Said in CommitteeBeta

Exactly as spoken.

Education Committee- House

April 2, 2019 ·10 Minutes Upon Adjournment ·Room 138 ·1:01:24
Video Transcript

Bills discussed (32)

Bill Title Sponsor Status
HB1003 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1003 Gazaway TO AMEND THE ANTI BULLYING POLICY; TO REQUIRE ANTI…”
TO AMEND THE ANTIBULLYING POLICY; TO REQUIRE ANTIBULLYING TRAINING; TO CREATE THE POSITIONS OF ANTIBULLYING … Gazaway Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1007 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1007 Dotson TO ALLOW A SCHOOL DISTRICT TO ADOPT A POLICY TO ACCE…”
TO ALLOW A SCHOOL DISTRICT TO ADOPT A POLICY TO ACCEPT OUT-OF-STATE TEACHING EXPERIENCE FOR … Dotson WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR
HB1008 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1008 Dotson TO AMEND THE DEADLINE BY WHICH NEWLY ELECTED SCHOOL…”
TO AMEND THE DEADLINE BY WHICH NEWLY ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS MUST OBTAIN REQUIRED AUDIT … Dotson WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR
HB1015 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1015 J. Mayberry TO REQUIRE AN ELECTIVE JOURNALISM COURSE TO BE…”
TO REQUIRE AN ELECTIVE JOURNALISM COURSE TO BE OFFERED EACH SCHOOL YEAR AT A PUBLIC … J. Mayberry Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1019 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1019 Sorvillo TO REQUIRE VIDEO CAMERAS IN CERTAIN CLASSROOMS UPO…”
TO REQUIRE VIDEO CAMERAS IN CERTAIN CLASSROOMS UPON REQUEST. Sorvillo Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1355 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1355 A. Davis TO REPEAL THE FINANCING OF CERTAIN POSTSECONDARY O…”
TO REPEAL THE FINANCING OF CERTAIN POSTSECONDARY OUT-OF-STATE MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS; AND TO CREATE THE … A. Davis Recommended for study in the Interim by Joint …
HB1390 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1390 Lowery TO AMEND THE DATE ON WHICH PUBLIC SCHOOLS BEGIN THE…”
TO AMEND THE DATE ON WHICH PUBLIC SCHOOLS BEGIN THE SCHOOL YEAR; AND TO ALLOW … Lowery Recommended for study in the Interim by Joint …
HB1392 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1392 Dalby TO ALLOW FOR ALTERNATIVE COURSEWORK AS A SUBSTITUTE F…”
TO ALLOW FOR ALTERNATIVE COURSEWORK AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR AN INTERNSHIP OR EXTERNSHIP REQUIREMENT. Dalby Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1397 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1397 Cozart TO EXPAND THE TYPE OF PLANNING TIME FOR WHICH A TEAC…”
TO EXPAND THE TYPE OF PLANNING TIME FOR WHICH A TEACHER MAY BE COMPENSATED IF … Cozart Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1412 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1412 Eubanks TO PROHIBIT A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT FROM USING PUB…”
TO PROHIBIT A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT FROM USING PUBLIC FUNDS TO PAY A TEACHER'S OR … Eubanks WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR
HB1458 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1458 Richey TO REQUIRE A LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT TO PARTNER WITH A…”
TO REQUIRE A LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT TO PARTNER WITH A LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY WITH … Richey Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1507 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1507 A. Davis TO ALLOW A TRANSFERRING STUDENT TO PARTICIPATE IN…”
TO ALLOW A TRANSFERRING STUDENT TO PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERSCHOLASTIC ACTIVITY THAT WAS NOT OFFERED … A. Davis WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR
HB1511 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1511 Lowery TO REQUIRE THAT NON-PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS BE ELIGIB…”
TO REQUIRE THAT NON-PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE SUCCEED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. Lowery Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1629 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1629 J. Mayberry TO IMPROVE PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS' SAFETY, HEAL…”
TO IMPROVE PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS' SAFETY, HEALTH, AND WELLNESS; AND TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE … J. Mayberry Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1715 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1715 Murdock CONCERNING ALTERNATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FUNDING…”
CONCERNING ALTERNATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FUNDING FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS; AND TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING … Murdock Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1726 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1726 Lowery TO CREATE THE SAFE AND SOUND SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.”
TO CREATE THE SAFE AND SOUND SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. Lowery Recommended for study in the Interim by Joint …
HB1758 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1758 Richardson TO CREATE INTRASTATE DISTRICT EXCHANGE EXPERIENC…”
TO CREATE A PILOT PROGRAM REGARDING INTRASTATE DISTRICT EXCHANGE EXPERIENCES. Richardson Recommended for study in the Interim by Joint …
HB1779 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1779 Penzo TO REPEAL OUTDATED PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE WI…”
TO REPEAL OUTDATED PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE WITH RESPECT TO THE EXISTENCE OF CERTAIN … Penzo Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1832 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1832 Murdock TO PROVIDE FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL…”
TO PROVIDE FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS THAT CURRENTLY PAY A CERTAIN STARTING … Murdock Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1862 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1862 A. Collins TO AMEND THE LAW TO ALLOW A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRI…”
TO AMEND THE LAW TO ALLOW A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE … A. Collins Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1890 Act 979 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1890 Della Rosa TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ESTABL…”
TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH IN THE STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITATION THE MAXIMUM … Della Rosa Notification that HB1890 is now Act 979
HB1897 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1897 Burch CONCERNING ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ARKANSAS…”
CONCERNING ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ARKANSAS ACADEMIC CHALLENGE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. Burch Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1903 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1903 J. Mayberry TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO PRES…”
TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO PRESENT THE STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITATION TO THE … J. Mayberry Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1933 Act 1029 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1933 Gazaway TO AMEND THE ANTI-BULLYING POLICY; TO REQUIRE A SCH…”
TO AMEND THE ANTI-BULLYING POLICY; TO REQUIRE A SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER TO RECEIVE INFORMATION REGARDING … Gazaway Notification that HB1933 is now Act 1029
HB1959 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1959 Perry TO AWARD TO A CHILD WHOSE PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN IS…”
TO AWARD TO A CHILD WHOSE PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN IS A LICENSED TEACHER IN … Perry Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment
HB1963 Act 1064 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1963 Gazaway CONCERNING THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOR MEDICAL S…”
CONCERNING THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOR MEDICAL SCIENCES PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE; TO CREATE A SCHOOL … Gazaway Notification that HB1963 is now Act 1064
SB349 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB349 A. Clark TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO PROVIDE…”
TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO PROVIDE CERTAIN LEVELS OF SUPPORT TO CERTAIN PUBLIC … A. Clark Recommended for study in the Interim Committee on …
SB449 Act 809 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB449 Irvin TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE WITH RESPECT…”
TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPOSITION OF THE SAFE … Irvin Notification that SB449 is now Act 809
SB522 Act 1079 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB522 J. English TO CREATE A COMPREHENSIVE STATEWIDE WORKFORCE DE…”
TO CREATE A COMPREHENSIVE STATEWIDE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM; TO COORDINATE VARIOUS WORKFORCE PROGRAMS; TO AMEND … J. English Notification that SB522 is now Act 1079
SB526 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB526 A. Clark TO REQUIRE THE PRESENCE OF A FINANCIAL COUNSELOR U…”
TO REQUIRE THE PRESENCE OF A FINANCIAL COUNSELOR UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS WHEN A STUDENT OF … A. Clark Recommended for study in the Interim Committee on …
SB535 Act 1080 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB535 B. Johnson TO REVISE THE METHOD BY WHICH THE ACADEMIC FACIL…”
TO REVISE THE METHOD BY WHICH THE ACADEMIC FACILITIES WEALTH INDEX IS CALCULATED. B. Johnson Notification that SB535 is now Act 1080
SB603 Act 1082 · 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB603 A. Clark TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO PROVIDE…”
TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO PROVIDE CERTAIN LEVELS OF SUPPORT TO CERTAIN PUBLIC … A. Clark Notification that SB603 is now Act 1082

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Speaker 1 0:00
to backdoor in the use of Planned Parenthood to provide curriculum. So this amendment just basically does trust but verify. It says that a public school employee, public school volunteer, or any person responsible for teaching or facilitating a course provided under this section shall not contract with, enter into an agreement with, or in any way utilize an employee, volunteer, curriculum, or other resource produced, published, or provided by an individual or entity that, one, performs abortions, induces abortions, provides abortion referrals, or counsels in favor of elective abortions, or, two, is an associate of a person or entity that performs abortions, induces abortions, provides abortion referrals, or counsels in favor of elective abortions. and as i said this is just to trust but verify if if we're indeed not trying to open this up for planned parenthood uh this is language that the state of arkansas is already using uh to uh to deny uh state funds uh being utilized um or or grants being uh given to planned parenthood and so this is language that has been well vetted in other uh types of legislation we have heard your amendment that has to be
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 1:28
accepted by the committee and voted on is that correct that's correct that has to be accepted by the to be voted on yes okay i have to have a motion to accept his amendment you have a motion to accept your amendment do pass on his amendment Any discussion on that motion? We're going
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 1:54
to discussion. Okay, and I would like
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 1:57
to have the law. We're open for discussion
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 2:00
on that amendment right now. And just so everybody knows, I saw the amendment this morning, I think, the first time. I had worked very hard to make sure that the language was acceptable to everyone earlier. I do believe that this language forces the state into one particular group. in the teaching of that particular group and I think it takes away some of the local control to consider things I don't think there's anybody who was considering as we were working on the the bill the idea of someone coming and teaching about abortion certainly that's not the intent and none of the the people that I studied with on any of the groups that have worked with or who have uh, gone through any of this stuff with specific, with specificity to the, um, the things that we talked about the other day. I know y'all heard the whole, all the different things that we're talking about. I think this forces a particular group. I think family council came in with this. This is what they want to do. And if that's where you think this needs to go, then I disagree. I would like you to consider the permissive amendment that is going to be before you shortly, which allows school districts to make their decisions about what they offer and what they teach and what we say is important in regards to those particular areas. We talked about suicide prevention, substance abuse, diet and obesity, tobacco use and prevention, and the teenage pregnancy prevention. So this bill is more about the well-being and the wholeness of a child and teaching them to be so than to use the word abortion eight times by my count in four lines. I specifically tried to make sure that we didn't use some language, the abstinence language, so that we can make things more amenable earlier to this group. I'm just a little frustrated and I hope you will vote against that amendment and look at the permissive language that we've changed in the next amendment available. What's
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 4:12
your point of order? It doesn't work. Kill everybody out. Now try it. You got it. You
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Representative Jim Dotson Unverified 4:22
get it down. All right. Just looking at this amendment, Mr. Chair, and I'm sorry, I was coming in from another committee, But the other day on this bill, we adopted an amendment onto it. Was that
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 4:35
removed before we started today? And I talked with the parliamentarian this morning, and it could either be removed or it's already been engrossed with another amendment on it. So the bill is engrossed without the other amendment on it that we talked about last week, so it doesn't affect it. So that amendment went away. That amendment's gone. If you never put it in, we never engrossed it in. So this
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Representative Jim Dotson Unverified 4:59
amendment appears to be to the previous bill before the current one was engrossed. So if this amendment is adopted, there will be an engrossing error on this bill, it looks like. You're talking about Representative Lowry's bill? Representative Lowry's starts on by deleting, starting on page 3, deleting line 28. In the engrossed version that's on the tablet here, that's after the bill ends. So I don't know what you do about that, but there
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 5:33
will be a problem if this is adopted. Well, this is what discussion is about. All right. Any other discussion on the motion?
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Speaker 1 5:49
Representative Lowry. I think the testimony that's been given or the discussion that was given earlier saying that this locks us into one organization is absolutely not true. There's nothing in this language that says that XYZ organization or ABC organization are the only ones that can provide training or materials. It just says that one, two, three organization, this one right here, that does abortion counseling, abortion referrals and such, And, you know, I would prefer us not have to say the word abortion over and over again as well. But sometimes we have to be more than clear to make sure that wedges are not driven in where supposedly they're not intended. So if they're not intended, then there should not be a problem with this amendment. If there's no intention of using Planned Parenthood training materials, then there shouldn't be any problem with putting this language in that prohibits that. But it doesn't mandate that one particular organization's curriculum is going to be used. Are we still in discussion? Can you hold just a second? Let me
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 7:09
look at this, your amendment, to kind of figure out where it fits.
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 7:13
I don't know as to which either. okay okay go ahead I'm sorry no my question was does do you have available for us to know what Planned Parenthood's program is because I keep getting that reference and I have no idea what that is and I don't know if I don't know what that is literally I know we refer to them and And I've heard about them in the news, but I have no idea what this specific stuff is that we're so concerned about and that we use that organization. I just wondered if that information was available.
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 7:54
I think somebody could give you an idea, but it would be their interpretation of what Planned Parenthood is without looking it up and actually getting a Google definition of them,
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 8:02
I guess. Well, and I guess my frustration is that that's who we keep referring to as a part of this bill, but we don't have that further information that we want to keep an organization that, for all I know, might have some other information that's good. I'd have no earthly idea because I don't know what that information is. It's like we're fearful of something, but we don't have the evidence to know what that fear might be about.
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 8:25
I can tell you what Google says. Just the very first sentence, Planned Parenthood Federation of America is a non-profit organization that provides sexual health care in the United States and
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 8:36
globally. Sounds pretty much like what we might need in Arkansas as the number one teenage pregnancy state. There's other things along with
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 8:44
that, but, I mean, that's just the very front of their deal. And I'll just leave it there. So we're still talking about the amendment. Discussion on amendments? Any more discussion on amendments?
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Speaker 1 8:59
Yes, sir. I will say one other thing, that if there is an error in engrossing, that's what code revision is for. That should not be the only reason why this amendment gets voted down. If you like the content of this amendment, you feel like it's necessary, then it should be included and let code revision work out the legalism. Because, frankly, if you adopt this, well, anyway, that's my point.
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 9:30
And I'm still asking for clarification on exactly which version it is that this, I don't know. Well,
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 9:37
we're looking at your version from Friday, I believe, that was done on Friday. I'm sorry, it was done on Monday, I believe, or Tuesday. The first, it was engrossed on the first, is that right? Correct? So that would be, was that the one that, I'm sorry, Representative Lowry, is that the one that you were referring to as in gross version of the first, or was it back last
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Speaker 1 10:09
week's? I'm sorry, I'm looking at the one that is on the House agenda, Representative Dotson's right. It ends with line 25. My amendment references line 28. but so I have no idea I'm sure
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Speaker 27 10:22
Representative Meek you have some input on that I'm just wondering if this
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Representative Stephen Meeks Unverified 10:28
might resolve the conflict Mr. Chairman if you'll accept a verbal amendment that the amendment that we adopt is this amendment with the substitution of instead of saying delete line 28 we say delete line 25 if you would accept that as a substitute amendment the exact same thing but line 25 instead of 28. I would take out one word
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Speaker 1 10:49
on the Delete 25 and add in the amendment language. I would accept that amendment. Are you
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 10:55
sure? 25, you're taking one word off of the bill.
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Speaker 1 11:01
You're taking off section and then adding in section and then sections.
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 11:06
Okay, I'm sorry. I see the section on the start of yours. Okay, that would be correct. I'm sure you can. Is that a substitute motion? Substitute motion. still on the motion discussing the motion any more debate on the motion we have a substitute motion now for this amendment let me see if i've got it right instead of starting on line 28 it will start on line 25 would be the only difference in the motion and just to make clear this would be
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 11:38
amending the mandating the it starts with next year um and all this for the school so this that's not my my amendment would be well your amendment can still go it's just this
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 11:49
we're just putting amendment on right now if this is so just to make clear that
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 11:54
this is amending the thing that requires the school districts to start teaching this next year okay well i'm just okay we still got a vote on this
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 12:03
amendment one way up or down since it is out there yes sir you have
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Representative Jim Dotson Unverified 12:10
Discussion? Just, I guess, a parliamentary inquiry on whether or not we can accept a verbal amendment in
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Speaker 2 12:20
committee. We have him here. Mr. Parliamentarian, would you like to take the chair over here and talk? Yeah, there is a motion for a verbal amendment in committee. Can't do a verbal amendment? Okay.
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 12:33
Well, what's the difference? Are we not as good as the Senate? I understand that. Okay, that was my first question. All right, his amendment starts on a different line. It would be three lines between is what the deal is. There's a skip in the lineage on this amendment. Her bill stops on 25. This amendment starts to delete 28. Pardon? Can I explain? Well, no, this is fine. We're just trying to figure out if that skip is a problem or would that be fixed and engrossing?
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Speaker 27 13:14
Okay. All right. There were apparently two different versions of the bill. We might
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 13:21
be. You just might not be with us. You might just not
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Speaker 66 13:25
be with us. No, I'm not. I'm not for,
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 13:28
I'm not, I'm listening to him. Okay, John, hold on. Let
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Speaker 68 13:34
me chair this committee. That'd be fine. You want to withdraw your
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 13:38
amendment or not? You want to vote it?
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Speaker 27 13:45
I'd like to vote it because
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Speaker 1 13:48
my other answer, which is the code revision, can fix the numbering. All right. We'll vote it up
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 13:54
or down. Okay. Any other discussion on the amendment? Seeing none, all in favor? What? We're going to withdraw his motion. I understand.
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Speaker 1 14:06
I understand. Point of clarification, though, or requesting clarification. Sure. Though bills need 11 votes to pass out, amendments do not have to have 11 votes, correct? That's the majority of the quorum. Okay. Thank you. Is that correct? Majority of
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 14:29
the quorum? Yes. Yes. If he's here. No, I don't know. I don't think we have an amendment on that. I think they're amending that bill. I don't think we're going to run anything else. This will be it.
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Speaker 27 14:49
Could you restate that? What is the vote count that it takes to pass this
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 14:58
amendment? Majority of the quorum. So we have whatever our quorum is here right now. We'll take a two-thirds majority. Is it correct? Majority of 12. Is that how many are here? Majority of four. She's going to tell us. Take 10. Take 10. Are there 14
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Speaker 83 15:15
here? Yeah, I believe there are.
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Speaker 86 15:23
Okay. All right. All right. Are you ready for the vote? All in
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 15:29
favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed, no? No. I'd say
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Speaker 39 15:42
the no's have it. I have two
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Speaker 88 15:45
hands. Roll call it. Representative Meeks. It takes two hands. Representative Deffenbaugh. Representative Deffenbaugh. Representative Eubanks. Representative Walker. Representative Lowry. Representative Dotson. Representative Dotson. No. Representative De La Rosa. No. Representative Hodges. Representative Hodges. Representative Beck. Representative Beck. Yes. Representative Sullivan.
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Speaker 92 16:19
Yes. Representative Speaks. Yes. Representative Gates. Representative Gates. Representative Vaughn.
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Speaker 88 16:28
Representative Vaughn. Representative Birch. Representative Allen, Representative Allen. Representative Cavanaugh, Representative Garner, Representative Evans, Representative Murdoch,
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Speaker 92 16:51
Representative Murdoch. Representative Kozart.
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 16:55
your amendment has failed we'll move on
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 17:06
would you like to present your amendment i would thank you and thank you and and let me just go back and say i appreciate the responsibility with which this committee takes um on the burden and the knowledge that we need to educate our kids about something And after all the lengthy discussions with regard to this bill, the biggest concern that I heard expressed was that it was a mandate on the schools. And the only thing that this amendment that I'm asking to be adopted today does, it's engrossed. It's already engrossed. The bill as engrossed just makes it permissive for the schools to do this. it states to the entirety of the state that this is what the legislature sees as important as being taught to this to the kids with regard to all the statistics and we heard them again this morning with representative gasways a couple of his bills with regard to the things that we're really concerned about um in the health of our kids in our state so by making the language permissive um and still representing that these things are very important to the legislature I would ask for a good vote. I am open to questions. Questions on the amendment? Representative Kavanaugh. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is not the
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 18:26
amendment? That's what I'm asking. Oh, I'm sorry. This bill's engrossed. Okay, I thought you had another amendment. Hey, I've got too many amendments laying on this desk. I
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Speaker 100 18:37
can't believe me. Okay, so your amendment is
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Representative Frances Cavenaugh Unverified 18:39
engrossed that says it's going to be permissive that they make, that they don't have to, but they make. That's what I wanted to clarify. Thank you.
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 18:46
They may teach it, but the Department of Ed is still going to have materials that they can use or resources that they can utilize. Sorry for the confusion there. I just
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 18:56
thought we had another amendment going on here. Yes, our representative Sullivan. So if it's May, why do we
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 19:04
have this bill? Because it absolutely sets out the things that we are most concerned about, and the legislative intent in this is still, it remains, that part was never changed, that these are the things that are really of concern to us in the state of Arkansas with regard to, again, the children that have been exposed to so many things, whether it's teenage pregnancy, whether it's the obesity, the mental health, I really hope that the programs and the ones that we talked to the Department of Ed and other folks about, the ones that help develop the kids to be strong enough to know when to say, not just know, but know when to say, I'm important enough for me not to be whiled away by some of the influences that are out there on them today. So it really says these are things that are priorities from the legislature. Any other questions? Representative
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Representative Rick Beck Unverified 20:00
Beck. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, the last time we talked about this bill, there was a discussion, and it was around that they already do most of these things, if not all of them. And there was some discussion around, I guess, you know, now it's a May, and they already do it, so what's going to be different if we pass this? So it's not necessarily
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 20:24
May with the Department of Ed. The Department of Ed is still going to have to go out there and get some resources and do things for the schools that want to go through the Department of Ed. So that part's really not promosive. I don't think it's where we really do have to have some resources developed in the state that our schools can use. But right now, the schools can go out and do any program, frankly, that looks to the health. One of the things that we looked at was that there's only one half a credit for health. And with the understanding that the department, and we're going to look at that a little bit more broadly, what the requirements are for graduation and where we need to place some focus, This will help shape that by saying these are the things that we see as a legislature are important to be taught. So I do think that making that statement and clarifying very specifically, again, with the legislative intent as to the number one, that our kids have been number one in so many bad things, we want them to be number one in mental and personal health. And help me out, and I apologize for
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Representative Rick Beck Unverified 21:27
taking us back just a little bit, But the – so this bill actually says that the Department of Ed will develop the material and that the schools can use it. Is that correct? That's right. All right. So – and then it
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 21:48
says they may – the schools may use it. Yeah, and it doesn't actually say they're going to develop it. It says that they can identify and help schools. So
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Representative Rick Beck Unverified 21:56
why do we have the schools even mentioned in this? Because they can already – if it was available, couldn't they already use it?
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 22:03
I don't know that it is available right now. I think that's being
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Representative Rick Beck Unverified 22:06
a part of this bill. So my point would be the bill would be that the Department of Ed can develop it, and then they could use it. So why does the legislation say that they may use it? It's almost like they could already do that if it were available at the Department of Ed. So the bill would be that the Department of Ed should make
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Speaker 117 22:28
it available to them, and not that they may
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 22:31
or may not use it. It's not just identifying. Maybe I'm missing it. Well, it's also providing professional development. It's directing the Department of Ed to say these are the things the legislature finds as very important, and again, for all those reasons that we've already beaten a little bit. Okay. All right. I apologize. Any other questions?
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Speaker 97 22:54
Seeing no questions. This is our new sheet
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 22:57
today. This afternoon. Same one. We have some testimony on the other side, and we'll start with the against. Emma Morton. If you would just please turn that microphone on, state your name and who you're with. You're recognized to speak against the bill.
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Speaker 120 23:25
Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts and my concerns on this particular bill. My
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Thelma Moten Unverified 23:32
name is Thelma Moten, and I am a parent and an executive director of a healthy choice organization in central Arkansas. We serve eight counties throughout central Arkansas in six school districts. I am just really thrilled to see that we have this kind of interest in helping our young people understand the importance of making healthy choices. One of my concerns, and I'll make it brief, I provide healthy choice education from seventh grade through the freshman year of college. And when I see identification in consultation with the Department of Health resources required under this section, I'm concerned because I get calls on many occasions, and I'm at one particular school now, that there was a health curriculum identified and promoted as healthy choices for a school district in Jefferson County. I got a call to say, would you please come and let us take a look at your presentations because our kids have become more sexually active as a result of a curriculum that was identified by the Arkansas Department of Health as an optimal health curriculum for our young people. And while I must say the Department of Health is huge, and so sometimes it's extremely difficult to be as careful as they can be in selecting curriculums and then identifying them as optimal health curriculums. And so I'm concerned about them being able to identify curriculums and promoting this as optimal health. I'm still concerned about that. And when I see identifying materials and curriculums without being very careful to see that there are materials and wordings in some of these curriculums that is very, the demonstrations are incredible. I have a letter from one of the teachers from the school that invited me to come. She was very, very, very unhappy because she took this particular curriculum because it was identified as one that provided optimal health for their students. And she said when we got there, we felt forced to have to go through this because this was recommended to us by the Arkansas Department of Health. And she said we had our students standing up in front of a classroom trying to see the protective steps and the correct steps of putting on a condom. And she said all of us were standing there as facilitators. We're thinking, I don't want my children involved in a program like this. So my concern is that when we identify these curriculums, are we spending the time that it takes to be sure that we're not providing demonstrations, that it's not suggestive language, that it is not normalizing sexual activity? and that when we are dealing with contraception or methods of contraception, that that information is medically correct, that we have research and data to support that. So that is one of my concerns, that we leave it up to the Department of Health or Department of Ed if they're not going to vet these curriculums in such a way that it's protecting our young people. We have innocent young people sitting in classrooms that should not be exposed to some of the things that they're exposed to with optimal health evidence base. And so it's important to me that it is primary prevention, that it is risk avoidance, and that it is properly vetted before we are presenting this to our school districts. When the Department of Ed or the Department of Health present these materials as they are identified to some teachers, They feel compelled to have to promote these materials. They are trusting that these materials have been properly vetted, and then they're feeling forced to provide some educational, what they're calling educational teachings that's really sometimes putting some of our kids at more risk. In 2015, the Health and Human Services under the previous administration produced a report, and it showed where 80% of curriculums that were promoting demonstrations and widely distributed contraception, 80% of those programs, 80% failed, and kids felt worse or no better than those who were properly vetted. And some of our kids became more sexually active, like one of the districts that I was called to. So my concern is that when we are identifying what we're calling optimal health, that it's vetted properly and that it's just not thrown out at our teachers and our school districts as if this is the be-all, the do-all for our kids. I'm very concerned about that. I really would like to know, and I appreciate you, Representative Dodson and Burge, for the efforts that you have put into this. It blesses my heart to know that you're this concerned about our young people. But I wonder how many of you have really talked to boots on the ground, and I'm not talking about those of us who are promoting programs. I'm talking about classroom teachers. And I'm wondering how many of you have sat in the classroom and looked and seen how kids are responding to the information. And I'm very concerned that we're making policies that will last and impact our kids for generations because of policies and things that you're reading. I would implore you to sit in classrooms and watch these presentations and these curriculums being presented and seeing how young people are responding to them before we make policy and laws. I know you're reading the data. Data can be skewed to say anything you want. But when you're sitting in a classroom and you're watching young people, I had one young girl, and we're in the largest high schools in Little Rock. and one of the little girls came up to one of my presenters and she said I never knew I had a choice you mean I have a choice I never knew all I've ever seen is this in my family so you're telling me I I have a choice kids need to be they need more than contraception they need adults who can guide them and show them the way out we need adults loving relationships developing relationships supporting our teachers our teachers are overwhelmed and when you're giving them more materials with you say professional development these teachers are getting professional development but they need to be sure that the materials that they're getting is going to support and make our children strong so i applaud what you're doing i just think it needs to have a little bit more depth put to it and i like the idea of representative lowry making sure that these that these materials are not going to end up leading our young people toward making choices that they will be unhappy with. Because when we are demonstrating, kids are kids. Think about it. Kids forget to brush their teeth in the morning. Kids forget to do their homework. And when we're giving them expectations that this is the best we expect from you, they're probably going to lead into that. I would love to have people like Representative Walker. I'd love to get more men into these classrooms, more women into these classrooms to show the possibilities for our young people. And that's what they're looking for. More than sentence, sentence, sentence. When we invite speakers who are starting over or who've done well and shown them, I call it examples in skin. That's putting skin on examples versus sentence, sentence, sentence. And that's That's what we need more than just making policies and passing bills. We need you on the ground, listening to our young people, listening to our teachers before we make policy. And I applaud you for your efforts. I just think there needs to be more done before we vote something in as policy and put it up on the Department of Education to implement, the Department of Health to implement. I just think we need more voices from the field. There are frameworks that are being developed. I'm concerned about some of those frameworks. How will this be affected with this bill? I think there's too much out there. And I think I've said enough, and
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Speaker 120 32:08
I appreciate you for giving me the opportunity. And I do thank you guys for doing what you're doing.
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Chair Unverified 32:13
Thank you, Ms. Moulton. So you said a lot and some wonderful things. And obviously, you know, you're correct when you say what we are in terms of legislators. so we have to read and listen and depend upon the professionals that are in the various positions, specifically in this case the Department of Health. Obviously, we're thinking that the Department of Health is going to lead and guide us from a policy standpoint in the right way, that people like you are inside of someone in the Department of Health advising and doing the same thing. So, but what you're really doing, if I'm understanding you correctly, is you like the legislation, but you think that the workings of it, the actual implementation is what you're concerned about. I'm very concerned about that because we have three curriculums that the But you're concerned about the implementation? How it's implemented, yes. Okay. So, okay, the implementation, but the legislation is okay, but implementation, which is two slightly different
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Thelma Moten Unverified 33:20
things. Let me be clear on this. My concern is not just the implementation, but what's identified, who's identifying it, and why, who's identifying these materials, and why are we selecting that particular material? Not only the implementation of it, but when you say that Department of Ed and Department of Health will identify resources, what resources? Where are they coming from? Okay, that's, that's
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Chair Unverified 33:44
the part of implementation, but let me, let me get Representative De La Rosa, Let me acknowledge her, recognize her.
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Speaker 128 33:53
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I actually had a difficult time telling for most of this, whether you were speaking for or against this bill, because some of the references that you made were to a bill that existed over on the Senate side and not the version that exists today. And I think that a lot of your concerns were taken into account in the version that we have today, because what this bill says today is instruction on topics pertaining to teenage pregnancy prevention under this section shall include information regarding the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections through age-appropriate and primary prevention risk avoidance approaches. So I'm hearing in this bill the very things that you were saying that you wanted to be in this bill. You didn't want contraception. You wanted risk avoidance and things like that because that's the language that was changed. I've never said I didn't want
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Thelma Moten Unverified 34:43
contraception. I want contraception taught in a way that's medically accurate, age-appropriate, data- Cut your mic on when you're speaking. No, no, no. I did not say we did not want contraception because primary prevention and risk avoidance covers contraception. What I am concerned about, I'm reading from this bill, the same one you're reading. When it says that the Department of Education shall identify in consultation with the Department of Health resources required under this section that's where I'm concerned is identifying and what materials are they identifying what's the source what are the sources of these resources that we're presenting for these teachers where's that coming from and the other thing in the portion of this bill I think it's great that we're working it but every single thing here is currently being taught through health classes we need more health classes but these things are currently covered and that's okay. My concern is identifying resources and where those resources are coming from and where would that
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Speaker 128 35:49
drive us to. Well, I guess my question. So your, your suggestion is that we should legislate specifically, um, which resource
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Speaker 118 35:58
precisely. I would, I don't see. Well, then I've
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Speaker 128 36:01
got another question with Adam. Go ahead. Let me, because you were stating that the Department of Health is already providing resources or some kind of guidance out there right now, how is that possible if we're not giving any kind of direction? I'm getting very confused on this. It's
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Thelma Moten Unverified 36:22
possible because they have received grants. Department of Health received grants and with those grants there are curriculums that they approve as curriculums that can be used in schools and some of those curriculums that go along with the grants have not been vetted well, and they're causing a lot of concern in some of the schools. They're required to teach from these curriculums because they have received these grants from the Department of Health. And as we approached the Department of Health with some of these, they didn't realize that some of the materials was the way it was being presented. And then they pulled back some of these materials. So I'm saying I'm concerned with identifying who's identifying where are these resources coming from. And before we put these in the hands of our teachers, who's identifying these curriculums or these resources? Who's driving it? I'll get back in the
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Chair Unverified 37:19
queue. Yes, ma'am. Are there any others with questions on the committee? Representative Kavanaugh, are you
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Representative Frances Cavenaugh Unverified 37:26
recognized? I hear your concern, and I appreciate it. But this bill actually will allow it to be vetted because the Department of Education will be vetting it so that we don't have all these different programs being taught. And that was one of the concerns is that they had a lot of programs out there that didn't need to be being taught. So if we're able to get with the department, then they're able to vet programs that are appropriate and not the ones that
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Chair Unverified 37:57
are not appropriate. Let me ask the department, do you want to speak to who will be her question inside the bill of who will be making these decisions, who's going to be driving this? Do we have... If you don't want to, you don't have to, but if you want to clear this up for... Yeah, come up. Yeah, we'll try to clear this up because that's the question that Ms. Moten is asking, right? One of the questions is... One of
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Speaker 132 38:22
the questions. Yes, ma'am. And what is the need? What are we
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Speaker 144 38:32
achieving here? Identify yourself and you're recognized. Stacey Smith, Arkansas Department of Education. So I can't speak for what the Department of Health would identify as their resources. As far as the Arkansas Department of Education, what we would do is we would utilize a group of teachers who are teaching health with our curriculum unit who actually wrote the standards and our health unit, and we would form a committee to review resources. I think for me when I'm looking at this, because it specifically says primary prevention programs, That's the definition that we would apply to the programs that we would put on as resources. Also, when I'm looking at it, as far as what's directing the department to do, shall identify resources in those five areas. So when I look at it, I would be responsible for organizing a group to take on the tobacco piece, mental health, unintended pregnancies. I mean, there were five main categories listed there. I'm missing suicide. Suicide, cessation. And so we would have to go through that process. But as far as resources that the Department of Health would identify, I don't know. I think that they would probably have a representative on the committee. That's how I would look at approaching this. Okay, thank you.
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Chair Unverified 39:42
Committee, is there any other questions? Seeing none, thank you, Ms. Moon, for your testimony. Tony, is there anyone to speak for the bill? Against the bill, we have the family. I'm sorry, Representative Dodson, did I miss you? Okay. Jerry Cox, you want to speak against the bill? Yes, sir. Okay. Introduce yourself and you'll
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Jerry Cox Unverified 40:14
recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. My name is Jerry Cox, and I'm the Director of Family Council here in Little Rock. And the amendment that Representative Lowry offered makes this bill what it should be. But now that his amendment is not on the bill, I'll have to talk about what's wrong with the bill. the um the bill has at least half a dozen shalls in there mixed in with the may at the beginning where it says schools may uh may do the program and i believe uh if i'm looking at the correct engrossment that would be on page 2 line 13 that is i'm mr chairman i'm looking at one that's engrossed on 4-1-19 and may i inquire if that is the proper one that is correct okay just so i'm referring to the correct bill so the fact that it says may offer does make it optional for the schools. But then after that, every one of these five points is a shall. So if the school opts in, then they shall do this. They shall do this. They shall. They shall. They shall. And so it's not totally permissive. If a school says, raises their hand and says, yes, I'm going to do this, then all of a sudden all half a dozen of those shalls kick in and they they will do the program the way it's specified and so i just wanted to to point that out and then of course the final shall is on page three line 20 the department of education shall identify in consultation with the Department of Health resources. That's where the concern lies. None of us around this table has any idea what resources are going to be identified for dealing with teen pregnancies. I think most everybody in this room knows that Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of sex education material in the country, probably in the world. They are the Walmart of sex education. And if you read their website, they dismiss abstinence programs as if they are worthless. And so I can tell you already that a Planned Parenthood sex education program is not going to teach abstinence, at least not the way you think it would be taught. They'll teach it in such a way that they make fun of it and tell you how worthless it is. And then they'll go on and start talking about contraception and all the other things. That's why Representative Lowry's amendment should have been added to this bill to close that door. Because you know what we've done Here in Arkansas, the governor went to great lengths to see that Planned Parenthood would not, and organizations that promote abortion, would not receive Medicaid reimbursements because he felt like that was not the kind of direction we wanted to send our tax dollars. then just a few years ago this legislative body passed a law making organizations that promote abortions that provide abortions that counsel for abortions making them ineligible to receive state grants so i would i would submit to you if we as a body here and as as a legislature have already said that organizations like Planned Parenthood are not eligible to receive Medicaid reimbursements and they're not eligible to receive any state funding whatsoever in the form of grants, then why in the world would we let them still be in line to sell a sex education curriculum to our schools and to be one of these resources? There is no good reason to do that unless that is somehow the intent of some people that want to see this legislation passed. And so that's why this is so important. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate your time.
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Representative Stephen Meeks Unverified 45:06
Members of the committee, thank you for listening to me. Representative Meach, you're recognized. Thank you. So, Mr. Cox, if I understand your concern, the way the bill currently reads now is that if a public school district were to offer a health course, that they would have to follow these guidelines so they wouldn't have the freedom. So they'd either have to say, yes, I'm going to do a health course and follow these guidelines, or no, I'm not going to. They wouldn't have the opportunity to
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Speaker 149 45:34
do, say, a different health course. I believe you're correct, but, again, yes, I believe you're correct.
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Jerry Cox Unverified 45:41
I think it starts to box them in and take away their flexibility. And if they're already doing good programs, I don't know how much this does to crowd any of that out. And so there are many, many, many unanswered questions about this. And, Mr.
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Representative Stephen Meeks Unverified 45:57
Chairman, if I may follow up, the same question to the bill's sponsor. I'm
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 46:06
reading, I mean, I'm pretty simple how I read things, but let's say a public school district may offer it. May offer and may offer it on these topics. and if and then Department of Ed's going to do I we took out the shell I'm you know the topics I know the topics have the shell right which I know which I think that's
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Representative Stephen Meeks Unverified 46:34
where and that may be where the confusion and there may just be some ambiguity there in the law there it's not clear if you're saying if you teach a health course you have to do it this way or as a school you can either do this as health course plan A or you can develop your own
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 46:57
plan B. I think this gives the school complete control to make that decision and it says again this is what's important and it does say the Department of Ed is going to come up with stuff on this topic and provide professional development. Maybe I'm trying to maybe I'm just too simple with how i expect it to be be read i don't know if that answers your question you're the lawyer so
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Representative Frances Cavenaugh Unverified 47:20
that's why i'm asking i'm reading it the simplest way kavanaugh you're reckless thank you mr chair uh mr cox you keep talking about the planned parenthood the planned parenthood yes ma'am do
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Jerry Cox Unverified 47:38
you know if the department has a history of working with planned parenthood on these types of issues Yes, I can respond to that. I'm trying to remember the exact year. Under Title V, a large amount of money was made available to states to teach risk avoidance, abstinence type sex education curricula. And our staff attorney, Martha Adcock at the time, was working with the health department in reviewing the grant applications from local groups like some of these that have come here to speak. And what occurred at that time was Planned Parenthood raised their hand and said, we teach abstinence. We like abstinence. We want the money. and I know for a fact that the health department and our staff attorney and others that were working on this had to work very hard to keep people that really were not being genuine about really wanting to teach abstinence they kept trying to work their way in and I watched our attorney spend over a year trying to hold those forces at bay and so that experience tells me that they will be there and they will be in line if you leave this door open. Follow-up?
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Representative Frances Cavenaugh Unverified 49:04
With all due respect, you didn't answer my question. Has the Department of Education have a history of
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Jerry Cox Unverified 49:11
working with Planned Parenthood? I'm not aware of that. I don't know. I can't
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Representative Jim Dotson Unverified 49:17
answer that question. Representative Dodson, you're right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Cox, if you seem to have an objection with the Department of Education and the Department of Health being the entities identified here.
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Speaker 149 49:35
May I respond? That is not my objection.
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Jerry Cox Unverified 49:37
Those departments are not my objection. Okay. I'll be glad to answer a question, But, you know, I just wanted to let you know that those are not my objection.
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Representative Jim Dotson Unverified 49:55
So I guess the question would be who would be the one you would want to identify are these resources?
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Jerry Cox Unverified 50:08
Well, for one, and I appreciate that. That's a fair question. Not the Department of Education or Department of Health. Yeah, that's a fair question. I think it's appropriate for the Department of Education to be involved in helping with curricula. I don't have a problem with that. And if they want to use other resources, that would be up to the commissioner and others that run that department. What I'm concerned about is the fact that this bill lacks the sufficient safeguards to keep organizations that promote abortions and are going to teach things that your constituents would find deplorable. It leaves the door open to them. And why in the world we won't close that
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 50:59
door, I do not understand. Representative Evans, you recognize. Last
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Representative Brian S. Evans Unverified 51:03
question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So Representative Dotson actually asked the question I was going to ask. It appeared to me that my perception of your testimony is that this legislative group is not qualified to make the decisions of what should be taught in health education in the public school system. i felt you were saying that you were opposed to the department of education being involved in that and the department of health that none of the three of these bodies should be making the decision of what should be taught in public schools you may i would have asked that question however so you actually just clarified that in saying that you actually would not have a problem with the Department of Education making it. So my question then is this, if in, in Representative Birch's bill, if the Department of Health had not been mentioned here and the Department of Education was solely mentioned and this bill had passed, would you be, or in this bill was presented, would you be here opposing it? And if not, then what difference would it make if after the fact the Department of Education on their own, as Ms. Smith had stated, chose a representative from the Department of Health to be involved in the decision making. There were some discussion
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Jerry Cox Unverified 52:31
by other groups early on about being concerned about Department of Health, UAMS. I think they were mentioned early on in the discussions. Department of Education obviously has been a big part of the discussion. That was never a major concern to my organization. The major concern for my organization and the people that I represent is leaving the door open for entities that do abortions, do abortion referrals, counsel for abortions, leaving that door open. That's why I applaud Representative Lowry's amendment. If that amendment had been adopted, I don't believe I'd be sitting at the end of this table. But it wasn't. And I have to ask again, why? Yes, sir.
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 53:40
So let's leave Mr. Lowry's bill. His amendment is dead. That's not going to come back. So all right, let's go on. Any more questions? Seeing no more questions. Thank you,
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Speaker 152 53:50
sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, members of the committee. Representative Lowry, your question. Motion. Immediate consideration. Immediate consideration. We don't have a motion for the bill yet. Does that mean
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Speaker 27 54:00
I don't get to close? I
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 54:08
see no more testimony for or against. We have a motion. We have a
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Speaker 128 54:18
question. What's your question? It's either for Representative Birch or the Department of Education, whichever one can answer this. I'm still genuinely confused as to what exists today because I'm hearing we fear what could come in, but I'm also hearing you should see what's in there now. um so what exactly are the parameters that are used today and if there is some questionable material that i would consider questionable because to someone else i guess it wouldn't be it's all subjective how is that getting in there today and basically what happens if we don't pass this what continues to occur because i truly don't know now i'm thoroughly confused no i know yeah
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 54:58
please that let me just as she's coming up here because i was confused too and i is very concerned with what's out there and what do we need to direct. And that's why we looked at legislative requirements, the things that we've said are important to the legislature to be taught and kind of looked at that. And, again, the legislative intent addresses those specific things. But in response to what is out there with regard to that grant, Ms. Mott was absolutely correct. There was some scary stuff that was available in a grant, and it's one of the reasons why we went back and thank you, Jim Dodson, because I got with his expert and said, we don't need that kind of stuff out there and available. We want to make sure that somebody really does go through all that and just doesn't look at the title of the book and pull this thick book off the shelf, and then because they pay $500 for it, they're going to have to teach it, which is what happened in Pine Bluff because I've seen that book, and it was scary, and I heard about it, and it was scary, and I don't want that available. I want somebody who's able to vet it and look at all the things that are out there to help advise the schools. So that was part of the
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Speaker 144 56:01
questions when we sat down. Okay, so Stacey Smith, Department of Education. So we have a couple different things there I think we keep kind of talking about and overlapping. So one, we have Arkansas academic standards in which we kind of set this is the foundation of what all schools in the state of Arkansas should teach. The topics that are listed in this legislation can be found within our standards. all right um now they don't necessarily go into some of the detail such as naming diabetes or naming um obesity naming specific pieces that are in there but the the five overarching topics each have a standard within our current arkansas academic standards then a second piece to this is what we refer to as curriculum and curriculum is the materials and resources that are used at a local level to teach the standards. The curriculum that I had the chance to view with Representative Johnson and Representative Birch went way beyond the Arkansas standards. I would consider that lesson that we looked at that day not to be primary prevention, therefore would not be something that we would have would in a committee put on our list but that is curriculum okay local school districts still have the choice of what they teach and what resources they use at a local level this legislation when you ask what is it what's it going to change again from when i'm looking at it the department shall identify resources in those five areas districts when i look at it have the choice whether or not they're going to use those resources that the department has identified but districts still have the autonomy to determine any type of books materials resources that they use to teach the health standards did that clarify
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Speaker 170 58:11
everybody clear his mud on that we've already
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 58:16
heard that one too alright I think everybody has heard that we've listened to everybody now I will entertain a motion we can't have that motion I have a motion of due pass can we close just finally and if there's no more that will open it up for discussion can I close at some point you can close or you can close after discussion whichever way you want to do it I'll wait, thanks Representative Lowry that means you can't close if that posts I have a motion of immediate consideration all in favor say aye any opposed no Ayes have it. We have a motion of do pass. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. No. Ayes have it. Roll call.
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Speaker 88 59:25
Representative Meeks. No. Representative Deffenbaugh. Representative Deffenbaugh. Representative Eubanks. Yes. Representative Walker. Yes. Representative Lowry. No. Representative Dotson. Yes. Representative De La Rosa. Yes. Representative Hodges. Representative Hodges. Representative Beck. Representative Beck. Representative Sullivan.
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Speaker 92 59:51
No. Representative Speaks. No. Representative Gates. Representative Gates.
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Speaker 88 1:00:01
Representative Vaught? Yes. Representative Birch? Yes. Representative Allen? Representative Allen. Representative Kavanaugh? Yes. Representative Garner? Yes. Representative Evans? No. Representative Murdoch? Representative Murdoch. Representative Cozart? I hate that, but your bill has failed.
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Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified 1:00:31
It was close. I just want to express my thanks. I really appreciate the collaborative efforts on this. I really appreciate that people are talking about something that's really important in the state of Arkansas. We do have an
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Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified 1:00:44
ISP coming out that we will study this summer, and if you want to add into that, we're going to work hard on that to try to do something. I think this will be the last time I will hold you late in the daytime because we're only going to have one more meeting that we're planning on and that will be next Thursday morning, this coming Thursday morning, unless there's some cleanup that we've got to do on Thursday afternoon and we will try not to do that. So without further ado, you are adjourned.
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Agenda

Number Sponsor Subtitle

0:14

HB1019 Sorvillo TO REQUIRE VIDEO CAMERAS IN CERTAIN CLASSROOMS UPON REQUEST.

HB1715 Murdock CONCERNING ALTERNATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FUNDING FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS; AND TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING JUVENILE OFFENDER EDUCATION IN AN ALTERNATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT.

HB1390 Lowery TO AMEND THE DATE ON WHICH PUBLIC SCHOOLS BEGIN THE SCHOOL YEAR; AND TO ALLOW PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO TRANSITION FROM A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF DAYS REQUIRED DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR TO A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF HOURS REQUIRED DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR.

HB1726 Lowery TO CREATE THE SAFE AND SOUND SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.

HB1758 Richardson TO CREATE INTRASTATE DISTRICT EXCHANGE EXPERIENCES.

HB1862 A. Collins TO AMEND THE LAW TO ALLOW A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO BE RETURNED TO LOCAL CONTROL UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.

HB1629 J. Mayberry TO IMPROVE PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS' SAFETY, HEALTH, AND WELLNESS; AND TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE WITH RESPECT TO PUBLIC SCHOOL NURSES.

HB1890 Della Rosa TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH IN THE STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITATION THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF STUDENTS THAT A TEACHER IN GRADES FIVE THROUGH TWELVE (5-12) IS PERMITTED TO TEACH PER SCHOOL DAY.

HB1897 Burch CONCERNING ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ARKANSAS ACADEMIC CHALLENGE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.

HB1903 J. Mayberry TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO PRESENT THE STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITATION TO THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AT CERTAIN

TIMES.

HB1933 Gazaway TO AMEND THE ANTI-BULLYING POLICY; TO REQUIRE A SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER TO RECEIVE INFORMATION REGARDING SCHOOL SAFETY AND STUDENT DISCIPLINE; AND TO REQUIRE A BULLYING AND CYBER BULLYING PREVENTION PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.

SB603 A. Clark TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO PROVIDE CERTAIN LEVELS OF SUPPORT TO CERTAIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS BASED ON READING SCORES; AND TO AMEND THE PURPOSES ON WHICH NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH STATE CATEGORICAL FUNDS MAY BE SPENT.

SB535 B. Johnson TO REVISE THE METHOD BY WHICH THE ACADEMIC FACILITIES WEALTH INDEX IS CALCULATED.

SB522 J. English TO CREATE A COMPREHENSIVE STATEWIDE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM; TO COORDINATE VARIOUS WORKFORCE PROGRAMS; TO AMEND THE DUTIES OF THE CAREER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.

SB449 Irvin TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPOSITION OF THE SAFE SCHOOLS COMMITTEE.

HB1963 Gazaway CONCERNING THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOR MEDICAL SCIENCES PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE; TO CREATE A SCHOOL SAFETY AND CRISIS LINE; AND TO CREATE A SCHOOL SAFETY AND CRISIS LINE FUND.

HB1959 Perry TO AWARD TO A CHILD WHOSE PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN IS A LICENSED TEACHER IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT IN ARKANSAS A DISCOUNTED TUITION RATE TO A STATE-SUPPORTED INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN ARKANSAS.

SB526 A. Clark TO REQUIRE THE PRESENCE OF A FINANCIAL COUNSELOR UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS WHEN A STUDENT OF A STATE-SUPPORTED INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION SIGNS A DOCUMENT TO BORROW A STUDENT EDUCATION LOAN.

HB1832 Murdock TO PROVIDE FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS THAT CURRENTLY PAY A CERTAIN STARTING SALARY FOR TEACHERS.

AND TO ENSURE THE HEALTH CURRICULUM IN ARKANSAS PUBLIC SCHOOLS ADDRESSES CERTAIN HEALTH ISSUES FACING STUDENTS.

SB349 A. Clark TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO PROVIDE CERTAIN LEVELS OF SUPPORT TO CERTAIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS BASED ON READING SCORES; AND TO AMEND THE PURPOSES ON WHICH NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH STATE CATEGORICAL FUNDS MAY BE SPENT.

HB1015 J. Mayberry TO REQUIRE AN ELECTIVE JOURNALISM COURSE TO BE OFFERED EACH SCHOOL YEAR AT A PUBLIC SCHOOL THAT SERVES STUDENTS IN GRADES

HB1003 Gazaway TO AMEND THE ANTI BULLYING POLICY; TO REQUIRE ANTI BULLYING TRAINING; TO CREATE THE POSITIONS OF ANT BULLYING SPECIALIST AND

DISTRICT ANT BULLYING COORDINATOR; AND TO ESTABLISH A WEEK OF KINDNESS.

HB1007 Dotson TO ALLOW A SCHOOL DISTRICT TO ADOPT A POLICY TO ACCEPT OUT-OF- STATE TEACHING EXPERIENCE FOR PURPOSES OF DETERMINING SALARY.

HB1008 Dotson TO AMEND THE DEADLINE BY WHICH NEWLY ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS MUST OBTAIN REQUIRED AUDIT REPORT TRAINING AND INSTRUCTION.

HB1507 A. Davis TO ALLOW A TRANSFERRING STUDENT TO PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERSCHOLASTIC ACTIVITY THAT WAS NOT OFFERED BY HIS OR HER RESIDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT IMMEDIATELY UPON BEING APPROVED TO PARTICIPATE.

HB1355 A. Davis TO REPEAL THE FINANCING OF CERTAIN POSTSECONDARY OUT-OF-STATE MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS; AND TO CREATE THE MEDICAL STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT AND TUITION REIMBURSEMENT PROGRAM ACT.

HB1392 Dalby TO ALLOW FOR ALTERNATIVE COURSEWORK AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR AN INTERNSHIP OR EXTERNSHIP REQUIREMENT.

HB1397 Cozart TO EXPAND THE TYPE OF PLANNING TIME FOR WHICH A TEACHER MAY BE COMPENSATED IF THE TEACHER DOES NOT RECEIVE ALLOCATED PLANNING TIME.

HB1412 Eubanks TO PROHIBIT A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT FROM USING PUBLIC FUNDS TO PAY A TEACHER'S OR CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEE'S MEMBERSHIP DUES IN AN EDUCATIONAL PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION.

HB1458 Richey TO REQUIRE A LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT TO PARTNER WITH A LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY WITH JURISDICTION IN ORDER TO ENFORCE SCHOOL BUS SAFETY LAWS.

HB1511 Lowery TO REQUIRE THAT NON-PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE SUCCEED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.

HB1779 Penzo TO REPEAL OUTDATED PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE WITH RESPECT TO THE EXISTENCE OF CERTAIN POSTSECONDARY VOCATIONAL- TECHNICAL SCHOOLS, TECHNICAL INSTITUTES, AND COMPREHENSIVE LIFELONG LEARNING CENTERS.

Documents

No documents posted.

Speakers

Speaker 1
13 segments
Representative Bruce Cozart Chair Unverified
57 segments
Representative LeAnne Burch Unverified
40 segments
Representative Jim Dotson Unverified
7 segments
Speaker 27
5 segments
Representative Stephen Meeks Unverified
7 segments
Speaker 2
1 segment
Speaker 66
1 segment
Speaker 68
1 segment
Speaker 83
1 segment
Speaker 86
1 segment
Speaker 39
1 segment
Speaker 88
5 segments
Speaker 92
4 segments
Speaker 100
1 segment
Representative Frances Cavenaugh Unverified
5 segments
Representative Rick Beck Unverified
7 segments
Speaker 117
1 segment
Speaker 97
1 segment
Speaker 120
2 segments
Thelma Moten Unverified
24 segments
Chair Unverified
8 segments
Speaker 128
7 segments
Speaker 118
1 segment
Speaker 132
1 segment
Speaker 144
8 segments
Jerry Cox Unverified
19 segments
Speaker 149
2 segments
Representative Brian S. Evans Unverified
3 segments
Speaker 152
1 segment
Speaker 170
1 segment