House members applauded his remarks. Wills later termed the apology “very appropriate.”