Senator Clint Penzo
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Committees
- Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development (Senate)
- ALC - Claims Review/Litigation Reports Oversight
- Alzheimer's Disease & Dementia Advisory Council
- Education Committee (House)
- Education Committee - Senate & House Meeting Jointly with Advanced Communications & Information
- Energy (Joint Committee)
- Insurance & Commerce (Senate)
- JBC-Special Language
- Judiciary Committee (Senate & House)
- Public Health, Welfare & Labor Committee (House)
- Public Health Welfare & Labor Committee (Senate & House)
- Revenue & Tax (Senate)
- State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs (Senate)
- Transportation, Technology & Legislative Affairs (Senate)
Recent Meetings
| Date | Committee | Speaking Time |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 22, 2026 | Alzheimer's Disease & Dementia Advisory Council | 268s |
| Sept. 15, 2026 | Energy (Joint Committee) | 257s |
| July 9, 2026 | Alzheimer's Disease & Dementia Advisory Council | 434s |
| April 29, 2026 | — | 137s |
| April 28, 2026 | — | 246s |
| April 22, 2026 | JBC-Special Language | 368s |
| March 16, 2026 | ALC - Claims Review/Litigation Reports Oversight | 98s |
| Sept. 15, 2025 | Alzheimer's Disease & Dementia Advisory Council | 247s |
| June 18, 2025 | Energy (Joint Committee) | 674s |
| April 16, 2025 | — | 175s |
| April 15, 2025 | — | 1007s |
| April 15, 2025 | Public Health, Welfare & Labor Committee (House) | 3562s |
| April 14, 2025 | Public Health Welfare & Labor Committee (Senate & House) | 55s |
| April 14, 2025 | — | 686s |
| April 10, 2025 | — | 1211s |
| April 10, 2025 | Public Health, Welfare & Labor Committee (House) | 1761s |
| April 9, 2025 | — | 1180s |
| April 8, 2025 | — | 5091s |
| April 7, 2025 | — | 643s |
| April 7, 2025 | Public Health Welfare & Labor Committee (Senate & House) | 2989s |
| April 3, 2025 | State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs (Senate) | 18s |
| April 3, 2025 | — | 212s |
| April 3, 2025 | State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs (Senate) | 910s |
| April 3, 2025 | Insurance & Commerce (Senate) | 581s |
| April 2, 2025 | Public Health Welfare & Labor Committee (Senate & House) | 2233s |
| April 2, 2025 | Transportation, Technology & Legislative Affairs (Senate) | 523s |
| April 2, 2025 | Public Health Welfare & Labor Committee (Senate & House) | 748s |
| April 1, 2025 | Insurance & Commerce (Senate) | 102s |
| March 31, 2025 | — | 660s |
| March 31, 2025 | Education Committee - Senate & House Meeting Jointly with Advanced Communications & Information | 78s |
| March 20, 2025 | State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs (Senate) | 134s |
| March 20, 2025 | — | 37s |
| March 19, 2025 | Public Health Welfare & Labor Committee (Senate & House) | 740s |
| March 19, 2025 | — | 457s |
| March 19, 2025 | Public Health Welfare & Labor Committee (Senate & House) | 8s |
| March 19, 2025 | Revenue & Tax (Senate) | 196s |
| March 18, 2025 | — | 167s |
| March 18, 2025 | Insurance & Commerce (Senate) | 105s |
| March 17, 2025 | Transportation, Technology & Legislative Affairs (Senate) | 421s |
| March 17, 2025 | — | 116s |
| March 17, 2025 | Public Health Welfare & Labor Committee (Senate & House) | 215s |
| March 17, 2025 | Education Committee - Senate & House Meeting Jointly with Advanced Communications & Information | 411s |
| March 13, 2025 | — | 136s |
| March 13, 2025 | Insurance & Commerce (Senate) | 215s |
| March 12, 2025 | — | 663s |
| March 12, 2025 | Public Health Welfare & Labor Committee (Senate & House) | 245s |
| March 11, 2025 | — | 12s |
| March 11, 2025 | State Agencies & Govt'l Affairs (Senate) | 259s |
| March 11, 2025 | Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development (Senate) | 33s |
| March 10, 2025 | Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) | 181s |
Recent Transcript Excerpts
and then we can have a
Yeah, I'm close for my bill, and I just ask for a good vote. OK. Motion do
and get a roll call on that, and then we'll know where I stand with everybody,
the skilled company that can't provide my family with an RN could use a CNA. CNA. Okay. So what Senator Penzo is
very palatable. I know that this is probably not very palatable either, but if there was a CNA that worked for a non-skilled company, they would be allowed to do this. If there was a CNA that worked for a skilled company. They could substitute for an RN. Okay. I don't know, and that kind of would fall under, I mean, whatever the waiver comes back as, I mean, and how it was written. I'm requesting a waiver being requested. So it might be that
of them are probably untrained initially I was going to do that population but I didn't figure that would be very popular and this isn't tied to any non-skilled provider or skilled provider out there this is this is just something this is Clint's bill. I was looking at doing this with the non-skilled. I didn't think that would be
here. What are you what are you asking? So I'm asking
and you can't use two providers. I'm just saying there's a health care shortage out there. That's why I'm running a lot of these bills, the automatic licensure for PAs, automatic licensure for doctors. I'm trying to expand scope of all these professions. It's because we don't have coverage for in-home care in this state. And I know this doesn't directly affect that, but it does because there are RN shifts during the day that we can't cover. And so that could be covered by a CNA if this bill passed.
there's not enough nurses out there. I mean, that was part of me expanding the scope radius back in the day for these types of things because there were not RNs. I was using a company in northwest Arkansas and there were not nurses in northwest Arkansas that worked for that company. I went to Mountain Home after we expanded as a legislature that coverage area and the company in Mountain Home had people working for it that lived in northwest Arkansas
right? I'm talking about personal care right now. Right. But what I'm saying is, I'm just saying there is a shortage of RNs out there right now. Okay. Okay. And I'm not saying that these folks are going to be spending the night with her. I'm just saying that if there's shifts during the day that can't be covered because
that the nurses are usually there doing that.
And that's a pretty regular occurrence. And so that's me sitting in front of a monitor in a recliner while she's in the other room sleeping. And I keep an eye on that monitor all night, stay awake all night. I work on stuff, but I'm watching that monitor because that's normally what the nurse does. while she sleeps. Every hour I get up and go check on her, check her, you know, make sure everything's good. And then I go back to the recliner. And so that's, that's a 12 hour shift
instead of RNs. I mean, one of the situations we have with my sister, Just this last weekend, we lost a nurse, won't go into the details on that, but I ended up spending Friday and Saturday night with my sister.
on something that's scope-related. Okay. If anything, in the long run, this would actually probably save money if you could utilize CNAs
federal waiver that would allow this. Right. But that's also... Do you
see how there could be a fiscal impact
and we feel comfortable, if I feel comfortable with my dog walker doing the task, then I should be able to feel okay with somebody with a CNA license doing the task. And that's what this bill
There's a lot of things that need to be fixed. and I think this would be you know I ran a bill here the other day and it didn't get passed because my goal is to leave people in their home as long as possible. Now my sister has nurses that stay with her overnight and then we have like the non-skilled or the CNAs that come in during the day but they're not working necessarily under their CNA license or non-skilled health care providers that help out around the house. I just think that if we're allowed to take her home
Because we're discharged from the hospital without just a few minutes of training on it. You know, of course, we've got people come out and check on the vent, and over time we've, you know, learned. But that's what training is about. You don't have to have all these courses on how to run the vent. These home units are about this big, and they run themselves. And I just think that our health care system is broken.
They're not allowed to touch the peg tube. They're not allowed to touch the vent. They're not allowed to do this. They're not allowed to do that. There's all these things because of this license that prevents them from doing the things that my 80-year-old parents were doing. My dog walker or my sister's dog walker, college girl that's a dog
Bills Discussed
| Bill | Title | Mentions |
|---|---|---|
| HB1131 | TO AUTHORIZE AN ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSE TO DELEGATE CERTAIN TASKS TO MEDICAL ASSISTANTS AND OTHER UNLICENSED STAFF. | 7 |
| SB2 | TO REPEAL THE STATEWIDE FLUORIDATION PROGRAM; AND TO REMOVE THE MANDATE FOR WATER SYSTEMS TO MAINTAIN A FLUORIDE CONTENT. | 6 |
| SB305 | TO REQUIRE CERTAIN TESTING OF PROCESSED MARIJUANA PRODUCTS SOLD AS MEDICAL MARIJUANA. | 6 |
| SB591 | TO PROHIBIT RACE-SELECTION ABORTION IN THIS STATE; AND TO CREATE THE RACE DISCRIMINATION BY ABORTION PROHIBITION ACT. | 5 |
| HB1149 | CONCERNING VEGETABLE GARDEN PROTECTION. | 5 |
| HB1604 | TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PROHIBITED CONTRACTS BY STATE AGENCIES; AND TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS BY STATE … | 5 |
| SB347 | TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO INCREASE REIMBURSEMENT RATES FOR CERTAIN DENTAL SERVICES AND TO SET AN ANNUAL REIMBURSEMENT … | 5 |
| HB1694 | TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING ALTERNATIVES TO ELECTRONIC FILING FOR CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS. | 5 |
| SB255 | TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "DRUG" WITHIN THE FOOD, DRUG, AND COSMETIC ACT; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | 5 |
| SB331 | CONCERNING COVERAGE FOR GENETIC TESTING FOR INHERITED CANCER MUTATIONS; AND TO CREATE THE GENETIC TESTING ACT. | 5 |
| SB103 | TO CREATE THE PHARMACY NONDISCRIMINATION ACT; TO REQUIRE PHARMACY BENEFITS MANAGERS TO ACCEPT ANY PHARMACY OR PHARMACIST WILLING TO ACCEPT … | 5 |
| SB83 | TO MANDATE COVERAGE FOR BREAST RECONSTRUCTION SURGERIES; TO REQUIRE PRIOR AUTHORIZATION FOR BREAST RECONSTRUCTION SURGERIES; AND TO ESTABLISH A MINIMUM … | 5 |
| HB1186 | TO CREATE THE PAIN RELIEF PARITY ACT; AND TO REQUIRE PAIN RELIEF PARITY IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM. | 5 |
| HB1801 | TO AUTHORIZE AN OUTSOURCING FACILITY OF LEGEND DRUGS AND CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES THAT COMPOUNDS A PRODUCT TO SELL THE COMPOUNDED PRODUCT … | 4 |
| HB1714 | TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF PAID CANVASSER. | 4 |
| SB95 | TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS ATHLETIC TRAINERS ACT; AND TO CLARIFY THE DEFINITION OF "ATHLETE" WITHIN THE ARKANSAS ATHLETIC TRAINERS ACT. | 4 |
| SB532 | TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "SPECIALTY HOSPITAL" RELATING TO THE ASSESSMENT FEE ON HOSPITALS UNDER THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM. | 4 |
| SB422 | TO ALLOW NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS TO CONTRIBUTE TO A NEW OR EXISTING ARKANSAS BRIGHTER FUTURE FUND PLAN ACCOUNT; AND TO REQUIRE … | 4 |
| SB468 | TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING FLUORIDATION OF A PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM; AND TO ALLOWS VOTERS TO ELECT "FOR" OR "AGAINST" … | 4 |
| HB1129 | TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "HOMESTEAD" FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION FOR DISABLED VETERANS, SURVIVING SPOUSES, AND … | 4 |
| SB117 | TO CREATE THE NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIAN PRACTICE ACT; TO PROVIDE FOR LICENSURE OF NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIANS IN ARKANSAS; AND TO CREATE THE … | 4 |
| HB1352 | TO AMEND VARIOUS LAWS CONCERNING ACTIONS RELATED TO CERTAIN FOREIGN ENTITIES. | 4 |
| SB120 | TO REQUIRE LICENSURE FOR ALL PRIVATE CARE AGENCIES IN THIS STATE; AND TO ENSURE CONSUMER PROTECTION FOR VULNERABLE AGING ADULTS. | 4 |
| HB1255 | TO AMEND THE COVERAGE OF A CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITOR IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM. | 4 |
| SB111 | TO ESTABLISH THE DENTIST AND DENTAL HYGIENIST COMPACT. | 4 |
| HB1637 | CONCERNING THE DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENTATION OF FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE FISCAL IMPACT OF STATEWIDE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM MEASURES AND … | 4 |
| SB398 | TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING INITIATIVE PETITIONS AND REFERENDUM PETITIONS; AND TO ALLOW A CURE PERIOD FOR INSUFFICIENT SUBMISSIONS. | 4 |
| HB1841 | TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS REVENUE INVESTMENT IN VITAL EMS SYSTEMS (ARRIVES) ACT; AND TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS REVENUE INVESTMENT IN … | 4 |
| HB1245 | TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS BEHAVIOR ANALYST REGISTRATION ACT. | 3 |
| HB1762 | TO REQUIRE REVOCATION OF A PERMIT FOR THE DISPOSAL OF INDUSTRIAL WASTE IN AN AGRICULTURAL OR PASTORAL APPLICATION FOR A … | 3 |