ALC-Administrative Rules

I like to call the administrative rule subcommittee to order. The first thing we have reports to the executive subcommittee of one report in your packet regarding its approval of an emergency rule can I get a motion to adopt this report. I have a motion. Getting a second I have a second all those in favor say aye. All those opposed. Report is adopted moving on to item C. will someone with agency please come up introduce yourself for the record and present your rule start number one department agriculture state plant board. Thank you Mr chairman members of the committee on weight hajj counsel for the department of agriculture and I have with me Scott Bray directors plant board and we have a criminal background check rule for you this is to comply with act nine ninety of twenty nineteen and that's all it does be happy to answer questions. Any questions from members. Who's in six sixty five. Representative Dotson you're recognized thank you Mr chair waiting I'm sure you probably know what my my question is going to be but on page two there in your your response to be a large question is contemplated the response could follow the boards next regular scheduled quarterly meeting. Can we make that to where they it will follow in that meeting will be happy to do that thank you. Thank you Representative. You. Okay specs. Representative Wardlaw you're recognized for a question. Some of a request Mister chairman I saw the same thing and I was wondering. It it can we get confirmation from you guys by Friday that you're going to change that or do we need to hold this to next month to make sure that change takes place I will will make that change I mean I I I we've we've heard that before from plant board on a I don't trust U. anymore not trust any other state agency so are you going to make the change before Friday or do we need to hold it for months I will I will send a change the two staff by Friday Mr can we noted in a report to make sure this change takes place before we approve on Friday. Yes the committee can review and approve the role contingent upon that change thank you. Thank you Representative the questions from the members. Seeing none then will consider this rule reviewed and approved with that. A notation on there thank you Representative. The item to. Department of agriculture water well construction commission. Thank you Mr chairman wait hajj counsel for the department of agriculture the water well construction commission amended the rules to comply with all of the twenty nineteen acts the criminal background checks military licensure occupational of temporary and reciprocity licenses and also changing the word regulation to rule we have an answer questions. Any questions from the members on this rule. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved item three department of commerce Arkansas economic development commission. Thank you Sir. You please introduce yourself for the record you're welcome to present your rule. My name is Steven porch I'm chief legal counsel for the Arkansas department of commerce. which you have before you is to Arkansas rule connect coronavirus rule what we've had before that we filed for executive committee was the emergency rule that mimics this rule here this is just a permanent version of this rule it allows us to be able to be in harmony with the federal guidance dealing with the cares ACT and be able to disperse funds quickly and in a way that will allow broadband to be disbursed throughout the rule areas of Arkansas upon an approved application also it allows for monitoring as well which we've had it we have a contract with a you a mess to be our boots on the ground to make sure that these deployments take place before December thirtieth of this year of that's primarily what this rule does I'm open for any questions. Yes the. So is this about the group maybe on a long section here are we talking about a grant. Yes this is a grant program and the who has the final authority to order that grants well that's going to come from the secretary of commerce. Emily has the authority to make those final decisions help me understand why that is a common practice that the secretary house that final authority. With no checks or balances are approval by the legislature. Well that is my understanding that that that's the way it's done but. I've never so that is an issue. But. I understand why the the legislature I'm I'm concerned as a legislator or that we're giving out the grant St and we have no. we don't have any approval or disapproval of how those grants are awarded. Hello I guess I need to look into that I look into about Friday maybe we can meet after this new can help me understand a little bit more about that sure okay thank you Mr chair. Well let me for this one more on on page four I guess we're still on page four references the Arkansas department of economic development which doesn't exist anymore I thank. Am I correct there Arkansas economic development. A commission is Arkansas economic development commission okay I'll look into that Ross of we have committed talk with the off line and we have any questions by Friday we can correct that okay thank you thank you Mr chair. Senator been you're recognized for a question. Hi I just first wanna say thank you for working with with me and or which is it's been under way really to work with you and and Clint four and the folks at the department of commerce and one of the things if you can describe the other changes are the flexibility that you've written into this rule to really make sure that were utilized in these three sources and the best way possible I think would help kind of and I understand you know how old this is kind of going to be dispersed throughout the state because we you for you have created a lot more flexibility I think in these rules and which is a good thing and I I very much applaud that but I what I want I wonder if you could just describe just for me kind of a the processes as to how you're approaching this I think there's a lot of factors out there that kinda way into this rule chains beyond us the time line of spending that cares money before December thirty first twenty twenty but that there was some other factors and things that play that really will help I think guide how this money is going to be spent and where it's going to be spent and and I know a lot of that hinges on the FCC in that language that they're using and there's a lot going on in that space as well with the federal auctions coming up in the federal grants available and and being able to really understand where areas our clothes and served and underserved and I think that's a huge distinction that needs to be discussed and understood by the legislature is that there's so many areas in the state of Arkansas other unserved but also under served and so I just appreciate the flexibility and I just would give you an opportunity just to kind of talk about some of those other things involved with this rule. well thank you senator Irvin for that as well as I think senator English as well as our Representative Meeks and all the ones they've taken part in the is what we've done the flexibility that these rules that allows us one to spend the money up front we know with the cares active we have until December thirty of to spend that money or has to go back to the federal government a less unless. Congress decides to push that back and that's what we're hoping for so what we've done is we've allow those areas L. rule areas that have approximately five hundred or more that are under served and we deemed underserved anyone that is below twenty five three. And that has less than ninety percent ninety to ninety five percent being in that range of twenty five three we know that some places have also a okay we have twenty five three but that may be around three or four o'clock in the morning but is not consistent throughout the day which ends in lack times and other problems that that we've had with that in the rule communities there's a great problem that we're facing when trying to deployed to those areas because many people in those areas can afford to have broadband so the The interest in deploying out there becomes minimal so by having this grant program we are giving I is peace the incentive to go out there and deploy those that broadband to those areas and plus allow those individuals out children those who need to come to work in those in whom the telemedicine to be able to expand their reach and have a little more equal footing and social distancing and the other benefits that come along with that. This rule here allows it to be wide open for those to be able to deploy and to want to deploy and to manage that we work in conjunction with the local officials that are there as well whether it's the mayor or the county judge and we reach out to them and let them know about this program because we send out our emails we've done webinars to let him know about it but if they are within the area with five hundred or more or even if they have less than five hundred and want to partner with someone else nearby the neighboring community they can use broadband they can do that of the deployment rate also we preferred in the rules that the cover the entire area that's impossible to do when you're in when your have a time sensitive situation such as we have with the cares act funds typically to deploy in the area that is on Sir it can be anywhere from eighteen months to two years to serve that so. With the cares tech money this. Rule here allows us to get that money out to amend medially that way we don't have any buffers or things because the original rule. Is a reimbursement message. The I. S. P. sends us their receipts we review those receipts and then if they are approved then we give them the money to go ahead and continue further deployment well this rule takes that away and allows us to really get that money out there in U. M. S. who is our technical review or so of it they're going to be our boots on the ground to make sure that at the initial stage the mid stage and the final stage that all that the said they're going to do in an application is done by that deadline. If they don't spend all the money by that deadline they're going to have to return that money to was within five business days according to the Arkansas agreement that we have with them but it opens it up to a wide range of people also just so you you were made aware of it in the process of following a supplemental emergency rule the only entity that is that is not mentioned in here that we're going to do is a the electric cooperatives are the FCC allows them to do it and I believe that they are qualified to do it and so we're going to get them in to this program I do it by way of an emergency rule because it allows us to do it quicker than to have to wait the thirty day period I will also file a permanent rules the same as I've done with this one to allow that changed to be a permanent change so they can always participate in this program as well as any other qualified person can put will entity they can deploy broadband can be able to do this it's a hundred million dollars that we're trying to go out to put a dent in in the digital divide in Arkansas by conservative numbers that we have. It's taken three thousand dollars per connected house we have approximately two hundred and twenty thousand on served households in the state of Arkansas so that comes around doing the math about six hundred and sixty million dollars of that it would take and that's a conservative number we know that that number could be higher so that means we will have about. Put a dent in this digital divide about one six and so that money out thank the committees that have a allow dosing granted us in the appropriation Grannis get them one that's going to help with this digital divide so the rules themselves are the things that We put before you as the guidelines that we're going to follow and in a room for an in response to Representative Sullivan's question and and things which is a good question I never thought about it but I thank you for bringing it to my attention I guess the reason that we bring these rules to you is so that the legislature would have a voice in it so that what we do is in harmony with what you all say it is a good rule and so far at the interest in this rule has been magnificent and we have been getting applications on if not daily definitely on a weekly basis and the interest has truly grown so if we have this rule here. And this rule this to go through we're going to benefits Ammar Kansans particularly in those rule areas and I just know one thing not to belabor the point but received a letter from From a a superintendent in one area saying that my kids they need broadband service and we have looked at that application and we're working with them to make sure that that works because that's important to us because we know that's important to Arkansas and no it's important to you all as well so these rules allow the freedom for us to disseminate that money and when I get the supplemental rule out to allow even more entities to get involved such as electric cooperatives I think we'll be even greater and I efforts to get this broadband deployed in Arkansas do you have thank you thank you for all of that do you have a time line on that supplemental rule John do you have a estimate time frame. If I have my way with it I would like to get it out next week. At three emergency except through three emergency and then follow from the rules the same as I've done this way that way we don't have to wait to thirty days for the electric cooperatives or any other entity that's capable of deploying in their area to participate in the program thank you and I I just appreciate it thank you Mr chair and and I think it's very Important all the different pieces that have come together and we're gonna need these dollars plus the federal dollars to reach that six hundred sixty million dollars we're really going to have to draw all the funds into our state as much as we can thank you Mr chair thank you Mr ports for your your diligence in your work. Thank you senator another question from the culture had just a comment early in one person's freedom can be another person's restrictions or your ability to be free to award those funds may restricts the legislature's ability to have a voice in that and I think sometimes the economic development commission doesn't necessarily to award grants regionally they have all kinds of criteria far awarding grants that don't necessarily go all over the state based upon needs at which this one is I'm just concerned with the with the your ability to award grants award projects and do things that are not based and don't necessarily consider regional development and regional the but we can talk about that offline thank you thank you Mr thank you Sir. Senator hammer you're recognized for a question thanks for share when you use the figure six hundred sixty million is that taking into account the projected investments by of the utility companies the role services companies are going to be investing to provide the services will. That. That figure came before we decided to include the electric cooperatives in the utility companies or areas or municipality that owns that so I cannot say for sure if that was calculated I have doctor Nathan Smith who's economist I have and run the numbers for me the numbers are very conservative in that sense but that's something I can bring back to your attention I just like to know that if we're going to you know set a target what we have to aim for and you can get this information to med like to know based on what the cooperatives are going to invest if that is a add on number to the six hundred sixty million or if that should be a number taken off of the six hundred sixty million so we ride that what the difference is so of if you could do some checking on that let me know were. Maybe the German come besides their. Click more department of commerce by Senator hammer that number is really independent of whether co op cable company. Fixed wireless company that was just the estimate on costs to deploy the data that we have and it's the best available it's not perfect as judge porch that it's a a conservative figure so whether the utilities are doing this or whether I'm a large telco is doing this that six hundred and sixty million dollar figure is constant across the board okay and then the way this rule is written it's depended on getting the money out by the end of the year but we know there's conversations at the congressional level to extend that so the way the rule is presented to you have the latitude that if the Congress extends beyond December thirty if that you can continue to function under this are you gonna come back to say o'connor said we can go further so you can slow down to get the money out the door or. How's that going to play out yes Sir what what I did I noticed the danger in in the background I wrote the December thirty also in the heart of the rule It talks about looking at deployment from six months to a year I don't put a date as far as that concerns so if you submit an application that can deploy broadband to an area within six months or two a year then that that can be funded so the December thirtieth in the background information is just to let people know the urgency of the matter but when with when they submit applications it's clear we make it clear to on that right now you have to do December thirty if that's are cut off and that's our deadline but by saying six months to a year in the body of it just listen know that in the event that the Anger is allows it to push back. We still have that flexibility to go ahead and do that without coming back here okay because Jake believe I think it was made a comment committee me about two weeks ago he was asked the question is it the date December thirtieth deadline is that contracts a new shaded or is that gonna be actual money spent because what I'd want to make sure is that if we go out here and we promised you know companies that if they go out make that investment they'll be able to get reimbursed that there's a clear understanding that if the cut off is that the money has to be returned December thirtieth we don't have a bunch providers out there that have been tested and then they don't get their reimbursements turned in till after the thirtieth and money legally not be able to be disbursed to them so we should clarify that with the if a and get back to me let me know please sure and I can make this one clarification now that of with this we give them the money up front based on their approved projects and then we have you a mass as the ones that keep monitoring there are technical reviewer but they're also our boots on the ground to make sure that the initial meet and final stage of their deployment takes place according to the time line that is been set and if they cannot deployed by December thirty of meaning money spent infrastructure set someone wants to get broadband thirty days after that point they have brought me in a have good broadband then that's the goal if not been there there will be an issue they're gonna have to return funds to us that they haven't used appropriately those are some of the duties that we have to charge you a mess with doing they have a copy of all their list of items that the supposed to use in doing it so we're. We're staying on top of them plus monthly on it okay richer K. one more please thank you so let's take the coop for example they've got the backbone is forced to poles and everything else out there but if they have already expended money toward a project like say and let's say that they they can get up you know get the backbone going down the poll but they can't necessarily get it from the pole to the house. How will that play out as far as in being able to access this money. Because I mean I. I understand what you just said makes it sound like it's the eighteen teas and the other ones that are you have it you're ready to hook up to the house and go are the ones that are expected to get this money so I'm wondering the merchants who rule which talk about bringing next week are we going to if you've got a a roll call up out there that wants to maybe get the backbone part of it out but can't get connected from the backbone to the house by December thirtieth does that is that going to deny them access to being able to get this money under the basis of what you just to find or could you find out and get back with me yeah I can find out because the want to get to December thirty if they have thirty days after that to be able to connect someone up who who wants to service so I'm thinking they should be able to do that but I will find an answer out and I will share that with you thank you and I'd also like to see the terms of what. Are the deliverables in order for people to get to hsin all the the of the content of what is going to take for somebody to to be able to get access to the money please sure I can give you a copy of our our contract along with with this statement also give you a copy of our application which is. E. detail with that help Sir sure thirty great thank you Mr. The woman who does the for that to staff will make sure the entire committee gets that they'll be good thank you yes Sir. Senator Johnson you're recognized for a question. Thank you chair My question is we I have or room call up click electric in mid deployment. Is is IT post facto Payment the main one in their application. Can they be reimbursed for money already spent in this what with your project there there are any deploying and and have spent funds part of theirs is going to be a wireless and and some of it's going to be hard wired and I was just connected in an answer senator hammer's question it it takes a day for them to get it from where the lines to the house and then one day to connect to you and so it takes two days in houses for each one you know free to house so that's that's a time line in it because I was just connected Monday but is that is that post facto in your is that in this ability to for them to be reimbursed for some money they've already spent deploying before they make application. On no senator Johnson well what they can do is wherever they are if they want to apply to finish out and ask for funds to complete the project they can do that hello I'm a native they have a lot wider region and in some in Randolph County and and other communities in Clay County to you know get rector and they can probably do it for those communities dislike they're doing that here but they were just trying to get a foot in the door and and and in a time frame so and you know if this. You know your rule comes in in the next week. Would give them the ability to do that so appreciated thank and and if I may say one thing I would encourage anyone that has electric coops or anyone that has the ability to deploy to start working on your contract now. So that we we won't have any lag time of from the point that the rule gets approved. To the to the actual reviewing of those applications okay I'll make sure they get in contact. Who do they need to get in contact with well. We have a website in which they can Which we can connect them to or they can call the office and either myself for more Mister Moore he or anyone on the team can talk to if they have a particular questions or issues or concerns one we're being very proactive in trying our best to assist these areas if something's missing from the application we quick to let them know that so that we can be able to get as much of Arkansas connected. But yes. Thank you senator senator Irvin you're recognized. Just I wanted to follow up on that because it's so important that that folks in this room and maybe does that are listening I understand all of the opportunities that are available and what they're integrated approach with you a mass office of digital health innovation and and employing them for being the Bates on the grounds to do this a monitoring it you really have the experts kind of the navy seals of propaganda over there technical experts that we you know have as working in our state government so identifying those resources breaking down the silo that exists that's what these folks have done and it with the department of commerce and you a mess and so marrying you know those two efforts together along with the governor's spend of the gears money for the mapping effort there's so many things going on in this space so I just want to encourage people to apply no matter what right because there are federal auctions coming up in October I think October twenty ninth as an art off federal auction there's lots of areas in the state of Arkansas that are eligible for broadband through that federal auction more money is given if you can deliver up better quality and a higher speed internet they actually give you more money there sixteen billion dollars that is going to be spent in that federal auction in October you know so you've got this out for you've got the federal efforts you we've given the money through rule ideas to help with that federal efforts and six hundred sixty million dollars just like they said this is the only one sixth of that needs based on deployment households so it's going to take all those different buckets of money and all those efforts related reach that get us to that six hundred sixty million which is full into month implementation of broadband across the. State to two households so if you're a superintendent if you're a county judge if you're a mayor go to this website contact every single possible our internet provider in your area and start making a plan now and I think that is what the message from not just this rule change but the efforts yesterday to in that contracts and all of these pieces have to come together. And so you know these these rules reflect that but I just I just wanted to reiterate that we as legislators have got to be out there a Sistine and helping get that word out and making sure superintendents are mayors in our county judges are fully aware of what's going on out there and applying no matter what because they may be able to redirect them to a different spot if if necessary so I just wanted to add that because because it's a very important integrated efforts to maximize the opportunities by the state and federal level that's the only way we're going to get there so again appreciate that I'll be looking for to and attending the exact subcommittee on this supplement a rule and just appreciate the questions from my colleagues as well thank you. Thank you senator I see no other questions this time so without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you. Item number four department of commerce state insurance department. Bill that if I yourself for the record you're recognized presenter rule. Mister chairman I'm gray Turner associate counsel for the Arkansas insurance department I'm here for our rule one sixteen Arkansas firefighter cancer. Relief network trust fund available try to answer any questions committee has today. Any questions from members. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thanks very much thank you. Item number five department of commerce Arkansas waterways commission. Identify yourself the record you're recognized presenter rule. The center Caldwell director of Arkansas waterways commission. We have just made some changes to your Arkansas port intermodal and what a way development grant program. Rules. And. Changing some of the requirements and. Clarifying deadlines. And Excluding Port intermodal authorities and public into like entities along among my client Kerr Arkansas. River navigation system from participating in the program do two ACT five sixty one of twenty nineteen. That created the Arkansas River navigation fund. Any questions from the members in this rule. Senator you're recognized just carry what is the funding amount for this grant program to you know that number. All have to get back with it was five but I think it's changed it was five billion but upon elated yeah and and that is open to all water. Yeah I'll port port public port intermodal authorities or any other public entities along the waterways the navigable waterways Arkansas okay thank you thank you so much. Senator hammer you're recognized for quite a thank you Mr navigable waterways would include the arc obviously Arkansas River but White River. How many are there any way that are actually designated is navigable there are five in the state of Arkansas freshman member which ones they are yes Sir Mississippi why eight Arkansas and Ouachita in the Red River. Okay alright thank you. Sure. Thank you senator any other questions. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you thank you Mr moving on to item six department of education division of early and secondary education. We've got several under this one so we'll take these one at a time members if you could start with a and please identify yourself the record you're recognized to present your rule. Good morning Jennifer Deadman attorney for the division of elementary and secondary education. I'm starting with the repeal of the eighty E. rules cart governing the calculation of Arkansas smart core incentive funding the rule was formerly necessary to provide a method for calculations mark corn Senate funding which has been replaced by college and career readiness planning program funding which is the reason this rule is being repealed and I'm happy to take questions. Any questions members. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved item the. The next role is the rules governing the enrollment of military of children of military families and the repeal of of the former rules governing enrollment of military students. Add this the rule as a result of ACT nine thirty nine of twenty nineteen it made several changes to facilitate the timely enrollment of children of military families and I'm happy to take questions. Any questions members. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved item C.. This is the rule governing consolidation annexation of school districts which is to establish the requirements and procedures for consolidating the schools. the changes were made to. to the act because of sections four and five ACT seven fifty seven of twenty nineteen and I'm happy to take questions. Any questions. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved item D.. These are the rules governing nutrition and physical activity standards and mark body mass index for age assessment protocols in Arkansas public schools amendments to these rules were necessary as a result of act six forty one and FOR twenty eight of twenty nineteen. Any questions. Senate without objection this rule is reviewed and approved item eighty. Thank you and. Another attorney will come to cover those. Good morning court a solace Ford for the department of education items. He is repeal of the eighty rules governing minimum qualifications for general business managers these are being repealed I'm just in a matter of efficiency we took relevant provisions and added them into item G. which is going to be before you in just a moment and so instead of having to separate rules we thought it was more efficient I just have one rule covering all of that. Any questions members. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved item F. item F. is repeal of the divisions rules governing special education related services section twenty two regarding home schools twenty three ACT tat twenty seven charter schools and twenty eight uniform grading scales this is again just about efficiency those rules already exist alone independently and still exist and so it's not necessary to have duplicates of those as part of the special education rules these are not rules that deal solely with special education so just wanted to get them out there for efficiency purposes. Senator hammer you're recognized for a question share one question she okay okay. Any other questions members on item F.. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved outside MG item G. is the rules governing the Arkansas fiscal assessment and accountability program otherwise known as our fiscal distress program for schools experiencing indicators of fiscal distress the changes are to incorporate ACT nine twenty nine of two thousand and nineteen we added an additional early indicators of fiscal distress we added provisions got concerning the state board's authority over districts that are returned to local control by giving the department a three year period and to continue oversight of those districts kind of creating a gradual release back to local control and then we also as I stated earlier incorporated provisions of the rules governing and general business manager qualifications so that those were tied to fiscal distress indicators and not stand alone rules and I'll be happy to answer any questions. Sir future but again for me. You're recognized for a question thank you Mr chair drill down a couple points please adding early indicators of fiscal distress can you expand on what those are. Yes so in section four there's a list of I'm again things that would be considered early indicators of fiscal distress if two or more of those are identified in the district becomes what's referred to as early intervention and has to meet comply with certain requirements that are set forth and not incur any debt without the prior written approval of the division the two indicators that were added were material failure to comply with the general business manager qualifications so if they don't have a general business manager that is able to conduct finances in the district as well as failure to comply with reporting that approval or other requirements placed on the district that has been returned to local control so if during that three year gradual release they're not meeting requirements and it allows the state board to consider putting them back into fiscal distress within that three year time period so assessing the landscape of the multiple school districts that are out there are there enough qualified people currently are there are there those people in place now in all the school districts are there any that are having to scramble to find somebody to fill this requirement so these are existing requirements I I cannot tell you I'm not aware of any school districts that are not meeting that does anyone. Now as I'm getting that the Sheik of the nod from and Mister Rogers that there's no school districts that are not currently meeting that okay and then. The the three year step down or the three year monitoring is that my memory serves me that's for five years right now the the lawyers you all got turned back over in five years right and so the the control period time period is still five years this three years gives us an additional time period after that five years so that we can again continue to monitor their and their expenditures and provide oversight and and support assistance so that they don't immediately get back into another fiscal distress situation so it it again it's expanding the time period not shortening it it's five plus another three right if a time during that three they slip back into fiscal distress does that reset the clock back to five then yes it does. Okay good thank you. Thank you senator any other questions member. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you. The item number seven department of finance administration revenue division. Killed in the fires of the record you're recognized presenter rule. Thank the Mike someone warning Ballard DO that to permit a finance administration revenue legal counsel and it got. Public hearing Arkansas department of finance administration. Thank you for an opportunity to present our rules here today we bring these rules the part of an act that passed in between nineteen session ACT eight twenty two your call is a fairly large bill at that address and corporate income tax changes and sales tax changes part of that was a modification to the car wash taxation change the car wash industry which included some exemptions for car washes and sales tax exemptions that also included at statutory and car wash usage fees game so we bring these rules you today I do want to note a couple of things the first one is I'm I'm thankful to be a lower for allowing me to to put this rule red line for you under C. one and. We were we didn't receive any public comment during the period but subsequent to the public comment period we did hear from stakeholder who had some interesting suggestions one of them was on the C. one and. Graph the inclusion of the phrase as part of an it's that ancillary service that comes directly from the statute and that just reflects what the statute says which is what we want and we we agree that should be in there so with leave of the count of and. At this committee we would like to include that as part of the rule that was a good change at and I think we had some advancement or some suggestions that we we were trying to work with them on I basically what we've set out is a number of definitions and some examples to help our car wash operators understand how to resupply the statute to be happy to take any questions. Senator rasher you may have a question. Thank you. Of. Regarding the meeting of the city county that with the. I had on the. Are was issued in looking over this where it talks about the financial impact can you explain anything that is clarified since that meeting. Has anything changes anything mean clarified. yes Sir and a lot of times is is not on the servers it's down the road find out I'd like to know now. And yes Sir I and I apologize I was on at that meeting and but I do know that that was an issue about the how to do that metering I think the there was no like I said there's no comment given at the time and of the the rules I know that in the meeting we did discuss some alternatives we thought that was the best alternative hopefully I answered that question did was that the. Question well again you we put on there that it does have a financial impact the agency does not indicate a dollar amount although we're required to before we can run a bill we've got to have a dollar amount statement for a bill that we run this is per the age the rule does not impose any additional cost outside the regional impacts I'm disorder Mr being was was there is there anything I I trust you injury thank you can tell me that you got I know my mind set that is going to surprise me down the road thank you senator rice no no surprises we did get a did present and I was for at that meeting earlier this year city county local when the main issues that we were dealing with during that meeting at the time was the issue about it a constituent that had a a business operation that encompass not just a car wash that that constituent had an automatic car was set of automatic car wash is also a convenience store with other business operations and the big issue for that constituent was how do I know if I have one water meter that's going into this business how do I figure out exactly what I'm going to have to pay in this water usage fee if I'm using water in my car wash but I'm also using water over in this other area and what we did contemplated the time at that D. if they would not put in the requirement of the rule that that constituent would have to put a separate meter on his car wash to determine the amount of gallons used we did put in the rule and what and that we did talk about earlier this year that we would recommend in that would be best practices if you could install a separate meter to let you know how many gallons are being consumed but following that meeting we did follow up with that constituent and we did have a meeting at the commissioner's office and he was able to figure out a math. Anthology of the number of washers that were being sold and getting information from his manufacturer about the number of gallons consumed by type of wash purchase so that that constituents able to conform let his own methodology to come up with the the number of gallons that are being used they're gonna be subject to the fee but as we were is this is a new fee that went into effect in October of nineteen A we understand that we're going to be learning more about the different ways that a a taxpayer might be able to calculate the water usage fee and and as we gather more and more information as we get more feedback from taxpayers we're gonna come back to these rules and provide even greater guidance as we know more about the industry but circling back original question that's how we have addressed it and there's nothing new in here that that we did not discuss previously appreciate an explanation and in the work you did with that case I just wondered if there were any other anomalies in the state similar to that are that that had to be addressed in this rule making the the other questions that have have come up and with that we have responded to in the opinions process Senator rice and there have been questions about the electricity in the water that's purchased we've we've responded to a few of legal opinions because those can be purchased and exempt from sales tax provided there for use in the car wash and. And we have addressed in our examples the types of things that can be purchased by the car wash operator exam from sales tax as well as provide some examples of things that can be sold by the car wash operator exempt sales tax. I appreciate that this is just one of those pieces of legislation that because a lot of questions in that I appreciate your work and enter the thank you thank you Mr. Thank you senator any other questions from members. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you thank you Mr chair. Item number eight department of health division of health related boards and commissions Arkansas board of dispensing opticians. I feel that if I yourself for the record please. I'm secretary treasurer of the state board of dispensing opticians I have with me today met Gilmour from the department of health we want to thank the committee and you Mr chairman for having us today these rules are a result of the legislation passed in the ninety second General Assembly they provide for criminal background checks they provide for met. They provide for automatic licenses of active duty service members returning military veterans in spouse in the also remove the war regulations throughout our rules. Any questions from the members on this rule. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you. Members were passing over item number nine at the request of the agency to move on to item ten department Human Services division of medical services. Thank you. Fielding the fires of the record you're recognized to present your rule. Thank Mister chairman mark white with DHS. Good morning Janet man division director for the division of medical services Arkansas DHS. The rule before you today is the final piece two ACT nine sixty four of the twenty nineteen section we refer to it as the mat rule it will use some Sampson guidelines and it we used allow medications and prescriptions and counseling and physician visits for substance use disorders we're trying to remove the barriers in addition to removing a prior authorization from a prescription we're also trying to remove the barriers to see a physician and get counseling and happy lab test I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions for the members. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you thank you. Item number eleven department of labor licensing division of occupational and professional licensing boards and commissions state board of public accountancy. Please identify yourself the record your. Recognized presenter rule. But please we can't we can't hurry thank you I apologize my name is to Montgomery I am an investigator with the Arkansas state board of public accountancy before you today is some minor changes to board rule nineteen which were made in response to act a twenty of two thousand nineteen. Basically the changes reverse order of rule nineteen point one in nineteen point two and make clear that temporary licensure is now considered a part of the expedited review process. Approval of this to promulgate this rule was obtained and may twenty twenty. I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions members. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you very much thank you. Item number twelve still department of labor auctioneers licensing board. Please identify yourself for the record and you're recognized. Good morning. Stephen. Good morning bread Willie with the Arkansas office licensing board on the chairman your Mike on for the button to was the green area. It's a greener now yes thank you anyway I'm bread Willie with the auctioneers licensing board on the chairman this is Christy Arnold are director we here this morning and we're proud to be here with this morning to discuss the rule changes that we've made as a result of legislation passed during the ninety second General Assembly we are amending the rules to address automatic military licensing under ACT eight twenty reciprocity under ACT four twenty six and ten eleven and criminal back check background checks under nine ninety. We're here to answer any questions if there are any. Representative Dotson you're recognized for a question thank you Mr chair over here you're right. Background I got the You of one of the questions is ask in regards to rule number nine point three point two what the board considered a reasonable time he said was thirty days but it doesn't appear as if you've amended juror your role to include that thirty daytime frame we have discussed it this morning and we're we we see two weeks. Two weeks would be the time frame two weeks once they're once they're filed there were rapid application process was complete. Two weeks okay I like that even better all right can you put that into the rule absolutely okay so that if we can improve it contingent on that being added thank you thank you. Senator hammer you're recognized for a question thanks for share the background check is a state or federal both. And. As far as like under current situations being able to get a federal background check back in two weeks is that realist no Sir that's part of the application process once that background check is completed and in our office that means the their application process is complete and at that point within two weeks of get their license we have no control over the time that the background check takes so it's two weeks from the time you get the background check back perfect for home really yes Sir okay alright thanks. Thank you senator any other questions for the members. Seeing no other questions this without objection this rule is reviewed and approved with that noted changed on the two weeks thank you Mr chair thank you very much moving on to item thirteen. State board of licensure FOR professional engineers and professional surveyors. Please identify yourself for the record and you're recognized to present your rule. Good morning I'm heather Richardson on the director for the board of licensure FOR professional engineers and professional surveyors. Please. I'm to the sauce the general counsel for the department of labor licensing thank you. today we're here to discuss our rules the amendments are the results of a comprehensive review of the board's rules laws policies and practices and are intended to make the board's rules more consistent with the national model rules and to incorporate statutory amendments during the two thousand nineteen legislative session specifically they will delete board duties that will be performed by the secretary of labor in licensing pursuant to the transformation ACT nine ten and delete character requirements such as good moral character and moral turpitude in compliance with ACT nine ninety the board seeks to amend reciprocity for all applicants who hold substantially similar licenses in other states pursuant to act ten eleven and amend temporary license in compliance with ACT four twenty six an ACT ten eleven. The amendment expedites licensure for military and their spouses pursuant to act eight twenty initial approval by this body was may fourteenth twenty twenty the amendment six to clarify the expedite and expedite the licensure process by allowing the board's director to conditionally approved subject to board ratification all qualified reciprocity an intern licensure applications the amendment would enable the board to issue license to a qualified original applicant if the applicant has passed the exam the amendment six to remove specific college course in our curriculum requirements for original surveyor intern and professional surveyors applicants the amendment clarifies all licenses are renewed by and only. The continued continuing professional competency requirements for professional surveyors are amended to include at least two hours a standards of practice number one for property boundary surveys implants for each biennial renewal period. The amendment specifies when and where the seal of an individual and or firm must be used and the amendment also includes moving all licensure related provisions under article eight deleting obsolete fees deleting duplicative and unnecessary provisions and updating in clarifying terminology. Members any questions on this rule. Representative Dotson you're recognized thank you Mr chair so I I know that you remove the. terms good moral character and moral to to do to an act by the legislature however have you replaced anything. Within your rule how do you make sure somebody is is a. Meeting of a license deserving of license I should say That they're not of bad moral character. Well there is still a I saw a whole section on ethics. Professional ethics okay yes that still remains I think it's article twenty in the role. Okay. I haven't haven't got through all two hundred twenty seven pages of the role so. I'll take your word for it thank you okay. Thank you Representative. Any other questions members. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you thank you. Item number fourteen. H. back licensing board. Thank you Mr chairman Denise obscene general counsel for the department of labor licensing I'm going to be handling that the appearing before the. HVAC our board in all these rules are in response to legislation from the twenty nineteen session they deal with changing regulations to rule they deal with criminal background checks now this board is not authorized to conduct criminal background checks and has never done so that they have made a provision to deal with the provisions of ACT nine ninety so that they have begun asking that question on on applications to determine if someone has one of those permanently disqualifying. Felonies it deals with temporary in provisional licensing as well as reciprocity and provides for automatic licensure for the active duty. Service members returning military veterans and their spouses and I'll be happy to answer any questions. Senator rice you're recognized for a question thank you. Of could you give me a little definition known number fireworks is revises provisions regarding proof of experience to be the least restrictive of. Short term back sessions ago we had the H. back board Or good intentions are willing to member that laid seen the need some work to. Or more restrictive legislation and there was some push back on that because I believe so many times we have isolated circumstances that to call sometimes reaction in the cause of so much more trouble in excess work could be handled with We're targeted training or whatever else can you give me an instance only this were it says regarding proof of experience to be the least restrictive what's been improved there certainly I'll be happy to the board has a new section in the rules that deal specifically with with that and that would allow people to establish proof of experience by affidavits the the other bona fide evidence from current or former employers or persons who can attest to their work background as an HVAC our contractor in it specifically provides in no case shall apprenticeship education or training to be a pre requisite or condition of licensure. Would would definitely help them in the industry in and pastor they're required testing those like I just know a lot of young people it's getting into that I don't want to bear your up but again we need need to be educated and but some of the. Former concern that I had was basically overlooking My concern people that I've. Would say new is much more about the industry sometimes and people gives the test sure and we don't have to catch those people up in in your credit that things and it's always my concern thank you for that definitions like Mr you're very welcome Sir. Thank you senator any other questions from the members. Seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you thank you and excuse yes. Item number fifteen department of transformation insured services division of the building authority. Good morning I'm and purpose of chief of staff for transformation shared services and the purpose of this rule that's before you today is to allow a process FOR A contractor who has a material issue with the current contractor to be suspended from up. Submitting a bid for another project during that time so the process is that the agency would notify the contractor notify and they would be put on a list and they would be prohibited from doing another bid on as honest on government project during this time I'll be happy to answer any detailed questions. Members any questions. Seeing no questions without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you thank you very much. Okay members on to item D. um a final item on our agenda will include updates for the agencies have not completed the rule making in accordance with ACT five seventeen of two thousand nineteen. with respect to number one in this the department for culture. Girl standards there was a motion adoption lessons meeting that allow the department to submit monthly letters to to the ongoing litigation you have that letter in your packet if there's no objection will review and filed that letter. So number two. Through six will have them come forward and give us an update will somebody from department caller state insurance department give us an update on that one. Mister chairman I'm gray Turner associate counsel for the Arkansas insurance department here for rule one twelve and one sixteen. As to a rule one sixteen we just that was one that we earlier Approved and M. S. to rule one twelve. We have had our hearing and the public comment period will be over tomorrow I believe in so the next time this committee meets we should have a before this committee. He questions from members. Seeing none thank you for the update thank you. Item number three department of finance administration. Okay. The rules from the on the car wash that we've we've order review those today so they were reviewed and approved item for department of health ACT to sixteen. Okay we'll we'll keep that one on there for next month and number five highway commission. Thank you Mr chairman bill Rogers of the Arkansas department of transportation we've received public comments and the commission is considering a couple of those comments and how we want to respond I had hoped that we would be able to submit a response to the comments by the time to get this on the September agenda but it looks like it will be the October engine. Okay thank you for the update. Any questions. Thank you thank you the number six department transformation insurance services office of state procurement. And purpose chief of staff transmission shared services this was the rule that you just reviewed excellent we're finished that one more to take off the list so this list getting shorter and shorter to be just in time for us to build the list back up in the next session so. At any does any other business from a force at this time so with. hang on with let's go back to number four if you give us an update we do have some a from the department of health here they can give standing on that one. You have been I apologize I was stuck on in the foyer talking so I apologize. So back in one part of health. What. So this is for the ACT to sixteen to twenty nineteen the act establish standards for transporting processing distributing commercial human breast milk. we present a letter to the committee but we presented rule to the board of health in August first twenty nineteen and then we filed on rules secretary state in September we have public comment and we got a lot of comments we had revise this rule due to the number of comments we got so we started the process over we presented rules again the board of health and April of this year with a sub second public comment which ended September which will in September third of this year so we are moving forward but we're getting closer. Thank you many questions from the members on this so we could possibly see this maybe October by that time possible soon as possible okay. All right seeing no other questions on that one thank you Sir appreciate the update members appreciate your time no other business we are adjourned thank you.