Josh Miller (politician)

Joshua D. Miller (born April 2, 1981)[1] is a property manager from Heber Springs, Arkansas, who, since 2013, has been a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives. His District 66 includes portions of Cleburne, Van Buren, and Faulkner counties in the northern-central portion of his state.[2]

Josh Miller
Member of the Arkansas House of Representatives
from the 66th district
Assumed office
2013
Preceded byGary Deffenbaugh (transferred to District 79)
Personal details
Born
Joshua D. Miller

(1981-04-02) April 2, 1981
Heber Springs, Arkansas
Political partyRepublican
ResidenceHeber Springs, Cleburne County, Arkansas, U.S.
Alma materHeber Springs High School
Heber Springs campus of Arkansas State University
OccupationBusinessman

Background

Miller is a quadriplegic and uses a wheelchair[3] because of an accident in early adulthood which damaged his spinal cord and involved the use of alcohol.[4] Neither Miller nor the other occupant could recall who the driver was.[5] Miller was uninsured at the time of the accident, but Medicaid paid for the majority of the $1 million in hospitalization and rehabilitation costs.[6] Coincidentally, Miller's father suffered from muscular atrophy and was in a wheelchair for many years. His father convinced Miller that he too could live a full life.[7] Miller serves on the Governor's Commission for People with Disabilities.[2]

Miller graduated in 1999 from Heber Springs High School and thereafter earned an associate degree from the Arkansas State University campus at Heber Springs.[2] He is a Baptist.[8]

Political Life

From 2009 to 2012, Miller was a member of the Heber Springs City Council.[2] In 2012, Miller won the Republican state House primary over Phillip D. "Phil" Grace (also born 1981), a Cleburne County justice of the peace from Heber Springs, 1,653 (56.4 percent) to 1,279 (43.6 percent). In the general election, he defeated the Democrat Jeffery M. "Jeff" Pistole of Clinton in Van Buren County, 7,493 (65 percent) to 4,032 (35 percent).[9]

Miller serves on these House committees: (1) State Agencies and Governmental Affairs and (2) Public Transportation.[2]

Miller in 2013 voted to establish a spending cap on the state budget and co-sponsored a measure to amend state income tax rates. He joined as a co-sponsor the required majority to override the vetoes of Democratic Governor Mike Beebe to enact legislation to require photo identification for casting a ballot in Arkansas[10] and to ban abortion after twenty weeks of gestation. He supported related legislation to ban abortion whenever a fetal heartbeat is detected, to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange, and to make the death of a fetus a felony in certain cases. He co-sponsored legislation to allow officers of universities and religious institutions to carry concealed weapons. He supported legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan. He voted to establish a tiered system for lottery scholarships. Miller did not vote on 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.[11]

Despite his past personal reliance on Medicaid, Miller opposes Medicaid expansion in Arkansas under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[6]

gollark: But we got it for phone charging. Eventually. Sort of. Ish.
gollark: That's probably the main problem - nobody really wants a standard.
gollark: Ideally stackable, too.
gollark: Just standardize a form factor with however-many-volt terminals and probably a serial link for communicating with a control computer.
gollark: With decent interfaces.

References
  1. 91st Arkansas General Assembly Legislative Directory
  2. "Josh Miller, R-66". arkansashouse.org. Archived from the original on November 13, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  3. "Biography: Rep. Josh Miller". tobaccoissues.com. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  4. "Quadriplegic man, Josh Miller, becomes Arkansas Legislator, November 19, 2012". KTHV. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  5. "Rep. Josh Miller opposes Medicaid expansion". Arkansas Times. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  6. http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/rep-josh-miller-has-received-millions-in-government-assistance-opposes-medicaid-expansion-in-arkansas/Content?oid=3220760
  7. "Quadriplegic man, Josh Miller, becomes Arkansas Legislator, November 19, 2012". gannett.com. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  8. "Josh Miller's Biography". votesmart.org. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  9. "District 64". ballotpedia.org. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  10. "House passes voter ID bill, March 14, 2013". Log Cabin Democrat. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  11. "Josh Miller's Voting Records". votesmart.org. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
Preceded by
Gary Deffenbaugh
(transferred to District 79)		 Arkansas State Representative from District 66
(Cleburne, Van Buren, and Faulkner counties)
2013–		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.