Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative & Military Affairs- House

For representative barker who could not be here today and just before we begin II just want to do explain a little bit of the the reason why this meeting is even taking place we had a a member of the russelville area come to us a few months ago uhm she's here with us today heather taylor you can wave your hand there and she talked to this committee and expressed some concerns about ada compliance in the state and so we said that we would get together and uhm bring forward some agencies and let them talk about some things that they're doing to comply with the americans with disabilities act and that's what we're accomplishing today in appreciate any questions from members as we have a full agenda and uhm hope to answer some questions and be enlightened by the information that we're seeing and the the goods the great steps they were actually seeing in the state of arkansas uhm making it more complaint and more accessible to everybody so the very first person that uh will come up is to him came and i'm gonna let him can introduce themselves and I do need to let you know actually blake i'm gonna let you explain to him. I'm legislative staff here we are having trouble having the remote control that controls the powerpoint presentations reached the laptop up here it's not ideal just whenever the presenter wants to change the slide just raise your hand and I can do it automatically from appear. Thank you madame cha. Uhm and him came and the director of the sales and transportation division will department of education. And i've got a very short presentation i'm going to give in then we're going to do questions after everybody presents or just after we after you present if anybody has any questions we'll ask questions glad to do that the first slide if you can. In an hour but in this room as their spe- discussion background the the americans are decided bill is that became federal on nineteen ninety. Uhm there's been several iterations since then it protects citizens with disabilities from discrimination next slide please. Mistake a little bit about our concyct nine eighty seven of twenty twenty one it was sponsored by representative and became law on the twenty twenty one session in in i'm just going to talk about a few things that it does requires public school districts to include the following in their facilities master plan but far bere first of twenty twenty four so the first thing is to perform an assessment of public school for so least we're gonna be respect to compliance with the americans with disabilities. With an emphasis on buildings constructive before two thousand four and that's because ones that are built after two thousand four are going to be going to be up to code in a a one a step aside for second and talk a little bit about when we have new facility. Division building authority reviews all architectural plans for that so any new facility in a new school that's complied with. The older buildings here in the end if there is an problem found with the sensibility of trans- transition plan established saying the steps necessary to ensure compliance with the ada has to be submitted and again this was my february first of twenty twenty four also it requires open and roman public territories to submit the same uhm by february first of twenty twenty four one difference though is public charter schools are not required to submit a facilities master plan in a master pl- facilities master plan we do every two years it's too on the evening favorably first and so in this case for public school districts were already had a process employees that we disincur incorporated act nine eighty seven and that. Uhm the law also required guidelines be established in an online professional learning course be provided to assist public school districts and opening a roman public torture schools in conducting the required assessment so that that's what the law required. The. Next lot. Kay assistance provided for district so the division that a lot of work the eighty eight checklists for existing facilities was developed to assist public school districts in charters and conducting the required assessments uhm there was a lot of work done by mister kevin's honteck and will give him credit he works for game and fish now they they stole my wife from us. Uh but the uh kevin did a great job along with another person in our division and there were I have to give a lot of credit to dba with night and alterson the farmers shows office there were a there were several people in barbenness that came up with this checklist in the czech list is is a practical tool to say is compliance with ada requirements it's not comprehensive but it focuses on the priorities listed in the federal regulations so those are the basic the primary things that schools need to look for so it's really just a told to help assess in make that process as easy as possible. Also an online learning course was created and provided the public school districts and open enrollment uh public charter schools. Uhm in so far and looked at it before I came over and there's been a hundred and thirty four people go through that in a video to introduce the online learning course was done by representing my bearing I really want to thank her for doing that uhm but that's that's my presentation i'll be glad to take any questions. Any members have. Okay well i've got some so so by february first they were supposed to have put this into their new master plan yes we have all of them complied but that yes ma'am so when will we see the benefits of that because again this is just a plan to fix those things so you know for school district identified however many do you do you have an average of a doctor that average uh basically what the districts did was take the two thousand four uh work that was done by that committee that one around the state and did the state what assessment on adapt issues and they were able to take that document which ones that they have completed and then put a tom line or a goal to complete. It's I would take your first question though ma'am I would say that it's going to be over the next few years but probably see how long done but I will say this that all of the complied with it the transition plans that we saw I believe met lawn above and beyond in some cases. And and what encourage me was a lot of the work it had been done they just hadn't taken the time to d. But there's still obviously a lot of items left out there. But they're being worked on in as money is available there they're fixed do you have any idea what was the most common thing that uh got brought up with it ramps parking spots had really had to go back and I don't have that it was definite. But I did remember on the winds our reviewed saying thanks out in the parking lot. I'll have to go look at all those in any reaction from the school districts they complain about theirs or were they happy to have the information can you just can give us a feeling over all well they they restore a lot and ask questions I think one of the things we had to communicate so mom still far despite our the communication that they had to fill out the entire checklist and. So we had to tell him where you don't have to do that that's a good that's a tool we had some that one above and beyond I think in hard people to go do it and which is fine uhm but I think for all they were happy to have a list to start with from way back and that was that was uh a real advantage for everybody that gave my place to start in the end uhm I didn't hear anybody. I think represent a car did you have a question now okay. There is something else I was going to ask so the tools that you used a through the department of education can those be replicated with other departments in the state uh is it is it too aligned with the needs of a school district or can they can be massaged a little bit to work for other public buildings I think you would probably have to be massaged by I think maybe the basics you could use as a starting point in and then just edit it for whatever to focus on the area of concern I mean there there were four minorities but most of the sillies of the sale have a parking light so that's coming where the guy for restrictions so I think a lot of it will carry over their mi- stone need to base some massaging from the checklist yes mail we appreciate any other questions any other comments okay thank you so much for presiding some information thanks for him and looking forward to seeing these improvements in our school districts uhm. Uhm while we are have our next guests come up which is sha lewis and jeff king from the arkansas state parks uhm I do want to take a moment to just acknowledge some guests that are here today many of you may remember that growth state this year got king and sold a little early and the girls were not allowed to come to the capital there was illness and so they only had a few days of growth stated at harding university and they never actually physically came to the capital so I just wanted to acknowledge some who are here today uhm given a little tour a mattered liby shall be in penny raise your hands back there uhm for glad to have you here and we have another who will be joining us at the very end her name is burke booth she was a member of the uh one of the committees that was putting together a bill that would have been presented during the committee meetings that they were going to have here at the capital and never got to present that so I we're going to give her an opportunity here in a little bit to present her idea of ways to make things a little bit more accessible so excited to have those growth from growth state uhm I will go ahead and let you to take over place in tradition ourselves good afternoon my name is she lewis ah secretary of the department of parks heritage and tourism director of arkansas state parks. Good afternoon i'm japking deputy director of the division of state parks. Thank you for the invitation to be here today madam chair we appreciate this opportunity to share some of the efforts that are taking place within arkansas state parks to improve accessibility in access to many of our state park and well loved areas across the state specifically madame chair we appreciate your support of being a part of our working group in your continued efforts to uh help our department be better and continue uh to grow. Since the early nineteen nineties are gets out of state parks has designed construction and provided access to places and facilities in compliance with americans with disability act in the published standards for accessible uh design one thing that I would say here associate it is that we have always looked for opportunities to uh prior prioritise efforts that either exceed the standards for eighty a and facility design as well as programming and access in general uh one thing I would also say is our state park system is not unique in the fact that were have just uh had our centinnial and reached a hundred year old birthday of our state park system so many of our facilities are original are historic those facilities have been retro fitted uh to accommodate guest and we continue to protect priorities access within arkansas state parks some of our examples of some of the recent new facilities that we've added within organization state parks include our visitor centers that meet the needs of gets with visual inheriting development hearing impairments uh in through the development of specific programs or sub- ah supportive components to increase those experience as well I have to say we're fortunate as a department to have a minimum seventy five that supports arkansas state park circumstance game in fish keep arkansas beautiful as well as the the division of heritage that has given arkansas state parks the fines to make the improvements that we need to I remember specifically in nineteen uh late nineteen nineties when and you can see in this photo behind me here specifically when the first accessible part of the cedar falls overlook was included and expanded upon uh was a big step for our department to be able to provide access to one of. The most iconic uh locations with n our state. So our goal was to prior priorities the initiative of purposeful ada improvements with an arkansas state parks and providing greater access to the outdoors in resources for those with mobility limitations so in two thousand and twenty two state parks begin working with the nonprofit bill profit organization accessibility across arkansas to improve access out there and that was one of our more initial steps that has taken place. Ah through the approval and support of the state park recreation travel commission a moa was put into place between stay parks and accessibility across arkansas with the specific goal of providing accessible all terrain will chair access in select state parks and with that alternative to deputy doctor king to to tell you a little bit more specifically about those programs. Uhm thank you secretary lewis and and thank you madame chair and committee members so we really excited to be able to introduce a new program and arkansas state parks and and this is our all terrain we'll cheer program we've partnered with accessibility across arkansas as mentioned by secretary lewis and we now have our first three check track chairs uhm then the first there will be an operation as a local eyes state park in columbia county we've really are excited to be able to have some grand funds that were that supported the purchase of these shares one was from the christopher and danna reeve foundation and the other what's from the bronco wild fund which was an initiative of the national association of state park directors so these are these are great investments in our parks and we're happy to that we were able to support these facilities we are currently making some upgrades to our trails and some of the bridges to be able to support this equipment but we're we're really kind of breaching the finish line uh at local eye for the first tract here opportunity and and hope to have that available for the public in the coming w. Ah another program that we've entered into is a partnership with becoming rentable becoming rentable as an online listing platform that's dedicated to advocating for accessibility and the short term reynold industry so what we did was we entered into an agreement with becoming rentable for them to do four things for the division of state parks one was to certify our accessible overnight lodging accommodations for guess with mobility limitations. Second wants to create a digits and digital content and brand brand with brand ambassador basically is an influencers to be able to promote our social media platforms. Ah thirdly was to create an inclusive language guide with to be a resource for our staff and finally to review our current website and make recommendations for improvements to be all the identifier accessibility accessible facilities and improve our language and photos there on our website. So since since undertaking this initiative at the start of twenty twenty four we've been able to certify sixteen park locations and fifty nine of our overnight accommodations so this what this really does is it provides an opportunity for guests to know what we have in our state parks about what specific amenities we have in each of these uh rooms or cabinets and a detailed photos of the facilities so that people can make their the best choices for their vacation or overnight experienc. Some of the the brand ambitioners and inflators are shown on the screen here and we were able to to have these individuals visit select park locations and really highlight some of the guest experiences that are that are accessible in our parks we were able to to gather some instagram reals photographs and do some video and written bogs with these brand ambassadors. Currently under way with uh updates to our website based on the review by becoming rentable we know that we want to provide a better experience to our guess seeking accessible options and we also just want to provide a better resource for for all of those visiting arkansas state parks. And as secretary lewis mentioned in his initial remarks we continue to have a stakeholder working group that is included representative maybe and those from the game of fish that will present here a little bit later we also have a students from the university of arkansas and arguments our state university that are part of this working group so we're just excited to continue to move forward in arkansas state parks we know that we can we can continue to grow in this area and we're excited to continue to work to do that. We think the committee for for your time today will be glad to answer any que. Have any questions david. Thank you madam chair on the I just want to make sure I understand the rental slide that you were that you were showing that's like a like a third party um uh app or service that uh verifies that you're lodging is uhm hand gap accessible accessible that that's correct yesterday we they have some some so it's sort of like trip adviser like if you're planning at that right it's a way to it's a way for us to one of the things that we realize is that we've had facilities for a number of years but i'm not sure that everybody knows we have and so we wanted a way to be able to promote the work that we've done and the facilities that we've improved really throughout the years okay and provide specific details about those rooms so everyone's well and forward before visiting that makes sense then on the on the track chair do you mention that you'll get a grant as part of that effort i'm just curious how much is one of those chairs costs approximately so the one that we we ordered specifically was twenty three thousand dollars so depending on how many upgrades you make to the to the equipment that we we want to be able to support the most users that we could so I think the basis of like nineteen and the one we ordered was twenty three thousand okay thank you. The other questions okay we appreciate your work thank you it's as exciting news and and everyone's enjoying our state parks even in this heat so uhm thank you for your presentation today and keep up the good work thank you thank you okay next on our list and you kind of alluded to this the game in fish commission uh will give us a presentation on some of the things that they're doing and uhm kevin santa gara I know uh tim cane mentioned earlier was involved with some of the efforts with our schools updating things so thank you for being here all that both of you introduce yourself in care. Can you press the buttons so we can hear you thank you madame chair committee committee member of representative of fears it's great to see you again uh my name is mary berthatch on the chief of education for the arkansas aim and fish commission we're here today to share a little bit about what we're doing with measurements holly sanders assistant chief of education she'll be sharing the entire presentation we also have mister kevin santana who's assistant chief and operations and then I believe spins are graphic deputy director of outreach should be walking in any moment so thank you so much for your time this happe. Again my name is holly sanders thank you for having me representative of maybe and committee members and uh i've enjoyed working on the state wide accessibility where group was state parks and in both you and others I think it's a definitely worthy cars and an effort with much work and I love seeing the fruits of that uhm you know with arkansas game and fish i'm proud to work with this agency for decades we we have been managing fish and wildlife uh inhabitat for vision wildlife but that also had that habitat is for people and our mission is to connect people to conservation because we can't succeed in conservation without people and so it's director boost one of his initiatives to connect people to the natural resource and I think with the one eighth of a cent cells tax that was mentioned earlier that uh that means all people in arkansas I need to have access to public land and so it's been really important it to me to work with that i'm saying for the game efficient has a lot of accessible fishing peers nature centers that are eighty eight compliant um uh in a in a lot of areas that we are already including all people in uh including you know with hunting and fishing we have uh a licenses that are reduced for disability impaired and also for a military veterans uh that may also have disabilities especially in the line of service and so we do have that with our license scene honor was especially for hunting we also have mobility and paired permits so that uh those that qualify can actually use our terrain vehicle on my life management areas to put up their standard to assist them with with hunting. And you can see that across many of our wildlife management areas I also love that we have a lot of community fishing pines and on our website one of my favorite things is that these ponds have pictures so you can actually go and look at the pictures of headed time and see that we do have a fishing peers and parking lots and in all the things that are accessible uh to those fishing peers that's been very important to me because my mother is a chair user and she loves to finish so i've been looking around at all of those places and it's very helpful to be able to go to the website and see that although we have a lot of accessibility I believe there's always room to grow and with uh with the amount of people that like to do license and love to fish and love to hide um I think it's very important that we continued to have access to public plan to do that and so one of the initiatives um. Uh one of the initiatives that align with the state park initiative uh is to provide all terrain will chair access to some public spaces with the generous support of the simon's first foundation we've been able to purchase two of these are terrain chairs uhm which have been delivered to arkansas and soon to be in our hands which i'm very excited about uh and with these chairs we are vision is to house them um at a camp roberts camp robertson special use area which is income way arkansas it's very centralised and uh while life management areas are a little bit more primitive we don't always have brick and mortar facilities nearby or full time staff so our vision in goal is to foresee uhm outpost for these all terrain shares where the public can reserve them and have an access code and use them independently so that may mean after work not necessarily during the hours that we determine so it gains a lot more independence for the user to go out a while life management area in hunt in fish and bird in high can explore and enjoy our natural resources that they are owner of and so we have some goals to accomplish with that uh trying to figure out what the outpost look like and making sure that they are accessible which cabinets definitely uh going to be helping us on but i'm super exactly excited about their prospect and seeing and that successful that pilot project with that uh in addition and now that we have these all terrain chairs are staff will also be using them during our mentored hunt events or mentored fishing events where uh if someone that wants to be mentioned in hunting fishing attends and educational. A and they need that accessibility they have it uh in addition to that I think it's important at our nature centers who what I consider we do a lot of what I consider outdoor skill building how to programs had a hard fish bird do our tree uh I think it's important that we also have adaptive equipment a recreational equipment so we're doing an inventory of the type of edge date of equipment maybe it's for our tree maybe it's for recreational shooting may be as to help someone hold a fishing poll maybe it's someone that has century issues that need something to help them go to the go through the nature center we've done an inventory that in and plan on procuring those items in distributing them through our nature centers so our educators have those within the public needs them. Uh with that uhm i'm just excited to see these programs rollout and uhm in that we continue to connect people uh with their natural resources which they are. Any questions. A representative. Thank you madam chair first question on a switch to be here they are asked to be here today to educate us uh uh uh represent maybe asked us to be I think that was a very good idea a very good idea and this is what we want we have to be educated. Just like everyone else has to be educated in the alcohol and to the table today in achieve what you have done since you're how long have you worked how long will you work for game please three months three months in so you've been so pro active in the field coming down and explained be in in schools this is the stuff I feel like we need to know so I decimally want to thank you and commi. Any other questions. Now III just want to reiterate you know we appreciate the steps that are being made II know that if someone might go somewhere there there might still be some issues that need to be fixed so uhm what I have experienced in in my lifetime my daughter kathy is sitting way down there on the end and so we've experienced trying to navigate the world in usually what the situation is is that someone it's not been brought to their attention and when you encounter something. You want someone uhm how do you want them to contact you how do you want them to reach out to you and explain and maybe even the arkansas parks department I should have asked that question what things could be done to improve the area how how should that communication take place right in and i've encountered that as well with my mother is a chair user how do people find out or not to request those things and I know that state parts talked about their website in our website as well you can actually filter fishing peers and I need mobility access so just continuing to improve our website to wear someone knows that they need adaptive recreation these are the mentored opportunities these are our nature centers and the opportunities they have these are pictures of our community fishing pounds and also just in our digital access and our flyers you know even if we promoted a program on archery at our nature center in northwest arkansas even a simple word at the bottom that says uh welcome you know let us know if you have a need you know those tap of small low hanging fruit can definitely let someone know that hey this is a possibility for me so I agree I think steps in once we we bring this and that's why love that this there's a state collaboration on this uhm that maybe we can have a one stop herb you know with these you know vendor apps and so forth that the the people of our concern that need access know how to find it and I think that I agree that's very important thank you very much for your presentation any other questions comments okay thank you we'll move on to the next we will have dennis free uh. Up and will let him explain. Challenges that are out there in complying because we we do know that if you bring it up to a busi. There is a cost to moving a soap dispenser there is a cost to change in your bathroom there is a cost to adding a ramp. At point is that out of compliance and will let you handle that thank you. Thank you for letting us be here today here are the instruments far marshall been in this position eh well i've been in the far service for over forty years. Retire for department it's an inspector. We want to state fourteen years been the actual style far more from there going. What we'd like to. The difficulties in. A requirement across the state uh what we weren't into an issue especially in the rule areas the rule of our parliament. We'll not purchase a cold book they don't have the training don't have the education hardly interpret to count. Then we have no new parts of the call that are added uhm. That uh even even local foreign parliament's local million officials do not get deep enough into the count to say watch required for any requirements. Uhm then the state does not need to see all construction that's going on the weather state if it's a local those plans we'll probably never cross our n. The situation till somebody calls us while this is not enforced. Then we have to go back to the locals but and know there's some questions have come to have come up especially what the uh no changing tables in restaurants for assistant and family russians uhm that was discussed I believe back in two thousand fourteen with major williams which stay pleased while he was tight far martin he agreed to go ahead and that to the cold but it did. This this there's no coincidence which took place january first two thousand twenty three hundred and twenty one international codes in that arkansas addition so that's something we added to but as far as any plans come into the state for assisted and family restaurants that we have not heard any any plans now like I said a local could have and did not realize the the change in that let me if you don't mind cause some people michael what do you mean are changing tables so uhm let me explain that they're we have restrooms that have they be changing tables uhm but there is a need for adults or even children to use changing tables as well there are some children perhaps with disabilities who uhm are not party trained that need assistance and what parents have option told me and i've had to even do myself is put your child on the dirty bathroom public for and down paper towels in in all that because there is no place to properly put the child on tap of the changing table that might hold up to forty pounds and so some states have actually legislated their adopt changing tables are required uhm and it is now in our flaw that the family restrooms I just need to have you perhaps explain a little bit more that it this is not required in every restroom but the family restrooms in certain public places have to have adult changing tables it's their in my understand that right yes ma'am now if you look at the the actual as CC national coal council is what are some college of my stuff of the change in titles are not in the international code the heart card and so far she count. And that to the arkansas took effect in january first this year are i'm sorry january first of two thousand and twenty three so it was not in the toy of course there was something that uh I believe that you had spoken to michael williams about and he agreed to uh take that to the next cold sacrament so that's what happened we got enough to but it is not for every restaurant you'll see a. There will have a might be changed in each each restaurant this time is restricting for the family and the assistant restaurants. Okay appreciate that explanation you want to go through your slides yes mayor more let us dianes are no plan reviews she will use our plans for the the comes through the state and as dennis said I am the new plan's reviewer effective march eighteenth of this year so it's been a pleasure and I would like to thank representative maybe for asking us to come and present you today and to the committee one thing I think is really critical is I have realized in the short amount of time that I have been here that there is a line of education that's required in the state and one of those areas happens to be what the arkansas fire prevention codes so I have already initiated a program throughout the state where I have been visiting with local architects when I say local i'm talking the entire state architects in engineers and explaining to them why the arkansas prevention codes are important and the different things that we have to be very particular about and among those of course would be the eighty eight compliance and that is a critical component of things I look at every single day when those planets come across my desk and has dennis mentioned we have not seen any of the family restaurants as he explained come through in the code in that is something that I appreciate representative mary maybe pointing out because now I feel it is something that I can go back to these architects and ask that question and there are certain uhm areas where those are required and i'm going to kind of review that so if you go to the second side it's the arkansas bar preventing codes for twenty twenty one and then it's already uh let you guys know that those were actually officially adopted january first of twenty twenty three in your galax a long time. Well it takes a while sometimes to put these codes together the very extensive the for those of you who do not know there are three bucks about three to have to forengist their for each our these codes that are in place right now so the first peace that I want to talk about is the assembly our companies and assembly occupancies are those types of occupancies where seeding is arranged at different levels and those levels are composed normally at multiple rows and they may also be composed of angle rose which even complicates things much more when it comes to ada compliance they are accessible from separate levels and there's group classifications for our families a one a to eight three and i'm sorry a to a for in a five and those are a variety of things as football fields might be uh churches uh music calls those types of things uhm next week to education and the education argument season bobber schools are decares there are group e are our competent level and one of the things that I think is very critical and important for yard to know right now is that we are in the process of in all new construction when it comes to schools requiring the addition of storm shelters due to the many many uhm tornadoes and storms that we've had throughout the state in the last several years so that's a big plus that's also been added and of course looking at the ada compliance with those it's very critical because we do want to make sure that we can get our americans with distabilities into those particular areas then we go into the institutional occupancies and those are our twenty four hours supervised structures. They could be anything from alcohol drug centers to assisted living group homes faster care facilities hospitals nursing homes even your correctional centers are included in these along with your adult day cares and again there are four different groups for your institutional pieces and those are one to three and four so that's another peace to look at in each one of those areas identifies what's responsibilities what the responsibilities are for the ada compliance ada right now of course we we have to look at new construction and those are critical areas of the aerigroups they have to meet the requirements of the arkansas bar prevention codes of twenty twenty one and as representative may be as point out one of those items was the addition of uhm adult changing cables to be added into the family restrooms and that's just one peace of what needs to happen we look consistently at how many people are occupying at certain space that tells you how many ada facilities you have to provide for that particular area and all those things are important uhm we were trying to think of a way that we might possibly be able to go back and add ada compliance for these changing tables than that to existing facilities and I spent uhm twenty years as a firefighter thirty three years in healthcare and just retired so i'm very familiar with the eighty eight compliance but one of the things I remembered and I was talking to mister free about it was the fact that sprinklers became a huge issue in the state of arkansas and I remember being told that okay dying you're doing fire and life safety you are twelve years to bring your building up to code and that was any existing building in health care that was now required to have sprinklers so I was talking with mister free about that and I said maybe that would be a way. And i'm just throwing this out there this is nothing just an idea that we will go back to the legislature and give a time frame to potentially look at the existing buildings that do not meet the ada requirements per se as far as the restrooms and those types of things and maybe give them a twelve year time frame to bring them up to speed it's just a thought that I had and I wanted to make you aware that I would just like to say basically I am very honored to be on the end of looking at these codes and ensuring that we are trying to do the best weekend for the public because that's what the arguments of our prevention codes are about there about protecting not just people and lives but also providing everything that those people need to surrive and support themselves within those facilities so that pretty much concludes our presentation and i'd just like to know if you have any questions for either. Representative shepherd. Thank you madame chair miss mister free advert question for you I think you stated early in your presentation that the areas in which you find the most non comply is in the rural area since they're correct. Is there any recommendation or anything you could share with this committee and how we can help aid in there poor and far more office is is training. And that's something has not been touched down and in the past years but since i've taken over we are put now. Quarterly newsletters in those newsletters were trying to bring it uh code section is especially no common sections of an added to the cold. They will go after all our far departments will be seen is where there's a real foreign parliament volunteer on a pay department our department who get his nose. We're going to touch on all the counts uh basically starting with the with the new coses no nations that's been. But uhm that's as part of our is to get all the tire departments shrinking and brought up speed. And working with camden state fire academy to try and also put information that uh they have an inspector's warning to and three class but uh you have very few people go through that uh rural areas you know they these are all volunteers and mover and insurer volunteers pay for. Uh not not volunteer. If they do not want to look at the plans to make sure that they are sent to the to the state for us to review. But as far as we never touch everybody with training that's going to be difficult so that's why we start the newsletter with. Try and age carried on on coats but like diane said we have three copies in the. So it's going to be hard to check on ever every colon section but we'll turn in with the speed on especially the new. And thank you for that is there anything that we can do at this sta. My window went there later the whole lot okay okay they not sure not for to go home Compliance is it's supposed to be on the back wall or is it supposed to be on the side wall where it's more accessible uhm but then also if they've gone to the restrict or to the city hall or wherever this location might be and they've explained it's not accessible what what can that person do how can they bring attention to it and get it fixed can they call you is there is there any place in the state that can help address those issues okay that that's an issue that i've run into circle times and contacted it's not actually a building cold or a fire collision it's ninety year and that's something that may be the state there can help us out with his yet and as a contact name and number constituent you try and get information from eighty a nationwide that is difficult to even get nature back in then when you do that referring you back to the state so but it is actually as a far building building called I couldn't enforce it I can make a strong suggestion but I can enforce it yet most of the time they that is what said it's called the department of justice that's a national uhm you know federal have they're not much help so so I think that's where a lot of people just get very frustrated so there is no one in the state that someone could report something like that to and help them advocate I have not been able to find anybody that can say okay and stay far more office will be more happy to department with ada and if they who make a solar net the inspector or whatever they will do with this. I appreciate your comments anything else from anybody okay we can't solve all problems here today but we are certainly starting discussion and I appreciate i'll presenting some information. Uhm next dawn taylor the executive director the arkansas governor's council and developmental disabilities is going to come up and will explain how some businesses might be able to find some money to help assist with making things more accessible. Good afternoon i'm jonathan taylor i'm executive director of the arkansas government counts on developmental disabilities when I was invited to do this presentation I was told to make it brief so I will be very very brief into the point although I do want to thank the fire marshal's office for giving me a great segway to some of the things i'm about to talk about. Eighty eight compliance is important particularly in the private sector but when it comes down to making your business year space accessible it does cost money and that's one of the things that we've been hearing this afternoon so i'm here to talk about two tax incentives that the IR. And as it is claimer before I get started I am not AC PA I am not an accountant so if anything I say sounds interesting to your own business or to your constituents talk. About resources but find your accountant so the first one fantastic it's called the disabled access tax credit and this was created in nineteen ninety nine to help business. And so this credit is available to eligible small businesses which are defined on the next slide in the amount of fifty percent of eligible access expenditures and i'll define that at the moment to in those expenditures have to exceed to fifty but not exceed ten thousand two hundred and fifty dollars for taxable year the maximum annual credit is five thousand dollars that means two fifties absorbed by the small business but they can recoup up to five thousand dollars after that in the business can take this credit each year that it makes an eligible access and pe- expenditure and that's important because this is not a one and don't you can do this every year you operate your business you can go back and apply for this tax credit. In may be combined with the architectural barrier r. But small business can claim. This is defined as having a million dollars or less and growth receipts for the proceeding tax year or having thirty or fewer full time employees during the proceeding tax year in its filed with iris form eighty eight twenty six which is actually up there on the screen so if an account and knows how to find this form they can find it fill it out and that's it it's one of the shortest tax forms i've ever seen which is always. Now the good part. The eligible access expenditures are amounts paid by an eligible small business to comply with the eighty eight so these expenditures can include removing architecturals communications physical or transportation barriers the prevent of business from being accessible to individuals with disabilities this is providing qualified readers take tax and other effective methods of making materials available to people with digital parameters and also on the next line it's the exact same thing for people with hearing and payments and then any acquisition or modification of equipment or device. Include things like. Adding extra hand rules in the bathroom purchasing brail signage it also includes expenditures of business fighting current one making reasonable accommodations for their employee and also here we're on the twenty first century this includes online access and improvements as well so this credit can be used for spending on the following online services you can do an accessibility remediation for content and code targeted and comprehensive web accessib. Accessibility as well you can do accessibility training for your developers designers marketers and content authors this is remediation of PDF and then also video close captions in audio descriptions and audio only content transcripts as well so this can cover. Next one is the architectural barrier removal tax deduction and so this deduction encourages businesses of any size to remove architectural and transport. And the elderly distances may claim a deduction of up to fifteen thousand dollars a year for qualified expenses on items that must normally. This is action by listing it is a separate expense on their income tax returns so this is different with the disabled access tax credit we had eighty eight twenty six to file it on this is just part of your regular income t. More business can use this deduction in the disabled tax credit as long as they meet the criteria both sections so to use both the deduction is equal to the difference between the total expenses in the amount of the credit claim so just a broad example. If a small business said i'm going to upgrade my restroom i'm going to add a ramp and i'm going to wide and so doors that you can take a maximum credit of five thousand dollars on the disabled access credit in up to fifteen thousand dollars for the remaining deduction but this is every year so every. The thousand dollars. The event that you want to receive this deduction it should be claimed on your business income tax return for the tax year the expenses were paid and as I mentioned in the previous slide there's no specific form. You have to identify the deduction of the separate item on the business income tax return and if you make the selection you have to maintain adequate records to support the deduct. Ground for surfaces parking lots ramps entrances doors and doorways. To be deductible expenses of removing any barrier no. The following tests the removed barrier must be a substantial barrier to access their use of a facility your public transportation vehicle by persons who have a disability or elderly the remove barrier must have been a barrier for at least one major group of persons who have a disability or elderly so that could be blinder low vision and death for part of hearing or in the event that you use. New barrier that significantly impa. Vehicle by a major group of person. What we were talking before if there's almost impossible to find a real person to talk to the southwest ada center and houston you can talk to actual people and I can provide that contract information if you'd like so I had a conversation with them yesterday and they said the main taste of this deduction or the credit it's applicable if and i'm quoting anything put in place to enhance the accessibility of a given facility should qualify. So if you wish to see the credit or deduction for yourself and more detail I would start with the sites I have on the slide and i'd like to close with this these are all great financial incentives for any organization to make their space. But it's great as they are they are highly under eutel. But as the same goes now you know and knowings half the battle but i'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Federal is there anything on a state. Sure i'd support it but this comes down to its criminally under utilized i'm in part of this giant book I actually pulled out I statistics now again I don't know how excited people get about ira statistics but in the event that you do they actually have a more statistics of income it's called a corporation income tax return light item estimates where they take all of the forms that you file for business in the compiled and run repo. Eighty eight twenty sixth the one that actually had a form. How much money was. Absolutely an opportunity just. The accountants community here in arkansas I looked at the arkansas association of cpa that looked at their course catalog and I just hyped in both tax credits nothing came up and have spoken to them before around work opportunity tax credits so this is just an opportunity to go and educate that group and just again as part of the research I called my account in a conway and then I called nabholtz because their co-their headquarters is there the controller of nab holts had never heard of it and automatic door company and brian who could tell their clients that could take this deduction never heard of it. It sounds like something we might also want to share with our economic uhm developers and in that agency and and make sure that they put that. I know we can talk a whole lot longer but I do have one other presentation and want to make sure she gets an opportunity to come forward so thank you so much and will continue the conversation okay so girls state to place common. Bring your m. Former miss will chair arkansas. Uhm I will tell you that I was a volunteer like many other legislators at this year's growth state very sad that it ended kind of abruptly due to illness but uhm we did have the opportunity for those who were elected to the house of representatives to be a delicate there we broke up into different groups and. Worked on a bill idea and this particular group this was not my idea uhm uh brook brought up the idea we were it was the transportation department and economic development and I said something about sidewalks and that that also falls under uhm department of transportation and she said all side box does that mean ramps and I said yes and she's at all i've got some ideas so I will let you explain what your ideas and what what the group came up. Thank you for enlarging me to v. Uhm i'm a upcoming senior this year at the academy and as she said I just attended growth state and I would tell you I would like to tell you a little bit about my family's history well this three years old mama mom got into car accident and she suffered a spare record injury which paralysed her from the way stone as it was a big impact on our family. Battles of the sensibility began and I would like to tell you a little bit about building we created as a group is a bill where the far marshall we come up with a board and they were. That would be somebody that. I'm sorry i'm really nervous i've never done this. It's in front of the delegates but you're doing your heart okay. As someone who has what our family face bursidy in the face of disability i'm a proud supporter of all bills that are eighty a compliancy there you might not know this but there are four hundred and eighty five thousand or cans in state are disabled in that community growth stay by d. And we should want to improve call. Appliance he does not i'll leave that but enforce an idiot compliance he can spread where. A sessibility. People who don't know how much it's a civil. That can make a big difference by a spreading. Different for every individual it not only impacts them but their family. Struggle with environmental barriers by creating a great system which is. Need to become more accessible. Personal goal to make sure every person in arkansas has an accessible community a compliance he is a huge uhm issue in something. In this could impact your family or somebody in your community so I think it's a big issue in arkansas and we should fight to make everything more accessible for everybody. The questions. And we'd love to hear from you and your experience is just maneuvering around the state i'm also uhm the farmers talked earlier we're from rural areas and per mississippi county and uh currently residents. Struggle to get into the doctors off. You can possibly hear monday in law everything there everybody has. Is a struggle or. Of that nature in so anything that we can do to bring sad box the doors the. Parking situations up to cold would greatly benefit so many people uhm i've worked at a. My masters work in bring up councilling and also i'm school counselor and so. In map has work experience. Somebody gets it and so the fact that. Listening to all of this. Do you want to explain a little bit more about your bill de- the the some of the details that are in their cajal fight through lots of bots of things. Yes I am uhm okay so or bill starts off with. Far marshall would be the head this board created but fifty percent of the people on this board would have to be either have a disability. That's because of the fact that you might not be as informed on how it sensibility is if you're not closely related to somebody with a disability. Yeah. They would be that you can can play to the board would go ahead and add. What's wrong how you could fix it in the each person are each facility like would have to come up with a plan within three months and it should be turned in. There is also a grant program. That can be created are that would be. I would like to add with that great program there what you. Twenty thousand dollars a. Small business is throughout our. Bringing awareness that into this. And you would have a time period that she would have to make these improvements by and if you don't it make the start to make improvements by that time period you will be fined or uhm. Any fun or penalty pay the under the sections shall be deposited into the grand program so if you find some some place that would be directly put into the grant program to be used to help people make these sensibility changes and is there any more questions that's about that's abou. Representative. Questions more of a comment thank you for being here both of you in thank you for helping spark this discussion we can we know that we can do better in in. Thank you for your passion for your family and for other families in similar situations it does make me it does make me wonder and this might be a good thing to reach out to our association and counties in our municipal league about whether there are cities in counties in our state that have a position. There is sort of over uhm this type of issue even if it's even if it's just to responsibility in addition to another job responsibility that they have I know when constituents have approached me with the issues related to accessibility it's been very helpful for jonathan to be there at the government the governor's council development disabilities just no n. Is really almost half the battle and in my opinion because a lot of times you just when you encounter a problem you don't know who to call you don't know who to approach and so it's appreciate you be in here and draw an attention to these issues. Comments or question. So that the committee spin of just cause I was there when you are put in this together just spend a lot of time trying to figure out what we're word is this compliance officer you know what are they are then we came up with the fire marshalls so I mean I don't know if that's the appropriate spot or not and the someone has mentioned the attorney generals offers that that might be more appropriate because there you know attorneys they might be able to uhm but you have spart some ideas and I am very think full free to you for bringing the ideas forward and being willing to share your st. And I think all of you for a letting me spark this conversation it's a real problem and I think that the great strods are being made in arkansas and I really greatly appreciate being here thank you. The other final comments from any. Okay thank you so much uhm thank you.