ALC-Occupational Licensing Review Subcommittee

All right, good afternoon, colleagues. I go ahead and call the September meeting of the occupational licensing Subcommittee to order. I think we've got a pretty light agenda, so uh we'll, uh, jump into this. Any comments, Mr. Co-chair, before we start? All right, we're gonna jump right into this. Uh, only item we have on to today's agenda is the Arkansas State Police. So, uh, gentlemen, if you wouldn't mind, go ahead and take the, uh, Did you mean Yes. uh, and then while they're getting settled in, I'm going to, uh, recognize Representative fight. We have some special guests in the audience today, and I'm gonna let her introduce them for us. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have with us today, uh, out in the audience, Ray James and his students from UALR. These are the first semester at the senior level interpreting class, all of these students have already taken the quality assurance screening test and hold credentials for entry level work as interpreters, and we know that every qualified interpreter in the state of Arkansas makes this a better place to live and work for, uh, the deaf people in this state. So students, we appreciate your coming, practicing with us today, we'll try to make the meeting a little more exciting for you so you can um you can have a little bit more fun today, but a lot of interpreting work is not that exciting, so it's good practice. Thank you for being here with us. Again, thank you for uh joining us this afternoon. All right, uh, gentlemen, if you would please introduce yourselves to the committee and then you're free to make any opening comments that you might have. Captain Dustin Morgan with the regulatory excuse me. Regulatory division of state police. Jay McAllister, I'm a lieutenant in the regulatory division. Uh, committee members you have before you 29 occupational license reviews for the PI security section of the state police. The Arkansas State Police is statutorily charged with duties to administer the rules and licensing of private investigators, private security agencies, alarm systems companies, polygraph examiners and voice stress analysis examiners, and we're happy to answer any questions you might have. Um, I'm gonna start off with one or two, in those professions, and this is generally a question I, I ask, um, everyone, uh, can you give us an update on the, uh, condition, if you will, of the professions are the there are plenty of professionals available in these professions. Do we have shortages, you know, kind of give us an overview of the landscape of where we are with these, uh, different professions. Absolutely. Uh, overall, I would say the majority of our licensure is focused on, uh, private security officers and probably alarm technicians, alarm agents that are installing alarm systems in your homes and businesses, uh. We don't seem to have any shortage of any of our professional licenser applicants. I would say like every other profession, uh, these companies are probably, uh, do have a turnover of trying to find qualified individuals, but overall, uh, we haven't seen a shortage in any particular area. OK. So it's a healthy industry, so from what we can tell then, sir. OK, um, the other question that I have that has come up, um, when people Come to register to be licensed, uh, do you, uh, accept, uh, cash, check, and credit card, or do you only accept credit cards? No, we, we accept all these forms of payment, all forms of payment. OK. All right. Um, any other que questions? OK, uh, Representative fight, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wanted your opinion. We keep hearing that Arkansas is overregulated, that not all of these professions need to be licensed and credentials. Are there any of these that you've brought forward today that you feel do not need to be licensed? I don't believe so. Take for example, uh, the security field, obviously these are individuals that are safeguarding, uh, life and property. Uh, we certainly feel that need to be licensed and background checks need to be conducted on these individuals. Uh, the same would go for, for example, uh, alarm technicians that are in your homes that have access to passcodes, uh, they have access to your family and your property, uh, we feel that they need to be licensed. Background checks need to be conducted, uh, private investigators would be another example. These are individuals that are uh privileged to have confidential information on, uh, uh, Citizens of the state, uh, businesses, uh, again we feel like, uh, they need to be regulated. Uh, I, I cannot think of any particular license or credential that we currently issue that would be unnecessary. I appreciate that. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Saying no, alright, gentlemen, um, thank you for, uh, all you do for your service to the state for being here this afternoon. Thank you. All right. So, uh, colleagues, um, unless we have any other business, we will consider this report reviewed and, uh, short and sweet, we are adjourned.