Joint Budget Committee
Video
Transcript
14 documents
Bills discussed (13)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1020
Act 123
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…5, House Bill 1010 is ready. On page 7, House Bill 1018 and House Bill 1020 are ready. House Bill 1023 on page 8. So that's page 8, 102…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1020 is now Act 123 |
|
HB1023
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…. On page 7, House Bill 1018 and House Bill 1020 are ready. House Bill 1023 on page 8. So that's page 8, 1023 is ready.”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - SECRETARY'S OFFICE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 … | Joint Budget Committee | Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's … |
|
HB1034
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…April 22, 2026 --Senator Davis or Representative Wooten 2. HB1034 – Treasurer of State Operations-Revised Letter dated April…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE OFFICE OF THE TREASURER OF STATE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 FISCAL … | Joint Budget Committee | Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's … |
|
HB1052
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…ducation 3. Amendment JAR149 by Representative Underwood to HB1052 – Treasurer – State Turnback for Counties and Municipalitie…”
|
AN ACT TO MAKE AN APPROPRIATION FOR STATE TURNBACK FOR COUNTIES AND MUNICIPALITIES BY THE … | Joint Budget Committee | Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's … |
|
HB1100
Act 143
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…mendment JAR133 C. Revenue Stabilization Law (No Action) 1. HB 1100 by Representative Jean – To Amend the Revenue Stabilization…”
|
TO AMEND THE REVENUE STABILIZATION LAW; TO CREATE FUNDS; TO MAKE TRANSFERS TO AND FROM … | Jean | Notification that HB1100 is now Act 143 |
|
HB1101
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…epartment of Education – Educational Television Division 5. HB1101 by Representative Childress and Senator Crowell – Departmen…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - PUBLIC SCHOOL FUND - R.I.S.E. ARKANSAS - … | Childress | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB23
Act 133
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…l 16. Two pages ahead, page 10, page 10, Senate Bill 16 and Senate Bill 23, I'm sorry, Senate Bill 23 and 24, going to page 18, 55 and…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIVISION OF YOUTH SERVICES APPROPRIATION FOR … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB23 is now Act 133 |
|
SB4
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…dments 1. Amendment CJW040 by Representative Lee Johnson to SB4 – Department of Health-Licensing and Regulation Boards Note…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH - LICENSING AND REGULATION BOARDS APPROPRIATION FOR THE … | Joint Budget Committee | DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. |
|
SB58
Act 138
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…Only'. 2. Amendment KMW097 by Representative Underwood to SB58 – Department of Education-Division of Higher Education 3. A…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - DIVISION OF HIGHER EDUCATION APPROPRIATION FOR THE … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB58 is now Act 138 |
|
SB59
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “Okay. And then on page 20 is Senate Bill 59. Okay. All right. With that, we're going to going”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION DIVISION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 … | Joint Budget Committee | DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. |
|
SB75
Act 144
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…o Amend the Revenue Stabilization Law – Amendment HAR148 2. SB75 by Senator Dismang – To Amend the Revenue Stabilization Law…”
|
TO AMEND THE REVENUE STABILIZATION LAW; TO CREATE FUNDS; TO MAKE TRANSFERS TO AND FROM … | J. Dismang | Notification that SB75 is now Act 144 |
|
SB76
Act 142
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…tment of Education-Public School Fund - R.I.S.E Arkansas 6. SB76 by Senator Dismang – DFA Disbursing County Extension Office…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION - DISBURSING OFFICER APPROPRIATION FOR THE … | J. Dismang | Notification that SB76 is now Act 142 |
|
SB77
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…easurer – State Turnback for Counties and Municipalities 4. SB77 by Senator Tucker – Department of Education – Educational T…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION DIVISION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 … | C. Tucker | Died on House Calendar at Sine Die adjournment. |
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Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:30
All right, members, Chair sees a quorum, we're going to go and get started. All right, just real quick, I want to go through bills that we know we're going to be ready for due pass today.
All right, members, we're going to go through the bills that are ready for due pass today before we get to them at the end of the calendar. So with that, if you want to kind of take notes in your packets, we'll start with the House bill packet. On page 5, House Bill 1010 is ready. On page 7, House Bill 1018 and House Bill 1020 are ready. House Bill 1023 on page 8. So that's page 8, 1023 is ready.
Skipping over to page 12, 1041 is ready. Page 14, 1055 is ready. Page 22, 1077 is ready. Then we're going to move to the Senate bills. Senate bill, page 2, Senate bill 4, forward 6 pages, page 8, Senate bill 16. Two pages ahead, page 10, page 10, Senate Bill 16 and Senate Bill 23, I'm sorry, Senate Bill 23 and 24, going to page 18, 55 and 25.
Okay. And then on page 20 is Senate Bill 59. Okay. All right. With that, we're going to going
to move on to B1. Senator Davis. Okay. If you can hit your mic, Senator. All right. You're recognized to present your report. One moment, please. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
4:09
jbc personnel subcommittee met on tuesday april 21st and reviewed a member amendment revised constitutional officer request and two regular business items listed in the report as items one through five all items are released back to the joint budget committee as adopted with the exception of item one regarding the governor's office amendment which did not pass mr chairman i move adoption of the report at the top at the proper time thank you for your motion members do have any
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
4:34
questions on b1 senator rice you recognize for a question thank you i have a substitute
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
4:42
motion i'd like to explain my motion all right you're recognized for your substitute motion thank you uh members i'd offer substitute motion and and
to explain it uh this failed yesterday uh in committee on a split vote uh my question is what are we hiding uh just for clarification center i don't believe it was
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
5:06
a split vote it was a roll called vote of the committee but not split by okay would you like to share the vote with
i think it was in the paper this morning but it was not
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
5:20
a split vote okay excuse me was a divided vote. With the unknowns, I ask again, what do they have to hide that Mr. Perfury cannot come and testify to a legislative body about what he's responsible for as a state employee? He has had a close relationship with a lobby firm since he's been here
that has clients now that their names have been brought from Mr. Perfury's past. Now that lobby firm has a partner that is a sitting member, is the chairman of the Department of Corrections. There is questions need to be asked. There was over, more than likely, over a billion-dollar project that he was related to that needs to be answered in what ways were these people brought.
Is there any nefarious things that could be? So I'm giving you that. You're the representatives, the taxpayers of Arkansas. We need answers. from one person that knows and i feel like the governor needs to compel him to come before jpr and answer to the public if he doesn't have something to hide what's the harm so my substitute motion is i would ask for a split vote on jar 144 that failed yesterday and
a split vote of the body that's my motion all right so
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
7:13
representative rice just make sure that i understand the motion the motion is a substitute
motion to consider the item related to the governor's staff position separately from the rest of the report so we'll first have a vote on the report then we have a vote on that and he wants to do that by roll call by division of the chambers i did not ask for division i thought that's
what you meant by i said of the body is
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
7:41
what i i thought i said i don't know what that means of the body is the jbc body the entire body i did not ask for split if i did i'm pardoned i'll correct my deal i'm in my mind i thought
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
8:03
i said of the body no sir okay i'd understood split vote all right
i misstated okay all right so that's the substitute motion we have discussion on the motion we have representative
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
8:14
wooten i have a second to that motion if you need
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
8:22
one you have a what sorry say it
again representative second second to the motion second okay all right we're in discussion phase now senator hester you recognize
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
8:34
i just want to clarify that when this happens i do i want to divide the chambers and roll call it on on this motion okay on senator rice's motion okay senator
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
8:50
we've got a motion for a roll call division of the chambers
all right senator hammer if this
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
8:56
is discussion on the substitute motion would you would you just clarify with all the conversation just happened would you just clarify what the vote is going to be and a yes vote would go mean what and a no vote would mean what okay so senator rice's motion was to what's
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
9:14
up was a substitute motion so senator davis had a motion to consider and adopt the full report senator rice wants to pull out the item related to the governor's staff position for a
separate vote senator hester has called for that to be vote vote to be roll called by by division and
so right now we're in a posture if this were to approve we would have a vote on the report as a standalone roll called by division and we would have a vote on this particular item roll called by division and that that would
be what would be accomplished by adopting the substitute motion thank you thank you senator Clark
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
9:58
thank you mr. chair I have
not kept up with this and been on top of it and I can't vote for this motion today but I would like for it to be clear that any time that members of this body would like someone from the government from the administration to appear before them that I would like to see that they do. Thank you. All
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
10:19
right. Thank you, Senator. Representative Vooten, you're recognized again. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
10:30
The question before us involves a member of the governor's staff being requested to appear before a committee of the legislative body. He did not appear. The subpoena, the chair said he would entertain a motion to issue a subpoena.
That motion was voted down by the Senate. If they want to take a slap in the face by someone not appearing before a select committee of this body,
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
11:19
of the legislative body, that's fine. Representative
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
11:22
Wooten, we're going to get to for and against. I understand, but the people of Arkansas have a right to hear from the governor's office, representative of senior advisor, and he has not appeared.
And the governor's office took an escape. Representative Wooten, we
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
11:45
are going to have a discussion on the motion at the proper time. It is not the proper time. Thank you. All right. Senator Petty. I think you're off now. Is that on purpose? Accidentally. Okay. Representative Lundstrom. Discussion at the proper time. On the substitute motion.
yes okay you're recognized to discuss the substitute
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
12:13
motion it seems we're conflating two different things the governor has a right to her budget and whom she hires or doesn't hire correct I'm sorry yeah she has that opportunity whether or not mr. perfuri is our favorite person I agree there's a problem but this is concerning the governor's budget and she has come in not only on budget but under budget so I'm I think we're getting two different apples to oranges here I'd just like some clarification understood and we will and I'm
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
12:42
sorry that so on the subs all we're debating right now is the substitute motion which is whether or not we're
going to break through the item out from the report that's what we're discussing right now there will be a whole other time that I have a feeling that we'll relight up our mics again and have the discussion that you're talking about having thank you very much all right so right I have no one else in the queue. I have a motion to have a separate vote on the report without the or substitute motion on the report without the other and we'll vote those separately. So I've got a motion all in favor that the substitute motion signify by saying aye.
All those opposed? No. Motion fails. All right, we have a roll call on the substitute motion. All right, we've got a request for division of chamber. So we'll start with the Senate again. This is a roll call division of the chamber on the substitute motion. Resend that. All right, we've got a roll call vote on the substitute motion.
Speaker 52
13:55
Senator English. Senator English. Not seeing Senator English. I'll go to her alternate. Senator Scott. Senator Scott. Senator Scott. Senator Mark Johnson.
Senator Hammer Senator Tucker Senator Payton Senator Payton Senator Irvin Senator
Speaker 56
14:41
Caldwell Senator Flippo Senator Blake Johnson Senator Hill Senator Sullivan Senator Hester Senator Letting Senator King
Speaker 52
14:57
Senator King Not seeing Senator King His alternate, Senator Boyd Senator Boyd Senator Penzo Senator Penzo Senator Bryant Senator Dees
Speaker 56
15:16
Senator Flowers Senator Clark Senator Kroll senator
Speaker 52
15:26
kroll not saying senator kroll call his alternate senator stone
Speaker 56
15:31
senator hickey senator davis senator mckee senator gilmore senator rice senator petty Senator Wallace, representative Shepard, representative Matthew Shepard, not seeing representative Shepard, I'll go
Speaker 60
15:55
to his first alternate, representative in it, representative Holcomb, representative Richmond, representative Richmond.
Representative Pilkington, Representative Warren, Representative Warren, Representative Kavanaugh, Representative Lynch, Representative Evans, Representative Milligan, Representative walker representative jeremiah moore representative mcgee representative
wooten representative collins representative mccullough representative springer representative springer not seeing representative springer I'll go to her first alternate, Representative Tara Shepard. Not seeing Representative Shepard. I'll go to her. The second alternate, Representative Steele. Representative Steele. Representative Hudson. Aye. Representative Garner. Representative Lee Johnson. Representative Clowney. Yes.
Representative Gramlich. No. Representative Scott Richardson. No. Representative Nick Burks? No. Representative Eves? No. Representative Wardlaw? Representative Wardlaw? Representative Lundstrom? No. Representative Gassaway? No. Representative Gassaway?
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
18:03
All right, members, there was 15 yeas. The motion fails. All right, with that, that brings up the original motion. is a motion to adopt the JBC personnel subcommittee. We've got a motion. We have a second. Any
discussion on the motion? Seeing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed?
Motion carries. That takes us to B2. I believe we have some questions on the letter. Those members
with questions, go ahead and light up your mic and then with that I'll recognize you all right representative kavanaugh
who would you like to speak to today if if the treasurer is
here i wish he could come down okay i believe
Speaker 44
19:18
that's i believe i see him and if you could just recognize
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
19:23
yourself for the committee and with that you are recognized with your question members if you've got what are conversations
that need to happen let's go ahead and take those outside the room or try to keep them to a minimum John Thurston treasurer of state you're recognized thank you mr.
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
19:41
chair thank you treasurer for being here appreciate you coming I'm sure you're saw some of the questions yesterday and some of the concerns they were expressed by members here i'm just going to start with the concern about the salary increase for your executive team because it was such a large increase the last time and now we're asking for additional increase i'm just wondering can you tell us the justification for those increases and this new amount of money that you're asking for where is that going to go to
Speaker 65
20:14
okay thank you and uh pardon me i've got a scratchy throat
Speaker 70
20:21
so if i don't quite sound clear um and i apologize for yesterday too i think it was mentioned that i'm um where was i i my team's always worked well with the legislature and most everyone has my cell phone and i didn't no one called me so i i apologize if i was supposed to be here yesterday um the But the pay plan that we're on or was approved during the last session was a pay plan that was basically it was similar or exactly like the one that the governor presented.
And in that particular plan, we presented the slots that each position, where they would fall, and it was approved. All of the salaries fall within the pre-approved plan or budget. The money that is being requested, and originally the letter that was presented to you all was complete funding of the approved plan, and that was it.
But there was some discussion between our team and one of the ranking members that 10 percent would be all that would be allowed and we said yes sir and so that's the um the ask we were asking i'm asking for full funding for the approved budget uh from last year okay i guess where
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
21:58
my concern is is when you look at what your executive team makes they make more than the executive team of the governor of the state they make a higher salary
many of them do you have the highest paid scheduler in the capital and we're asking for more money now my understanding is not everybody in your 35 person staff got a raise just certain people did they all did they all
Speaker 70
22:31
but not equal no it wasn't equal because of the placing of of the plan i mean each position was was different where they were previously and where the new approved
budget uh where they fell in the new one so
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
22:46
yeah and i'm not trying to beat a dead horse but if i go back and look at all the constitution offices that you've held, this same executive team has been with you. And this same executive team has each time maxed out their pay grade. It's a pattern, I will say. And with tax dollars being as tight as they are,
with us looking at trying to reduce taxes so we can get more money back to the people of Arkansas. There is a pattern that these people continue to max out their pay grade. And when you have people in your office, and I'm not saying that your office is any less than anything else, but there's 35 people, and when you've got a chief of staff, it makes more than the chief of staff of this governor who oversees, what, about 200 people?
Job duties are not the same. Just because you've got a max doesn't mean the responsibility of the person is the same. And to be honest with you, I've had some concerns from constituents about the hours that the office now keeps, about the inability for them to have access to do tours of the office like they used to. So I guess I have concerns because we keep raising salaries, but we're working less. And, I mean, I don't know how you can justify to keep asking for more races.
And I know everybody says, oh, but this is what the pay plan did. You know what? As a legislative branch, we didn't try to do those pay plans on the backs of the taxpayers of Arkansas. And I think it behooves all the constitutional officers to think about who pays their salaries. Sure. And it's the taxpayers of the state of Arkansas. Absolutely. And we have to at some point say enough is enough, and we have to draw the line. And, I mean, I do appreciate you coming and explaining, you know, what you're doing,
but I guess for me the line is
Speaker 65
24:55
drawn. So thank you. Sure. So the office hours, we're still open from 8 to 4,
Speaker 70
25:02
just like always. The vault tours have been shortened to around 8.30 to 3.30, and they're scheduled on the hour, every hour on the hour, and that was primarily due to just scheduling and, you know, staff being available. And we coordinated with the Secretary's office to Secretary of State's office
to make sure that worked with them because they're the ones that bring the tours up. But we're open the exact same hours as always. And the scheduler, are you talking about the executive assistant? Well, to all the executive assistants, today is executive assistant recognition day. But she is way more than a scheduler just to defend her quickly.
I don't know what another scheduler is like across in the capital, but she is not just my assistant. She's the entire executive team's assistant, and she's basically our air traffic controller. She is our controller. I mean, she does so much. So, and again, I don't want to get into personnel and job, unless we want to, job descriptions and employee performance evaluations. But even though a constitutional office has the, is at will, you can hire and fire at
will uh even though um the salaries are determined by me within the confines of the approved your your approved budget um i hear you and um again i i think i hear what you're saying i mean i don't know if you're you're wanting to tell me to i don't know if you're telling me to stop giving raises or I don't know what you're wanting me to do
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
27:06
exactly. Are you done? Representative? Okay. That's someone else's mic. I thought that was yours. didn't understand what's happened senator bryant you're recognized for question thank you mr treasurer and treasurer
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
27:32
thank you for coming being under the weather uh you probably watched yesterday's
committee or your staff advised you i'm not going to
belabor more than what representative kavanaugh said other than it is a bad look um and you do what you will with your with your budget and i know that's your prerogative but it's our prerogative to give you the funding to do that To answer your question, I would have liked to have seen your office take a break. You had a million dollars over the last two fiscal sessions and raises to bring you up to the pay plan. You put it in places that I probably wouldn't have agreed with just based on the history of the office
and how it progressed and where your chief of staff lines up with your investment teams. But that, again, is your prerogative. So that being said, I would hope to say that the money that you receive for this 10% that you did lower, Obviously, there is a window of money that you didn't receive on your initial request that you may or may not come for in 2027 or 2028. I would appreciate if your office would take a breather and use these funds aggressively, appropriately, to bring who you need to bring up to where it looks more fair within your office.
Speaker 70
28:43
Thank you for being here. Fair enough. And again, not to go way back to a year ago, but when the governor's pay plan, and I'm not trying to curtail that necessarily. However, when that pay plan was presented, I personally thought and genuinely thought that that was the beginning of a model or something that would help the state more even be able to identify positions across state government, including constitutional offices.
And so that was my reasoning for asking to be involved with that particular plan. And, yeah, that's – but I hear you. All right. Thank you.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
29:43
Senator Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Treasurer Thurston, thank you for reaching out to me yesterday. We had a great conversation, I appreciate everything you said, and I appreciate you being here today.
You apologized. I don't know that an apology was necessarily in order because we don't normally have to have every constitutional officer here, but I appreciate the sentiment. I just want to clarify from your lips to my ears. You are okay with the compromise that Chairman Dismang and Chairman Gene worked out with your staff for the 10%. Is that correct? Yes, sir.
Okay. Well, I think we all had a little lesson we learned in this, and part of it is transparency and part of it is process. But I want to thank you for doing that. I still had a few things I was looking at. Maybe we need to make something more clear, but I'm comfortable with where you are right now, and I appreciate you kind of stepping in and having that form of cooperation. And thank you, Mr. Chairman, and to other members who have raised concerns about this.
I think we all, the state, benefited from it. Thank you. Thank
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
31:06
you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Not me in any way. Chairman Gene, he handled all that on his own. I'm not going to take any of your credit. No, no,
no. We're duos often, but not all the time. No, Representative Pilkington. Mr. Chairman,
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
31:23
thank you, Secretary, for being here today. You know, after yesterday's meeting, I just started looking more into these numbers,
and there are just some questions that kind of came to me, and you didn't call me yesterday, so I wasn't able to discuss these with you. But, you know, for your chief of staff to get an almost $40,000 raise, I'm curious, what merited that increase? What did he do within that one year in your office that made us decide that we needed to give him $40,000 more? Can you explain that to me? Because nothing comes to mind for me, and so I was hoping maybe you could enlighten
Speaker 70
31:58
me to that. That's a fair question. Again, it was the new pay plan, the new approved plan, and that's where those numbers fell.
It fell within the parameters of the approved plan. And, again, I thought, genuinely thought, that the governor's plan and all of, I guess, the positions and the approved positions, that was where it fell. Gotcha. So are you saying if the pay plan would
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
32:28
have allowed for a larger raise, you would have given him a larger raise? Or is it just the constraints of the pay
Speaker 70
32:36
plan? No, no, he's not maxed out currently, so no.
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
32:40
But once again, what are the merits? I mean, if we're going to do raises, I think we should give raises to our people who perform well. So can you explain to me what he did to merit a $40,000 raise? No.
Speaker 90
32:52
You cannot? No, that's personnel. That's no. Okay, that's okay. I appreciate the honesty. I'll
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
32:58
be voting no, but I appreciate the honesty on this. Thank you, and thank you for being here today. I appreciate you finding time for us. Okay. All right, Representative Wardlaw.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
33:10
Thank you, Senator. All right, Mr. Chairman. Your cohort beside you, Mr. Harry, has nodded his head and made gestures. Is there anything you'd like to add to any of the questions
that have been asked? What have you done? His body
language means a lot to us. I'm trying to figure out how to justify this vote, and he's nodding his head yes and no the whole time Representative Kavanaugh was questioning the whole time, Representative Pilkington. So I want to know what he disagrees with or agrees with. Okay.
Speaker 105
33:41
If you could just recognize yourself with the committee. Michael Harry, Treasurer's
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
33:46
office. Representative. And thank you for trying to look like me today. It's
Speaker 105
33:49
cute on you. You as well, sir. Yeah. I wasn't aware. I guess I was nodding my head when I agreed with things, disagreed with things. If you have something specific you'd like to ask me, that'd be fine. Well, I mean, you were very
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
34:03
actively nodding your head, so I was just wondering what it is that you disagreed or agreed with that she was questioning on. I do not recall specifically.
I understand. And, Mr. Thurston, you're not going to tell us why we're doing a $39,000 raise on Mr. Huffman or a $39,000 raise on Mr. Burleson. So why do you think, in your statements while ago, you were like, hey, the pay plan is going to put structure to all this. If you're paying these people more than the governor's paying, how do you justify your comments of the structure to it? I honestly don't
Speaker 97
34:39
know what the governor's position is. So you don't look
Speaker 102
34:42
to see what other constitutional officers are paying?
Speaker 85
34:46
No. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right. Thank you. Senator Bryant. Thank you. I just wanted to follow
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
34:55
along, Representative Pilkington, just to put things in context for maybe just to hear me say it and maybe disagree. So the before the play plan the max position say for your chief of staff was 140 the previous chief of staff was in the 120s giving them room and flexibility to jump up into that 140 range You take office the pay plan changes now the range is 141 to 191
and so Instead of going into the low band of that 141 and still getting a nice hefty 10 15 percent raise not once but twice, your positions bounced and then bounced again to they're almost at the upper midpoint to where that's where the big hit comes to why is it $40,000? So I guess my question is, and a lot of constitutional officers do this,
they take their staff with them because they're comfortable in the people that you surround yourself with, But they get a huge incentive to do that when maybe the previous office didn't have the need for those type of wages for the job in performance. So I think for what Representative Colgate is saying is that why is the increase so large when compared to two years ago it was worth almost $60,000 less?
As a position, not the
Speaker 70
36:30
person, just as a position. Again, I suppose I just keep going back to the plan. If the governor's pay plan had never emerged, I would have never done anything. But because it did, I felt it was my responsibility to at least try to participate in that plan.
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
36:57
But even though the range is large, 141 to 191 is a $50,000 swing, the upper side of your office jumps to the upper midpoint, and then the general staff just jump up to less than midpoint. That's where the disparity of concern for me came. I would have to look. I mean, I don't remember
Speaker 70
37:19
where all the points are, to be honest. don't um but i i'm happy to come back okay all right thank you
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
37:29
all right members we have i don't see any other questions in the queue so the question is we
have a letter to adopt on house bill 1034 do we have a motion to adopt we've got a motion to adopt do we have a second we've got a second is there any discussion on the motion All right. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.
All those opposed? No. The ayes have it. All right. Members, that brings us to Schedule C. This is revenue stabilization schedule that is in your packet, identical in B1 or B2, so that's for you guys to start reviewing. That takes us to Section D, D-1, amendment by Representative Lee Johnson, Senate Bill 4, has special language, referred to special language.
Amendment to Senate Bill 58 by Representative Underwood, special language. Amendment to House Bill 1052 by Representative Underwood, special language. Senator Tucker, Senate Bill 77, has special language. we're pulling uh item five and then item six item six came about because discussion we had in this committee about the need for extension offices to be improved across the state this would allow dfa to establish a gamper program for the division of ag to make improvements to extension offices
as the programs developed again it's not funded there is no funding tied to it and if anyone's concerned we have a beautiful facility in white county hopefully it's the model for the rest of state that was paid for the by the county so we will have no interest in this particular
item we have to take any questions on d6 all right seeing no questions
we've got a motion do pass we have a second we've got a second any discussion on the motion seeing no discussion all those in
favor signify by saying aye all those opposed motion carries all right members we have several items that are ready for due pass as amended lieutenant governor senate bill 29 do we have
any questions on lieutenant governor's office senate bill 29 all right seeing no questions what's the will of the committee
we've got a motion due pass as amended we've got a second representative lunch i'm sorry
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
40:06
understand the spending increase in the lieutenant governor's
office as well not just that office but we're spending money like drunk sailors up here so i just want to know if we could get a percentage of spending increase every time we go to pass something that we'd have an idea of what we're doing it's flying pretty fast
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
40:23
and what we're talking about is i'm assuming constitutional officers thank you where they are right okay
yes i know that this was negotiated with some members yeah representative gene i think he may be able to provide some
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
40:36
insight there the according to the staff the original
ask for the lieutenant governor's office was a 74 percent raise and the appropriation amount and you're looking at these maximum salaries they have a high but it's what what is appropriated the speaker I don't see him here but he negotiated this with the lieutenant governor and got it down to a 17.7 and The rationale was, if you remember the Tim Griffin years, the office was very lame.
They didn't get many raises. As a matter of fact, the first four years of Ms. Rutledge, they didn't get many raises. So we gave some latitude other than capping everybody at 10% to give her 17%. But it came down from a 74% increase in appropriation to 17%. So I thought that was pretty good
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
41:30
work. I appreciate that very much, and thank you. I still see us spending. I'd love to try that one on my husband. Oh, honey, I bought it. But it was 100% more, but I only spent 17% more.
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
41:42
You don't go home on sales and say how much money
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
41:49
I saved you? Hell no. Okay. Dread easy. All right. Senate Bill 51. Auditor operations. Oh, no, we have a question. That's right. All right, so all those in favor of Senate Bill 29, do pass as amended, signify by saying aye. All those opposed, motion carries. All right, Senate Bill 51, Auditor
Operations, do we have any questions?
All right, seeing no questions, what's the will of the committee? We've got a motion to do pass as amended. We've got a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed. Motion carries. Takes us to House Bill 1034. This is one we just went through. We just adopted the letter. Do we have any questions on House Bill 1034? Seeing no questions, what's the will of the committee? We've got a motion to do pass as amended. We have a second. We've got a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing no discussion, all those in favor signify by saying aye.
all those opposed motion carries all right members that's going to bring us to that list of bills that are ready that we went through at the very beginning of committee so we'll start on page five of the house bill packet house bill 1010 community corrections is ready to go we've got a motion do pass we've got a second in discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying aye all those opposed motion carries going to page 7 we have house bill
1018 any questions on house bill 1018 all right seeing no questions what's will committee we got a motion do pass we've got a second any discussion on the motion seeing none also favor signify by saying aye all those opposed motion carries still on page 7 house bill 1020 never mind standalone legislation okay all right members do we have any questions on house bill 1020 seeing no questions will committee we've got a motion to pass we've got a second any discussion
on the motion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying aye all those opposed motion carries house bill 1023 page 8 dhs secretary's office do we have any questions seeing no questions what's the will of the committee? We've got a motion to do pass. We've got a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. House Bill 1041 on page 12. House Bill 1041, Secretary of State, do we have
any questions? Seeing no questions, we've got a motion to do pass. We've got a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed motion carries page 14 house bill 1055 14 1055 education do you have any questions on house bill 1055 seeing none we've got a motion to pass we've got a second in discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying aye all those opposed motion carries page
22 House Bill 1077 22 House Bill 1077 County Operations members do we have any questions on House Bill 1077 seeing none we've got a motion to pass we've got a second in discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying aye all those opposed motion carries we had listed now we're moving to our senate packet we had senate bill four which was on page two we're going to pass over that right now it is in fact not ready and we're going to move to page
eight capital zoning senate bill 16 so page eight in your senate packet senate bill 16 capital zoning do we have any questions seeing no questions we've got a motion to pass we've got a second in discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying aye all those opposed motion carries page 10 house bill 1023 dhs use services members do we have any questions on senate bill 23 seeing no questions we've got a motion to pass we've got a second any
discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying aye all those opposed motion carries senate bill 24 also on page 10 dhs do we have any questions on senate bill 24 Seeing no questions, we've got a motion due passed. We've got a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. Senate Bill 55, Supreme Court, page 18. So page 18. Senate Bill 55. Members, do we have any questions on Senate Bill 55?
Seeing no questions, we've got a motion due passed. We've got a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. Senate Bill 59, AETN, page 20. Do we have any questions on AETN on page 20, Senate Bill 59? Seeing no questions, we've got a motion to adopt. We've got a second. Any discussion on the motion? We've got a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. All those opposed, motion carries.
Members, we have special language. It's going to be in 15 minutes upon adjournment. We're going to move that to Big Mac B. if you are not in the committee please do not sit in one of the uh immediate chairs so we can be able to keep straight who's on committee and who's not if you have one to present you're going to be asked to go to the front of the room and present again just to kind of keep everything clear so in 15 minutes we're going to meet over special language next door make sure if you're not a member to not crowd the seats thank you we're adjourned
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Reports and Communications
C. Revenue Stabilization Law (No Action)
D. Member Bills and Amendments
E. Consideration of Bills Referred to Joint Budget
F. Other Business
G. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
Speaker 52
Speaker 56
Speaker 60
Speaker 44
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
Speaker 65
Speaker 70
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
Speaker 90
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
Speaker 105
Speaker 97
Speaker 102
Speaker 85
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified