Douglas House (Arkansas politician)

Roy Douglas "Doug" House
Arkansas State Representative for District 40 (Pulaski County)
Incumbent
Assumed office  2013
Preceded by	Barry Hyde
Born	1953 Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Anita Hilger House
Children	Nathanael Douglas House Kelli House Mayfield
Residence	North Little Rock, Arkansa
Alma mater	Sylvan Hills High Schoo University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law
Occupation	Attorney and retired military officer
Religion	Episcopalian
Military Service
Service/branch	Arkansas National Guard (1980-1986) United States Army (1990-2009)
Rank	Colonel and member of the Judge Advocate General's staff

Roy Douglas House, known as Doug House (born 1953), is an attorney and retired United States Army officer from North Little Rock, Arkansas, who is a Republican state representative for District 40, which includes parts of Pulaski] and Faulkner counties.

Background

A native of the capital city of Little Rock, House in 1976 House received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In 1980, he received a Juris Doctor degree from the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law. He was engaged in the private practice of law from 1980 to 1986, after which for four years he was the equal opportunity officer for the Arkansas National Guard. From 1990 to 2009, House was a United States Army colonel and staff judge advocate. From 2011 to 2012, just prior to the beginning of his service in the Arkansas House of Representatives, House was the military affairs officer on the staff of Republican then U.S. Representative Tim Griffin of Arkansas' 2nd congressional district.

In 2015. House is still admitted to the practice of law but has no private practice.

House and his wife, the former Anita Hilger (born 1955), have two children, Nathanael Douglas "Nathan" House (born 1977) and Kelli House Mayfield.

Political life

House was unopposed in 2012 for the Republican nomination in House District 40. He then handily defeated the Democratic candidate, Steven McNeely, 7,067 to 3,797 votes. The incumbent Democratic representative, Barry Hyde, was term-limited and ran unsuccessfully for a revised district in the state Senate.

House serves on the House Special Language Subcommittee for the Joint Budget Committee. He is a member too of the House Judiciary Committee, the Joint Committee on Public Retirement and Social Security Programs, and the House State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee. He is affiliated with the National Rifle Association and the American Legion.

Representative House has a strongly conservative legislative voting record. He voted to establish a spending cap on the state budget, but the bill failed by a two-vote margin in the House. He co-sponsored legislation to amend state income tax rates. He joined the needed majority to override the vetoes of Democratic then Governor Mike Beebe to enact legislation requiring photo identification for casting a ballot in Arkansas and to ban abortion after twenty weeks of gestation, the second of which he was a co-sponsor. Representative House voted to ban abortion whenever fetal heartbeat is detected, to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange, and to make the death of an unborn child a felony in certain cases. He voted to empower university officials to carry weapons in the name of campus safety. He voted against legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas a nonpartisan position. He co-sponsored the bill, signed by then Governor Beebe, to permit the sale of up to five hundred gallons per month of unpasteurized whole milk directly from the farm to consumers.