For the second time, a House panel has rejected a proposal to lower the threshold for a political party to maintain its status as certified party in Arkansas.

The House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs today voted down House Bill 1247 by Rep. Richard Carroll of North Little Rock, the Legislature’s first Green Party member. The bill would allow a party to retain certification if it received 3 percent of the total votes cast in either of the two most recent general elections in the race for any statewide constitutional office, U.S. senator or president.

Parties currently have to receive 3 percent of the votes cast in the most recent governor’s election to retain certification.

The bill, which the committee previously rejected on March 11, failed in an 8-11 vote.

Mariah Hatta, executive director of the Democratic Party of Arkansas, testified against the bill.

“Changing the rules in the middle of the game is unfair,” she said.

Rep. Dan Greenberg, R-Little Rock, said he wondered “when the game ends, so at that point we’ll be allowed to look at our election laws.”

It may look at first glance like a typo, but for the first time Arkansas has a state legislator with a “G” after his name instead of a “D” or “R.”

Rep.-elect Richard Caroll, G-North Little Rock, and other newly elected House members met at the state Capitol today to pick seats, make committee selections and learn their seniority rankings for the coming legislative session. The state’s first legislator from the Green Party of Arkansas was assigned the 90th ranking in a drawing for new members.

Carroll said he got along well with the House’s Ds and Rs.

“They’re very open and very friendly,” he said.

Carroll, a Democrat before he switched parties this year, accepted an invitation from House Democrats to caucus with them.

Meeting with the full House on Friday was exciting and a real learning experience, he said.

It was also “a little confusing,” he admitted.

“They move fast on what they want you to do on decision-making and everything,” Carroll said. “I was elected just three days ago, and now we’re making decisions where we’re going to be and when we meet in the Legislature and everything.”