Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC)

Clients naturally. A so. Although it looks like there's a lot of money ahead of the the expectations perhaps that curve will start to come down. in addition November ten you're going to get new numbers for the upcoming biennium for budget purposes and you also might receive a revision of the current year. We'll see with that I'll be glad to take any questions. I see no questions from members thank you for your for Mister Wilson yes Sir. With that we'll go to the executive subcommittee. German but so you're recognized. Thank you Mr chair the executive subcommittee met Thursday October the fifteenth two here to emergency rules the first one eighty D. C.'s for a start program emergency rule a grant program to provide short term rental assistance and then number two the department of parks heritage into resistance business interruption grant program for the Arkansas service and hospitality industry both routes were reviewed and approved by the executive committee and the review and approval will be effective upon adjournment of today's meeting of the Legislative Council I move for adoption of this report. Proper motion the second Senator Elliot do you have a question on the report yes I do I I just wanted to just get a maybe a quick idea of what are the requirements for applying for and receiving this the fresh start program in a. A grant. I think we have Mister Hudson present and he's making his way the table okay thank you. He's getting used to this. If you would introduce yourself a record Mister senator recognized answer that question yes Sir Jim had some of the ETC in general counsel for the agency a good morning sent earlier questions general in terms of your eligibility requirements center it's available to individuals who whose income is up to including eighty percent of the area median income which is a hud determined number so to just about buy parts of the state in our thinking on this was that it's not only just going to cover the very poor but also the working poor as well and so that was a really important topic for us to focus on in the individual's must've been impacted by code nineteen be by be behind on the rent so that they need assistance or kind of what it should. Okay and it will be a process the the grant funds will flow through the association of a community action agencies and they will actually take in the applications they will review them make sure they meet the eligibility requirements improve disbursement could you could you talk to give me just a little bit a notion what means impacted by cold at nineteen I for example doesn't mean if. I. Allen hard times lost my job it was not because of coded might not be eligible or just talk me through that he yes ma'am actually if you leave the chair back and got up as well couple folks you can make sure give the right answers one be Jean noble who has a par CDB G. program and also carry Bearden A who will work with the association of community action agencies normal processes okay I would appreciate that because I know I'm going to get these questions. AS or making a way of a A do you believe the answer is it is exclusive to individuals who I have been impacted by code nineteen so they lost their job not because of economic conditions that meant the job one away temporarily it could also be because of health issues impacted by Kobe nineteen they've been diagnosed with COPD nineteen or suspected and they had to quarantine for period of time or a family member they to care for as well so all that centered around code nineteen but now with the latest just confirm of answer that correctly. You would introduce yourself for the record yes my name is Terry beer nine the chief operations officer for the Arkansas community action agencies association. And Mr Hansen is correct basically we are requiring all applications to a firm using the CDC eviction moratorium declaration that their family has been impacted by October nineteen either financially or health wise so again someone in their family has had code nineteen they've suffered a loss of ours or loss of jobs even if they have gone back to work if they at some point suffered a loss of ours or or or lost wages that would count as well as if they've had to perhaps have one adult. Not work as much because their child is being a school virtually all of those types of tax that have had an impact on economic stability across the state one quick clarification and so if I've had a if I have a small business and business just has slowed down and I've had to close it this I just don't have the business but I. Do am I in a position to make a case that that's related to coded asked just because my business my business closed. Okay alright okay thank you I appreciate your and and pitch of share those guidelines that you mention out thank. Images some guidelines earlier that we're gonna be phone number down here but seek sure the dates area median income again that percent of the eighty percent of the area median income well I can give you here would be some illustrations for a statewide average the the area number may be slightly different as they look at costs throughout the state with the average get you pretty close. What is a time that's okay I just wondered if if I should I thought that might be in writing somewhere it is we can provide that to. If you like yes ma'am hi other people might not want it but I'd like to thank you we're happy and thank you Mr chair. We'll get that set up all members Representative love you're recognized for a question thank you Mr chair I got a couple number one is is there a cap on the is there a cap on the amount of the assistance that that the an individual family can was the. Yes since if they're they're they're to cast a plow one is it's two and a half months of rent but in the amount of rent is based on the how to determine fair market rental that you catch it okay good deal number two is Farmer first with the cap number two. Well I just I just allows the thank you Mr chair. Senator hammer you're recognized for quick question we still have a lot of people in the queue in a big agenda thank you Mr chair. The money is paid directly to the landlord on this is that correct that's correct senator. Second quick one Mr. What are the processes you have in place to determine if a person isn't reality may be better off having lost their hours because they got the six hundred dollar simulation money in now three hundred dollars an unemployment how do you cross reference all your information in process seen in determining if somebody is legitimately in need of this and maybe they just haven't missed manage their affairs. The thank you Mr certainly add that six hundred dollars in supplemental unemployment benefits of course expired several months ago so the chances that anyone has any remaining funds from that in that benefit is slim to none we will look at the income for the household from the prior thirty days. To the application date we will not go back for five months to determine how they manage their income this is considered an emergency type service so we don't have the time or luxury to be able to conduct a full scale case management we certainly will offer for disapproves the opportunity to enroll in case management which is a service that we provide that does allow us to help them take a look at their budgeting skills and make improvements in those areas. Thank you. Representative Ferguson you're recognized. Thank you Mr chairman of I just want to clarify this is only residential rent not it that would be for like a beauty shop percent they had to close it had to pay commercial ran correct only residential thank you. Absent garner you're recognized. Thank you. Thank you I'm way over here on the right on your left sorry. I just want to have likely thank you guys for going above and beyond with partnerships and saving and all the things that you've done to get this done and appreciate all the efforts that you put into to make it happen so thank you very much. I see no further questions we have a motion a second floor all those in favor say aye. All opposed. Size have it thank you god thank you committee thank you with that we'll move on to the standing committees of committee just inform you since we are the final action for the subcommittees today the rules subcommittee will be handled just like it would be if we were in rules subcommittee we will allow the agency to come to the table describe the rule that will allow a moment for public comment so with that we'll move on to the rules subcommittee It will recognize a DHS Marquardt thinks here. Two percent of the. To. Mark you would introduce yourself record you're recognized to present to rule. Thanks chairman mark point four million services of the rule we have here today this is for ambulance assessment program and what this is is this is a rule that will allow us to collect an assessment from and when services around the state government owned and services are excellent for property was services will click assessment them and then use the those revenues to draw down additional Medicaid dollars which will go back to the able services as access payments and this is these are similar to what we do for nursing homes and hospitals in terms of access payments we make for them of the something that we work with the industry on they're very excited about because this will be a real shot in the arm for them in terms of finances and the industry to ask that we go and push this for something get this thing got one and without be glad to answer questions. Any questions from the committee. Seeing none is anyone here from the public to speak for against this rule we have no one signed up to my knowledge. With that we have a motion for approval of this room. I have a motion and a second all those in favor say aye. All opposed eyes have it thank you yes thank you so that concludes our rules are gender so we'll move to To peer and Mister Bailey. Thank you Mr Billy pears legislative research. Request for may by agencies to increase appropriation to spin funds relates to the cares act which is a federal program that provides direct economic assistance response coming nineteen the request require prior approval by a l'cie. First item is a letter from the department Human Services in its request to increase the preparation by six million eighty twenty six thousand to a grants made line item for two different programs one point eight million of that will be the standard thirty that would allow the department support the Arkansas hunger relief alliance partnership for statewide critical direct feeding services for children elderly in families. Five million is being forty would allow the department to support community outreach investment for the purpose of nonprofits providing direct services to individuals with in high poverty areas. Next item is a letter from the publishing services and this is a request to increase appropriation by five million to a grants the line item you spent forty will allow the department to support of veterans issues initiative focusing on behavioral health and suicide prevention. The next item is a letter from the department of commerce it's a request to increase appropriation by four million two hundred forty thousand needs being forty well out the economic development commission to create and administer a short term rental assistance grant program for those affected by the pandemic. Next page is a letter from the department of commerce this is a request to increase appropriation by forty point five million to a grants the line item the new standard will allow the economic development commission to create and administer a grant program for businesses in the personal care tourism travel recreation and hospitality industries impacted by the pandemic the letter explains ADC will be that this person agency department of parks hedging towards on will be the will serve as the operational project manager and department of finance administration will administer the application and expense approval process as well as authorizing and distributing payments. The next item is a letter from the department of commerce and this is requesting Peace appropriation by twenty five million. Forty will allow the division of work for services to meet a state match allowing distribution of famous for the funeral lost wages supplemental assistance program. Next item is a letter for the department of finance and administration and this is a request to increase appropriation by two million thirty will allow the department to process that payment to C. T. H. for the business interruption program. The next item is a letter from the department of agriculture and this is request increase appropriation by five point four million the authority will allow the department to help local small scale meat processing facilities expand capacity to meet demand. And the last item is a letter from the department of health and this is a request increase probation by one million two hundred and two thousand it is being twenty will allow the department to utilize funds for mobile units and grants to community based organizations. Thank you bill like a. Okay can you come the table I got a question. And we've got a couple of the members questions. So I for one review agenda and we haven't got there yet but we're going to renew or extend the contract. Of for the auditing firm for the cares ACT money yes Sir but I heard bill you just say that that extension is solely for this been business interruption grant. Is the cost of the stock much to audit just that one piece of this pa. two million dollars it will we there's actually somebody who can speak a little more to the the nature of that it that extension and the work that we were asking C. T. age to do for us on this the business interruption grant program is pretty expensive project for us it will require a certain amount of work to be done for all the entities that will be seeking to participate and as part of that were really relying on C. T. H. to help us with a lot of the lake work to make sure that the folks who are participating meet their criteria and the payments are made appropriately the poll loading can speak to that more a more detailed than I can. If you would Mister Ballinger dish yourself for the record. You're recognized explained. All of the India five of the two million dollars in the. Has several facets to. The original portal it was built for the cities and counties was basically a database management tool to gather information for us to look at review approve and then document the expenditures for the audit process that we know is coming. In this case. Or S. can see to. To developer another portal to work alongside this that is designed to gather information. From the individual businesses of that will make sure that their Business in good standing with the state I don't have any liens filed against them or not filing bankruptcy there's a series of questions here about twenty questions will answer nuisance of certification. With a within a in port the expense reimbursements that they're looking for. And then D. F. and they will also consent to DFA to allow us to pool their sales tax data from last year and this year for the period of time that they had restricted business and we will make that calculation in the sea tech has developed a formula to marry those two pieces of information together and allocate the is the funds that will be disbursed to support those businesses. And at this point we're finished in the form of they're going to use but there will be like three enter rations of this run to make sure that all the money is distributed out to various businesses. So that's a totally different function. And calculation of then what's the original portal was designed to do. The back end of the original portal of intake information from this one so that we can do the financial reporting necessary to the federal government out of one system. Thank you and with that represent Dotson you have a question. Thank you Mr chair over to your right. I've got a. I'm confused about how how the sea tech contract originally was four million right yes Sir to Cover all of the auditing for all the stuff is what I what we were told anyway least to my recollection And then if I recall this this business interruption grant was approved for fifty million dollars not forty eight five so are the reduce that for this accounting purpose is that what the two million is for. So. The Kurds tech funding was approved the fifty million dollars. A. The two million dollar contract for C. to if all those those all the funds are not used in a supporting that contracts say they only bills of million seven then I asked for forty eight a half million dollars of appropriation grants line because what I don't want to do is wind up straining three hundred four hundred thousand dollars of the funds and not be able to use those for the grants so we will have an idea of what the final payment for sea tech will be and then we will be able to just the number of the grants that will be disbursed so we can maximize that grant funding. The original contract did not contemplate this this grant in its original form in this grand is involved over the last couple weeks of three weeks we were developing that portal to mainly take care of cities and counties with some additional input prior expenditures by state agencies to get that all in one bucket so to speak so that's the reason there's an additional money being requested here so did see tech actually audit the ready for business grants program. No. I move in and please understand we say all righty what we're attempting to do is make sure the documentations there there's been put in a format that we can really pull that back out. When the federal auditors or the state auditors come and look at that we're doing a pre of kind of what I would call for your process to determine that the requirements that the agencies are put on are the ones that need to be there that the documentation looks like it should and we are assisting. For their assisting us in that endeavor of that's really still an ongoing process we've got to get the agencies to back will documentation that they receive maybe back in June or may and we have really not gotten to that point with the state agencies at this point of because we put so much effort into the cities and counties and taking their applications are working those to approval process is and see that they have the documentation that they in the as they request the money so we're still doing all this is so we didn't contemplate that after the business ready for business grants up to this point. In I I've heard that we've had fifteen to maybe eighteen million of the ready for business grants. A unused and returned. Somewhere in there do we have a hard number on that and how much of the the cares act funding out of the one point two five billion is left at this point. I guess I under we make rules on the stuff today if we do. So if the all the items before the council today are approved the remaining unallocated amount would be eighty one point six million. And we have the number the the. Was returned in there ready for business grant program. It is in the report which we submit over to counsel your regularly. Hi four through this and seen and sent I think we can probably get to it. There's a lot going on in that report as you can imagine okay thank you. Service now looks like is eighteen point nine million was returned. Search correct represent Dotson was correct. Center this menu recognized for a question thank you Mr chairman and really just I think a little bit of clarification saw I'll in this with a question but my understanding is. By utilizing sea tech we're going to take some the burden off of the applicant's Wayne everyone's could open have to apply but we're going to utilize sea tech in agency information to be able to determine the numbers and actually back looking to the formula which again will take a lot of accounting work off of those applying because the information could be provided from the state based on their you know with their app along with their application is that is that a fair in a way to look at the sea tech. Yes for motion here that is a piece of the puzzle yes Sir it is one of my concerns even in the beginning of this program was making it so burdensome with entities that are already strapped for cash and resources and everything else and so by utilizing this type of program we take some of that away to allow them to freely apply without so much strain that could be created and a better budget some application process a thank you for that. Senator Phil you're recognized thank you Mr chairman of. Representative Dobson asked most of my questions but could you go into a little more detail on the twenty five million going to the department of commerce. The unemployment insurance yes the unemployment insurance sure I can do that and I think there are members from workforce services who are here who can speak to it in much more detail the in effect sure Reese if you want to just come up and join me so that. You can catch me if I say anything it's not accurate. When the six hundred dollar the additional unemployment benefits ended and I think it ended back at the end of July thirty first. The of the federal government through FEMA authorized additional payments of four hundred dollars but the plan being that three hundred to that would be paid for by the feds through FEMA and the state would contribute the other one hundred dollars. At the time they put those rules out they really said that we could show that one hundred dollar payment one of two ways. The first would be to make actually a one hundred dollar payment and the second would be to show that we had made an equivalent amount of one hundred dollars per person per week three existing traditional unemployment. We certified to them that that was our plan we move for with it. After that happened something strange happened which is the economy came back and people began to get jobs they begin rolling off of unemployment. And so the amount we were paying in benefits declined that's a good thing. The problem though is that as it declined the about the amount we could claim as match decline with it. And our projections when we put all this together had not anticipated that it would decline as deeply as it did. So we got with FEMA and basically said how do we handle this they want us to get the funding out there they want to be they want to carry out the mission of that that program so working with them we've reached a the agreement on how we could use cares act funding to in effect reimburse FEMA for whatever shortfall we might have. Now the amount of that short for we don't know at this time it will be reconciled when when we make the payments and it's all said and done but the appropriation that's before you today is to get in front of you all get your approval on us moving forward with this process and then have the approval in place the appropriation the finding everything ready to go so when the FEMA does reconcile that were able to reimburse them so is this part of the the surplus match. This is. You talk about having a surplus match. Surplus match I'm not sure. This would be a a match for the amount that the feds are providing to us through the president's executive order through FEMA okay occur. Yeah I'm good I'm good Mr. Bear with me on this board today Senator Chesterfield you're recognized yes thank you Mr chair as we look at the auditor who is going to audit The sea tech group. They are then subject to audit since they receive state funds from our own audit division of in a. They are. And I would anticipate that when this is all done that that will be done so that when we are a contracting out all of this stuff. two berries entities then we will take the responsibility of knowing that are dollars have been spent properly would you agree yes ma'am I thank you thank you Mr chair. Tender seven you're recognized. Thank you Mr chair and I just thank you for the questioning and also just kind of highlight the point that senator DISMANG mate you know in retrospect it would have been great to have had a company like C. tech from the get go one of the things that we learned from the ready for business program was that businesses that had more people on their staff that had the ability and we're kind of plugged in to the a grant making process were able to get those submitted quickly and on time and very easily where as small business owners you probably did not have that level of expertise really were behind the eight ball on all of that so you know one of the things that was really important for us when we were looking at the city and the county money for sure knowing that they were some cities that could handle this type of an expenditure and recordkeeping and being able to submit all the but there were other cities and counties that just did not have that same level of training experience or person on their staff they required and needed this to be as simple as possible to where you could literally apply for this program using app on your phone and so you know that is so important for the small business owners for them to be able to have an equal chance of being able to get this money and this grant program to them is that we have to spend the money up front to make it as simple as possible for those folks and also for the cities and the counties that are in that same city similar situations so I guess the would you agree perhaps question for Mr bleed and and and Mr Lowthian but I just I have a summary that was given to us that public health yesterday about the business interruption grant program if anybody would like to see it with the specifics I'm happy to share that with them that I just wanted to add my two cents worth I really think that. This was the right thing to do in the right stands out for money and thank you for the lot of to Mr chair would you agree absolutely thank you. All right with that I have a motion and a second for the. Section. Senator bond. I'm. Yes I realize push your request button please. Okay. I'm good hi just a I need to make a disclosure which I didn't realize on the proposal of DHS it's in this batch of Kerr's act funding part of that money could be used by the hunger relief alliance Kathy with the C. executive director we do not represent the hunger relief alliance that our law firm but her nephew works at a A is a partner at a law firm and we have represented Cappy individually and Kathy is our city director said just a disclosure of that I think is required by the Senate rules Senate. Thank you. I thank senator. So with that I have a motion. And a second. For the peer report. A motion and need a motion to approve I guess so need to amend that motion I have that and I have a second all those in favor say aye. All opposed us have it. Thank you guys and thank you we'll move on to the review agenda and with that we will recognize Mr Smith. And you're recognized miss Kathy. Thank you Mr chair I'll present the items for review the first is in your packet F. T. in is a grant from DHS they have a grant amendment for federal funds to continue vital services to assist homeless individuals who have serious mental illness the mount of available funds needed to continue the service or not enough to meet the current needed so that's on the first two pages of your packet. You want to go through all of them. Okay the next items I would be contracts and so you have a letter from Ellis P. stating that the contract submitted for legislative review cannot wait until the November meeting and S. P. notes that they appear to be lawful the first one in construction related state police that they have an amendment to their contract with wooden bar this is to do a CDL services to add those to the new port location it's adding of a thousand six hundred eighty two dollars the next is Inter governmental contracts are the first when there is between DHS and the Arkansas National Guard we move the civilians student training program out of the National Guard but they still provide the meal service this particular contract is only adding is not adding any money and typically typically with the C. that but they are increasing the price per meal and they knew in advance that the once they got up and going that the prices would increase so they built in in advance the amount of money that they needed but it is on the agenda for review because of that change next you have you A. L. R. with university of Wyoming and this is an original contract to develop a detailed plan for the evaluation of the substance abuse block grants out of state contracts number one you have deified child support for paternity testing the next one is DHS for I. T. database projects number three is free will Baptist ministries in this is to establish an agreement for specialized private license placement and this week focusing on siblings of of a groups of three or more DHS and this particular contract is an increase in utilization for quality service reviews number five DHS and increase also and utilization out for structure decision making number six and number eight or both for DHS these were done in special procurements in the letter which is in your packet in the golden rod piece of paper I was P. states that the agency requested special procurement to continue the E. elf maintenance and operation services and they also know that there are three contracts that will be covered under this there are two on today's agenda number six and number eight number six for pharmacy services and number eight for decision support system number seven for DHS is and amendment to an existing contract of for actuarial services because of increased need now. Or nine these being pulled from the agenda by the agency they noted that they can wait until after the November A. L. C. meeting so it'll be on our agenda in November then you have the in state contracts the first one is DFA this is the the one that Mr Lowthian and has been speaking about the amendment adding two million dollars number two is DHS for independent psychological examiner at the con way human development center number three is far therapy services that southeast Arkansas human development center number four on the next pages for utilization review and prior authorizations number five is four to public defender commission and this is for indigent parent council representation and those are the contracts on today's agenda you have to additional items that are disclosure items would of would take those up and just a second okay Senator hammer you're recognized for a question thank you Mr what was that one you you said structured decision making which one was that. There is it number five on page two. You know what that is or could you. Drill down on that a little bit. The contract number five between the ages in the National Council on crime and delinquency no Sir I don't have really any additional information I'm sure DHS is hearing could provide that detail that's right okay I'll get off record Mr thank you thank you. See no further questions do I have a motion for review I have a motion I have a second all those in favor say aye. All opposed us have it so with that we'll move on to the disclosures yes Sir the first one is disclosure of a vehicle contract there's a vehicle contract disclosure of anticipation to award for two vehicles as part of the fleet vehicle purchases for all state agencies are this is ward this is an award based on lowest bid now there's a letter in there from I wish PDA telling the two types of vehicles that be awarded and the contract to be awarded to TSS and Jay A. J. S. J. Ford and so this is disclosure of that contract the second disclosure is a lease agreement disclosure and on that that this is an approval item for the committee this item is the there's a letter from a transformation it shall shared services concerning disclosure of a property lease agreement the property lease agreement originally began earlier this year but it's being disclose now because it's on back current legislator the lease is between department of corrections division of community corrections and CSC LLC also known as we grew properties a copy of the lease also follows and again that is an approval item the motion to approve I have a motion to approve or batch in these two items I have a second. I have a second all those in favor say aye all opposed us have it so with that we thank you miss Kathy. So we'll move to the highway commission review an adviser senator DISMANG. You're recognized your support thank you Mr chairman how would commission review an advisory subcommittee met on October fifth and twelfth on October fifth is part of the study the art study of are not as required by act two ninety eight of two thousand nineteen the subcommittee subcommittee moved to have included in the draft report recommendations on expenditures procurement and if information technology draft legislation and oversight powers and related rule change rail city and draft legislation on merit pay on October twelfth the subcommittee heard responses to the draft report from are not discuss the remorse report moved to amend report and moved adoption of the report ALC written rules the final report will be provided to a LC at the November meeting I move for adoption the report have to take any questions proper motion drive a second I have a second all those in favor say aye. All opposed us have it that will move on to the occupational license report senator Irvin you're recognized thank you Mr chair of occupational licensing review subcommittee we met Monday October twelfth we discussed and approved two pieces of draft legislation the subcommittee will review the draft report and the legislation packet again at the next meeting in November that's all I have I'll move adoption of the report is proper motion the second our second all those in favor say aye hi all opposed ayes have it. So with that members will move on to H. serve your follow me to age to only a motion for review for the Arkansas teacher retirement system. I have a motion and a second all those in favor say aye. All opposed does have it so we'll move on to item for a FOR the Arkansas development finance authority motion to review. I have a motion and a second all those in favor say aye. All opposed ayes have it to move on to the next page on number eight is a division of parks on the a motion to approve on that one for a queen. Willow namer I got motion. Okay. Forget somebody from parks to the table form please. See the CFO. Senator rice you're recognized three questions is a get that they will. Thank. You guys would introduce yourself for the record and centers got it Senator rice as a question. Good morning Jim Andrews general counsel Arkansas department of parks heritage and tourism. Jeff king special projects manager for the division of state parks. Thank you gentlemen I just the I got to scan over that last night and and that's not my districts in mo house district of close to it and then. Join my county. I couldn't tell from the little map that was supplied in this war that was can you tell us where that is relationship with the law judge are there any other powers there were is there has there been any public input on that I'm not against it I just would like some information if you will short shorts on up to set. It's a one point four miles past allowed so if you're coming up to the hill for me now your past a lodge one point four miles in the roadway it's about just under my was the crow flies we have not had public comment we did have but I presented this item before state parks recreation and travel commission at a public meeting and it was approved by by our governing body on September seventeenth we also looked at kind of the visual resource impact of the of the tower it is something you know you can't hide under ninety foot monopole tower but it's going to be not within the kind of abuse from the lodge area it it'll be kind of out of sight as you round the lodge. At the park you will see it in the distance but uh it won't be profound and as far as your last question about other towers in there there are not towers at this location there are towers on and kind of an adjacent mountaintop that support for service property. This will be lighted tire AP a regulation what we haven't gotten into the details of of the permitting eight one to eighteen teams granted the the least they'll go through all the proper permitting with with FAA and and FCC in those other governing bodies and so I'm not sure if it will be but I I expected it would just being up on the mountain a key member of top and the the the A. G. ill requirement For lighting but there have been playing phone in the that mountain anyway disco back finally ill of. Why would you not have sought some public input on that. Well. We know that We have requests often from from large gas one of the things that we that is often stated by perks that come up and stay at the park is that you know they wish that they could use their phone they wish they could check their email we do have kind of a satellite internet broadband that's available at the lodge but you know it's lacking and so this is this is really kind of addressing public input in a way and that the public has been asking for this this communication opportunity we also know that no just the health and safety of gas that that travel up to the lodge and also that utilize the other property adjacent to watched on national trail you know that being able to have have ability to have communication is is a safety concern and then also the kind of the final pieces that this will also bring data through a fiber optic line to the tower and then to the lodging zone opportunity to connect state infrastructure in the state network for better business and and efficiency in our operations there Your your last statement is entered what I what I need to know because if somebody asks there has been public input in requesting the services again the emergency could be March the needs of communication also Eddie you you've read like that and that there has been some public input and that would give ME seven I could share with thank you US senator rice in addition to that are enabling statute is twenty two for one oh five which gives a state park recreation travel commission so authority to make the decision on the lease however are commission meetings are open to the public we do according to administrative procedure act put out our agenda in advance to the public and we welcome public comments at our meetings we've had no comments during these meetings which this project was discussed a greatly appreciate that ideas to help people normal people out here working every day have no idea what we're the commission meets but again the the speech statement there has been people I'm aware of that there's been people a blast for the service and again could be merged the needs of the two yes and I'm not against this but I think you you've erred thank you Sir. With that I'll have to have a motion to approve on that item I have a motion and a second. I have a second all those in favor say aye. All opposed us have it thank you guys thank you so with that we'll move on to Katie business carried over from the last meeting with that we'll have doctors reach children's come back to the table. Sell with the report on the front joint on unemployment claims is brought to my attention of over the last few weeks from constituents of mine at work at the Did of yes office there in Monticello. There have been to work. On Saturdays and still long hours in the call volume I looked at their call volume of the last few weeks and it's went down tremendously from the summer. And these folks are wore out that we haven't hired any new people we haven't done anything to relieve these the same employees so is there a plan for the Saturday jobs to go away or to be less. Needed and I just want you to tell us that when you give us the fraudulent and I sent a request yesterday through Mr it's and so I wonder committee no I'm not blind side you with that. Yes. Sri shoulders director division of art for services yes Representative Wardlaw I did send you a respond are taxed to say that available whenever you would like to discuss that more detail but I you are correct our offices we have individuals that are working the hotline on Saturday that was a request made by this committee I don't have the date but it was requests that we operate at least six days a week at least ten hours a day and so that's what we're doing we are providing a hotline four individuals calling and FOR unemployment questions for regular unemployment and pandemic and employment assistance for those days and for those hours yes fortunately the calls have reduced but we know that there are cycles and we expect another increase in calls as were soon to be distributing lost wages assistance payments and in the event that Congress approved additional of coronavirus support for unemployment benefits we expect that will receive have it up tick in our calls at that time as well so we are monitoring the call volume we have reduced the number of people working on Saturday on through our third party vendor and also there are staff the correction I should of I need to make is that yes we have hired additional staff matter fact I don't have the number in front of me but we have from the personnel committee and from And then from this committee to hire approximately I'd and a hundred a hundred additional staff and not including the ones that were approved recently to work on fraud so yes we all are tired of that we are working hard this is important to the citizens of Arkansas and they need our support and that's why our individuals that are working in our offices are working and are are spending the time of their spending because they know that we have jobs in a lot of these individuals did not. Senator hammer your question on the subject are next one it is okay you're recognized thank you Mr chair on the folk center having work overtime working the extended hours are you splitting the ships up to keep it up an overtime status or they being over time they have in the bank hours. All of the above so we do have schedules that individual to to to try to keep individuals from working overtime of that we do have individuals that are still working overtime just because their their job requires it it may not be specifically for the hotline but it's because they're having to work overtime in other areas of our agency. So. Can good miss yes Sir thank you shows some are able to work of flexion Edgell and would I be concerned about is that employees are being required work not being able to take the time off because we are addressing that in some future legislation that they're not just working for free or that they're having a bank hours that they never get to use because are not able to take off do you know is that the case with those in any of those employees. Are we are monitoring that we know that there are some employees that are that have a substantial amount of leave and so we're looking at that of that of those there leave balances and what options that we have it's my understanding under our current Policy that are leave is not allowed over over a certain number of hours they're not allowed to carry that leave over into the next year obviously of that's that something that we have to have an places a state now I understand that but we do have quite a few individuals that have an excess of ours because they have not been able to take off because what that would mean is it would just put more pressure on additional staff or unanswered calls or and process claims so there's a we do have flex casuals we initiated that when we were working Saturdays and Sundays on the hotline and are you able to claim reimbursement for the overtime against the cares ACT money because it is not plug a hole in the budget but yet it was created by the by the covert situation so are you are you able to get reimbursement for those funds identified yes Sir okay yes I three federal for their federal funding alright thank you they Mr. I think Senator senator Elliott you're recognized. Thank you Mr chair I just wanna get clarity on what you mean when you said about the hours and the accumulations we're looking at that in the and When a maybe employee has exceeded the number out of hours they can thank. He was saying we're no longer going to require them to keep working or are we saying. They keep work and we are definitely going to pay them. The policies and procedures that we currently have in our office of personnel management for the state for all employees across the state there's a set number of hours that they are allowed to carry over and so we are look I'm not but the office of personnel management is looking at if it if there's any provision which would allow them to carry those hours for obviously you know it may not just be our agency so that that's the that's the circumstances that we find ourselves in we also know that individuals are already taking leave to keep from losing their leave at the end of the year so we're working with those individuals so that they can take the time Tom off rather than lose it if you need them and they're in a position where they can't bank anymore hours does the law or the rule of whatever we're talking about is it it allows us to compensate them to that we have the people we need are on the job Senator Elliot I have studied that when we were first looking it and went in with first presented this to opium to look at so if someone is here from OPM I would feel more comfortable if they can answer that question I wish somebody would if somebody can because this is reminiscent to me in a lot of ways so what was happening with the and department of corrections we ended up with people have been days and days and days and days we ended up just invited just trying to get them call center that's been my biggest concern hearing from my constituents now we were doing nothing but due to Clayton a problem that we've already live three the last ten years four years yeah yeah so miss Purvis your inner staff for committing you're recognized thank you my name is in person chief of staff for transmission shared services and we have been looking at this issue some of it's a statutory restriction so we're looking at maybe some of some creative ways that we can address it for this current fiscal minutes current calendar year because when the the. Ours would go away so we are looking at that we're looking at all the different options we may have on the table we we help to have a resolution or suggestion very soon. Is there something that we need to do to help you have a resolution currently it would you know we made look at what what's possible during the next session it may be you know we may have a car route for emergency situations like we're currently doing because you know we have to have a balancing approach to this so we don't have in issues when we don't have this emergency type of situation that we don't have employees it may start you know according hours a and in an expectation that there would be a solution of the calendar year grand it's all a budgetary balancing approach but we are looking at what we can do because we realize that a lot of us have not been able to take off any time this year and there is a significant impact to the people that are gonna have direct of support or services to the people in Arkansas well we had a huge if it's you or anybody else and we are working people not had a chance to take off. This is not the way we are to operate not I can't say how strongly I feel about not working people to the point of of almost breaking because that's what this feels like and I just want to remind us we rightfully demanded that we have it that we have people on the job the legislature we have demanded that but on the other side of this I do not want us to just looking at something and trying to figure out figure it out if it is the result of some policy that we have in place that you need to feel comfortable and straight up about telling us what that is. We can not with any moral authority say anything to any private sector employer who abuses workers if we do the same thing and that is exactly what this feels like I understand I'm not I'm not upset at you guys at this point I'm just saying we've all and rightfully so requested that we make sure we are serving the public but there's a there's the other side of that but we need to be working together to make sure we are not abusing people on the job. And please. Don't just sit there and just try to work something out if you need to be telling us what the problem is that we need to do something as well. Yes I think we anticipate coming to you all very soon with with what what we may be able to work through this problem we we feel the same way that we need that the there we've got some very dedicated state employees that we need to address this issue and so we we are taking it very seriously and we will what we want to move for fairly quickly yeah because I I I just hate it when people up you know used and I'm not saying you use dedication. I'm a school teacher I know what that means and people go oh you're so dedicated but we're not willing to pay you out so I I don't want that to be something that we become a part of thank you Mr chair and and I think you're right let's don't go down that road we know we have been down and we're still walking down. Thank you senator. Senator hammer you're recognized of still have a lot of people make years so be mindful and one question please actually it's a statement to the chair please okay and. Thank you way and if they want to on this particular subject matter they will say this but the subject comes up and I mentioned piece of legislation while ago about actually been working with OPM for about the last six months on this issue and have a nice P. filed with the piece of legislation coming but when I gave it to Kate they wanted the chance to work it out because receiving the discussion that possibly we could by the the hours out at the end of the year so this is this is actually should be addressed in the personnel committee coming up and if anybody wants to weigh in not that be a good place to be because we are asking people work for nothing in certain situations thank you I think Senator. Senator Chesterfield you're recognized as a just a quick question Mr chair what specifically is a rule that precludes us from moving for with this with this in an expeditious manner. Senator can't sought the the the the site itself it is excuse me at the moment but it is a state law that prevents the carry over for anything over the over than more into an on forty hours since the shale and there's very limited exceptions so as the current the laws it's currently stated gives limitations but what we're looking at is how can we do this under an emergency situation in such a way as to address the issue and we anticipate you coming back to us by the time we meet again I hopefully so Senator I'm just we're looking to make it happen yes alright thank you. Senator bond you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chairman so on the on the think everybody wants to make sure our state employees get paid appropriately art of war but we we had to call center contracts or call center contract and then extension with cares ACT money so has not not lessen the burden on the extended hours and may not that was my impression that that was what the call center was for was to provide some relief to a regular state employees could you explain. Are we getting that relief for can we not demand the the contractor work some of the Saturdays. The a yes Sir senator bond the contractor is working the Saturdays in the case of P. U. either also working Sundays and that's on the contract side wet of mention before and explained is that at the third party cost center level they don't have the expertise to answer questions specific to an individual's claim that requires more knowledge and experience than just looking at the claim and giving them the status and possibly assisting them with the next steps they do have some access to the claimant's information but it's limited as these are third party individuals so they don't have full access to the system so that requires us to have staff of dedicated the of a train staff in are you out apartment and throughout our local offices to be able to answer those calls on Saturday. I thank senator represent a wooden. And then was it are fraudulent report yes Sir thank you Mr chairman of following up on the Senator hammer a request we will we will have that on our agenda in November or December whichever month we made but I feel like from hearing my colleagues that we need to be sure we made in November in the personnel committee to consider well what we may can do to help you all out. Mister chairman I have one question Have you Mr over said bill made a change in. Policy recently about devising information to our state have. About. Request that we have from constituents that have been waiting weeks for some type of response or some way to get into the system or some have a communicate with you all because it is being shared with me this kind of an impression that the record quests that we may thank you that your people will answer directly and we don't necessarily know when they've been contacted. Constituents. A so Representative wooden I think your question is when we get a request from a legislator for I do we follow up with that individual and that answer is yes that information is sent to either the unemployment insurance staff for the pandemic unemployment insurance assistance staff then do we follow up to provide the the followup information if it's requested we do but not on every single on every single individual that were asked to look at the status of their claim and assist them and I and I just would say that that would that would one there are limitations on what we can share regarding that claimant and to that would. Require more time on the on on on our staff and also on the on on you know the staff at the central office and throughout our local offices if they had to provide a follow up to every single claimant it's there are minutes it is I receive dozens an hour just to my email so you can imagine that would be. Add additional time and would slow down the process for the clients out sure you that when you send something to us we follow up on it and if your if your constituent contacts you and says that they haven't heard from us please send it directly to me. Well my question is is there been a change relative to what you care and the votes to our staff that make a request to have to your agency because it will the feedback I'm getting is that is and I realize that there's some information you can share and I realize that you all are overly hardened I totally understand and but it just appears from one I've had shared with me that there has been some sort of shiny no of no formal change or directive now Sir thank you thank you Mr chairman thank you. So with that we'll move on to the for a joint report and. Okay thank you very much of a members of the committee. In response to the significant influx of fraud and unemployment insurance and pandemic and employment assistance our division has implemented several fraud prevention and detection measures as required by federal law we retain our pre existing units and capabilities for detecting and collecting individual claim for I'd keep in mind that I've reported on this before in that our agency as required by federal law to have units that detect fraud look it over payments and also look at claimant claimant information as we as we work through the unemployment claims as they were originally just regular unemployment insurance in doing so that has the loudest in the past to have a very low fraud rate of much lower than most states and we attribute that to having individuals go into our local office and provide an ID. As you've heard me say we stop doing that in requiring that one because of health the health circumstances of our staff and and with kind of and we wanted to protect our staff and limit the number of people into our offices so that we could keep our offices open as much and as long as possible which we did and still are continuing to do. We have opened up our offices to the public there is there's what we have of detection as you come in the door to make sure that we're keeping everyone safe and there is an effort now for us to collect ID's from individuals on regular unemployment insurance and then also those FOR pandemic unemployment insurance that originally were not required to show an ID. So as of October fourteenth twenty twenty and of course these numbers change daily. In regular unemployment insurance with self reported fraud claims of twenty one thousand nine hundred and sixteen. And regular unemployment employer reported reported fraud claims of five thousand three hundred and thirty seven. The total regular you I claims reported is fraudulent twenty seven thousand two hundred fifty three. The P. U. I. claims that are and internal review status. Which means that they were placed in review in order for us to to to determine whether or not there font and to look at them for further information is fifty four thousand four hundred ninety five out of two hundred thirty seven thousand six hundred and seventeen as of today we've had approximately four hundred thousand total unemployment claims. Once a potential fight is been reported by the claimant or the victim the claim is stopped in regular you are we use a stop payment stage in P. U. S. a pandemic unemployment assistance a denial is issued so the victim receives a follow up notice in the mail instructing them to provide a copy of that their police report and valid state issued ID I do want to say that the little rock police but department did put in place An email address and information for those that are in little rock and need to report a police and need to report their fraudulent claim to the police. Any fraudulent claim that is self report about a victim is flagged stopped investigated by the fraud investigation unit no payments are made after the claims are stopped and all are considered ongoing investigations it is also common for employers to receive notices from the W. stating that their employees of filed for benefits when employer reports the potentially fraudulent claim is been filed on employee notices to automatically generated to the and to the claimant alerting them to the potential fraud. Any potentially fraudulent claims that are reported by an employer our flag and investigated by the fraud investigation unit the employee must also report the fraud to confirm to DWS that they did not filed the claim. No payments are made after the claims are stopped all are considered ongoing investigations there are cases where employees have filed for unemployment in the employer was unaware. Especially as we're looking at pandemic and employment assistance were individuals may be employed as a W. to employee and then also employed through as it as a ten ninety nine employee as a second job and so that individual may go in and file for an unemployment claim but we show that they're still employed in their W. two job. So there have been some of those instances and we alert of the employer of that if if we have that information and also taught to the employee about that as well because they are not eligible. Suspicious claims are identified daily based on various data elements within design parameters I've talked about those before. Such as using the same bank account number invalid email domains claims against high risk banks except for the suspicious finder flag for review and investigated further bodied of yes before the payment is authorized when a P. U. I. claim is placed an internal review status letters mailed to the climate notifying them of next steps necessary to satisfy the review and release the account. If the if it's acceptable and approved claimed in claims an internal review status may or may not be fraudulent before they require investigation before paying the full body Debbie a but they require further investigation body double yes before payment is authorized we sense trying one hundred additional staff members station in our local work for centers to handle the P. U. I. idea verification and locked accounts when a you I claim is flagged for review a notice is mailed to the claimant instructing them to provide their ID at the nearest Arkansas workforce center in order to release the Klein. All potential fraud allegations are investigated by DWS internal audit. Fraud investigation unit and all investigations are ongoing there is no average length of time because every investigation is different this also depends on how long it takes a climate to verify their identity once requested. So as were. Looking at of fraud we're also looking at the overpayments that are that are made some of those are fine some of those are non fraud and so those are that's another reason why on an individual may have won a claim that has not been paid because there's been an overpayment and we stopped that Klein but also it could be because of past History of on unemployment unemployment insurance for that final has now been adjudicated and we found that that individual is not eligible for unemployment insurance the Dodgers we got a few questions already. So if we were Senator hammer will recognize you for question thank you Mr chair could you refresh my memory as far as when you identify these fraudulent claims are we getting a relief from the federal government as far as against our unemployment insurance rates and against the funds are being drawn out of the unemployment pool two against relief once they've been officially identified as fraudulent. No Sir we've not received any guidance or received any relief from that from the federal government as of yet however it is a nationwide problem so it is being discussed and it we hear about it on our calls with our other workforce. Workers across the states so you are actively participating in requesting the feds to give us some relief for it not hold us or punish us because of the fraudulent activity that is a nationwide problem. Yes Sir that's meant it's it's something that we're all discussing we know that that this is not just in Arkansas problem most of these as I've said before are larger rings and so they're happening in multiple states but as far as any any information that we received for relay for these or how to how to a. Okay. Fun for those we don't have any guidance on that yet from the US department of labor and you have a total dollar impact to the unemployment system or can you get that for sure is it possible to even get it. At this time it's not possible because there's there's still being investigated and we can we know how much has been returned our agency. Paul has run Hicks to come up here and an answer that question if you would like that's chair's discretion but thank you thank you Mr chair of where the final I'm fine with bring someone else to the table if you have been here. If you would Sir introduce yourself for the record Senator hammer you're still recognize thank you. brain Hicks decision director for finance working and CFO for division were for services. in terms of what's being returned we re giving back of fraud and non fraud so both together and so we are working on getting that number broken out so we would have the number of how much is for the fraud that we have collected back we are working with the bank's this as it is doctor said this is a national issue the banking industry as a whole is also looking at this very closely to look flag in the moneys that are coming into the banking system as we do most of the transactions to electronic deposit and so they're monitoring those very closely from all the states to see if there's anything there that would flag as fraudulent potentially fraudulent and if a bank a does flag it they are notifying us and working and we're working with them to get that money returned as well. Okay just seems to elect to get a number on that and then my question is we just put a hundred fifty million dollars out the cares act into the employment fund the money that's being recouped as a result of a being identified with fraud does that go back into the unemployment trust fund. A yes Sir if we receive the funds back from the banks or if we on the rare occasion get it back from the foster we do put it back into the trust fund I think that would have some direct bearing on decisions we make that if we just put a hundred fifty million back in the trust fund and us not knowing what the dollar value of the fraud amount being returned but kind of like to know that FOR other discussions we have another committee meetings you know with regards like you know employers and what rate they're having to pay and what can we do to help them lower that that rate that the employers are having to pay but soon I mean how could how soon could you tell us the number that you know for fact has been returned to date yes we're mainly digging through seven months of records we do expect to have that other probably couple weeks of another thing to point out in terms of the impact to employers rates is once a claim has been identified as fraud they have had payments of one of the other things that we do is we move those charges out from the employer and do not charge that employer so that the and it does not impact the rate calculations are Mr could baby the chair directed as soon as they get that number they send that out to all the members so that we could have that dollar value as soon as possible please thank you yes. Thank you see no further questions and no other business on the calendar we stand adjourned.