Joint Budget Committee
Video
Transcript
6 documents
Bills discussed (5)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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HB1130
Act 1007
· 3 mentions in agenda, transcript
Matched: “…– Amends HB1109 – DFA Disbursing Officer 3. GL 21 – Amends HB1130 – Arkansas State Police E. Bills Re-Referred to Joint Budge…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ARKANSAS STATE POLICE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2019-2020 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1130 is now Act 1007 |
|
HB1106
Act 1005
· 2 mentions in agenda, transcript
Matched: “…et Committee D. Letters from the Governor 1. GL 19 – Amends HB1106 – DFA Revenue Services Division 2. GL 20 – Amends HB1109 –…”
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AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION - REVENUE SERVICES DIVISION APPROPRIATION FOR … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1106 is now Act 1005 |
|
HB1109
Act 1006
· 2 mentions in agenda, transcript
Matched: “…ds HB1106 – DFA Revenue Services Division 2. GL 20 – Amends HB1109 – DFA Disbursing Officer 3. GL 21 – Amends HB1130 – Arkansa…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION - DISBURSING OFFICER APPROPRIATION FOR THE … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1109 is now Act 1006 |
|
HB1930
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “to follow up on that, House Bill 1930, it looked like is it on the move? I thought it was still i…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION TO DELEGATE CERTAIN DEBT … | M. Gray | Died on House Calendar at Sine Die Adjournment |
|
HB1945
Act 869
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…enator T this letter just sets up the appropriation we have House Bill 1945 that is there for puts in law transfer from insurance to st…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION AND LICENSING; AND TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS … | Holcomb | Notification that HB1945 is now Act 869 |
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Thank you.
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Speaker 2
5:22
we don't have any reports or communications uh
are we doing the governor's letters first now let's do them first then we
Speaker 7
5:34
can pass them all okay mr anderson thank you mr chairman the governor's letters
Speaker 9
5:44
are in your black leak are you that's right yes sir it are in your black legal size book on your desk the first one when you open it up is governor's letter number 21 this is an amendment to house bill 1130 for the Department of State Police this deletes the wireless information network section
all right any questions I need a motion do pass as amended I need to
adopt the amendment first I have a motion a second any discussion all those in favor aye aye all right now still no questions then I have a motion do pass is amended on on what which bill house bill 1130 on house bill 1130 any discussion all those in favor aye opposed the ayes have it thank you mr.
Speaker 9
6:40
chairman governor's letter 20 we have a replacement page it's a
handout on your desk members it looks kind of just like the one that was in in the packet but it's just handed
Speaker 9
6:53
out it's on your desk go ahead mr. yes sir that is an amendment to house bill 1109 dfa dispersing officer this is to add a new appropriation for the arkansas agriculture marketing grants program for grants
to wineries all right are there any questions i have a motion on the amendment and a second any discussion all those in favor i opposed guys have it now we're ready for a due pass as amended i have a motion
second any discussion all those in favor aye opposed yeah let's have it yes
Speaker 9
7:27
sir mr. chairman we are now back in the black legal size binder on your desk on governor's letter number 19 you'll have to flip a couple pages in governor's letter 19 is an amendment to House Bill 1106 DFA Revenue Services division it adds 51 positions due to the expansion of casino gaming on the first page on the second
page 19-2 you'll see the associated appropriation for those positions at 4.4 million on 19-3 in the middle of the page there is an additional appropriation for 1 million in increased tax refunds due to the passage of tax cuts at the very bottom of the page there is also an additional 12 million dollar this is passed through appropriation for 9-1-11 i'm sorry 9-1-1 service charges and on 19-4 there's one more new appropriation this adds a new appropriation
for the bad debt collection pilot program for 10 million dollars for dfa to enter into an agreement with a contract to collect bad
debts. Mr. Baird, could you come up? Oh,
Speaker 16
8:58
you brought help? Y'all introduce yourself. Yes, Duncan Baird, Office of Budget.
Speaker 17
9:02
Carla Hogan, DFA, Chief of Staff. so this money
you're taking out of the insurance department trust fund don't we traditionally get 24 million every two years from them are we just lowering that number we're also taking a million and a half for um auto insurance verification right yeah so it um and
Speaker 20
9:22
so which the first one that you're talking about are you talking about two letters doesn't it take four million 19-2
19-2 at the bottom we're taking this
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
9:41
letter just sets up
Speaker 28
9:43
Senator T this letter just sets up the appropriation we have House Bill 1945 that is there for puts in law transfer from insurance to state central services to run this online verification Online verification's been set up, a process between state police,
department of insurance, and revenue. So revenue actually will do the online verification within our driver system. It'll help fund that yearly.
Hang on, hang on. I'm talking about the $4 million for casino gambling. on 19.2 Is that section 3
Speaker 20
10:32
that you're looking at in section 3? Yes sir
So that money is coming from the insurance department trust
Speaker 20
10:50
top of the next page I think there are I think what that section does is I think that's adding the appropriation for the various things in the letter so i think that's making the adjustments for the uh salaries plus the operating expenses for the
Speaker 16
11:03
various things so so it says funded by a transfer from the state insurance department trust fund
Speaker 28
11:08
yes it says in addition increase in expenses of 1.5 million is necessary for online uh online verification system so part of that increase is the 1.5 of that 26.7 to 29 only 1.5 of that is online insurance verification all right so my question is if this money is coming
from the insurance department trust fund and traditionally we get 24 million every two years out of that is this
Speaker 16
11:35
going to reduce that so it will reduce by the amount that we pull out of there it um
Speaker 20
11:43
you know the amount that is in the forecast varies by year simply because those you know the amount that swept from that trust fund varies by year so it ultimately would be something that dr shelnut would look at and project as he puts together his his annual and biannual forecasts and i think the thought behind it though is the you know that trust fund is used for the administrative expenses of the insurance department i think dfa has worked with the insurance department to basically stand up this system so it made sense to to use those funds to
offset the cost of the new insurance
Speaker 40
12:16
verification system i understand for the 1.5 but there's 4 million also for
Speaker 28
12:24
racing coming out of it isn't that right no sir just 1.5 of that of operating expenses increased 2.2 million 1.5 will come from the insurance department and the rest state central services which is a 1.5 is insurance verification programming 500,000 is revenue
new office rent increases throughout the state, mainly in Northwest Arkansas. We had a long-term lease in Fayetteville that they are going to tear down the building, and we had to move, and property is more expensive now in Northwest Arkansas. And then the $250,000 of that is other programming charges due to the law changes with the individual, corporate, highway, all of the different tax changes. We have to do programming costs. Okay. I don't like the way
it's written, but I I can live with it so we have some questions Senator Elliott you have a
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
13:18
question my question there I thought I'd lost much my time I'm on 19 for I hope that's what we're talking about where we have the bad debt collection pilot program then the ten million dollars how much this is this is to fund the pilot program and i think it's the appropriation for the yeah the appropriation yeah it is the appropriation we do have to vote um what all could you kind of can you kind of uh outline
to me exactly what we are funding what would if we what what
is it that we're funding exactly if you could
Speaker 47
14:00
just itemize just a little bit for me yeah
Speaker 48
14:03
tell us who you are you're recognized Walter Anger, Commissioner of Revenue. Pricewaterhouse, when they did the study of DF&A, suggested that we get a third party to handle some of our non-collectible debt, what we said is non-collectible. so when they collect the tax money that tax money is all um earmarked for different areas
education excellency all that so there's no we can't take a percentage of it and pay the company we have to pay them a fee so it'd be fee-based so
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
14:40
okay go ahead i'm sorry so the
Speaker 48
14:42
10 million dollars is set aside as fees to pay them for their services oh instead
Speaker 49
14:48
of taking the percentages of tax money that's already this is what they might
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
14:53
possibly their fees might possibly be yes ma'am this this
is the high side and do you know I'll pay on the remember I'll pan how
much indebtedness we have where they've been assessed but have not paid yet I hope it's a really really really big number I mean I hate to say I hope it is but when
Speaker 28
15:18
I see ten million dollars here for fees I think it better be everything is from 2008 older and about three
Speaker 54
15:25
hundred and twenty four million yeah million dollars that's not non-collectible
Speaker 55
15:28
and we've done everything that we can legally
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
15:31
do yeah is is all of that money then that we
collected is all of that is dedicated to some fund somewhere or is any of it going to be just just it's just goes into general revenue and dedicated to
Speaker 48
15:45
certain funds or some of it discretionary um most of the the taxes are dedicated to certain funds and they'll be once they're collected or gotten then they'll be distributed to those
Speaker 28
15:57
funds and i can't say which that's okay yeah the process is it'll everything that's collected from this company's will go into this bad debt collection pilot program fund we will also pay then pay
the company their fee and then it goes to the state treasurer to distribute as it normally would have been collected. Okay so my
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
16:18
final question so I know it's going to be distributed to these different entities but
they have in no way depended on factored this money into anything in their budget this would just be an effort of the fact budgeting determination. Okay thank
you. So do you know what percentage you pay in commission on debt collection? No sir
Speaker 48
16:41
Mr. Chairman 30 or 40% or something? We're going to put out an RFP and obviously take the best deal It can be anywhere from somewhere I don't think
Speaker 28
16:50
any I've seen as low as 6 but anywhere from 6 to 30% Alright Senator Bond you have a question? Just
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
17:00
to follow up on that, House Bill 1930, it looked like is it on the move? I thought it was still in
Speaker 48
17:12
failed by two votes but they were going to redo it so we obviously we
Speaker 49
17:17
still have to you know um put put the money in as if
Speaker 28
17:23
it's going to go through yeah if if it does not pass the appropriation will go unused into something that would go away in the physical session but we would need
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
17:31
it just in case i understand that has the state ever had a private collection agency out trying to
Speaker 68
17:39
collect debts before? Not that I'm aware of. I've heard stories from, I've been around 29 years, but
Speaker 48
17:44
before me that they did use at some point. I don't know
Speaker 73
17:47
the results. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Senator Bond.
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
17:58
Representative Walker, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My questions also go to the governor's letter dated April 2nd, G-19. I draw your attention to page 2, 19-2. You apparently have a number of regular salaries,
and I presume that the people who are doing debt collection are
Speaker 28
18:27
included in that. Is that a fair assumption? No, sir. They will be included in the contract we have after the RFP. It will be in the contract amount of that $10 million appropriation on page 4. It will be totally a contract. It will not be our
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
18:43
employees. So the employees that you now have doing debt collection are going to be terminated? No, sir.
Speaker 28
18:50
They will be doing our current collections from 2009
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
18:54
forward. I understand. So you're going to have, they're going to continue their jobs. Yes, sir. And in addition to that, you're going to establish a number of
Speaker 28
19:09
other jobs by this $324 million collection attempt. We will not be creating state positions.
Speaker 55
19:15
They'll be in a contract of, but they'll be collecting the debt from 2008 backwards. Who will? The collection agency.
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
19:24
Well, isn't there a statute of limitations problem with going back so many years to try to collect debts? Ten years. Listen, if you're going back beyond 2008, aren't ten years already passed?
Speaker 48
19:41
Go ahead. This is for tax periods, which the debt may become due after that particular time. Well, here's
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
19:47
my question. do you all is there anything that you all have other than something in your
head that explains what you're going to be doing and why you need to have this done by an RFP rather than by current employees anything is there any piece of paper and I
guess who's the director which one of you is director Larry Walthard is the
Speaker 92
20:13
director I'm the commissioner you're the commission have
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
20:15
you have you all created a work document to explain how this is gonna work no so so it's all in your heads right now right they've
Speaker 55
20:26
developed their RFP yeah you already have the RFP prepared yes is
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
20:29
there some way that I can see that before we get this on the house tomorrow and I asked that question because we were told in the house yesterday that the collection fees were going to be eight percent and one of you said they're gonna be anything they want you you the people want up to 30% now what is right now the RFP has to
Speaker 48
20:52
be sent out and then people will bid on it well yesterday in the
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
20:57
house the response of the bill said is going to be limited to
Speaker 55
21:03
8% I stand corrected by anybody here it could
Speaker 43
21:08
be I think there was a sliding scale Senator Walker that wouldn't be the first time a story been told well
Speaker 28
21:14
I'm trying to make sure yes the the current the law for the inch for the collection is that is out there it is a sliding scale that starts at eight percent and goes
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
21:24
down it starts at eight percent ago well how does
Speaker 28
21:27
it get up to 30 percent when I was answering Senator T's question I'm saying if you look out
there the market of collection agency is is six to thirty percent of the collections is what they normally get well what would it be here a with the law is written in the the bill that's out there eight for starts at eight percent and as a sliding
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
21:49
scale down as a not up sir no all right okay now is there any particular reason these employees could not be state employees other than you wanted
Speaker 67
21:59
to be private well the our collections department which
Speaker 48
22:02
employees 30 30 to 35 35 employees are working on current debt which is is over $400 million of current debt. My only question is,
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
22:16
if you have a number of employees who have been in collections for years, right? Correct. And they have been pretty successful, haven't they, based on their limitations? Yes, I have. Is there any particular reason that group could not be slightly expanded
to perform this rather than giving away approximately $3.5 to $4 million? I, these are, this
Speaker 67
22:41
is debt that our collections department has tried to collect on
Speaker 48
22:46
every way they can and have not succeeded and been put as non-active. That is what we would be giving to the collection company. So finally, if I may,
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
22:58
so you're only going to try to have this group on a pilot
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
23:06
Shoot up to the mic, Senator Walker. Go up to the Walker. You're going to be dealing with inactive bed decks that are highly uncollectible, likely uncollectible. That's correct. For one year. For one year. Is it any particular part of the state,
or is it all over? It's all over.
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
23:26
Statewide. Representative Walker, are you done? Yes. Thank you, sir. Senator Hickey? Yes. just just to kind of bring this in perspective though this whatever this agency is that does
win win the bid if they don't collect a penny they don't get a penny is that correct they're not they don't have any fixed costs that will be that is correct okay yes so i mean basically this is just an attempt to debts that have been out there and been on our books for years and years to make a last-ditch effort to collect those, but in the event that these people don't collect any, they will not get any funds whatsoever. Correct. Right. I think this is a great program to try to do.
Thank you. Thank you, Senator Hickey. The
only bad thing was that was you made other people light up. Representative De La Rosta, I missed you. Hang
Speaker 118
24:36
on a minute. I'll reiterate a question that I had on the House floor yesterday to you guys.
My biggest concern with this is, and maybe the Attorney General's office if they happen to be anywhere around could speak to it, but my understanding is with debt collection one of the things that we end up fighting is unscrupulous debt collectors. They'll call people and say they're speaking on behalf of a credit card company or they're speaking on behalf of the state or they're speaking on behalf of some legitimate entity who could truly have debt collection but might not be using that particular service. Now, in this particular bill, and you
guys are trying to fund here, it does say that whoever it is we hire can't do that. They can't harass they can't do any of those things but that's not my concern my concern is if we lend essentially the the seal of the state of Arkansas to one debt collection company what's to stop the other ones from using that fact to falsely collect because right now we can tell everybody no the state of Arkansas does not utilize debt collectors do not give your social security number to anybody
do not give any this information the state of Arkansas does not participate in things like that so we can just blanket refute all of that and that's a statement that we can make to everybody to keep them safe but if we legitimize one company how do people out there know which one's legitimately doing it and which one isn't so that's that's my biggest concern with this and also I think DF&A does a really good job of debt collection I'd much rather see us add positions to our own current team than I than I would farm it out but do you have any
Speaker 58
26:17
any answer for that concern uh representative del rosa
Speaker 48
26:23
i would i wouldn't i couldn't really answer with whether somebody would unscrupulously do it but i i would think that um the the debt collector that we would have would have information pertaining to that debt that would be um when they call the person or contact them that would be unique to that particular person whether, you know, it'd be an individual with a, you know, have their social security number,
their last four digits of their social security number, an account number for a sales tax, some identifying information that they would give to that, to that person that would make them realize that they, they are legitimate debt collector. Yeah, I just, I still just
Speaker 118
27:06
have such a concern with it because with, with tax collection, there's a criminal penalty to it so I mean if you think about those that that falsely collect on behalf of credit card agencies well that's just civil that's
just monetary they can say you know we can take take money but if you were to be able to scare people with tax taxes that people would fear criminal liability and I just I see this as being something that could be so misused
Speaker 120
27:33
by others not necessarily the company we hire but I just want to make that point I understand your concern. Thank
you, Representative De La Rosa. Representative Lundstrom, you're recognized. Thank you. I
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
27:46
understand you and I have been talking about mail and that type of thing,
that we currently spend $9 million on mail and trying to chase people down. Is there a way we could probably perfect that process? And some of these people may have moved or dead or collections. You know, we're talking 10 years ago. Is there maybe a way we could take that $9 million and shrink it down to
Speaker 58
28:10
if they're even existing anymore well that is one of the projects that we
Speaker 48
28:15
are endeavoring on now is to try to get a better matching of addresses unfortunately a lot of
people move and don't they don't we're the last people to know even though they can go online and change their address for any of their accounts they forget that and we send mail and try to forward we have the latest programs from the post office that forward mail everything and you know we still end up with barrels
of mail that come back thank you thank you representative bond you're back
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
28:52
just briefly does the irs contract for debt collection with private contractors
Speaker 48
28:56
uh they did do a pilot program not too long ago is that successful not very successful Thank
Speaker 72
29:05
you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Representative Bond. Representative Walker, are you
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
29:16
back? Is it a brief one? You're recognized. I'm concerned because in many cases, many of these debts have already been adjudicated and they're still on the books. And, for instance, when people die,
they have to have estate proceedings. And all creditors, including the state, must make timely claims, and then there are many persons of bankrupt. I mean, have you all made an assessment of, other than to say we got $400 million on the book, have you made an assessment of whether or not these debts are something that you can really legitimately can pursue over such a period of time? Is there any assessment you've made of these debts?
Speaker 138
30:01
Wait, when you say assessment. Here's my point. If you know that many
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
30:07
of these debts are barred because of estate proceedings, because of IRS, or because of bankruptcy or whatever, then if you haven't made that assessment, you cannot determine, can
you, what the legitimate non-payment has been that is still more than 10 years that are still capable of being collected.
Speaker 48
30:32
Representative Walker, we have our legal department that makes claims in bankruptcy and estate cases. That is all a separate debt that is illegal. Any debt that were a lien has been filed or been released, we do not pursue. If the lien has expired, we do not pursue that debt. all right well i think this is folly but you all
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
31:01
do what you wish as you usually do thank you
represent walker all right duncan could you answer try to answer the question one more time if this is
reducing the 24 million we have in in the coming budget the forecast includes 24 million to be transferred from the insurance trust fund are we going to get to 24 million
plus the 1.5 me and it's my question.
Speaker 16
31:26
So it will it will impact the amount that swept to general revenue is my assumption there because it will. That was my assumption too. Is that in the forecast? I can check with Dr. Sheldon and see. Let me let me
Speaker 20
31:41
just check with him and kind of see where they
Speaker 47
31:44
have that. I appreciate it. Yes. Thank you. All right guys I think we're done with y'all. You want
Speaker 48
31:51
to talk again? I would just mention on the insurance thing that with the insurance verification there will be more people you're thinking it'll be more tickets but that money don't go to us not more tickets more compliance which will contribute to the money i
appreciate it thank you guys all right members i have a motion to adopt the amendment what and a second
any discussion all those in favor i oppose the eyes have it so now we're ready to pass that bill light
Speaker 151
32:29
it up i can't hear you oh i'm sorry so
we'll vote it again um all those opposed no okay vote passes um now members
we don't members i don't think we have a quorum we'll just skip it um so uh we'll come back
Speaker 152
32:52
to this okay you want to go top time all right all right
Speaker 147
32:59
we'll just move on from that and we'll we'll leave it hanging we'll come back to that while we work
on that is that finished governor letter or at least we're done for now so we'll move to uh I couldn't
Speaker 2
33:19
hear you senator representative I didn't want to hear you
let me change uh let me change that thank you
Speaker 127
33:27
so now where are we mr. Anderson you recognize thank
Speaker 9
33:32
you mr. chairman we are in the senate packet senate bills with s in the upper right corner on page four it's Senate bill 93 higher education department senator hammer do you want to go down front
a hold on this bill we've asked him to let it go he's gonna tell us what he's doing. This is Senate Bill 93. You're recognized. Thank you Mr.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
34:15
Chair. I come before you because I have a hold on higher ed budget and I want to tell you why I have the hold on there. I've run a couple bills this session. One is Senate Bill 231 and then I filed an amended
Bill 5-something. I don't have that in front of me. These bills address the issue of higher ed foundations and their practice of utilizing the position to work both sides by hiding behind the shield of the privileges of being a foundation. In that, presented in committee a very blatant current real-time example of how one of the higher institutions allowed their name to be used for solicitation of funds that was
going to be sent directly to an association. I will tell the members I was not able to get that bill out of committee, but here was the response, and I've conversed twice with a member of higher ed. The comments that came back were that the individual with higher ed had several conversations with institutions of ed at higher learning. of them had changed their position under my bills and she did not they did not believe that any of them referring to the hired institutions wanted to go
willingly some believed that the bills were going to interim study so mr. chair I'm before you today because we've been advised that the best way to address things is through policy changes utilize that at all expense and then we exercise the power of the purse I'm a senator with a four-year term and I'll be back the next time around but what I wanted to share with the committee as to why I placed the hold on there was a little bit of the arrogant attitude of the instations of higher learning when it comes to those foundations there was an attempt made this time to try to get them to be more transparent with what
they do as far as interfering or lobbying on the part of policymaking down here and then hiding behind their shield but I do not believe that at this stage the game members ought to be pitted against members such as me asking you override my vote or my my request so i'm respectfully pulling it down this time and we'll exercise policy but full disclosure when i come back in two years uh it will be the power of the purse that will be exercised in this you just give them heck brother you want dr
Speaker 46
36:30
markham to address it are you content she can if she wants
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
36:33
to i did not have anything to add i did not call her by
name i just want the committee to know that all right thank you and otherwise i'm going to pull the hold for now that's my explanation of why i had the hold on the bill mr chairman we appreciate it. Thank you. So hang on a minute, members. All right,
Speaker 148
37:02
members, so that's Senate Bill 93. Is it ready
to pass? Yes, sir. All right, so thank you, Senator Hammer. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We appreciate you letting go. So, members, I need a motion to do pass on Senate Bill 93 in a second. All those,
any discussion all those in favor aye opposed the ayes have it thanks again senator hammer all right so members you want to go back to governor's letter 19 we're back to governor's letter 19 i think the agreement for now is to pull the debt collection out of the letter and we'll pass the rest of it i think everybody's kind of agreed to that is there any
motion so so the motion now is to adopt governor's letter the amendment to governor's letter 19 without section four
without the last section i think that's section four i'll make a motion i have a motion senator
Speaker 162
37:59
mallet thank you mr chairman i was i was actually punched this when senator hammer was down there but i'll make a comment on this one as well you know i have attention issues i i was i was going to ask Senator Hammer, I did not know what institution he's talking about, but the higher ed department doesn't have control over the various institutions. So I just didn't know if that was the proper place for his hold to accomplish what he was trying to do. Now
I'll comment on this one. I understand where we are and that you probably got to pull it out to get it passed. But the fact of the matter is with the debts this old, and I'm going to join Senator Hickey. I work at a bank. When they're that old, we've charged them off we've forgotten about them it's not worth our time if anybody else could collect any of that money and us pay them a percentage fee we'd be better off i wish we could leave it in and pass it but we'll do what we have to do
all right members we we can come back monday and do
this again if that's if we if we need to do that we can we can do one for that uh so if you will
Speaker 154
38:59
uh we'll try to do that senator bond you
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
39:03
have comments just that you you said section four i I think it's, what is that, Section 20, page 4 of the letter, is the Bad Deck Collection Pilot Program appropriation. That's what you're striking.
Mr. Anderson, you want to say it
Speaker 9
39:16
right for me? The way the letter is drafted, they don't have a section reference in there, so they just have two Xs there, but it is on page 19-4,
the appropriation title, Bad Deck Collection Pilot Program, that is being pulled from this letter for a vote. Okay. Thank you, Senator Byron.
All right, members. are we ready now so the vote is on the amendment to take that out any discussion i have a motion second all those in favor aye opposed yeah let's have it all right now we can vote on governor's letter 19 house bill house bill 1106 hang on a minute all right do pass as amended i need a motion
a second any discussion all those in favor aye opposed
Speaker 9
40:16
the ayes have it yes thank you mr. chairman that takes us back to the Senate packet we have do pass Senate bill 93 on page 4 that goes to page 9 Mr. Chairman, on page 9 is Senate Bill 122, that's UAMS.
Speaker 151
40:34
Senator Rayford, you want to go down front? That would be helpful. So Senator
Speaker 12
40:48
Rayford has a hold on this bill, so he's going to talk to us about it like Senator Hammer did. all right mr.
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
41:04
chairman did i just and by the way for purposes of my own information did
you just state that we were going to come back on monday we will come back on monday and approve the revenue stabilization bill i'm in uh if nothing else okay but i did have a hold on this this has not been
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
41:22
answered to my satisfaction uh if you want to wait and handle this on monday we can or i can address it now i'd like to get it out i'll hold it
Speaker 72
41:30
on the floor to monday give you a little more time to work on it we'll hold
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
41:36
it on the floor i'll just tell you what my objection is and i had actually hoped that this would be worked out without coming to this point
frankly but i guess as good a time as any to address it for the membership uh you know we We work on various issues and actually one of the employees at UAMS had made a statement that actually ended up being published that I took objection to and was basically hoping that they might find it within themselves to absolutely be responsible for it and pull that back. I didn't know at first it was a UAS employee, but I noticed it was referenced as a doctor.
And I had been offended myself about actions that had occurred back in the fall of this year that had to do with Representative Ilhan Omar. I've been very supportive of the Jewish community. I've been very involved not only here, but nationally with AIPAC and with the Christians United for Israel. And I took exception to some of the anti-Jewish remarks that have been made. I was shocked to see a Huffington Post article that quoted a UAMS employee that said that Arkansas is a very conservative state,
and it's always been that way in many realms, but this level of intolerance and overt prejudice towards minorities and disenfranchised populations is alarming. That was made in reference to me, and I simply, when I found that out, had asked that they apologize for that statement and pull that back. We're all here representing people and we work with employees, we work with agencies, and we try to do that in a respectful manner. Senator Elliott and I have had many conversations. She's here this morning.
We disagree on many different issues, but we always maintain a level of respect. And I simply think that that should be expected of people that are paid with taxpayer funds, that they also offer that same respect. and so I put a hold on that in hopes that I would have some resolution to that what I'm advised of by dr. Patterson is this particular employee has no willingness whatsoever to pull back their comments and rather to stay pat on that and so I guess for the purposes of this body this morning I will say this
since that was not done in a way that wouldn't even have to be aired openly in a committee I just want to make sure that folks know that you can have your opinions but there is a responsibility that we do things respectfully and when people make statements to imply that someone is racist it's over the line and I've had members here on different parties and and we also have different colors of skin but we managed to get along and I'm disappointed that you have anybody that is paid with taxpayer funds that would absolutely
refused that. And this, by the way, was quoted in an article in which CARE, which is the Council of America Islamic Relations, which just had resolutions passed by both the House and the Senate because of their ties to Hamas and terrorist-linked activities. I'm actually, I'm pretty offended by the whole matter, to be honest with you. And so I had hoped that we could get a matter of resolution to that, Senator Teague. And I have never put a hold on anything for this reason before but there's got to be some point where we all hold each
other accountable for public discourse in the way that we handle things and so I guess just as Senator hammer had said this is the reason I put that hold and it appears that the leadership at UAMS does not have the ability to persuade one of their employees that they should go with the better angels and be more respectful I appreciate
Speaker 21
45:24
that and you're going to release House Bill 1202 by sciences and I'll hold both of them on the floor till Monday
Speaker 72
45:31
thank you yes sir thank you light up he'll come talk all right good enough all right so we are on
Senate bill 122 members I have no more questions I have a motion second all those in any discussion on the motion all those in favor aye opposed the ayes have it all right and now let's go ahead and do House Bill 1200 while we're here just since
Speaker 9
46:01
we're on the same subject yes sir that House Bill 1200 is UAMS this is their Biosciences Institute appropriation
all right members any questions I have a motion and a second any discussion all those in favor aye
aye all those opposed no eyes have it so sooner right but thank you all right go back to where
Speaker 7
46:23
we were thank you mr. chairman we are in the Senate packet and we're now
Speaker 9
46:29
on page 11 Senate bill 136 the Education Department public school fund would you say it again I was talking yes sir page 11 Senate bill 136 education department public school fund is ready all right members education
department public school funding any questions I have a motion a second any discussion all those in
Speaker 7
46:54
favor aye opposed the ayes have it thank you mr. chairman that takes us to the house
Speaker 151
47:02
packet we're in the house package now H
Speaker 9
47:07
on the top. The first one is on page 7. This is House Bill 1156 DHS
Director's Office. DHS Director's Office. Any questions? I have a motion and a second.
Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The
Speaker 9
47:26
ayes have it. Mr. Chairman that takes us to page 8. We have already do passed House Bill 1200. House Bill 1210 Arkansas Heritage Arkansas Heritage I
have a motion any questions first I have a motion this second any discussion all those in favor I opposed the eyes have it mr.
Speaker 9
47:46
chairman the last bill we have in the house packet is the very last bill
listed House Bill 1905 this is the class and comp
bill class and comp bill hospital 1905 any questions I have a motion and a second any discussion all All those in favor, aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Members, we're planning to meet at 10.30 Monday morning, 10.30 Monday morning. It would be important you be here when you get ready. I think we'll try to
move revenue stabilization out. And as always, we appreciate your work, appreciate you showing up. Thank you.
Speaker 151
48:32
You're on your desk Friday, Representative Dodson. Thank you. All right, members. We're adjourned. Thank you.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Reports and Communications
C. Consideration of Bills Referred to Joint Budget Committee
D. Letters from the Governor
F. Other Business
G. Adjournment
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — JOINT BUDGET COMMITTEE, Apr 4, 2019 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
| GL 19 - DFA -Revenue Services | Exhibit | 4 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| GL 20 - DFA-Disbursing Officer | Exhibit | 2 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| GL 21 - Dept of State Police | Exhibit | 1 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| House CaptionsList 04.04.19 | Exhibit | 11 | Official source ↗ |
| Senate CaptionsList 04.04.19 | Exhibit | 13 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Speaker 1
Speaker 2
Senator Larry Teague Chair
Unverified
Speaker 7
Speaker 9
Speaker 16
Speaker 17
Speaker 20
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
Speaker 28
Speaker 33
Speaker 40
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
Speaker 47
Speaker 48
Speaker 49
Speaker 54
Speaker 55
Senator Will Bond
Unverified
Speaker 67
Speaker 68
Speaker 73
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
Speaker 92
Speaker 43
Speaker 80
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
Speaker 118
Speaker 58
Speaker 120
Speaker 129
Speaker 72
Speaker 138
Speaker 151
Speaker 152
Speaker 147
Speaker 127
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
Speaker 46
Speaker 148
Speaker 162
Speaker 154
Speaker 12
Senator Jason Rapert
Unverified
Speaker 21