Nelda Speaks

Nelda Gean Speaks (born c. 1943)^[1] is a retired county official in Mountain Home, Arkansas, who is a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives for a part of Baxter County in the northern portion of her state.^[2]

Speaks's place of birth, names of parents, former places of residence, educational institutions, and other pertinent information are missing. She is a former treasurer of Baxter County and a justice of the peace. She and her husband, Benny Harold Speaks (born c. 1940), have one daughter.^[3] She is active in the Baxter County Republican organization and is the first vice president of the Arkansas Republican Party. She is a member of the National Rifle Association. Speaks lists her religious affiliation as Baptist.^[2]

Speaks ran without opposition in the Republican primary held on May 20, 2014. The House seat was vacated by the term-limited Karen Hopper, a university administrator in Mountain Home. In the November 4 general election, she handily defeated the Democrat, Willa Mae Sutterfield Tilley (born c. 1950), 6,550 (63 percent) to 3,850 (37 percent), in a heavily Republican year statewide.^[4]

Representative Speaks holds these committee assignments: (1) City, County and Local Affairs and (2) Revenue and Taxation.^[2] In February 2015, Speaks joined dozens of her fellow Republicans and two Democrats in co-sponsoring legislation submitted by Representative Lane Jean of Magnolia, to reduce unemployment compensation benefits. The measure was promptly signed into law by Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson.^[5]

That same month, she supported House Bill 1228, sponsored by Bob Ballinger of Carroll County, which sought to prohibit government from imposing a burden on the free exercise of religion.^[6] After critics questioned the constitutionality of the measure, it was revised and signed into law in revised form, SB 975, by Governor Hutchinson.^[7]

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