Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC)

Members if you would take your seats were getting ready to start the meeting. I just have a few housekeeping statements to make your of first of all if you need a mask in your member we have some extra ones appear. And then members who do not have a microphone. Please raise your hand and we will acknowledge you and you can just kinda shout out your question. All right and then ladies and gentleman the pharmacy says so C. H. and provide this provided us with his hand sanitizer. And and you'll see some of them placed around the the room and this is very hard to get it so we're very appreciative so thank you very much of pharmacy association that's kinda give them a hand because that was very hard hard to do. And then I want to tell you something that is important to our up process today if you would listen very intently of director Mike precedence white is having surgery today and he needs to leave at ten o'clock. So I would ask that if you have a question that you want to direct to him that you want an answer from him if you would make those questions first that he will have someone here to answer questions in his place but for those of you who want him to answer directly please do that question or couple questions and let's go on and let everybody have a chance to asking questions before he has to leave but we're sorry to hear that and we hope the director pressed in that you will give us a report. A later on thank you so much alright ladies and gentleman the chair sees a quorum we're starting our meeting. And I need a motion of a. To suspend the rules to allow the meeting with less than six days notice to all right I have a motion the second all those in favor say aye. All those opposed motion passes. All right of the check like I said the chair sees a quota quorum so we're going on of secretary Mike president if you would come and anyone you would like to bring with you and a state your name and and your agency for the record please both that the. Thank you senator Weston secretary of commerce executive director of the Arkansas economic development commission. Jim Hudson general counsel for the Arkansas economic development commission all right in a committee as you know that this this discussion will be about the Arkansas ready for business grant program and secretary you are a knowledge to start your presentation madam chair thank you into the members the legislature I thank you for taking the time this morning to to meet with us to learn a little bit more about the program and I I truly appreciate all the taking the first I do have to get my wife to to the hospital this morning in and be there with her for the rest the day hopefully everything goes smoothly without so now obviously my mind is a bit on that but I'll do my best to work through all these questions and try to answer everything we possibly can and Jim is here to correct me when I'm wrong and then answer everything that if you guys still have questions if I do have to go so I appreciate indulging me this morning we have the schedule before this program was even a thought up so. Something that we can do and obviously with this situation can reschedule so I do want to give a little bit on the Arkansas ready for business program I do want to real quickly I think it's important to point out the couple the programs that we have been working on since this pandemic kit and what we've been able to do is is the department of commerce and is the economic development commission I know you hear from director siris Childress Dr chill as a talk a little bit more about department work for services which is in the department of commerce and all the worker and her team are doing to work on unemployment insurance in the new pandemic unemployment assistance program that is now up and running. US census pandemic kid a speed has been of the essence we want to make sure that we are getting that help in relief that we can to to individuals and to businesses as I told our team on this it our our shift in our focus has completely changed you know we're not able to to go out and recruit companies because we're we're not leaving the state we're not able to travel we can still do it some on a limited basis with technology but our focus is is trying to help those businesses here in Arkansas how they survive and how they get the assistance they need how we get people assistance they need to keep funds flowing through our economy. Into our teams credit I'm very proud of them how quickly that they've they've mobilized in moved couple the highlights I do want to point out through our community development block grants we able to set aside us amount of ten million dollars that we made available to twenty seven rule hospitals throughout the state including an additional five hundred thousand to you a mass to support their digital house health and innovation to expand telemedicine to rule areas in the state. We set up the quick action loan to business program this was thanks to six million dollars from the governor's a quick action closing fund he set aside for it three million dollars from the attorney general's office that you put into it and of that nine million dollars we're able to allocate eight point one million dollars two companies and the form of of low interest or no interest loans to businesses no payments for twelve months this is to to help businesses we're trying to get a PPP loan we knew that we could get the funds out a lot faster than the federal government could us we took it upon ourselves to try to help these businesses to bridge that gap the requirement we asked them to to maintain was a job requirement hang on to the job that you have retain those jobs. In the first round of loans we did we did four point nine million to two hundred forty six companies the represented two thousand four hundred seventy six full time jobs in one thousand three part time jobs that would be able to read be retained our second round that we just announced earlier this week or approved this week two point two four million dollars to two hundred thirty two companies retaining about two thousand full time and nine hundred part time jobs. So teams in busy we were looking for opportunities to how we continue to support businesses the governor has called together the economic recovery task force which I'm a member of and share the commerce committee we hear a lot of ideas and feedback from industry from businesses on what the needs are and as we met and talked about what could be beneficial to business the idea kept coming up about how we can support businesses who are re opening we're struggling to stay open who now have to meet certain health guidelines and requirements and this where we began to conversations about what can we do when the cares acts funds came out in the treasury approved it our team started thinking quickly what can we do to met set up a program that's going to support and assist businesses that's why we came up with the Arkansas ready for business program program is developed to assist businesses an organization providing great by providing grants for expenses with insuring the health and safety of employees and patrons. So. As I said we like to move a little quicker sometimes move move load it too fast and we decided we wanted to move as quickly as we could with this the governor announced it on a Wednesday April twenty ninth at his press briefing I will not indicate a lot of people watch that press briefing from all over the that the state lot of people all over the country are watching it as well that was about one thirty on that that afternoon I know there was uh concerns and and accusations out there that there was insider information that people were tipped off that this was coming that's not the case I can get up here and and and gladly share that information with you is the so the applications that came in over twenty three hundred there's no way that we could notify that many people as I said a lot of people paid attention to the press conference that day were was announced at five o'clock we will go live with this website what we did in between the time of that one thirty press conference in the five o'clock lunch was a a call with our economic development partners around the state so I usually host a monthly call with economic development practitioners and partners is or something I started when I first came to the state I heard communication was an issue from our local economic development organizations and that they wanted to know the information is coming out a little rock so I try to meet with them monthly to share any information was coming out I knew this would be a program that they get a lot of questions about how do we apply where do we go where the business is that they work within their communities so this represents every community every county in the state and our primary point of contact for economic development in those counties we have that call this was after it was announced publicly five o'clock we went live where there was a miscommunication and and and I'll take full responsibility on this that we started putting up the applications before the LC had a chance to review and we apologize for that again just a miscommunication we weren't planning on approving anything just on it to start to take apple. Asians to make sure we knew what was coming in one we were under the impression the LC was getting ready to to meet this was going to move forward will not take that for granted ever again going forward so and thank you guys know where things ended up from there and we decided to bring the site down after one hour's time we had over twenty three hundred applications resulting in over about thirty six million dollars and request that came in far exceeded anything that we thought we were looking based on our numbers for what we did for our loan program is zero interest loan and kind of the temperature that we saw with the flow of deal flow coming in there so as the decision was made to pas that get together with the legislature make sure we had legit legislative council's approval on the appropriation to move forward after the cares a steering committee had met and approve those the recommendation to come to a LC one we went live again with the website on this Tuesday I guess that was made the fifth I believe and Wednesday may six from eight AM to six PM. In that time we receive twelve thousand two hundred and thirty three applications for a total request of one hundred and forty seven point seven million dollars and as you guys are aware as we we're seeking the approval of the LC for that appropriation we made changes that you guys wanted to see. We included in there that the seventy five percent of the total funds would be for small businesses of fifty employees or fewer there be fifteen set at fifteen percent set aside of the applications for women and minority owned businesses and I can come back to you today and report that of these applications we had ninety four point five percent of the applications we're from companies with fifty employees or four or fewer. US seventy percent of the applications came from companies with ten employees or fewer on the women minority disabled veteran owned businesses this accounted for five thousand six hundred sixty four applications forty six percent of all the applications and roughly forty point six million dollars of the funds requested which is twenty seven percent another some questions between funds verses applicants both of those far exceed the fifteen percent that we had discussed and talked about so I'm happy to to report on that to me this shows the need is there we hit our sweet spot I think in the small businesses with ninety four almost ninety five percent of the request coming for the small side of the businesses I think this this is a testament to the people of Arkansas on the businesses of Arkansas that they're ready to get back to work they want to do so in a safe secure manner in the fact that we've been able to make cares funds available to them to allow them to do it they're gonna jump in to be able to do to this those twelve thousand two hundred and thirty three applications they represent a work force of one hundred and ninety six thousand full time employees little over fifty thousand part time employees and calculate that up that's about twenty five percent of the entire workforce in the state of Arkansas who's going to benefit from these funds coming through tell protect those employees and also to help to protect those customers that are coming into these businesses. Very proud of the team and how quickly we reacted we wanted to make sure that all the calls that came in were answered we could handle all the questions we set up a makeshift call center within the economic development commission obviously we're still trying to practice social distancing keeping folks from telecommuting with a call a lot of folks into just come and work the phones Annette two days time we had over a thousand phone calls came in they were handled by about ten people done a continuous loop on this call center so everyone who called and had a question about this application process spoke to a live person we even at the end of the day had a phones forwarded to cell phones of our executive vice president or project leads so even after hours we were still answering phone calls to make sure that was done and just to make sure that we can handle a curve ball that through is thrown at us about one thirty on Wednesday afternoon we have the transformer blow up in our building and all of our power went out so we were in the explosion was so strong to actually knocked out our back up generator so we are operating on back battery of batteries on the phones and just security lighting in light from the windows that were coming in we will to get all the calls forwarded to our cell phones before the fifth phones actually went down in fortune about four o'clock that afternoon the power was restored and we're able to make it through there were no glitches in terms of the system because our our servers are our house that data center west so that was not an issue sales force is the platform that we use to intake the application so none of the the computer glitch is no one who was actually applying sunny issues but we want to make sure that we were still there answering phone calls and trying to help people with their questions I could go on a lot about the program obviously I have Pourtant meeting I'll be out for testifying in from my wife later would be much more painful than anything I could enter today if I missed her appointment so let me pause in just madam chairman hello turn it back over to you and we're happy to answer any and all questions all right thank you so much I am calling on senator DISMANG and then represented blessed Lundstrum will be next yeah just a minute all right. Thank you madam chair and thanks for the testimony in a review I guess my question would be what is your recommend amount recommended amount for funding of this program. The Kerr says steering committee approved a hundred million dollar recorder made their hundred million dollar request I guess last Friday and that was what we thought would would satisfy the demands obviously we saw that far exceed that number we would be happy to get that number two hundred million obviously if we get just a hundred million dollars we're gonna have to take a hair cut across the board of to make sure that everyone who applied receive some funds so we wait on the guidance of the A. L. C. to to tell us what that number is going to be so we can move forward yeah and so the way the way that that works is actually there to be a letter submitted to us for approval or disapproval we we are not in any position actually said amounts and so just to be clear ADC's position is that they will find that we should fund a hundred million. Into the program not the hundred forty seven million which has been requested. Is that correct opposition going in is that we support what the the care steering committee. Requested originally for a hundred million dollars we have not had the discussion whether that will go over we're waiting to see if the the ALC was willing to fund that hundred million initial hundred million dollar request now that we have the new information front of us that'll be discussion that will have to to have and get back to you well but I mean that that's appointed today's meeting so. Your comfortable at this point with the hundred million but you will not be making a recommendation to the cares committee to fund the full amount is that is that what I'm hearing we want to we want to know what appropriation that we're going to have going for to be able to to fund the request so we know how to adjust appropriately alright so then going back to we've we're settled at a hundred million Which I'm I'm not sure if that's what you're saying or not but if we do stick to the hundred million obviously we've had you know request in excess of that what what is the proposal on how those into these will be funded then With not having the full amount needed. We would have to take a proportionate hair cut to the companies so there would be no prioritization based on need it would just be a pro rat a hair cut so if they were thought they are applying for you know that a thousand dollars per employee to be a seven hundred fifty dollars per employer six hundred and write whatever we have to work in an office at a hundred forty seven million will have to to go through in there might be some some in there that were able to for whatever reason to that that are going to qualify so that number could is pro rated not based on privatization in there is no consideration that will be made as far as actual need for the entity. We we want to make sure that as as we discussed with the cares committee and the recommendation was made today I'll see that everyone who can't comes in and qualifies we're gonna be able to to fund if if I may say excuse me your you're recognized go ahead Mister Henson you know I think we would have to still be faithful to the commitment we made the LC with respect to seven five percent be allocated to businesses with fifty or fewer employees as well as the minority women owned business and disabled veteran business as well so that would be a prior authorization that we would bring to bear first so the hair cut would be different if you're in the fifty year below category be less of a hair cut if you're in the larger business category be more significant hair cut. Okay thank you. All right Representative Lundstrum you're recognized. Thank you madam chair I'm over here sorry. There's been a lot of confusion about the fifteen million dollars and how quickly that went out and another been quite a few people that have reached out and ask for the list of the time stamp and date and that information so that we can clarify and. Kind of clean up that. Why is that information not been released. A we are working on putting together the list of everything that came in obviously when we opened back up we took in all application so included in that twelve thousand number that are reported to few minutes ago includes those twenty three hundred they came in last Wednesday on that initial request so will have a list of the time stamp by industry once we actually approve the request and are able to identify the businesses I will be able to share that information okay There's been a lot of discussion of why that couldn't be released right now it's it seems like it's something that's pretty straightforward. They applied. It's not compares not competitive is not pro it's not private information. It's simply a grant why would we not go ahead release that since there seems to be some confusion. By Representative You wanna company submits information to the eighty SI that information is private as long as it's just submitted information for us to consider the business circumstances to consider them for a potential public benefit we're in complete heated agreement that is soon as a company receives public funds the identity that company must be made public so that you and and others can examine well that that's an appropriate public's expenditure. I think what the sectors to living to what we're gonna try to do like right now is to be worked on today giving you a list that will show you and identifying number for every single applicant and you have a time stamp for every single applicant also tell you the requested amount for every single applicant in the county for every single applicant and then when we begin to disburse funds we will true that list up and we'll give you the company name as well if you'll be able to see if a particular company did not get approved the name will be there but we will have the reason wine that company was not approved so that this body can audit us and ask the question why is it that company ABC applied and did not get funds. The the key for us is that as we're having private conversations with private companies about their financing needs if we were to take the position and and and and for your support this in this that any time a company has a conversation with ADC about its private matters before it receives public funds we will be out of the economic development business very very quickly and Sir I'm not referring to that I realize you have to have private conversations and not I have Preciado that but once they apply online for for my tax dollars and yours that's no longer private and what I'm asking for is the time and date stamp on that day at five o'clock or if it was open before we need to know so that's what for all of them whether they rejected or whether they were kept that's the information that we need to have yes I'm not asking for your private conversations with the company because that's not proprietary to whether or not they got toilet paper bleach. This is not something that's make them competitive with somebody across town they don't even know who apply crosstown yes ma'am it's so if the if they get approved then all those expenses will be public if they do not get approved there's a very narrow set of circumstances which would mean they were not allowed to be approved primarily because they owe back taxes. So if we provide a list of applicants and then we provide a list of approved a recipients of the grants and you see the difference you'll be able to quickly conclude that these companies that did not receive grants the reason they did not receive grants is because they of taxes that would make a very private matter of a public matter I do want to clarify the I think what you're asking for we're gonna be able to give you hopefully today we're provide identifying number for every single applicant we will give you a time stamp for every single applicant and the amount in the county in which that companies located in and and we can sure this group that the very first application we received on Wednesday was at about five oh four PM from garland county. Very first application we received no paper applications we will not allow paper applications you had to go through the system so we can be able to track this and we will certify that to this body. My word on that yes ma'am you do and we also understand that appropriately so everything that we do is subject to legislative audit and so we will be happy on the legislative audit at some point we understand that and we've also had conversations already with the inspector general's office letting them know exactly what we're doing and are you scheduling within not to initiate an audit of us but the plan in January when the close out we will. A. Okay we are running out of time for those members to ask the director of the secretary. question so let's go on ahead senator Hendren next and then after that senator Ingram. Senator hindrance thank you madam chairman six three press and I just wanna be clear on this in response to what you senator DISMANG then I think we got some clarification so it won't be exactly proportional because we'll still have to adjust based on the requirements of minority ownership and small business participation so in fact some of the larger ones may take a higher proportional cut and some some of the smaller ones mathematically right correct. And then I want to clarify something because again having been involved in this part of the purpose of the emergency rule being approved a lower amount was with the expectation that a LC could come and I guess this question maybe for director Garrity. What we may not have an official request to changes funding amount cannot this body make a motion to do that today. It could we probably need The documents to support it. I guess the reason I say that and I mean if it requires a suspension of the rules or whatever I think we need to make a decision today so that we can give our small businesses some guidance on what they're gonna be expect expecting with it be fifty percent or seventy five percent or eighty percent of what the grand total is the purpose of us coming down here in this environment was to make a decision and take some action so I would ask the director be thinking about how that process would work and there's been no effort by me or the Speaker anybody else to show the decision down everybody's throat because we want to find out what the facts are but I would hope before we finish here that we leave with a decision for ADC to move forward thank. All right to an senator Ingram and before I get started remember committee members to like Senator Hendren make your question short to the point because we only have little over the. Thirty minutes with the the director. All right senator Ingram. It it there we go up thank you of madam chair this is on behalf of of Senator Stephanie flowers today's me days this what if any administrative expenses FOR the department came along with the grant program up and awards are are there any dollars to help administer this program that that that were allowed under the grant. No Sir we are able to do it with an existing existing resources as I said we we shifted our focus on you know making sure that we're trying to do everything we can to help these businesses right now through this this pandemic up what was there any discretion given to the state in terms of the manner that the grants go could it purchased PP to be distributed in other words instead of having the individual businesses I guess my question is individual businesses purchase the PP we would act is distributed the PP was any thought given to that of. With somebody just varying needs from bearing industries it would've been very difficult for the state to to take that on and and felt a better for for businesses to be able to make those decisions and her last question was a soon that falls under the first one that if an audit are required that money would be that audit would be borne by the state of Arkansas not by the grant correct thank you. Right Senate next senator Irvin and Representative Jean. Thank you just quickly one of the things that I think you might've accidentally left out was the the change that we made that businesses would be required to verify funds were used and that you also that for eligible expenditures and shall be required to repay so the question I have is so little bit different the this is not a reimbursable program this is back in and so to speak audit program correct so I know that the higher ed if you have a child that's in higher read right now the money that the federal government government went through and gave to higher ed institutions to give the kids students they have to submit invoices and then there reimbursed and I know the DHS proposals are built that way was there any thought process as to why you decided to go this route verses that route the thought processes because we saw the the announcements of businesses re opening and knew that the funds needed to be and had as quick as possible I think you know on our time frame we would have I'd like to add funds already out obviously we need to consult with you guys make sure everyone is agreement on that but the sooner that we have an appropriation inability to do it we want to get the funds in hands of businesses because there you know salons open up this week restaurants are opening up next week the sooner we can get money to them to help them the better AT and two quick questions do you have so windows shall be and do you have the ability to audit that will the auditing function happen within the department of commerce or somewhere else we will. If I may center both so we require everything recipient to submit to us a return at the end of the year documenting what the expenses are we review every single laws returns and then the I. G.'s office office as well okay and then quickly we also added that and ten ninety nines and the self so you are able to do you have a breakdown of how many maybe in that category by chance that have another quick question for Representative Vivian flowers don't have a breakdown in the ten ninety nine I can look at that they were include that that was some of the yeah feedback that we got from constituents that they didn't know if they can apply or not because I fell in that category and then the last question is you have non profits were available to apply do you know if any charges apply to because represent flowers was asking about if charges could apply and I read the this adds churches could apply because there's expenses for them going back to worship services thank you the senator Irvin yes they they could apply and I think we had about a hundred churches okay. Okay alright thank you. Representative Jean you're recognized in the in Representative Davis. Thank you madam chair sector Preston on the first round who when we had twenty three hundred applications I thank ninety four of them maxed out at the request of a hundred thousand dollars yes Sir after we've had twelve thousand whatever the number is have many maximum hundred thousand applications were on that. Three hundred well clearly they're going to be in the twenty five percent so they're they're they're currently not get fully funded then that would be correct okay thank you. Right the bill for a Representative Davis is ready I just want to say that we have twelve people on the key. So please be very sasine add led to see everyone get their time of before the director has to leave all right represented Davis you are recognized. Alright thank you madam chair Mister Preston. I know we're here to make a decision on a hundred million hundred fifty million something in that range but it's interesting to me that the original request was fifteen million dollars and although we had talked about how the process was rushed. It seems as though the due diligence on the part of your department was rushed as well me can you can you tell me how we arrived at fifteen million dollars originally were now with only having applications open for less than twenty four hours we've got a hundred forty seven million dollars in demand how how did we arrive at fifteen million. And is alluded to before Representative and I appreciate the question we look at what we've done before and what then need was out there based on the the previous programs it we've done under this pandemic I think you know miscalculated is is people like grants but and then like loans so there's a lot more people lining up for a a grant and they were for a loan so the initial fifteen million we thought was you know in line with where we had been and then we learn very quickly and that our time that we initially had the the website up that it was gonna be far exceed that and that the we would have to make in an additional request if that was so desire of the body. As was a manager I really don't have a problem with the intent of this grant thank you know the the need is there I think the intent was well recognized that the. Planning is really what fell apart here mean that the not recognizing the demand when when the government says free money not recognizing you know the number of people that would apply for this not putting numbers to how many employees that may be and then you know really where it's non competitive basically it's a fill in how many employees you have and get a thousand dollars apiece sort of application I think with the wheels fell off this thing was on the plan so I hope director that in the future we can put more forethought into that. Thank you. For yes. All right the senator Hester you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr president of director So it seems to me that And I'm not heard through some other constituents that you're not eligible if you're behind on any taxes what happens if somebody's been colonel or taxes for years up until this corona they get behind because we shut them down as a state and now they're not eligible for help it it seems like they should be the priority if they've been current up until this time is there any way for is that is that like a state law or center regulation how can we help those people that were current until a this time from a center it so if someone is falling behind because the present economic crisis there they currently don't have a tax return with tax due to serve extended that time period so this would be for someone who is filed a return for previous years and they've gone to the process with D. F. and A and the F. and A has assessed the taxes being finally do and they've assess the levy and so that that lien is out there is a matter of record is also for for sales taxes as well not just income tax sale tax sales tax to. Thank you. All right. Thank you See. Senator Elliott you're recognized for a question and it does it view of giving the answers if you would basis saying that would help as well thank you thank you madam chair if a if a church does not have a five oh one three C. or any house of worship. Can they get along without going through a five a one three C. just straight to that house of worship. How do you insist reference to this program yes. I'm trying to get clarification about the earlier question our church is eligible and I want to be sure I understand it the vast majority churches or five oh one see three accredited the IRS in order for donations that church to be tax deductible it be of the very rare set of circumstances were a tad a church was not I. following see what I did not know that I serve always thought the churches there's a there's a charge and then there's a five a one three C. part of the charge as a business and so that as we've had some so you're saying that all this is going to be news to a lot of churches. To be a communication issue that I thank churches pre dialed in on that need all right in order to get offerings good to know. I'm not I just have one just a straight ahead question so for the minority grants. Since nineteen ninety three we've added to that it was just straight ahead this group the group about by ethnic groups and so forth the are we going to be able to break out with in what we are calling the minority groups like who got what how many people got a grant because we could be in a position where say Esther's women who got all the grants were saying they got. Of forty six percent of the grants. We'll be able to subset that a little bit more into women disabled veterans and and then just minority groups as a group I'm able to do that but we haven't done that now this Rick quickly when you consider that when you are when you are given off the long. The the director was women a minority owned business as defined by Arkansas statute. All right let me clarify and misadventures keys me I'm seconds you got like about six six different groups within that six different subsets are we paying any attention to those subsets and unconsciously grants I guess as as we are as we are deciding who's going to get funded because that's just something to think about maybe haven't thought about I don't know. We want to make. We wanna make sure that we had what was was agreed to and that was the the set aside for fifteen percent for. Women minority owned businesses as defined by Arkansas statute but we will be able to break it out further okay but is not a limit I want it is not it's not yeah that's not limit alright thank you of. Senator rice you're next and I wanted to say that I think if you ask a question you go to the bottom of the line and also we have fourteen now on the key. Yes we have her. We have them as well on our list. Alright you're recognized senator rice thank you Mr chair Did you state did I hear you state that If the five PM lock website live was given at the governor's press conference. Yes. Okay in who made that decision. I'd when I talked about the program I'd I'd I announced it okay I'm sure I would ask when sector Preston will be back and forth with it be next Friday I've got a lot more questions but I understand the time restraint. All right a secretary A if you don't mind coming back next Friday. We would appreciate it because we see that we're not gonna get to all the questions and our home and FOR the and thank you all right. All right anyone else would like to hold their question. The two that have upset they would all right. Right next is the. Okay Senator hammer you're recognized for a question. You know I don't think you need to meet you just have to stand up and I think you you can be heard. First of all first for you you watch what you gonna go through but second when the website shut down the other night did you have any indication that there was a line of people lined up to make application. But. No Sir we uh then we made it very clear that six o'clock was the shut off time we actually gave a few minutes to see if there's anybody in the queue that was still trying to fill it out we Fischli shut it out about six fifteen just account for anyone that was in that queue so we have not heard of anyone that was you know out there total request for all of them he is a hundred forty seven million dollars forever but put in a request is that correct correct so in the process of awarding out the grants you may determine that some do not qualify which would create some surplus within that hundred forty seven million if you were given a tire under forty seven million is that correct yes Sir all right then why would we not want to give you the full hundred forty seven million with the understanding that you would come back and report to us in the form of a audit for give us report that would show that you did have to use to hold water forty seven that. Seems like a very reasonable approach that then with with that being said That's all thank. All right of. All right senator garner I don't see you. All right. You're recognized thank you madam chair following up on what senator DISMANG said it seems to me that instead of using this program in a specified controlled manner that address the real sincere areas with it should be done we did this card once everybody apply process why within their priority on businesses that were shut down by the government we're trying to re open wine their priority on businesses who have highly infectious work environments with us a dentist's office a GM or something like that instead of using a you know your that hatches scalpel metaphor all time didn't seem like we did add assistance that are watering the garden make sure we use this money effectively and efficiently you believe the damn damn and have people come unknown is flooded out so this overwhelming amount of money that we are now obligated you're to deny the people of Arkansas or to give them out of a very finite amount of money that we got from the federal government why wasn't there more specificity at the beginning to address the real needs instead open it up to everybody because I know for a fact some businesses applied for the grant they do not have any of the need for the PP equipment but saw that there was money they are available it took it why wasn't that done before we did this program to everybody and correct I think this overwhelming amount of money thank you. the meat it's the dress that and and. Yeah I think Arkansas is is is look at now in the nation as is a leader in the fact of how we've we've handled this and in terms of not issuing a shelter in place had we ordered a shelter in place in more businesses would have been shut down the need would be even bigger I give our business is a lot of credit who fought to stay open a lot of them were not you know breaking even they were losing money to stay open to continue to pay their employees and even though we weren't ordering them to shut down they still figure out a way to do it now we're asking them or telling them through these directives that they have to comply with the health department guidance in order for them to be safe I think it would be you know kind of in an insult to those companies who fought so hard to to stay open if we were including them in this in this initiative so I agree you know those ones that were ordered to shut down we want to make sure that all those get funded as as best we possibly can will look at that will look at the the next codes on the the companies that were that were shut down but then think about those that that weren't fortunate to shut down but they will have to shut down in fact that they didn't have the sales the demand wasn't there and they're looking to re open as well just because we didn't order them to shut down because of this pandemic in no fault of their own they did but now they're trying to do everything they can to open back up a lot of them don't have the savings they need to go out there and do a thorough deep clean of their building they don't have the the funds available to buy the PP this gonna make their employees and their customers to feel safe again and that's really at the heart of what we're trying to to do so by limiting it on the front end would have boxes and even further. All right thank you A Representative Godfrey do you want to ask a question okay go ahead. The last time outreach strategy. Call. I'm like you just talk about it you think Well in the short time frame that we had we did the best we could and and certainly I I appreciate the legislative black caucus for their quick work in in asking to get together call so Representative flowers and and Representative of love and Representative Allen made sure that that happened very quickly after this was announced at the the governor's press conference on Monday before went live on Tuesday we we're able to do this call and I know in a blast email went out to invite around nine hundred minority owned businesses around the state to be a part of the call just a they would have the information about how to apply just the you know the all the questions that we could address about that so in the time frame that we had yes I think that that was that was very sufficient to be able to get that word out if others future programs certainly we would would look to the legislature to the the black caucus any other way that we can to get the word out. All right thank you and her questions because we're live streaming and she didn't have a microphone was outreach strategies for minority businesses and thank you for answering that all right of Senator Stubblefield you're recognized for a question. Thank you thank you Mr chair of certain question. When that when this all came about this first round came about out I made a point to go out and visit with some of my businesses in my district and even some surrounding district I ask you a question a lot of the restaurants one one particular first I want to tell me says he can get along with any bit of business for forty years he said he would be out of business within a week. Talked to a number of others who said that they really didn't need the loans I thought they could make it but the one I had applied anyway. What protocol do you have in place the term of the eligibility do you have some kind of a triage to determine who has the most critical needs is for these applications go or how do you determine made it worse than others. What I think you know it's it's very clear on the on the restaurants in the small business side that don't have deep pockets and access to a lot of capital other there's the ones they were gonna need it more so than others and those that is Senator garner alluded to that that were shut down would certainly be something that we would look at to understand just how great the needs are no I think the food and beverage hospitality sector makes up nearly twenty percent of all the request that we we had coming and so clearly that industry was was adversely affected more so than than other ones and I'm sure they every other industry would probably try advocate that there's were were done so so there were ever given priority that industry that particular industry we were it will certainly give priority in the fact that most of those are smaller businesses that are less than fifty employees in a lot of them lot represent more than our ten or fewer employees. Thank you madam chair all right we can go to Representative Dotson and then of two Senator Malick. Thank you madam chair over to the right I guess the I was unaware until earlier question this morning regarding at churches were eligible for this grant program and if you if you were a you said a hundred applications out of twelve thousand were from churches is that what I heard you say yes At at and just kind of find that a very small number of churches in fact I mean I I sent this out to the a ton of people including pastors to encourage their business owners to apply for it but I wasn't aware that churches were eligible for it so out of that something that we can consider trying to make a little bit more public if there's another round of this obviously I don't know if there's going to be or not but thank you. All right senator Malick. Thank you madam chair the sector question ma'am most of mine who has been at or answered which with respect to property if we do not to fund the entire hundred forty seven you've already stated that the larger businesses would get a little bit more of a hair cut but to what is there any consideration or. Maxing out the limited something other than a hundred thousand at seventy five or or even maxing it fifty or you strictly of the thank the best approach is to do the poll at a with the it satisfying the the small business in the minority business concerns. Senator certainly will take a look at all those options and I think a lot just depends on what the ultimate appropriation ends up being and how we can most equitably do that. This is a decision that you just make at the department of we will you know consult with the our team in and well as the governor and obviously will get look for feedback from from the the legislature as well on how we're going to proceed alright thank you. Next is Representative Payton and then Representative rushing you're recognized Representative Payton thank you madam chair director regarding eligibility are institute to higher education eligible to apply for this. State entities may not but a private college can and they did. So if it's state funded. Then they can't they cannot okay thank you thank you madam chair all right Representative rushing you're recognized. That that. I don't follow senator Hester question he made a good point on if these businesses are behind in their taxes due to the pandemic you know maybe they to get a pile and I think it was stated that that the thank you there's an extension but that's not true to. Or corporations corporations were not extended they were due April that team that was only escorts an individual and so how is that going to be reflected in one of these companies didn't get their taxes filed in my business under my umbrella I mean real estate in. I have a corporation and I have an independent. Thirty some of those independent contractors also have a corporation within their sales so therefore there taxes would have been done due on April fifteenth so they may have fell behind because of the effects that is put on our industry. And so they may not have gotten their taxes in time and they're not escort their corporation so it's kind of an umbrella that can even though they're corporation I'm still an independent contractor so would they be rejected from this top of. Relief because they didn't bother taxes on your phone fifteen skis me just a minute would you repeat her question we are live streaming so we need. Yes ma'am yes Sir the question was for corporations they would not benefit from the extension that the governor A put in place for filing return paying taxes by July fifteenth that in most cases given the the break down the actual applicants you know they are incorporated small businesses of one to ten a I'm sorry for trying to talk her down. Okay so. They are incorporated subchapter S. is not a form corporation is just part of the income tax code in so they're both subchapter S. as in corporations and for the vast majority applicants they would be included in the extension and they be they be father returns on July fifteenth and paying the tax so we're gonna be focused on those who had taxes due for two thousand eighteen earlier for income tax sales tax if they're presently behind on present sales tax and they would they would be excluded because that's money collected from customers alright thank you we are going to the last three on the queue that have not had a chance to ask a question and then ladies and gentleman a Mister Hudson will stay after the secretary lease and if you have a question that has to be answered today he will answer it and so we will see a the secretary next Friday at the A. L. C. meeting. Now here I'm going to name the three people and that so Senator Blake Johnson your first then Senator Breanne Davis and then Representative Vaught. Senator Blake Johnson. Thank you Mike I appreciate job be in here okay I'm when I ask you this body your opinion on this matter my thoughts is this is a reactionary to what's happened in the presence. We need to act in proactively for what can happen in the future these viruses can mutate within my a month at a minimum and if this if this thing changes and we have to extend some of these closures my recommendation would be to keep these applications. The F. T. in half and give give half the money now and if something happens in the future to to give that to give those funds out for future closures are are continued because we have a limited funding source so I think that would be prudent now based on now that these applications are based on assumptions between now and and December they're they're not gnomes these companies may these applications based on assumptions on what they can you know for cleaning products and PP and and things of that nature what would your statement be to that two to fund half now and see where we are in the in the total in the future before December and then possibly give out the other half going down the road I think that would be prudent on our part because there may be other needs within the state health care needs that change between now and in the end of the year. And I would just say that any of. Would be optimistic that the we're doing all the right things that this this doesn't come back that's not to say that is that it won't but businesses are are looking to a to open and to move forward if we don't spend these funds by the end of the year we're gonna lose them and if we miss the opportunity to fully support these businesses we might not have an opportunity to do it again in the future. The route the requested I was just talking about would be half which would be about seventy three and a half million dollars that's almost five times your original assumption mmhm I don't think that's I don't think that's a bad number and it's more than more than what we approved last time. Okay. Was. Well okay a as the you finished up senator. All right a. Senator. Davis. We talked a little bit time line and meetings and businesses maybe priority but my concern are some of that self employed or independent contractors like when we talk about and the salons or massage therapist people who have been out of work shut down this entire time have not received a dime of unemployment yet and now to back up or being you know forced to fight PPV more lines in the. And I just wonder if there's a way that we can get them priority like you send out the first batch of checks whatever the final amount and that goes to those people first because they I mean they have no unemployment they've gotten no money for six in in they would fit in that category of of under fifty employees so they're going to be they're gonna get funded that's what we is is priority that's why we're moving so fast because we know that they don't have funds to go out there and spend right now on PP and to to re open because they want to get re open they don't you know if probably two through their savings in this last month so the quicker that we get those funds out when we get the you know the approval by the LC to to do this we we analyze this ready to move will direct deposit these and get the funds out. The question was can we privatize the businesses that haven't been receiving money. Alright thank you. All right a. It's almost time for you to leave and we do have a motion so I would like to records we're. Recognized the senator DISMANG for motion thank you madam chair I make a motion that the LC recommend the full funding request five those applicants of a hundred forty seven million and then also allow the chairs of ale see to have the authority to sign off on the letter after it submitted by the FAA additionally any of those funds that are not utilize so if we do have a number of entities that do not qualify that that those on you've used funds be were returned to the cares act account in the in just for us again for the clarification that those funds have to carry the same weight and also have to have the approval needed as if they were not initially transferred. All right I have a second A representa Wardlaw seconds it. All right committee all those in. Have you have a question yes you're recognized senator Irvin. Site just on discussion I guess for discussion but my question was for DNA but it's related to this topic that's what I was waiting to answer because I fee I thought he was leaving and can answer any more questions but that we would still. So I guess for discussion purposes I will just states. On the motion I my my concern and I have not been able to athlete Walter this question is that guidance that's been put out by the US treasury says that expenditures related to the provision of grants to small businesses to reimburse the costs of business interruption caused by required closures I do believe this program meets with the that guidance my concerning my question was going to be for secretary Walter was if we don't have invoices and can't prove that this money was spent by. Whomever would then we as a state of Arkansas be on the hook to pay that money back to the federal government because I know that Steve minu chin asked for I think thirty five million dollars for additional auditors so I guess that's my only concern is that if on the back in the audit side if we don't have these invoices could that money whether it whether it's fifteen million or a hundred forty seven million with the state of Arkansas if we don't have those invoices be on the hook to pay that back if we can't prove that that money went for what's in the language of the cares act the federal cares that. So I I mean that's at this point whether comment but that was just a question I was going to try I was in the queue to ask Larry Walter and not my president sorry. So I know we're a discussion points but. Would you want not sure that we can call you up to answer question home we have a motion on the floor we're discussing it with their. A. The LR director. Senator DISMANG do you wanna. Send your motion so that we can. Yes ma'am chair I'll I'll pulled a motion down temporarily to allow A director Walter to director Walter answers some questions all right please come to the table in. Give us your opinion. State your name please for the record. Larry wall third sector department of finance administration aw it is our intent to have those records of. Available for auditing at at the conclusion of these programs we've discussed it with ADC records will be required obviously been audit. Not only by. I'm sure the federal government but also will be doing an audit internally within the administration so the we're sure we're sure that the money was spent properly I would expect this money is not spent properly that we would have to return it that's the premise will use we don't know until. This situation is completely done. Okay at the end of the following because I'm if somebody applied I mean we've seen this before perhaps they didn't know perhaps that they were supposed to keep something and I concern is. Said that they would so then they would have to pay that money back so they a they got the grants and then they didn't have whatever they would they would potentially have to pay the money back to us and then we would have to maybe pay it back to the federal government Senator Irvin just in terms process your concern is our concern as well given that we have such a such a large number of relatively small businesses who don't have an accounting department I just don't want to get caught in a really bad situation yes ma'am and so it is our responsibility to message early and often to them hold on to your receipts and so we what we will take that owns a communication responsibility as an agency we will do at the time of approval we'll do it again the time of disbursement and we will do it periodically between now and the end of the year please keep your receipts if you do not have a receipt at the end of the year when you provide your report to us you have to pay the money back would I be able to upload those to a website yes ma'am we I think that the eighty SI team has done a tremendous job making this a paperless process so just as their attachments to their application was all like tronic so the return at the end of the year though filed electronically and the receipts okay thank you thank you madam thank you senator DISMANG all right senator DISMANG you're recognized for motion. Thank you madam chair and I've got one thing I think to to clarify. On the motion so that I move that the a OC committee recommend the full funding of a hundred forty seven million request and allow the chairs of the LC to prove that request when is made by DFA for the transfer additionally we recommend that any funds not utilize be returned to the cares ACT and also any a preparation of that's been allowed then also Be returned okay be returned and again same clarification that those funds that are returns the preparation of lotus return to I will require the same or approval amount for any future uses. Any questions on on the motion. All right. You have a question on the motion alright you're recognized senator Elliott. yes madam chair at their through you if it's it's about I'd like to I guess ask senator DISMANG if you would consider this a motion if we pass it as creating a precedent should we have this kind of issue come up down the road that we would be fully funding senator DISMANG no ma'am I I don't I think it's all going to be based on an individual basis this is a pretty unique situation because we had a program that was developed the policy was developed a prior to the approval of a LC I would think it was a bit and get back to normal business as quickly as he can on these requests for approval is made for. Give me a quick definition about what you mean by normal business and that's that's what we have rules and procedures in place in regards to how things are approved were were out of those guidelines mainly because of the way this program was rolled out at that I think that state agencies and other individuals that have been involved with this or even not involve that seen what's happened and seen the folly so hopefully this is not something that will be repeated in I don't think it's anything that these committee members or any of us would stand for if it is to be repeated thank I thank you Senate dismaying and members and I hope the people who are watching the most on the legislative body of folks for our insistent on doing our duty as part of that regular order of business because we obviously failed thank you madam chair thank you all right to I'm going to go down this list is based it has become blended so if you do not have a question or discussion on the motion of will go on and then later on come back and that Mister Hudson answer this question senator RAPERT. Actually I want to save it because I really have a clarification is not particularly thank you Representative Lundstrum thank you madam chairman a question on the motion yes I do I'm I'm really concerned I have a question on the motion why are we putting more money on a in a program that's obviously failed to do its job I make it at a complete loss if you have a house fire the last thing you do is put more fuel on the fire inside let's let it burn a little faster at shouldn't we regroup and make sure this program is actually functioning well we've impairs the citizens of Arkansas by just throwing money up in the air and sale catch it if you can catch it if you can these businesses are hurting in this of programs insulting this is our tax dollars in their tax dollars in this program's been completely mishandled throwing more money at it isn't going to solve the problem maybe we need to back up and correctly run the program before we give the more money to be misused I'm at a complete loss could somebody please help me A this does. I'm sorry senator DISMANG you're recognized ain't to the question of thank you for that in endment that's the that's a very good question and one that I really struggled with in this process in here's what I know that in and turning with five employees has a much different need then a restaurant with five employees however if there is been significant push back to change that policy and I've not found any path that anyone is willing to change the priority and provide privatization based on eight what I do not want to do is in negatively impact those that do need the full amount of funding and and that's that's why a push forward with the motion in in my rationale may I make a comment first we try then we trust throwing more money at it means they just get what they want when they want it that doesn't improve the program improving the program first and then putting more money would be the way to do why don't we just set the restaurants in the folks that we actually shut down they get the priority then we can add more money as we go I think it's a complete failure on our part to put more money in it at all we need to clean it up first then say based on the fact that it's cleaned up we put more money in it this tells the people of Arkansas yes the programs of failure but we're gonna throw more money at and hope it works that that's not the right thing to do it all right thank you Representative Johnson you're recognized for a question our discussion on the motion. Go ahead thank you madam chair I guess my question is on the motion it. If I heard it correctly it said rumor return to a normal process for approval with that be to come before the full a LC or would that be four innings emergency action for further re authorization of appropriation and that that was really just to comment on our process not a true part of the motion that was just you know stating really to provide clarification to your question that this is not something that we'll look to be normal or will have any impact on any future action by a L. C. or the related committees. So we would. It it would allow for emergency action for future approval of these types of care funds if if any of those funds are returned yet to debate or try to change those emergency situations what we allowed for in our rules would will require a separate vote and rule change which is not not part of the motion that I have. Thank you. Senator Blake Johnson you're recognized. The senator DISMANG to to amend his motion to To allow half of that to be released now and and half of it released in the future for this for our sakes rather than me in reactive million be proactive in that and that that you know your motion this is the full amount and this would still be the full amount but split the split that and see what our needs are in the future senator DISMANG. I appreciate the comment again this is not my policy this is not what I would have been vision however we do have a number of entities that desperately do need the help and the quicker that funding is provided to them the the better off they'll be and be able to be able to open the doors and and start conducting business the state of Arkansas again based on our guidelines you know any additional funding would be something that we could presented by the FAA brought to us by letter but at this point I feel as though that thing and this is the there correct path. Question. All right senator Hendren question. A bill. I'm sorry a were you not finished okay I'm sorry go ahead senator DISMANG this the. My recommendation is a timing issue not. The the funding issue this is this program is not created to bail out these these matters it was to help. Provide the PP and and those single things in I don't think any of those corporations are going to buy those all at once. And if we provide half that funding now and have that funding at a future date we're not on the inconvenience those those companies those. This is the main it is timing and and this would give you a delay factor with the need to to put more editor or not but this is not a bailout program for these companies that that's what I keep hearing this is a the ability for them to provide safety for their customers well and and given given half half of this money which is an assumption that these companies have had to do between now and then the end of this this week this year in December. Is not is not unreasonable. In an appreciate that comment and it really goes back to some my my concerns and related to that there's not a prioritization some companies will burn through the amount of funds that they receive in a matter of weeks some companies will be able to have enough funds to operate and provide cleaning products and PP four in until that December thirty first a date again we we've tried to have a discussion on the policy on on how the make up was set up to like that discussion was over when we approved the fifty five million and have moved farther along again appreciate the concerns but I I did on ten change the motion all right thank you senator Hendren. Thank you madam chairman and senator DISMANG I want to I want to thank you for the motion I I'm not normally known as the big Spender but I think we're an unprecedented times in the idea that we're just the one money in the air. I think needs to be counter balance with the reality that we all know we face back home. my biggest concern with the program was not that it was sending money to small businesses but that it was done in a way that most of them didn't know what was happening before the window closed. I got a call from one of the barbers on our shop in little grab it on main street who had no idea about the program and has been shut down for a month and is just about done. And for us to say we're gonna dilly Dally around for a month what we figure out how to make this program perfect while these entities just disappear I think is a is a failure of us to do our our job is are going to be some money wasted probably but are there going to be some business is saved in some jobs retained definitely and hopefully with the audit function and so on we can go back and recoup any of the money that was improperly spent. And the other point I make is the Speaker and I ask for the next item on the on the agenda to be placed on the agenda for this pandemic on employment for self employed people. I hope we show the same urgency towards those people who have been struggling to get their benefits for a month and some of those who are still waiting and it's the same situation of we're gonna sit around and wait for us to get it right uh we have unemployment now that is rivaling the Great Depression so I I appreciate the motion I think it's time for us to to step out and do it and I hope it'll pass. Thank you A Senator Rapert I came at I ask you if you had a question and you said no but you have changed your mind alright you're recognized thank you and like a lot of some of the comments there's been made and I don't know if senator DISMANG they Mr hats most answer this but this will is not what we're doing. Actually in some ways duplicative of what SBA loans. We're doing I know there are some differences in the and maybe the guidelines you know this the PPP obviously was the paycheck protection but I just wondered can somebody articulate for me because I've asked the governor staff behind the scenes here to see if I can get some language of what it what is the parameters there because I haven't been in only cares ACT meeting on what the money's going to use for my concern is because I know some bankers of top with me they've had people that have made applications for these loans and they said they didn't necessarily need it at the time. But they've made the request for the loans anyway. And so I'm just interested to know is this is a duplicative affect the do we have so specifically the PPP loans could only be utilized well they could be utilized for anything they can be utilized justice alone and you could take that and I have a you know a low interest loan that carried for two years however if you wanted those funds to the in the for or that debt to be forgiven you have to utilize at least seventy five percent of it on pay roll related items and twenty five percent of it would have to be spent on utilities rent mortgage interest in that sort of thing so is a you know that that those are the parameters on the lease the intent of how those funds should be spent would be up to the business on how they actually spend them this particular program the way that I understand it is utilized for PP cleaning products Senate visitation in those sorts of things related to the business they could not be used for pay roll or or those types of normal day to day operations it cannot be used for rent cannot be used for mortgage interest in and that sort of thing. Is this consistent with other states and I just wonder are we one of the few that is decided to create this new program with this money that we're getting or is this something that most states are now do I I'm not seen it or what other states stipulations are in regards to you know similar type program again the premise that this program makes a lot of sense to me there are a new additional cost that businesses are having to adhere to based on rules of war directors from the state of Arkansas at those carry cost again I will go back to that it is a very it's a very in cost based on your top of organization we did not stipulate the type of organization and I want to make sure that dentist in hairdressers and GM and restaurants and all those entities that we shut down because we said that they were high risk have the full amount of funding at this point the way to eight make sure that is accomplished is by approving the amount in the total request. I think make twenty I'll I do appreciate that madam chair and and I do the his last comment Sir what's important it burly bothers me that that we're not per hour testing them right now that's my only wish alright thank you Senator will bond. This is a state. Hey. I I mean I would argue that I appreciate the point but the problem is we did not require any documentation that would allow those businesses to be and in a five by their industry code or really anything else if you look at the the form itself there were maybe five or six items that you could use your business industry and a drop down the was restaurant service have you know that sort of thing so I what I would say is. The application didn't gather the information needed to create a prioritization even in the the funding stream. The it again at it well. A Mister Hudson you may answer that question thank you thank you madam I want to intrude on on what is what is your all time We have the ability to to know when the larger categories we do not have next codes you know for this particular application I think what we we could commit to doing in terms of a a sequencing of the review to ensure that the people have the greatest need making some assumptions about who has the greatest need to be in the smaller businesses the more cash flow constrained that we look at those first we can make that commitment I believe thank you. The question was so. Eighty D. C. will commit to releasing funds to business businesses that closed first that was the question and so we have our answer all right to for question or a our discussion on the motion Representative Payton. Thank you madam chair of senator DISMANG I appreciate the motion and and I find myself in a really tight spot. Of I want to vote against it because the process that got us to this point really galls me. I want to vote for it because I know it is needed in in the business world and and it could be a small help to those businesses that have been shut down for so long due to the virus but members. It seems to me that the executive branch put the cart before the horse or as my dad would say he ran off half cocked here. They totally ignored. Are the legislative input on policy. Not to mention they barely recognize the legislative authority on on the funding and the money. But this would have been a much better program if there had been input on the policy and we find ourselves in a spot here do we do we. Delay whenever the businesses need it. Or do we reward is the bad practices by fully funding it and I will have to vote to fully fund it and I'm not more like that one bit because the process that got us here really galls me. But I think that it's time for us as legislators. To rein in the executive branch and and make them come before us for policy and funding. Because this is a perfect example of of a good program I needed program and necessary program the that ran around. Our input altogether so I'll be brushing leave vote for your motion I appreciate it thank you madam chair right senator Hickey. Yes ma'am the only thing that the I would like to hear is that the executive branch does want the hundred and forty seven million and I believe maybe senator DISMANG tried to get secretary pressed into give us that at the beginning but. I want to go head to head that off because of this body does approve a hundred and forty seven million in the city and the steering committee or the executive. Branch comes back at the hundred million that the original originally wanted. Is this body going to be okay with that and I know that Sir you wanted something towards the motion but I think that we need to at least address that so that we don't cause any more conflict with this program so all right senator DISMANG to answer that. Well I'm trying to think of how to take care of that in a motion number one what we're not able to actually set the amount so the get the governor's office is going to have to tell us and then ultimately because the way the emergency rules work and I think it's been very clear the chairs understand if this motion passes I would say that you know they're at forty in represent you know in representing us would be to to push for that full amounts of a lesser amount is provided by the governor's office the clearly they have the authority to not approve until the letter sent over with the proper amount or the mount remit recommended by a LC. Up to. All right thank you a. All right of trying to find those who have not had a chance to ask a question or to respond to the motion so Representative Miller you're recognized. Motion and restated. Hi. Thank you the question was remind this body that we can call the agency to advocate for our constituents our constituents businesses thank you all right to senator Chesterfield you're recognized question on the motion or question thank you madam chair discussion on the motion and I think senator DISMANG for for this motion. It is an appropriation or it is a it is funding but you've monies are not spent then moneys won't be spent that should not preclude us from doing that which is necessary for the individual's home we represent the business isn't we represent these people to hurry. Yes hello economy is hurting. Any we don't do something proactive. Then we're not going to be a solution we will be exacerbating. I understand the reluctance of my conservative friends to put money out there that being the Democrats that I am I believe that the people of this state deserve that yelp. Of the state. I believe in the principles upon which this country was built in one of them is to provide for the general welfare. This is providing for the general welfare. And I would hope that we will lead the and in essence vote for this bill except the folks would ask for there are numerous others that may not even know about it but at least these people of ask deserve our help in getting them sales back together I would appreciate a good vote thank you. I'm going to Senator Wallace and then back to US senator DISMANG Senator Wallace. I'll clean it up yes Sir now at. I'm my goal I will pull this motion down there's a couple things just to to clean up based on some the comments and but it will not change the. You know the. Overall impact we're looking to do yes Sir A sent to Dismang are you pulling it down for today are you saying nine out of ten I'm just saying just rather than trying to do a substitute to my own motion right now we'll put some that you know those additional things in there and be good to go all right. You want to repeat the motion. Yeah I'll put down that we were just getting clear on everything but my recommendation or I move that we recommend to fund an additional ninety two million up to an additional ninety two million to fully at which would meet the the current. Thank you know on second. Yep that's recommended will fund the the additional ninety two million as requested by the applicants for the ready for business program and that we authorized the chairs of the LC to approve the request by and by the if a for the transfer this include limitation on both the fund amount in the appropriation additionally recommending the funds not utilized ten days after the distribution be returned to the cares tech fund ending their work for the same clarification return funds care to improve all amount for future uses and so to to clarify that what I mean is after disbursements made and if it does not reach the full a preparation level those funds will be returned in the preparation level be decreased alright ladies and gentleman you've heard the motion do I have a second. And the second all those in favor say aye. All those opposed. All right the motion passes alright thank you very much you are Mr heads and of let me just see if are there any questions for Mister Hudson any other questions before we go on all right to Senator Rapert you're recognized yes been chair Mister Henson I wanted to give you a chance maybe to clarify this a little bit because now that were recorded people are hanging on every word and they take information that stated from that desk and FOR Myers as the gospel and so the regarding the churches. The IRS code does not require any church to file for five oh one C. three in order for people to deduct their donations that's only Irish whips that what you said earlier just didn't hit here just right right so would you restate what you said so that people are clear because there is no problem at all the I. risk code actually states it recognizes churches as exempt by the factor churches sure center thank you the opportunity to do that one I did I don't presume to give tax advice to anybody but since we did speak to it let me to clean that up a little bit I would say that is a practice it is a convention for many churches to do in fact file for five oh one C. three status but as you correctly nope they're not obligated to do so yeah I appreciate that and I think that what you'll find is depending depending on the stream they may or may not file for but thank you for clarifying because it is Sir your calls questions thank you alright thank you senator Gardner you're recognized. Thank manager two quick ones one from Senator Clark with myself now that we've approved this appropriation as any kind of ETA whenever businesses out there can expect to start receiving this money what would you have been caught time on on that. As soon as we can good good not answer well not all we have right now because I I think it's it's a great questions are good answer yeah we just close the application about thirty six hours ago and right now we're trying to figure out how to get the low distributed across our team they will begin working on that this weekend and so roughly twenty people going through twelve thousand applications every single application gets reviewed there's checklist every single reviewer has to go through and then we are also creating a file to send over to DFA the if may will cross reference our file against their database to flag anybody who has taxing imposed against them I'm I would like to see the first checks going out no later than the end of the month hopefully sooner than that but you know we set expectations the application ten business days I think as we get approvals done will release in batches were not going accumulate and do it all at once we'll get some approved we'll get him out the door so hopefully by the end of the month that's your second question this from Senator Clark how about small business to your DNA has recently audit and made a decision that they owe back taxes but that decision is under appeal they've may very well when that appeal that seems unfair would they be considered. Four would they be disqualified even though it's under appeal I think Senator Clark question that the question to clarify with D. F. and A as to how they'll respond to us let me ask that question of them in and get back to you on that right if you don't mind reach out of Senator Clark let him know yes Sir will begin at. All right of senator English you're recognized for a question and then we're going to senator Irvin. I think that's me madam chair. I'm Sittin Hersey she's online all right. So the. The couple observations I didn't think we handled the first effort of this very well and I hope this is handled better part of that process in the first case of male bad to me up. Secondly. I'm concerned. That we spend maybe spending federal dollars in place and we shouldn't be when to fill holes in and we're St dollars should be spent obviously this grant not part of that but I just wanted opportunity today how we're being very careful to be sure that we're not spending federal dollars for state dollars or they're not allowed because I hear stories from friends and in various places that it sounds like that could be happen that's all I got man thank you all right thank you all right we're going down to of senator Irvin. Thank you madam chair I just have a quick question one of the things that I know just for information purposes I mean. You know we are requesting that we. Have a view of this expenditure in the overall view of the one point two five million so we oppose for that senator bond I think it's articulated that that we really needs to have an overall budgeting kind of strategy vision for this money and we continue to push for that like cares act steering committee and so I think to to senator takes point a lot of the discussion that we had last Wednesday was it's very difficult because it's changing so rapidly at the federal level you've got federal pots of money coming in from every which direction and we're trying to figure out can we maximize all those federal pots of money but are we doing what we're supposed to be doing the right way to do so now I think I I think it's very complicated and but I think a guiding document really will help us answer your question center takes I really appreciate your question my question really is information first of all representatives flowers is here and these are her questions that I did not articulate well to begin with so I'm gonna ask them now if you could get that information to us and let me also just say them so happy that she's back with us and that she's fully recovered from covered nineteen. We love you all right separate from the one separate from the one hundred churches how many nonprofit supplied you can get that information. Are you do okay go ahead we had about six I have a is funded. Of the twelve thousand some odd applicants seven hundred and forty for the applicants were non profits okay what were the amounts requested by a non profits and by churches. I don't have that will give them back to the okay and how we're nonprofit center just notified about the grant and that they were eligible to apply. They were notified the same way that any other entity was committee was. There's no target communication let me say to non profits they are part of the general communication to the public and so through chambers of commerce I was the social media fair amount of the news media reporting on this as well but nothing specific to a a nonprofit I do know that non profits or lot nonprofits are part of local chambers of commerce and there regularly you know getting information local chambers so it may be based on their full time employees or part time employees but not based on okay alright thank you. US senator bond you're recognized. Senator garner as my question about the. Thank you senator Elliott. Thank you madam chair I make an assumption about something that I want you to just give me a quick clarification that would you define for me what we mean by economic development partners what does that actually mean. Typically what would mean is a local planning districts it would mean the local chambers of commerce we view our primary partners to be well local elected officials so mayors county judges they're all our partners as well these are all individuals like ADC who spend substantial all their time trying to you know developed economies in there in the regions of the state. Thank you. All right the senator DISMANG. Thank you madam chair and it just question on you know we just pass this program allowing for the purchase of cleaning products supplies services that sort of thing related to re opening I know this is a lot of this is new for businesses the no they don't have enders they're not aware of you know where to obtain this product from or how to go about that in that my other concern is in the best way to get the most bang for this book is track to be try to keep as many of those dollars in this state as possible by utilizing our local vendors and suppliers in a service companies is it possible for ADC to compile a database or a list for those individuals to go to the need products services PP to to be able to help make those in keep those dollars here in the state as much as possible and not to dictate to the funds to be spent that way but just allow place for them to go and see what the what the potential is in our local area around the state as far as utilizing those funds. Yes Sir I'll get back to you on on this the the more broad answer I can tell you specifically we've had a team in a DC working on surveying all manufactured from the state and suppliers for their capability on PP so at least on PP which in most cases most businesses will not need real PPP correct yeah they need things like this for those who do need PP we'll be able to connect them with a resource on that the broader question about cleaning supplies and things like that let me ask and it will say that I just think would be helpful or would be sent in this money to California or New York or wherever G. by buying online and if the you know the more this dollars because cycle back to our state's economy the better off we'll be swimming with we would agree with you on that all right to ladies and gentleman on trying to get some of the seller questions answered but remember that the secretary and Mister Hudson will be back next Friday that is the may the fifteenth of and also we have to more items on the agenda but to amend go through these names if you'd rather wait that's fine but if not we'll go ahead and take your questions Representative Lundstrum recognized. Thank you I'm just a question. And this is for you as well as for my colleagues I'm I'm sure many of you have seen this that's been put out by Kevin Anderson that's a running list of what we have with the care sect in the money that's going out quickly when we don't actually have a plan for where all this money's going to go it's it's a billion dollars to billion dollars it's going to go quickly no matter what we do so if we spend a hundred fifty million I'm sure that a hundred fifty million will all be gone but you might want to monitor this and see where that money's going. I'm I'm I'm curious of what the plan is going to be for the next thing that we roll out in the next thing that we roll out I would encourage you to find a way to do this job a little bit better and to seek more wise counsel I I'm I'm curious on the guiding document that all of this needs to fall under this not necessarily for you for all of us we don't have that all yet the the governor's committee that's putting this all together still is working on that but we don't have a plan a road map for where we're going with this we're kind of grabbing in the dark so my encouragement would be let's get a romantic figure it out because the money will be spent and then we'll turn around and the people of Arkansas will be looking at us going. What what just happened. Thank you of I will say this I make a comment here the goes along with Representative Lundstrum says statement years ago we had the tobacco settlement we head of one point six billion dollars coming into the state we have some things to show for that we have that a college of public health we had a trust fund thanks to US senator hindrance of clout and it still paying off now I and I realize that's a different entity you have private enterprise verses of federal government but we would love to have something years down the road that we can point back to and say that we had that money and here's what we did with it in it maybe will even go on a many generations who knows but anyway you might want to think about that and I can assure you that sector Preston said when he first means opening remarks We don't want to this one again we we don't want to have this conversation again correct and so we will. All right. We need to you need to push a button again. Right to ship may one of the things that I'm very concerned about is when always comes if this thing circles down and circles around invites us again if we keep spending money at this rate we won't have any money in the fall our unemployment fund is dropping and we're gonna need to replenish that but we know that falls coming and if this thing circles back around invites us if we keep spending at this rate it won't be there for us so I need to be wise with the money that we have thank you thank you. All right to the Senator Rapert you're recognized for a question thank you very much and I was just communicate with someone and I'm going to make the statement it may not be very popular but I agree with the idea of saving this and really understanding what the needs going to be long term but it dawns on me sitting here talking about this the unfortunate situation for the entire country and really for us as we debate this there's no real money backing any of these checks being written. National dance twenty five trillion dollars today and county it's a real problem it's a real crisis and mark my words there be a point where the reckoning comes and we all have to figure out what we're going to do about the future because really the people that are speaking here today or if our grandchildren and our great grandchildren because there's no money back in this up thank you madam chair all right if anyone else has a question of then I'd like to like for you to have a chance to ask it but seeing that we have to other. Agenda items I would just as the two of be aware of the time all right to a Representative Dotson. Thank you madam chair of the brief does eight if this is a kind of a follow up on Representative Lundstrum as question with regards to plans for the future in the remainder of this money does ADC currently have any other programs in the works that have not been announced and roughly you if so what what sort of dollar amounts are you looking at requesting from the steering committee for those types of programs and then it does real bread broadband have some sort of the a play in those those discussions. Representative I I can't speak specifically to broadband although I know that's been a part of the conversations that the steering committee level be a potential in terms of of funds there but that's not something I'm personally involved in I can find out more information about that terms the broader question A we have no. Ideas at this point of another programs like this that we would want to roll out obviously as was said earlier I believe it is an incredibly fluid situation we. We've never sending like this you know I've been in government service now for a grand total of eighteen months for that had thirty years in private business. I've never seen the like this in my life. And the the need for not only financial assistance but the intangible. The intangible of confidence. you know we were all working hard were all all of us are working hard and then we go home and we work in wall listen to podcasts were listening to the federal reserve listened to different boards of trade. As we talk to our owners of businesses the the feedback we get is there has to be confidence if there's not confidence the consumers will not return. They will not go shop they will not go the restaurants that they do not feel safe. And if that does not happen that we do not have tax revenue we cannot fund our programs and so part of the intangible that we're trying to address in a program like this is can we do something to help businesses to increase confidence to get folks backing caged and so this I think it's kind of one of those last emergency measures that we were looking at the hope is that the trajectory continues in a favorable direction we're praying for that were open for that so that we can begin to have conversations about longer term more Can infrastructure type things under girding sort of initiatives which will have a longer implementation period I have much more conversation much more collaboration like I can promise you that. Thank you. All right of we are going to Representative Lowery and it lists of limit of our discussion to questions by then statements. Thank you madam chairman of. This is really follow up to a comment that senator DISMANG made awhile ago in the end it is a question that I would steer toward towards those who were on the steering committee as conversations take place about the funding request in relation to the authorization that's been given today you know I I would just ask that we need to look at public private partnerships a lot of the small businesses is it's already been mention they don't have experience in buying PP of equipment and I would just suggest that whoever gives advice on the use of our stockpiles on PP that these individual companies that have received these grants that they be given the opportunity to buy from the stockpile it's going to be easier for the state to replenish that stockpile. It is for these businesses to be able to maximize the use of these grants that have been given to them so I would just ask those of you who are on that steering committee if you would put that towards the health officials and those who are in charge of the the stockpile that that be considered to be offered to these companies that have been recognized for these grants. Alright thank you senator Irvin your question recognized. Thank you and just that is really just Madam chairman I think just to answer represent of dolphins question that we are working on that and broadband was include is being included in a rules of procedure that we're trying to put together for the steering committee task force so I can share that with you but the question maybe for the chair of a LC it might be a good idea just to have a regular reporting back to a healthy from what is what because that that's not identified in the executive order and it's really not something we put in the rules of procedure either but I think that would be just. Perhaps if madam chair would like to request that think there's a motion that's necessary but that that cares ACT steering committee could come before full ale see with kind of a report I think that's a good idea so thank you madam chair yes Marty Garrity is writing that down and we will have that thank you very much for that all right two more questions in we're going to the next item on the agenda A and to these are questions. Senator hammer. Thank you ma'am. Absent OR I think we need to have the director or secretary smithing here because a lot of questions that we have a deal with regarding money come question of what you'll drawing game number one but the question I have for you Hodges citizen person not in the room that's actually our economic decisions that were having faith is doctor Smith with the health or my question for you is the answer to the board what interaction do you have with the health department with regards to decisions that are financially impacting our businesses because of the limitations are being put on them are the problem I'm getting is the people in the trenches where the real work is current or not eight are questioning some of the decisions are coming down because it seems like there was no consulting with people in the real world as far as seizures are being made that were having to now economically give money out I'd like to hear about your interactions with the department of health and you have to push back on some of the things that they give away of corrective and if so how. A that's probably more question more appropriate for secretary press and answer when he comes back next week because he's a fellow member of the cabinet and I know they do have conversations regularly about these things all right thank you very much all right to the question was what interaction between the department of health and a E. D. C.. A. That's it that's that's the question all right thank you. Of we will now have as our last question Representative rushing. You mentioned an intangible confidence that you need to get this thing and I totally agree with that but I keep going back to the discussion of the Representative Payton had won our motion and with the executive branch and with with with all of the committees and everything AS that's been rotation as these statements are being made to the public is saying that the legislator legislature has approved. X. amount of dollars for X. amount of. So that being said a lot of that. implementing these emergency procedures so that we have A. L. C. pier and and and what not. But we're not even getting notify people on this committee are not even getting notified so what are we going to do and how can you assure us that we as legislators in return get that intangible confidence because we need that too because we're the ones that have to answer to our constituents and lot we don't know what's going on either and so we get the phone calls and we don't have we don't have a clue and so you you have to tell say well I'm sorry I haven't been notified and on and find that out for you so I. What can you for us on this next round of money that we receive that intangible competence to this legislation. All right can you repeat the question so. I would take that as a seeking assurance that we're going to improve upon our communication to the legislative body by the initiatives that are underway ADC. Thank you all right as I would say again and we. We don't want to have to go through painful conversations like this every time we have an initiative and so a take away that the leadership team at ATC has which soccer president leads us myself in a director of operations of our goal business division. We will commit to informing you on a regular basis about what we're thinking what we're up to we will improve upon that alright thank you all right there no other questions and so we will see the the US secretary and then Mr Hutchinson on may the fifteenth at the full ALC meeting and the you are dismissed and thank you so much for being here. All right and we're going now to Dr Childress Dr Childress if you and anyone else you would like to bring with you would come up to the okay you're just by yourself. All right state your name for the record please. Opportunity to visit with you today I do not have anyone here with me and that is because we are working day and night of working to get benefits out to claimant Senate five pulled someone out of the field or out of my office that would mean that they couldn't work on those things that are absolutely critical and important for us to keep focused on to get benefits out so I will do my best to answer questions and if I do not have an answer to a question obviously I'll be glad to get that answer and get back with you alright thank you Senator Rapert you're on the queue for the first question yes ma'am dark Childress I'm over here to your left four left in that it's interesting. I want to thank you first of all you've been very we've communicated quite a bit and I have asked several times I'm getting you know. Please for help from the supervision supervision supervisory staff I guess the best way to put that on the employment offices because they're now working seven days a week to work around the clock there's been extra pay for some of the workers but none of the supervisors at this time the management folks are getting anything at all I don't want to put words in your mouth but I know that you have been talking about alternatives to help in that situation but I mean what I'm hearing is telling me we're getting to the point of breaking for some of these people and with all the things that we're doing out here to help everyone I don't understand why the folks that are out there absolutely working their tails off seven days a week with their staffs that we can't get them some pay for that it could you address that because I get this constantly coming in for some of the offices in our efforts on the other legislators names mentioned to me I know there where of it concerned about it so could you tell me where we're at on that yes Sir thank you for that question senator RAPERT earlier This week we did come to I believe we came we found a solution to be able to pay the employees working in our offices with their offices we have employees are exempt and non exempt the non exempt employees are receiving overtime and I have been receiving over time since day one exempt employees are are not in our state policy are not there there is not a way to pay those individuals over time so we looked at several options things that are currently in state policy that we could use As of as of earlier this week I believe it was two days ago when we submitted the information to transformation and shared services within a fight employees that were exempt employees and identified how the percentage of their time that spent on unemployment insurance and on non exempt activities and so those individuals were identified it's my understanding that in state policy we can change those employees temporarily from exempt to NONEXEMPT and in the and during this this. Critical emergency where we are able to do that so that we can go back and pay those individuals for their overtime hours a week keep up with that as a of an agency funded a hundred percent with federal funding we are required to do time and effort and keep up with all of our hours for every single program in which we work and so most of our individuals in our offices are working on unemployment insurance right now so we have I believe what I believe is something that will be do of all and we can go back and pay those individuals the pay for the hours that they have worked. Thank you for the answer I hope that that will be communicated because again I still get that and I don't think that the problem was been necessarily your level somewhere up the line there that there's been stop and it's so if we can assist you we certainly hope that you allow the legislature know because a lot of us are getting this thank you thank you senator RAPERT alright thank you senator Elliott you're next. Thank you madam chair I am one of those legislators as had the same question over and over and over of about everybody has their emails and that really shows it's that so do you mean by stay them at some point is is that have a a time line or definition and are all the folks who have been contacting us I'm just assuming are they all made aware of what's going to happen so they will know they will get some kind of pay. A yes senator Elliott we have been commute we communicate with the local office the airy operations chiefs which then communicate with all the local office managers who then communicate with the employees however I've been communicating with those individuals as well via email letting them know that we are working on that we're looking for a solution I just recently I communicated with them via email so that they could could tell their staff that we do have something that we believe we can put into play very soon that it will be that they will receive those benefits back to the date in which they were affected just like unemployment insurance claims and then we're also adding staffed our offices so we are in the process of adding staff to what was our all time low of. In out all of our offices including our central office in as far as personnel and we're adding individuals into those offices were doing training as we speak in our office so that we can put people out in the state to help these individuals that are working nonstop I've been right there with them I was at the university office Monday helping right there in line working with the people standing in line with the mask on I like everyone else in our offices so I I understand I completely I understand their frustration G. and we're all working many many hours in a desert they deserve that been yet I'm just as a you've answered my question just wanna get one more clarification I thank you for answering my question will that paid be calculated and any kind of connection to what their present salary is or is that a set amount in some way it's my understanding and I apologize for not having more information about this but it's my understanding when they are when they are moved from exempt and non exempt then that will be calculated as an hourly rate and so they're over time will be paid based on that hourly right just like or not exempt employees. That's IT manager thank you all right senator Hendren you're recognized for a question thank you Mr chairman so I know there was a lot of delay in getting this program up is that is that man we heard because he had to build from scratch and I and it was I know frustrating because we saw other states going up with it. My understanding is the program opened Monday morning is that correct. It opened for testing last Friday. And since it's been opened how many have successfully completed application. On Friday may the first we we opened it up to the email all test group which was approximately twenty thousand people we have approximately fifteen thousand applications in the system right now we've completed eleven thousand of those and Donna yesterday there was approximately two thousand new applications received so we're we are a close to By today I'm expecting will be close to twenty thousand applications so the process of submitting applications is working and you're able to handle the volume and they're in the system yes Sir now when will they start getting checks okay so currently there there are three stages to the to the process I just like our regular unemployment system at the first stages the application process and that's what we're doing now A some of you that have that have reached out to me and express that other states are just making disbursements most of those states up until this week we're doing eligibility so their site was open they were receiving applications and those applications then were being reviewed for eligibility so we are in this we're in the stage now of application we are we have the eligibility piece ready we are testing it were we are fine tuning it adding all of the the statements that are needed for individual specific to their circumstances that testing is being done now and that eligibility pieces which is part of and what's needed to continue on to the disbursement stage I expect that we will have disbursements by the end of the month. By the end of may end of may yes Sir. So again these these. I mean I guess that's part of my frustration is it's taken a month to wait to apply another going to wait another month to actually see a benefit is is that what we're looking at. Yes Sir on April the. On March the twenty ninth our state sign the agreement with the United States department of labor on five different pieces of the cares that specific to relief for workers. As you will remember the first piece of that was just for those individuals that are currently receiving unemployment benefits and we added the six hundred dollar payment to that that was done Arkansas was one of the first five states to to get that in place of that was the F. P. U. C. I I don't want to interrupt but I know that I don't think a lot of time here either I just want to know is there anything that you all can do to get checks out in a week or two instead of three or four. Senate Hendren G. adjust your point that you made earlier just about the grants that went out from ADC Your statement was that citizens can't sit around and wait on us to get it right in this particular case we are working to get it right so that we can get the right disbursements out so that our state doesn't surf suffer from high rate of fraud so in order that means is that a yes or no. Are we looking at nothing we can do to beat four weeks. So the system was was initiated as soon as we receive the guidance and then we receive new guidance as late as April the April the twenty seventh so until that guidance was receive we could not finalize the eligibility pace are so in order for us to have all the pieces in place and to make these payments we have to make sure that the application process is in order which we did the eligibility pieces in order and then the payment peace we cannot make payments until we've done the eligibility pace and this my last question I think I'm sorry manager but get all the other states get this guidance at the same time yes Sir so there's no reason why any other state should be able to send checks out faster than we should so currently we have of approximately a half of the states are at the point of making disbursements again we are not the last we aren't the first those that are the first or those that have spent millions of dollars modernizing their system and don't have a system and play or have a system in place that was easily adaptable to something that's never been done in the history of the United States which is to make payments to individuals that are self employed and independent contractors so this system had to be built from the ground up there are requirements in place for eligibility and FOR payments and we are doing that as quickly as possible given the the fact that we did not receive the final guidance for this until April the twenty seventh which changed a significant piece of the eligibility. Alright thank you Hendren a Senator Blake Johnson and then we'll go to senator Chesterfield. I have a a fellow that was from Corning that lives and share with now. And he said you all system didn't work with AT and T. or Yahoo email so he gave a G. email and was later told by supervisor that the system doesn't work with that either. Is what. I mean has that contact built into year and your systems where those emails. Senator Johnson may I add Senator Johnson does that issue along with other issues are things that occur when you put a system out there that has not gone through months of testing and obviously we didn't have time to do months of testing so that's one of the issues that was re cut that was discovered that has been corrected in addition we had individuals that they're routing number was an accepted and I can't remember which legislature contacted me about that but the the routing numbers were part of the part of the programming and so we added additional routing bank routing numbers so that those those issues are also resolved had been corrected. Of other issues are are just having individuals upload documents and those those issues have been resolved as of today the team is meeting today to look at that that issue all of these issues that are that are that are being brought to our attention we are addressing them immediately because we want to make sure that the system works for everyone when we get to the point of disbursement right now is the time that we're taking in all of this input all of the feedback that you're giving us and your constituents are giving us and we are communicating with those individuals so that we can get this right so so yes just alike it is a it was it's it's. It's a hard decision to make DO you push it out and you and you push it out too quickly with with issues which is why we did the initial test with those individuals that submitted their emails to us early or do you hold in and wait and then get it perfect and unfortunately we didn't have time to pull it back and wait until it's perfect but part of the email the email issue is just one of those pieces and we have corrected that so he should he should be receiving emails if he hasn't please get me his name and I'll check into it thank you. All right senator Chesterfield you're recognized. Thank you madam chair and Dr children's welcome at thank you first of all for responding to me in a prompt manner of that concerns my constituents I truly appreciate that I am concerned though as to what we can do to help you speed up this process that those people who are having no food. Or having to go to food banks and not being able to pay their rent can get these checks quicker is there some process that we can engage in as a legislature that would facilitate your work and in increasing the ability to finish the eligibility standing get the checks self. Senator Chesterfield I appreciate your offer if you knew. Okay percent rammer I would I would sign you up and maybe maybe you do have that skill and I don't know it but I don't have it and so we're having meetings at seven o'clock in the morning at six o'clock at night with our team with protek me ask you this because I there's no doubt in anybody's mind how hard you're working What I'm asking is is there any inter agency let me at this number recently as well let me ask it is there any inter agency capacity to deal with this issue because they're programmers and other areas of the state and because this is I believe the priority of the state have we are we able to tear down any of those silos or look into the possibility of tearing down silos so that we can get individuals from other areas of government. On board with this so that we can facilitate this process senator Chesterfield I assure you there are and there are no there's nothing that's happening within state government or outside of state government that's blocking us from doing the work as quickly as we as we are seeing that getting folks who may be and say DHS and the department of health the programmers to come over and work with you when we are engaging those individuals D. I. **** working with this every minute of every day A DS and I their team is working with us you got and yes ma'am we we have pulled out all the stops we've called for help from every single entity within the state of Arkansas on outside to help us with this. All right next to a Representative Murdock and then of Senator hammer. Thank you talk to children I may have missed something you say it the the test group the twenty thousand in a test group now has been open up to everyone. Yes Sir on on a Friday Saturday and Sunday it was opened up it was an emails were sent out to the email test group but that quickly got out on Facebook and other social media sources so we know that those individuals were notified that we also have others that were notified we pulled the system down on Monday so that we can make some some changes to some of the things that were identified through the testing it was opened to everyone on Tuesday in the governor made that announcement okay it was the website exactly to go to that do you have if you will go to a our unemployment dot com. And then there there are sections on that page that showed the different types of unemployment benefits and those specific to self employed and independent contractors is on that page as well click on there and it will take you to the link or you can scroll down to the bottom of the page and the link is there thank you you're welcome thank you all right A next to Senator hammer and then we're going to US senator bond then Brianne David Senator Breanne Davis and then senator garner and then that's all the questions that we're going to have. K.. The you have not been able to verify any of the applicant it also for. Are you referring to the eligibility. I yes Sir we have already started conducting the eligibility for those individuals we have let me find my number here City. I don't have the number Senator hammer saw get that to you but out of the applications that we have received we have staff D. F. and A staff that's working on and working through those claims and matching up documentation that is being provided by the claimant's. Verified that. Qualifications to receive have you disburse funds to them no Sir the disbursements will happen is at the time in which that programming is completed and it's not completed as of today in one. Those that have been proven to be qualified to receive the money. Yes Sir Senator hammer that's the that's an excellent question and I will deliver that question to the programmers into the team working on this to see if there is a way to disperse it to those that have we have all their documentation and their forms are are complete this is the this will go out through our through our unemployment system that does disbursements every Sunday from twelve midnight to six AM and so that will need to be part of the part of the discussion I will say in addition to the dispersants that are going out A we are working with the child support office because those deductions must be made from these payments just like there are done in our in the regular unemployment system so all of those pieces have to be program to to to pull all of all of that out before that disbursement can be made. Process will money businesses in the hole that they're going to. Bill audit and retrieve. Way that we could. All. Get the. Yes Sir we have discussed that option and we understand the importance of that so I will take that back to the team and see if that's possible for us to deliver that just a for those individuals earlier than than than an expected thank you. You have to wait till next Friday to get the answer we have that. Senate chairs out to us so we can answer stage once. By next Friday for them report back I'd like to was that. Thank you. A dot two two orders if you. Would like to have you just for a very short time A next Friday if the thank you all right to the question was the first question was have you been able to verify eligibility for any of the applicants and then there were other questions that we didn't get but for our people at home that was the first question all right we are going to go to a senator bond then senator Brienne Davis and then senator garner. Senator bond. So they're reporting this morning like you so they're thirty states that are starting price. Under this program which includes Alabama. Missouri Oklahoma and Mississippi I mean there's a lot of our certain tenants say and senator Chesterfield I agree with her we know you're working incredibly hard in the staff's or you credibly hard you said you're engaging all other state employees are we engaging outside contractors or can we engage outside contractors to speed these payments out it seems like we're getting B. by our surrounding southern states in getting these payments out at least as reported this morning there's thirty states that are getting paid. A senator bond again we have you recognize that that all the other states are doing the same thing they're reaching out to every single person in the United States that has the ability to to implement or to to initiate and implementing new system that work requires programming logic for every single step of the project process and so some of the other states they got this out on the first first actually within within if the first couple of weeks I we've been in communication with them they had a modernize system to begin with they had a contractor that was of that was there and already staffed and working on their system so those individuals had modernize systems they were able then to add this piece on to their modernize regular UMass system and that's why they were able to implement much quicker than than those to those of us that have systems in place that are that are not modernized and we had to go out and and initiate a a new program again I will go back and re like this information to the I. T. team I appreciate your support of allowing us to the encouraging us to reach out to all available resources we have and I appreciate your support of that I wish that there were more people that could that could be you know the that could perform miracles because that's exactly what we need because it requires the business side to determine how what this looks like when it goes out to the public in the front facing documents and then it requires the logic in the programming on the back in to make. Sure that it's written in a way that an individual's has a successful claim in a successful disbursement. But the question was are we engaging outside contractors to speed this up we try to do it would just state employees right now is there an answer to a yes senator bond thank you for that question all right for this piece we immediately did a critical emergency procurement process we engaged a contractor that has worked with their state immediately that was done on when we first what we signed the agreement keep in mind on March the twenty eight on April the third was our first meeting with D. F. and I. we initiated that meeting and D. F. and I joined us and assisting us in this effort specifically for pandemic on employment assistance then on a Friday April the fourteenth we had the emergency procurement and contract in place signed and also an agreement with the F. and A to make sure that this was that this process moved as quickly as possible. Who's our vendor protek. I think everybody will say let's do everything we can to speed up we hate being behind the curve and I particularly hate getting beat by our surrounding states on getting this money. Thank you the question was how we engaging out outside contractors to assist with getting payments out and you answered that and we thank you for that now A Senator Breanne Davis you're recognized put can you push the button. We got a nice thank you at I just want to clarify metros understanding correctly and there are people that you guys have deemed eligible but we're not gonna make payments to them until everyone has been deemed eligible that's in the process for an eligible so the eligibility eligibility testing peace will go into place this weekend obviously we've already been working on that to test some of those first claimants indeterminate that pieces working will continue that testing this weekend so as soon as we can we have all of the documentation for those claimant's in the system is working properties to that point I understand the question and I will make sure that I I take that back to the I. T. team in the programmers to see if there's any way at to get to go ahead and initiate that payment okay and and then I was wondering you know I've had people ask that will they be able to know at least if they're not going to get paid and you know till the end of the month will they at least know what they qualify for if they qualify so at least on the. Like if the checks not coming to them right away though at least know what to plan for. So I just like a regular you I system they will receive notices we have email current email addresses now for everyone so we've been communicating with them by email if they are determined eligible they will receive the initial payment of one hundred and thirty three dollars which is the the the base the minimum payment and then once they submit their documentation to show their twenty nineteen tax return and their schedule see or documentation that supports their income then those individuals are it will their their benefit amount will be adjusted based on the documentation that they provide and they will be notified of that information yes is and is there any way to for them to get. At that P. U. A. and payments like this it you know if they're in the system is there a way for them to at least maybe get that six hundred dollars a week you for. Waiting for them to get paid is there any way like when we're talking about is there anyway to get money to them quicker is there anyway to get the six hundred dollars that's you know back did them to March twenty ninth and and will that money come in a lot sign like how that come to them I that money will come to them by debit card or by a direct deposit direct deposit is the fastest way but not everyone has a checking account where I would expect that the individuals that are applying for P. USA have that says set up so they will get their payment within within two days once the once it's process of most of the time it's it's earlier than that or sooner than that is that once they're deemed eligible I mean when and when is that going to the system and like once they're deemed eligible in your system than eight within two days should get. You know six or eight weeks worth of P. U. eight payments to the direct deposited or sent to them okay the the initial your initial question was can we send out the six hundred dollars first which would you know which one would be providing dollars to an individual that might be might not be eligible at all and so that eligibility piece is important in the process because if we have if we send out payments to an individual and then we tell them they weren't eligible for that they need to return the money or we put them into the category of the disqualification due to fraud or non for odd then that affects that individual which is in statute that you all you all put in place that of will affect them for future unemployment benefits if they if they ever filed for regular unemployment so it's a it some way to protect the individual from over payments it's a way to protect the state from having a high over payment rate and fraud rate which then affects our state in the long run so it is it there is a There's a fine line between you know do we take the risk the or do we make sure that the individuals qualify and they don't receive money that then we have to turn around and asked them to return for their put into a fight situation and then have to go for a hearing in order to to justify you know the reason that they receive the money and then didn't return it back to the state so I I do recognize the the concerns that you and others have expressed I will take that back to our our I. T. team and the team that we were working with the D. F. and A and see if there's anything that we can do to get those payments out before the the end of may so if sorry just last one and so if the eligibility piece gets worked out this weekend and say on Monday you have and a group of people that you're able to deemed eligible and so you're saying that it's possible that within two days they'll have either a debit card or direct deposit with the P. lay funds to them what takes two days like one thirty in the eligible and. Like when are they going to get the at least the six hundred dollars even that may take longer with the state system okay Senator Davis our current system if there's a direct deposit it takes two days for that individual to see those payments within their account in this new system the piece that hasn't been written yet is the disbursement peace so there's no programming in place for that so if we work to to Damon individual eligible then and worst and what I hear you saying is then go ahead and pay them because they were deemed eligible I don't know what system we currently have that we could use to disperse those payments if that programming is not already written they are riding it every day step by step up and so you can't jump to the disbursement peace unless you have the application piece the intake piece completed and then the eligibility piece completed so then as soon as that's tested this week and whether they're already working on the disbursement pace but will be testing on the eligibility piece this weekend then when we go into the disbursement peace and test that piece as well to make sure that it works because all of this is factor on that one individuals Klein and when it gets to the end which is the direct deposit the amount that we sent to the bank to distribute their debit cards or through direct deposit bad amount has to be correct and it has to go through a process to get it from us the money from our account to the banks account then to the individual's account and in all those processes you want to make sure that it's correct and that there's not fraud. So I I I understand your question I recognize the importance of looking at any options that we have to get these out sooner thank you all right up ladies and gentleman A did say that to a dark I'm sorry I'm on the the doctors today thank you doctor chill before coming that to anyone a I'm going to let senator gardener go and in a Dr Childress will be back next Friday so the ones that did not get to ask a question we will put chief you will let me know I'm gonna make a list here but if you just remind me next Friday you will but you can go first so A our last question and please be very sess sink of your you're recognized thank you madam chair and so these are couple rapid fire total number applications I think there's confusion how many people signed up so for for pandemic unemployment assistance Sam was number my last number was that we had a day before yesterday we had fifteen thousand applications in the system and as of yesterday we received it two thousand new applications seven seventeen thousand yes Sir what was the maximum with a money they can receive they receive the six hundred dollar from the federal program and it up to four oh six we don't believe is a maximum here assuming they qualify with the Max amount they can get under under the law they can receive four hundred and fifty one dollars as their maximum payment for the benefit piece and then six hundred for the F. PC and they'll be able to get back pay assuming they're qualified from March first is that correct they can get they can submit documentation and their claims back to the date that their business was affected and that should change now that some of these people get back to work I think the issue I see is because a lot of hair dressers and these other people that were forced shut down that are re opening and now they're going back to work and they have received a dime. And that money so they should be qualified before so we can least give some people a little bit of solace and know that money is coming eventually down the road yes Sir okay and one last final comment I think this is exactly the reason why we have that cares ACT money and things that we should do as a legislator to both give this money out to establish program or just find some other way to take your people because I know there are people in my district if they have to wait three to four weeks to receive this money they were literally have to shut their doors move out of the house they are believed right now we have to find some way to help thank you. All right thank you into two challenges we appreciate you being here today and we will see you next week at the four A. L. C. committee meeting at nine o'clock. Thank you very much alright ladies and gentlemen thank you members of the committee. Of ladies and gentleman we. okay I do have an announcement in front of your of in front of your microphone there you will find a list of your alternates. If you can't remember it or if you don't want to write it down take a picture of it and notify your alternates if you're not going to be here. Thank you. All right to the now we have either in E. and director syndicalists B. and mark client will be coming to the table and I will tell you that in your packet you will have a letter from Larry one third and on the back of it you will see what has been requested that didn't want you to miss that. And we're delighted to welcome the director of a. Dr syndicalists B. and mark polite and you're recognized to give any comments. Thank you very much madam chairman what I'd like to do is just take a second today To go over the three proposals that were. Approved by the cares acts during committee and we are as you see requesting approval to for appropriation to be transferred from D. F. and A over to DHS so that dip DHS can disperse the funds for these three programs so I'll go through them quickly and then be happy to take any questions around them. So okay these to set a context very quickly these three proposals all are very short term time limited programs they are intended to deal with helping reimburse and support of healthcare related businesses with the activities that they had to do essentially when they got hit with the pandemic unexpectedly so there's really two components to this is we look at it part of it is related to what it took for them to actually continue providing services during the pandemic and then another piece of it is around the ship to that they had to make so on a walk through these three. The first one is the The first one is the proposal to be able to provide one payments enhance payments to workers there we're calling them care continuity payments of for hospital workers and health care facility workers we refer to these as non direct workers both direct care and non direct care workers but you'll see and not sure does the committee have copies of the three proposals you you do okay so I won't walk through all through those as you'll see what this is aimed at is between the period when this began and through the end of may when the workers in these types of facilities are Having to deal in the environment that we've been in this provides what is essentially an additional component of hazardous pay that goes to those workers that are directly engaged with patients or are those non direct care patients that are non direct care workers that are at an enhanced risk because of the covered environment a simple example of that would be the sanitation workers the janitorial workers who have to clean the rooms or the laundry workers who have to do the laundry for those facilities so um this proposes a. Aw two levels of payment it's done on a weekly basis and essentially what it does is it you'll see the schedule for the payments direct care workers those who are the see in a nurses those who are directly engaging with the patient in that way receive a payment if an enhanced payment of a hundred twenty five dollars a week if they if the facility does not have COPD positive patients if they're working twenty to thirty nine hours if they're working forty hours or more that's a two hundred fifty dollar a week increase payment if there is a covered positive patient in the facility those double and there's also than a payment for non direct care workers that are that are as you work of low less than twenty hours basically one to nineteen hours so we've set two structures one structure around when a facility is kind of a positive and one when the facility is not if you have the proposal you'll see how we came up with the estimate on the cost obviously there's a component of estimate on this costs because we don't know how many facilities in the state will end up with covered positive patients through this period but working with the industry we were able to come up with numbers on a particular date because obviously the number of people employed also changes week to week and run estimates against that. The way this will work is it is a limited time period we have worked with the industry in order to develop forms that are will be well our on line and they will be able to fill those out send us weekly they are workers that qualifying these categories and then we will send a check back to them so that they can that included in the payroll before it is asked the employer is being held harmless and this off I could taxes retirement etcetera will be on top of this payment we want this payment to make its way to the worker and then the employers cost is on top of that so that that's how this piece has been set up and as we said it goes through may thirty first so The workers will be receiving a payment for the preceding weeks once their employer send this and then then players can keep applying for this enhance pay for their workers' up through the thirty first of may that so that's what this is When this period is completed and we have all of these in the door if Fite we have not needed all of this appropriation or all of the carriers ACT finding the funding is only dispersed as we need to spend it from DHS D. F. and A centered over then we disburse that then that money would remain back in the carriers fund for re use for other projects. Thank you for the second one and talk about it again the same thing we are dealing with this initial turn on a dime period that everyone has been dealing with in the health care world the What we're looking at for this one is exam thing through March eighteen through may thirty first we want to do reimbursements FOR calling them emergency restrictions response reimbursements for At you'll see on the second page the group of different types of providers who have had to make adjustments in order to provide services in this period And you'll also see the list of areas for which they can apply for reimbursements. We list the On the third page you'll see we list a costs not to exceed amount for each one of these different types of providers and then we also estimate the cost if they all were to actually achieve the maximum there so the cost of this one is twenty three thousand four hundred twenty five dollars at the top and if everyone actually submitted for reimbursement these areas I'll make a. Couple of points on this one is and you've all seen this happen as we've been through the last few weeks in order to deliver continue delivering healthcare services to people in the middle of a of a pandemic a lot of these types of providers had to go through a great deal of change in their normal day to day business operation yes we shifted at DHS to allow telemedicine services for example but that meant that for many of them they had to get to telemedicine equipment in even if it was as simple as I pads on one side and then I pads or some sort of tablet on the other side so they could do virtual behavioral health counseling with someone that is a cost that they were not incurring before in order to be able to continue deliver services there's a many of them reconfigured there. Reconfigure their operations reconfigure their operating rooms you if you had to go to the doctor you know it hasn't been just go sit in the dot in the waiting room anymore there's an entire reconfiguration that is had to go on with the way they operate and what they do so this allows them to get reimbursed for these costs that they incurred in this period to be able to continue taking care of people as they went through this including staff training and a lot of the activities that took place to be able to adjust the way they did businesses it is set up as I said as a reimbursement program these are Some of these and it what the what we're going to do with this one is we have set up a unit it's actually our payment and tracker tech gritty an audit unit within DHS run by John park that unit will is that is the place that all of these requests for reimbursement will go and they will process those request and then we'll disbursed the checks for those through the Medicaid system but these are not Medicaid payments since these are cares ACT payments so we're using a separate process internally and running it off cycle so that we can keep integrity in the funds. the third piece is aimed specifically at the nursing homes in the state the two hundred twenty seven private nursing homes in the state and the extraordinary impacts that they have had I was looking this morning and the we have at this time we've had three of three hundred residents and nursing homes that have had contract contracted covered nineteen during this period and forty seven nursing homes that have had this There are a number of extraordinary costs that have hit these types of facilities so what we're proposing to do is at and the reason we're addressing this now is this. The way nursing homes are paid within Medicaid. Is that they are paid based on what went on in twenty eighteen so they're twenty eighteen costs are used to set the rates for the period that we're in now okay so it's basically follows a year behind obviously these costs there incurring in order to really change their operations were not built into those rates so what we are doing is we would work with them to pay them a payment of a hundred fifty thousand dollars for cost important heard above capp so we call those rates cap and so costs that are incurred above that these one time costs they would use that hundred fifty thousand dollars to be reimbursed for those we have the And and then there's a second payment which is if there is covered nineteen patients and the facility for the weeks in which they have those patients we will give them an additional twenty five thousand dollars that week because of the extraordinary additional costs that hit even once that happens so those two together would be the payment structure around this this runs through the end of June so it is for cost the beginning back to the may eighteenth and going through the end of June very time limited with nursing homes we have a they do cost reports and we have a cost reconciliation process with them so that allows us with them because we sent a sixty day period afterwards for them to get into us all these costs that were above cap so that we can reconcile and if it turns out they did not need all of that money then we will and early September no that and be able to pull that money back and return it to the cares fund so all of these are set up As I think was played a little bit earlier in a in a reimbursement basis except obviously the payments that we are flowing to the worker we are not asking that the hospital front that money or the nursing home that we will receive that from us but it will be weekly as they send us the workers that worked and we will send it and then they will pay those workers in the next paycheck. and again like I said the appropriation all three of these will as well as the funds all are set up with time limited periods after may for us to get all the information and so that if it turns out the industry does not need all of this money or other federal monies com that pay for this we would be able then to pull that money and return it back to the cares fund Happy to take questions thank you. Thank you so much a. Representative Wardlaw if you wanted to make your statement now before we get started. The. Thanks thank you madam chair I'll be recusing from the forty five million to nursing facilities for a conflict of interest thank you thank you alright ladies and gentlemen of senator garner you're recognized for a question and let's look at the clock to run and have the time Austin at madam chair but it so I just got this definition proposal and seating area of documents we got before I might have missed it because I'm not a committee but I just now look to your direct care worker definition. Our team teasing that cut personnel included in these direct payments. EMTs are not included in these direct payments because they're not facility workers those these are facility payments that are. For these particular proposals I do understand that there is going to be a proposal brought before the care sub the Kerr steering committee that addresses ambulance an EMTs. And if you'll notice also over on the Emergency response placements the independent ambulances are included there. Okay so. Then in that purpose set that separate proposal will be a separate proposal my understanding is that what what we are hearing the let me be clear that this is a what hearing from who specifically From the from the ambulance association is that they are preparing a proposal for the to bring before the cares acts during committee. There's also in the emergency response payment program here not the hospital worker payment program the emergency response payment program independent ambulances are included in this one. And then but EMTs are not in the hospital worker program my understanding is that the ambulance association is preparing a proposal to bring to the carriers acts during committee. Okay because whenever the initial waiver was at put out by the governor press conference EMTs both they were included our techs the governor's office I told they were then after they work for the initial waiver because I was in for long term care people I was told to be the next round of covert nineteen funding to the cares act which I thought was this one now appears to be a third proposal will potentially be looked at by the quasi government agency steering committee then that would come to us for total amount is that correct. X. yes except that I cannot I'm telling you what I've heard about the ambulance when coming forward I don't want to say that it is coming from but I do believe that is thank you all right to senator Irvin you're recognized for a question. Thank you madam chair and I have questions I when we vote on these I will over cues from the emergency response reimbursement payments vote but I just wanted to point out a couple different things number one is that all of these proposals were done based on cost reports based on reimbursement so I just want to make sure that the legislature knows that this the profit that we're using here and my question is I can just tell you that three have that suits with self installation cost three of those costs fifty one hundred dollars. So that doesn't include plexiglass wood frames that doesn't include hand sanitizer that doesn't include everything. And would you because the cap on and this is capped correct and so what you see before you is capped it's not so you you may have a dentist office that may have twenty employees and under the ready for business program they would be able to apply for twenty thousand dollars this is capped at five thousand so they may may or may not have applied for the ready for business program but then they would have this so you know for the healthcare respond or is he or trying to that really are bearing a huge amount of cost right now. I mean. I'm just curious you know if that and I don't know I don't know if you're gonna get invoices then and look through that I mean we just had that discussion with the last go around yours is a lot more scientific you kind of did the math on the front end it seems so just curious are you gonna what what will happen if you get something in are you can encourage people to turn and all the receipts I mean. Because I think they'll be good information but to see one of cyan I don't I don't know just I think I think I do and You know I guess the first thing to say is. We are I certainly I'm like you I've seen and everyone is seen the hurting that's going on everywhere not and the health care world but also outside the healthcare world so I am not at all we did not bring this forward saying we know this will make everybody hole in any way shape or form it's a piece of the puzzle and I don't know full as a state be able to put the whole puzzle together but the wait. The way I we will address part of what you're talking about is these this program. And later for healthcare workers on with the program that commerce is running okay so when you're talking about what time it with PP hazmat suits six cetera. That's one item here one of the eight I think it is items that you can submit for reimbursement on. But there's a whole bunch of others so this becomes then a way to go get five thousand dollars in the case of this first line and in a primary care physicians it becomes a for that office to send is five thousand dollars in receipts but it doesn't preclude them sending other receipts right you for that other program because they are also businesses and they qualify for those and when we are done with ours because ours ends much quicker we are going to provide over to commerce department. The receipts that we reimbursed for so that they can make sure you know around PP so that they can make sure they don't double pay because I know that was also a concern you you have you addressed it yet with us at one point so we will be providing that to them because of their auditing will take place after we have completed our program since its only through that may thirty first period with sixty days to get it in. So So a business can use both this one and that one but not double dip between the two of them. But as you said that that's only if they applied for the other one or that they've all I mean it's only if those other if these people independent ambulances applied for the ready for business program only if they did yes that they can't they can't turn the receipts and and then apply for it later on I didn't follow but the timing was for the ready for business program to take applications so I don't know that the two. Right I mean I there's their programs to start their time period for which your reimbursements fit is a little later than ours we start right at the beginning because we're really about that turn period yeah. Yes I'm just pointing out that I think they're not going to take any additional applications so it's close amend just K. I'm just trying to point out hopefully yeah differences but because some some of these folks might not of applied to yeah and and I'm I'm not thirty that's gonna just be out the door pretty fast at which I think is I mean is very net I think the way you designed it is very very good and at but I also think that. Just for folks to know there's so much. The business expense for people even that they more open and trying to deal with us thank you madam chair thank you Representative Eubanks. Then we're going to represented flowery thank you madam chair secretary glass speed does the human development centers fall in any of these programs outlined here because you have direct care and non direct care and I've been getting a lot of calls about the the the non direct care employees at human development center yes Sir the human development centers fall within on the direct care we on TV on the direct care worker. On the worker proposal they fall within L. TSS non direct care. So they fall the non direct care workers and human development centers do fall into that category now the direct care workers and human development centers fall into. There was as someone right as was reference a few minutes ago there was a waiver that we applied for in Medicaid for L. TSS direct care and that was approved and so that program is out there for nursing homes HTC's I intermediate care facilities those kinds but only for the direct care workers and so that's out there and that's being done through Medicaid but non direct care workers they do what do hospital workers sell hospital workers and hospital non direct care and HTC and nursing home non direct cares are and the proposal that came that we're bringing today thank you thank you all right the senator Elliott. You I'm sorry excuse me out represented Lowery then senator Elliott okay the thank you madam chair. If you could just walk me through at I mean others may already understand this but the the two different tiers so as far as funding to nursing homes you because you mentioned that there so much for nursing homes and then if they have code nineteen her residence there's another level if I remember your numbers correctly there's something like a hundred seventy five hundred eighty nursing homes that have not had any reported code cases so what would what would be funded in that case preventive or proactive measures yes several things. and since we run a nursing home of the Arkansas health center on it they're not included in this because they're public but I I am familiar with the kinds of things that have had to go on and have to go on. when the federal government put out the guidance that nursing homes were basically needed to Stop all visitation and really move to a higher level of infection control activities in order to try to protect the residents. It necessitated a lot of changes in operations that went on there the sort of the first part the enhanced screening you have to do for employees and residences cost right the testing the test or very not only hard to get but tests were very expensive now tests are easier to get by testing and being able to get the testing to to keep up with what was happening within your walls had to reconfigure the way things looked inside you couldn't have people just together like they always were we had to set up isolation wards you had to create negative flow areas air flow right so that if you had a kind of a positive patient you can't wait and say I have a code positive patient now I need to take actions you have to go ahead and restructuring side to be able to deal with that part of that is the shift in the air flow FOR certain portion of the area so that if somebody is positive they go into that negative flow area during the way ET dure as you're going along even if you never have a covered positive patient you are dealing constantly with an employee who may have community spread their husband right they call and say my husband has been quarantine or my husband's been diagnosed in the night employee is quarantined and you have to quarantine everyone around them which means that you have a whole bunch of workers that you cannot have come into work and therefore you're either paying overtime or you're bringing and other temporary workers on top of that still the cost really rice at even if you are very successful and then if it turns out you do have someone that comes covered positive the reason more than paying that additional increments in the weeks that you do is because you are dealing with a lot of additional cost around that patient right okay well thank you that that was very succinct in very on point so I appreciate that. Thank you madam chair all right thank you senator Haley you're recognized madam chair I think my answer it was the comedian more more succinct our home care workers covered somewhere and I know not this but where is it if they are so I can and get people home care workers are covered under the L. T. S. direct care payments that we are making that Medicaid approved okay alright thank you all right the senator Chesterfield you're recognized madam chair I move approval of the proposal. All right you heard the motion. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed are the motion passes thank you so very much thank rector and thank you mark white for being here today we appreciate your time alright ladies and gentleman A don't forget next Friday may fifteenth we will have another meeting thank you and we're dismissed.