House Aging Children and Youth Legislative & Military Affairs
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (8)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1962
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HB1962”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HR1032
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HR1032”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HB1693
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HB1693”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HR1040
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HR1040”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HB2010
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB2010”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HB2124
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB2124”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HR1041
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HR1041”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HR1048
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HR1048”
|
Pre-2017 bill |
Machine transcript
May contain errors. Verify important quotations against the official video.
About transcript accuracy
- Source
- Whisper
- Model
- ggml-large-v3-turbo.bin RTX5060
- Processing date
- October 5, 2026
Speaker 1
0:00
First his husband, and then it was time to go.
Representative Frederick Smith
Unverified
0:30
All right, welcome. We're going to go ahead and get started with
Chair
Unverified
0:44
aging and youth, so really quick, members, if you all have a bill on the agenda, please let me know when you plan on running it. We're going to make sure that we try to keep things cleaned up as far as bills are concerned. the third time they're not run we're going to automatically move them to the deferred list so we're again trying to make sure that we do everything decently
in an order here and make sure that we can get through as many bills as we can before time is up also keep in mind too we're going to have Senate bills that will probably start coming down to the committee so this is not going to be everything that you we actually see good I saw long enough to for Representative Chairman, we'll go ahead and make sure we call him by the proper title, Chairman Fielding. We're going to go ahead and let you present your House resolution if there are no objections so that he can get back to his committee.
Representative David Fielding
Unverified
1:35
Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was trying to rush over here quickly to present this. Members, what I have before you is a House resolution congratulating a group of young ladies who came on last Saturday and played their hearts out and was able to put on a wonderful show and win the first A championship for a little small school. It's in Ralston, but the school is called Nevada.
They are very hardworking young ladies, and we're just so proud of them. anybody have any questions or
Chair
Unverified
2:19
comments saying that anyone here to speak for or against the resolution okay what's pleasure of the committee representative Julian recognized motions been made it do pass any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor say aye all those opposed nay
congratulations representing the feeling you've passed your resolution thank you Mr. Chair, I thank you, committee. Okay. Next up, we're going to, again, without objection, we're going to let Representative Gillum run his bill. And let's see here. It was – well,
I'm sorry. What was your bill again? I believe it's 1962. 1962. Okay. Representative Gillum, you recognize the President of House Bill 1962. All right.
Representative Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
3:06
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, committee.
I appreciate you allowing me to go out of order today.
We've got a special order of business over in agriculture. we're dealing with raw milk right now and they want me back over there for that so I'm going to try to be as concise as I can be respectful of your time but if you do have any questions please feel free to ask me I've tried to kind of cover most this ground with you during the week outside of the committee chamber but there may have been new questions that have arised first of all let me just point out that this this whole issue came about through
constituents of several of us on Judiciary Committee that had approached us during last session about doing something with the alimony situation in Arkansas now it's not just give it out every day I don't want to mislead anybody think this is just a something the judges are doing just arbitrarily every day but when it is when alimony is given there are occasions in which sometimes it exceeds what many people felt like might be prudent so they
brought this issue to us during the last session and the same legal team that Representative Branscom uses is also my legal team and so we decided to go through the interim study route to really make sure that we did this the proper way we didn't want to rush into this and so we spent the last couple of years doing an interim study on this and then as the good Lord would have it we got a new team a new team member on judiciary this time who actually
practiced in this field and so representative Broadway was was gracious enough to offer input on this bill as well and so what I have before you today is House Bill 1962 and what our goal was was to not necessarily reinvent the wheel on this but just to provide some what we felt like were prudent and modest guidelines that could be used when alimony was afforded or awarded excuse me and so what we mainly tried to deal with there's a couple of issues
that we tried to deal with in this particular bill and that was one the issue of cohabitation under current law if you were to get divorced your spouse could cohabitate and never lose their alimony let somebody else pay the bills but then they actually got your money your your alimony check and then would never actually have to use it for the intended purpose because they were cohabitating with somebody else or as Representative Branscom referred to it shacking up so we tried we addressed this that particular issue in this bill
one of the other things that we also looked at was the percentage of your net income that goes towards alimony, you know, and there's some different philosophies out there as far as why alimony is awarded, but the general one that we found through the interim study was that it was rehabilitative. It was meant to give an option for the spouse that might not be the breadwinner of the family or the provider a chance to get back on their feet, his or her feet, and be able to kind
of rebuild their life. And so, given that in mind, we also include a percentage in this bill as well that uses the family support chart. And so, that's basically what I have before you today. Like I said, I'll be happy to answer any questions if the committee has any at this time. All right, committee, do you have any
Chair
Unverified
6:52
questions? Representative Scott, you're recognized.
Representative Sue Scott
Unverified
6:59
Representative Gilliam, I do have a question.
How will they prove that a couple is cohabitating? How will that be proven? Okay, that is a
Representative Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
7:08
great question. That's one we wrestled with in our November meeting that we had with the interim study
when Judiciary met jointly. Senator Luker brought that up as well. We wanted to leave some discretion in this, and that was one thing that most of the committee felt like, even our current members felt like that we wanted to not take this down the road to where the judges had no options at all
on this. But the general guidelines that I believe that my understanding of talking to the Office of Administrative Courts and J.D. Gingrich and those folks would be that they would use issues such as duration, you know, amount of time that's being spent at the location you know, and looking at some of those issues from a common sense standpoint was the feedback I got from the courts. Thank you. Okay, Representative Julian, you're recognized?
Representative Patti Julian
Unverified
8:03
Representative Gillen, I neglected to ask you, when you had the joint interim study, did we have some of our judiciary members who sit on domestic cases as witnesses or consult
with the committee? Yes, and And I'll fill you with a
Representative Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
8:21
little background on those interim studies. What happened, I had gone to the trial courts representatives that we have, their liaisons to us in judiciary, and reached out to several in the legal community.
And we had testimony at great length from people who actually did this for a living in the interim study. And their input was given through that process and helped with this finished product. At the time, on Senate Judiciary, we did not have anybody on House Judiciary at the time, that dealt with these issues day in, day out. We had attorneys that had taken the cases, but it wasn't their niche, so to speak. On the Senate side, though, we did have a few at the time that were on the last committee that were able to offer, I think,
valuable input because they had dealt with it a considerable amount of time. But we did have a lot of testimony. The Trial Lawyer Association was gracious enough to provide us with several individuals who dealt with this, and they came and spoke before us and offered their input and a lot of their notes came into this product as
Representative Patti Julian
Unverified
9:27
well. Well, I'm really thinking about the judges who hear domestic cases. No, now that I did a lot of
Representative Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
9:36
that on my own and talking with my judges back in Wyatt County and also in my
surrounding areas as well and did reach out to them. J.D. Gingrich, I reached out to him now they were there for the interim studies as well and participated in a large part from an observing standpoint but they did were able to offer feedback to us from from the court side of things as well
Chair
Unverified
10:03
thank you okay anybody else have any questions seeing none we do have one person signed up to speak for the bill mr. Philip Woodson
okay well you're the only one to either speak for or against the bill so it's okay anybody else want to speak for against the bill that's not signed up seeing none what's the pleasure of the committee representative Holcomb I move for a do pass motion's been made do pass any discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor say aye all those opposed congratulations representative Gilman you passed your bill thank you mr. chairman thank you committee for your town okay next up on the agenda without um objection we're going to go ahead and let
representative edwards present house resolution 1040 and 1041 representative edwards you're recognized and while he's going to the to the end of the committee table um i just want to encourage you if you guys know of a colleague of yours that has a bill that wants to run them let them have them come to me um we know that there's a lot of things going on with the different committees and we're trying to make the best use of everyone's time to try to, again, push through as many bills and resolutions as we can before the time expires here. It will be here before you know it. So with that said, Representative Edwards, you're all recognized.
Representative John Charles Edwards
Unverified
11:19
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. House
Resolution 1040 is about Abate Arkansas. Abate Arkansas is an organization, a nonprofit organization, that does educational advocacy for motorcycle safety. I've worked with them over a number of years, and they're a very responsible organization. I believe in safety for all cyclists, but they primarily focus on motorcycles. But I would be happy to take any questions and appreciate a good vote.
Chair
Unverified
11:51
I'll just echo what you said. I know that they do a lot of
great work, and, you know, it's important to recognize what they've been doing in our communities. With that said, anybody else have any questions or comments on the resolution? Anybody who wishes to speak for or against the resolution? Seeing none, what's the pleasure of the committee? I'll represent you of Armstrong. You recognize it. Motion's been made. Do pass. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. All those opposed. Congratulations, Representative.
Speaker 44
12:21
You've passed your one resolution, and you recognize, present your other one. Thank you,
Representative John Charles Edwards
Unverified
12:28
Mr. Chairman. 1041 deals with the Patriot Guard Riders. I'm sure when you've either been to or seen on television a funeral service for a fallen soldier killed in action you will see a lot of motorcyclists with their vest on representing the Patriot Guard riders this organization provides a tremendous service for these grieving families if they're invited
What they do, unfortunately, many times our military burials have become a site of protest. And as I've mentioned in some other comments on the House floor before, we've had to deal with that in a constitutional way where we're trying to respect the rights of free speech while at the same time respect the rights of grieving families.
Well, what the Patriot Guard riders have been able to do is they give that family a lawful shield at times to keep them from having to deal with other things that they shouldn't have to be dealing with. These people do. They show up in all weather, rain, shine, snow, and, again, they're invited only, you know, at the request of the family, and I would appreciate a good vote on this resolution. Okay. Any members have any comments or questions?
Chair
Unverified
13:57
Seeing none, anyone wish to speak for or against the resolution? Okay. What's the pleasure of the committee? Representative Bain made motion due pass. Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed,
Speaker 48
14:19
congratulations, Representative Edwards. You've passed your resolution. Okay, Representative Perry, are you – I don't see Representative Perry here.
Chair
Unverified
14:28
So we're going to go to Representative McGill. We're going
to, again, without objection, let you present House Memorial Resolution 1005. You're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee. With
Representative George B. McGill
Unverified
14:43
the committee chair's permission, I would like to have Mr. Douglas Walker join me, please. MR. Yes, please, Mr. Walker. You can. And for
Speaker 52
14:50
the record, please state your name and title. MR. Good morning, Mr. Chairman of the Committee.
Doug Walker
Unverified
15:00
My name is Doug Walker, and I'm
Representative George B. McGill
Unverified
15:05
here as a private citizen. MR. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Committee. I'm here today to ask for your favorable agreement in commending and honoring the service and impact of a Mr. Randy Davis. Randy had an emergency medical service community, worked in the medical services community in Sebastian County and in the state of Arkansas for more than 31 years at a very early age, right out of high school. Mr. Davis wanted to be an
emergency person, and he went right to work right out of high school, graduated from Greenwood High School, and he sought training in EMT training and gave the highest quality of emergency services for all of our community, and this recognition is due to some of the innovations that he brought to the emergency services while serving. He was very instrumental in making the ambulances basically a rolling emergency room.
He was behind that effort. He was also one of the first named as an assistant coroner which helped small areas in that he was authorized to certify death when there was natural causes. And this really helped a lot of our help in determining these things and helped with shortage when they had shortage of staff in the coroner's office. He was also certified in relief efforts when we had the Hurricane Katrina people hit Arkansas.
He was certified to help in that relief effort, and he trained and guided many in doing those kinds of things. He expanded the role of emergency personnel. He also was a responder that had a hazmat certification, and also developed a dive team for emergency personnel. So his efforts and training and innovations expanded the services of our emergency medical
training people, and we would like to applaud him and recognize him for that. He passed away a few months ago, and with that, Mr. Chairman, I would like if Mr. Walker would have any comments, I'd like to have him do that at this time.
Doug Walker
Unverified
17:38
Okay, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have to say thank you for allowing me to come forward and speak on the family's behalf. Randy was a lifelong friend. I remember as a young gentleman in the state of Arkansas, Randy's parents and my grandparents
lived next door to one another, and my younger brother and Randy were born on the same day, which kind of gave a kinship between those two. But between Randy's sister, Randy, myself, and my brother, we used to make mud pies on the top of their storm cellar in the Arkansas heat, so those are very fond memories I have. but Randy was Randy was small of stature he wasn't a wasn't a big guy so he didn't play football he didn't play basketball and he wasn't the fastest guy in in the school unless you were chasing him but Randy had a servant's heart
Randy wanted to do kind things for people and that was the drive that he had that he joined the EMS service in 1977 I believe one year later when now Judge Hudson in Sebastian County was put in charge of the the public works public service in that area he became a regular in in mr. Hudson's office asking for money and training and more equipment and better equipment Randy's insight into into the service of EMS in Sebastian County was instrumental in
taking it and leading in the state for for such things as already been mentioned the deputy coroner and also saw to it that there was other avenues by which the paramedics under his charge were also appointed as deputy coroners to help out that short-staffed office but Randy even headed up the the relief efforts when Hurricane Katrina came through he was in charge of Fort Chappie and was commended for his efforts there but Swift Water Rescue other other things that Randy had done would just he he'd lead and at his funeral in
November the church in Greenwood that probably housed about 500 people was standing room only and they came from all over the state EMS services fire police you know Randy even saw the need for medical attention on SWAT operations usually emergency medical individuals are kept two or three blocks away for their safety Randy sought appointment and training and joined the Sebastian County SWAT team so he could give on-site medical attention not only to the police officers law enforcement there but also to the citizens that may
be in harm's way so without weapons he put himself in harm's way just so he could serve so Randy did pass away in November he left behind a wife I believe two sons three daughters five grandkids a mother and a father and many family friends so I thank you for the opportunity
Speaker 59
20:23
to come before this committee and speak on the family's behalf
Chair
Unverified
20:28
thank you thank you tremendous person that we just heard about folks is there
any other comments or questions Any questions on the resolution?
Anyone else in the audience which to speak for or against the resolution? Okay. What's the pleasure of the committee? Representative Feit, you're recognized. Do pass motion has been made. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. All those opposed. Congratulations. Representative McGill, you've
passed your resolution. Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee. Perry has
now joined us. We'll recognize you to go ahead and present your resolution, House
Resolution 1051. Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
21:14
Committee Members. Sorry I missed the first call. It's a busy Friday. I think I had a copy of this. House Resolution 1032. A couple years ago, Representative Malone and I had a chance to visit Taiwan developed the relationships saw what kind of programs they do it's really interesting as far as how serious they take education it's you know kids
over there house resolution 1032 give you all a minute to find it you know Kids in Taiwan, when they're sitting next to their friends, they realize they're not only competing against them, but they're competing against kids in Arkansas as well. You really fully understand it's a global environment. But the resolution kind of points out some facts of what our relationship is,
what kind of imports, exports we do. So it also kind of develops a tie with Sister City, Little Rock, and excuse me for I kind of murder the name. Representative Perry, if I could, let me just interrupt this moment
Chair
Unverified
22:37
because I think I told you all the wrong resolution. I thought he was running 1051, and he's actually speaking about 1032. So I just wanted to make sure we point that out so
there was no confusion. Yes, it's 1032.
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
22:52
1032, okay. Proceed. I'm sorry. Go ahead. But last session, we did a Senate resolution on the same topic. Fiscal session, we weren't doing resolutions, so we've come back this time and have proposed a resolution. Director General Daniel Lau, he is actually leaving his position in Houston and going back to Taiwan, and this recognizes his accomplishments of what he's been able to do over the last several years
and developing those ties with Little Rock and Taiwan. So I'd take
Chair
Unverified
23:30
any questions. Any members have any questions? Representative Feighton, you're
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
23:35
recognized. I'm sorry. This should be speaking for the
Chair
Unverified
23:39
bill. I'll hold it. Okay. Well, Representative Feighton, you're recognized.
Speaker 68
23:46
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a question. I think recently we had a similar resolution for another country, and do you know of any
ongoing conflicts between Taiwan and other countries that we might be involved in if we pass a resolution like this? And also, would you speak to the portion of your bill or your resolution that has to do with climate change, and it's mentioned in there several
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
24:12
times. Yeah, the first question, I don't know of any other countries that we would have to be questioning on that side. I know they're worried, you know, still they're a republic of China.
They still have that concern. In fact, part of our tour, you know, you go to one of the sites where they actually have the protection in case they're ever invaded by China again. pretty interesting on that side of where you would think. Climate change, where is climate change on
Speaker 68
24:51
here? It looks like page two, well, the second and third paragraph, I guess
they participate in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It looks like they're an observer or something. It's mentioned in there several
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
25:08
times. Yeah, they you know, as far as clean energy, recyclable energy, solar, climate change on that aspect of it, but that's where, in fact, we actually toured part of that to see what they do on that side of it. That's the best I could explain that.
Speaker 72
25:29
Okay. Anybody else have any questions? Representative, I'm going to go ahead and recognize you to, I
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
25:37
guess, speak for the bill and make a comment. Okay. I said thank you I lived in the wonderful country of Taiwan for eight years and so I'm happy to see this relationship between the city of Kaohsiung and our state thank
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
25:54
you for that word there so you're checked out driving a scooter too I take it man because there's Scooterville over there
Chair
Unverified
26:02
okay with that said And is there anybody else that wishes to speak for or against the resolution? Seeing none, what's the pleasure of the committee? Representative Ferguson, you're recognized. The motion's been made. Do pass. Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor, say aye. All those opposed, say nay. Congratulations, Representative Perry, you've passed your resolution. Thank you, committee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Okay.
We've got about 15 minutes left. letting uh do you can you present your
bill in 15 minutes you think okay we're going to go ahead and recognize you to present um no one house i'm sorry it
Speaker 75
26:47
was um house bill 1693 yes thank you mr chair members of the committee glad to see so many bright
Representative Greg Leding
Unverified
26:53
smiling faces this morning the bill we have here today is similar uh to the bills that i ran in this committee on wednesday It's a very simple bill. All we're doing is currently youth who are in foster care are eligible to receive a subsidy
until they are 21 years of age. Under guardianship, they are not allowed to receive that subsidy past the age of 18. So all we're doing is making it to where they can continue to receive that
Chair
Unverified
27:24
subsidy in guardianship until the age of 21. Okay. Anybody on the committee have any questions? none.
Representative Sue Scott
Unverified
27:34
I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yes, Representative Scott. You're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Letting, could you tell me if that is extended to the age of 21, does
that child have to be in some type of educational program in order to receive? Yes, or working 80 hours a month. Or working 80 hours a month. Okay. Does this have
Chair
Unverified
28:02
any kind of fiscal impact because it says receive a guardianship subsidy paid for or approved by the Department of Human Services? I
don't know if this is state money that's coming, and if so, how much it would? It should be fiscally neutral.
Fiscally neutral. Okay. Representative Harris, you recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
28:19
Landing, just so you can – so we're not just pushing things out, coming in, pushing them out. Can you tell me the purpose of this legislation? Just kind of explain it to me. MR. Why we need medical aid? MS. Yeah, what are
Representative Greg Leding
Unverified
28:33
we doing? Just tell me what we're doing. MR. We're extending the subsidy for youth who are in guardianship from 18 to 21 because they're already eligible to receive that if they're in foster care. Are you looking for
a specific example of why? MS. Yes. MR. Okay. I will let Lisa McGee. MS.
Speaker 84
28:50
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. The guardianship program started through the feds before they started it we had
Speaker 85
28:55
a statute what we didn't realize is once the feds approved it and this is using 40 money that we would use to pay for the child if they were in the foster care system that we can now give a guardianship substitute this family get them out of the system and then they can get the subsidy up to 21 but what happened was we didn't go out to the guardianship statute and change that so right now if you're a
minor and you have a guardianship appointed it stops when you're 18 so what What we want is to be able to say the guardianship can now go up to the age of 21, but the person who is now an adult has a right to pull the trigger and get out, which they can do in foster care. So with their 18 and 20 days, they can say, I want on a foster care. But this allows it to go up to 21 so that the subsidy that the feds are doing, the 75-25 match to, which they would do for foster care too, they can still get that. Thank you for that.
Chair
Unverified
29:48
Okay. Anybody else have any questions? anyone would should speak for or against the bill
okay if you could state your name title and whether you're speaking for or against the
Speaker 88
30:07
bill good morning I'm Renee Robinette I'm the director of the attorney ad litem program we represent the children in dependency and neglect cases and we are for this bill this is a good thing for children children who are in foster care who stay
in foster care the family is able to get that foster care board payment but for children who we've given this option to have permanency through guardianship and the agency is able to provide that subsidy they were being cut off at 18 where Arkansas has chosen to support kids through 21 who come through the foster care system so this is a very good bill for kids okay any members have
Chair
Unverified
30:41
any questions okay anybody else we should speak for or against
the bill all All right. What's the pleasure of the committee? Representative Broadway, you're recognized.
Motion's been made. Do pass. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All
those opposed? Congratulations. Representative Letting, you've passed your bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and
thank you, committee. Okay. At this time, we've still got some time left. Representative Edwards has House bill. Make sure I get this correct. Because we're going to go in a little bit different direction here because he's the only other one – I'm sorry, Representative Hammer, what bill did you want to present
Representative Hammer? 21. Okay. I'm going to go ahead and recognize Representative Hammer since he's higher on the list. Representative Hammer, you're recognized to present 2124.
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
31:40
Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee. It will be really brief. It's 2124. You want to pull it up on
your screens. And while you're pulling it up on your screens, I'll go ahead and speak to it, if that's right, Mr. Chair. Go ahead. Basically, what this bill does is give us a definition for sibling.
And the reason that this bill is being introduced is because in dealing with the school choice or school issues at all, the word sibling has come about. And in investigating and looking, there is no set definition for sibling. This is not a vendetta to get rid of my brother or sister or anything like that. I don't want to make that perfectly clear for the record, but it does assign a definition to sibling, and part of the reason why I'm bringing this bill is that if in the case of the grandfather bill that has already cleared its way down the channels and there's some other school choice bills that are coming behind
that decisions are going to be made on, I just wanted to make sure that the definition of sibling is tightened up so that families can't use it by packing 20 kids in a house and saying, hey, they're all our kids and just do a mass move exodus from one district to the other. Believe it or not, there is not a definition of sibling when it comes to the educational process in place, and this will put a definition in there so we can have some safeguards. I'll be glad to answer any questions. Very interesting. I
Chair
Unverified
33:01
did not know that. Thank you, Representative Hammer. You're welcome.
Thank you. Any questions or comments on the definition of a
sibling? Okay, saying none, is there anyone that wishes to speak for or against the bill? Okay, what's the pleasure of the committee? Representative Scott, you're recognized. Motion's been made. Do pass. Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Congratulations, Representative Hammer. You've passed
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
33:28
your bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Committee. Thank
Chair
Unverified
33:32
you, Representative Edwards. Okay, guys, we've got a kind of a special situation here.
Representative Edwards wants to run House Bill 2010. It
has been a shell bill, okay? There's been no language at all to it. The committee can amend the language to the Shell Bill
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
33:58
with a special motion. Representative Harris, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to make a motion to amend, to move to the regular agenda for consideration.
Chair
Unverified
34:13
Okay, motion's been made to move it to the regular agenda for consideration. Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor of the motion, say aye. All those opposed? Okay, we've now moved
Speaker 72
34:27
it to the regular agenda. We will now need a motion to actually...
Chair
Unverified
34:39
Okay, now we need to make a motion on the amendment, correct? okay representative harris you're recognized
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
34:45
thank you mr chair i'd like to make a motion to amend
okay after he presents it i'd like to make
Chair
Unverified
34:54
okay representative edwards thank you all for bearing with us this is one of those special cases we don't see much of and we okay we now have an amendment um that should be on your screen and right representative edwards i'm going to recognize you to present
Speaker 99
35:11
the amendment the amendment adds senator book out as a co-sponsor
Speaker 42
35:33
okay okay um just wanted to make sure it could get
Chair
Unverified
35:37
clear i have a wonderful staff member who keeps me On point and on guard, so we appreciate that. Okay, any discussion on the amendment?
Speaker 19
35:46
What's the pleasure of the committee? Representative Harris, you're recognized. Has the motion already
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
35:54
been made? No, you can make the motion if you want. After talking beforehand with Representative Edwards, I'd like to make a motion to amend House Bill 2010. To adopt the amendment of House Bill 2010.
Chair
Unverified
36:06
The motion has been made to adopt the amendment to House Bill 2010. Any discussion
on the motion? All those in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Congratulations. The amendment has passed. So now,
Representative John Charles Edwards
Unverified
36:23
Representative Edwards, you now recognize to present the bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Arkansas, for a number of
years, has had an act called the Safe Haven Act, And the purpose behind this act is that if an individual, if there's a child born and one of the parents or both of the parents,
if they find that this was not the best thing for them, that they were not going to be able to care for this child, we have this provision in the law that says if you will take this baby to a safe place and you follow the provisions of this law you will not be prosecuted and that's something that is good because we need to make sure these children are protected and we want to facilitate that
by having the law in place like we do it's worked well for years But I was doing some research the other day, and I found a, I guess I'll call it just a tiny crack out there in that if we're wanting to promote people to be able to feel safe and free to have a child put in a safe place, we need to grant that individual all the privacy we can because these are tough decisions.
and we want to make these decisions easier for someone to do the right thing. So what this bill does, it says that if you are a parent and you are wanting to take advantage of the safe haven law, that your privacy will be protected from disclosure. With the exception, you know, law enforcement and prosecutors will have the ability just to make sure that there's no previous maltreatment out there. But we just want to protect, that's the sole purpose of this bill, is to make sure we're protecting the identity and the privacy of a relinquishing parent to help them make the best decision possible.
We don't want them having to fear that their identity may be somehow released. And, sir, that's the
Chair
Unverified
38:38
bill. Good presentation. Does anybody have any questions on the bill? Representative
Representative Sue Scott
Unverified
38:44
Scott, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can you tell me, what is the definition of safe haven? How do we define that? How do
Representative John Charles Edwards
Unverified
38:54
our police officers define that? That's defined in the safe haven statute. And Lisa McGee from DHS is here, and she can go further into that for you.
Speaker 85
39:06
Thank you. Thank you. Lisa McGee, I'm an attorney with the Department of Human Services. The way that it's defined in the statute, in this past, I can't believe it's been 2001 when this bill passed out, it's for a child who's 30 days old or younger, and they have to leave it in one of two places, either with a medical provider or with law enforcement. So that's what a safe haven baby is. And when that happens, then either law enforcement or the hospital calls the department, they take a 72-hour hold, they call us, and then we go take the baby, and then we initiate
Representative Sue Scott
Unverified
39:38
a juvenile court action. Go ahead. Follow-up, please, Mr. Chair. Yes. So, during that time, during that period of time, is the child, well, checked over? Is the child examined to be in good health and not have had any abuse
Speaker 85
39:55
or anything to that child? Absolutely. That's what they do. It says right there they have to perform any act necessary to protect the physical health and safety of the child. So this is good because if they bring them to law enforcement or the hospitals, that's
so much better than putting them in a dumpster yeah yeah follow-up
Representative Sue Scott
Unverified
40:15
go ahead thank you mr. chair okay so then after they have deemed that the the child is in good health has been cared for then are the parents totally relinquished of any oh the word I can't think of it help right yeah any parental rights thank you thank you what if ten years down the road that mother and daddy decide that
they have made a terrible terrible mistake can they then search and find that child or are all their rights yes thank you when the
Speaker 85
40:53
child comes into the system then we at DHS is yet we initiate what's called a dependency petition which is different than you've been abused or neglected and we're taking in care so it's just a peer dependent because of status as a part of that what we do is we say unknown mom unknown dad here's the little baby yeah we do a publication of a warning order we're
also required to check the missing persons information clearinghouse this was part of what we added to our bill to make sure that someone didn't steal a baby and then dump them off at a hospital so we try to check to make sure it's not a missing baby then we go forward and when we get a safe haven baby the department tries to put the baby in a legal risk adoptive home so baby won't have to move so they're in the placement they're going to be in we do our publication we adjudicate dependent and then we move if it's an abandoned maybe we can fast track those babies and we try to move quickly to permanency for those babies let the family we've selected adopt so 10 years later
i don't know how they're going to find the baby adoption records are sealed we're sealed at the department at best what they could do is we have an adoption mutual consent registry they could sign up on that registry and say if my child ever wants to find me i want to find my child and then And if they sign up later, we can match people up. But that's a separate thing that we have for all adoptions. Okay. Representative
Speaker 52
42:11
Ferguson, did you have a question? She answered it. Okay. Anybody else on the committee have a question?
Chair
Unverified
42:21
Okay. Okay. With that said, anybody else that wants to speak either for or against this bill? Seeing none, what's the pleasure of the committee? Representative Smith, you recognized? Motion to pass. Motion's been made.
Representative Frederick Smith
Unverified
42:35
Do pass. Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor,
Representative John Charles Edwards
Unverified
42:40
say aye. Connect with do pass as amended. Thank you. Do pass as amended. Okay.
Chair
Unverified
42:45
All those in favor, say aye. All those opposed. Congratulations, Representative Edwards. You have passed your bill.
And with that said, we have just a few moments to get back up to the committee, but I would like to take a moment of personal privilege. Representative
Bain, I'll recognize you real quick. Did you okay? We'll let you
Representative John Baine
Unverified
43:18
go ahead and do it. It is Thank you, Mr. Chairman HCMR 0
1 0 0 1. It's actually the only house concurrent
World War Resolution and the entire General Assembly. I'll be brief because the Memorial Resolution is far too long to read and for us to get out of here before 11 o'clock. I'll just be brief. Mr. Bobby Newman was a 30-year member of this House of Representatives, a 30-year veteran of the Education Committee, served as Education Chair, served as Legislative Council Chair, was caught up with a lot of other good people in 1998 with term limits, but he showed he was a true servant leader for the last 15 years. He's worked with various water associations, other rural
associations across South Arkansas to continue to develop projects well past his tenure in the House of Representatives. Part of part of his tenure was actually elevating Southern State to SAU to developing SAU Tech and South Arkansas Community College. He was actually only up here about two weeks ago to have lunch with Tim Massanelli. He's still very active behind the scenes trying to help South Arkansas, and it was a near-dear friend of mine. He passed in his sleep only about two days after being up here at the Capitol.
And I took leave Wednesday of last week from the House to attend his funeral. And from South Arkansas, it was a who's who of Democrats and Republicans. He worked with both sides because his goal was to get things done, not to play partisan politics. And a lot of people in this building that know him will tell you his word was his bond. Even if it was an unpopular thing, if he said he was going to be with you, he was with you all the way to the end. And I spoke with our parliamentarian, and he encouraged me to use the HCMR.
It was reserved for truly – for exceptional individuals, generally for past members and other special individuals that had a special relationship to the House of Representatives. You'll see it's concurrent resolution because I've had senators and House members alike asked to run this in both ends of the building. And for that reason, we're going to have his family wanted to come to the Capitol next week to visit with a lot of the staff that are still somewhat shocked, some of the long-term staff of the House and Senate knew Mr. Bobby Newman well. And I was trying to arrange something end of next week to
have the family up. And we thought this would be a good time to present a memorial resolution in his honor. And again, I'd appreciate your support and I'll be happy to take any questions. Anybody
Chair
Unverified
45:44
have any questions or comments? Representative Scott, you're recognized? Okay.
Hold on just a moment. Okay. Anybody want to speak for or against the resolution? Okay. Representative Scott, you're recognized to present your motion. Motion's been made. Do pass. Any discussion on the motion?
All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed. Congratulations. The motion is passed. And real quick, I'm going to take a point. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, committee. You're welcome. I'm going to take a point of personal privilege because I do have a group here today, Bible Baptist Academy, if y'all would stand and be recognized. We're thanking you for being here today. The cute boy that's kind of sitting right there is my nephew. I'm one proud uncle. He's right there.
And with that said, we have Representative Scott real quick. And they've been so quiet and good. I know. Amazing. I'm just impressed. Did a great job. So we appreciate that. Mr. Vice Chair, do you have anything? No, I haven't. All right. With that, meeting is adjourned.
Agenda
HR1048
HB1962
HR1040
HR1041
HMR1005
HR1032
HB1693
HB2124
HB2010
HCMR1001
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Speaker 1
Representative Frederick Smith
Unverified
Chair
Unverified
Representative David Fielding
Unverified
Representative Jeremy Gillam
Unverified
Representative Sue Scott
Unverified
Representative Patti Julian
Unverified
Representative John Charles Edwards
Unverified
Speaker 44
Speaker 48
Representative George B. McGill
Unverified
Speaker 52
Doug Walker
Unverified
Speaker 59
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
Speaker 68
Speaker 72
Speaker 75
Representative Greg Leding
Unverified
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
Speaker 84
Speaker 85
Speaker 88
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
Speaker 99
Speaker 42
Speaker 19
Representative John Baine
Unverified