House Public Health, Welfare And Labor Committee
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (6)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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HB1402
· 4 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “…presentative wilkins as you see is set for special order on House Bill 1402. Representative Wilkins, if it's okay, I, in an effort to m…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB385
· 3 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “…that should be largely non-controversial. I believe that's Senate Bill 385. So if no members object, I'll go ahead and recognize Repre…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB423
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB423”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1011
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…Altus has requested a special order for House Bill 1038 and House Bill 1011.”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1038
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…rst. Representative Altus has requested a special order for House Bill 1038 and House Bill 1011.”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB361
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB361”
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Pre-2017 bill |
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If everybody go ahead and grab a seat, I do apologize for the delay. We had a couple of roll calls over in budget. Figured this committee would appreciate that. I told him it would just be easier to call and pass, but it's probably a tacky joke. We would have been here on time. But anyway, I do apologize for the delay. We're going to do a couple things first. Representative Altus has requested a special order for House Bill 1038 and House Bill 1011.
Tell you what, I'm going to do that at the end of the meeting because I don't think we've got a bad date, so I'll do that at the end of the meeting. Representative Broadway, are you here? Okay, you were set for special order, but you wanted to pull down 1189 and send it to interim study? Okay, so without objection, that will be so ordered. Also, as you see, actually let me remind you that we do have that tour on Monday, March 11th, no i'm sorry you can tell i'm scattered this morning i'm sorry
the tour will be wednesday march the 6th that's of the uams telemedicine distance health program so again if you would like to participate in that that's tomorrow please email mr price and get rsbp'd for it also the bill filing deadline is monday march 11th so make sure you hit that we also have with us today in committee the ems stars for life i think we've got several paramedic paramedics representative from the arkansas ambulance association uh mr ken kelly if y'all were here if you'd stand so we can welcome you to the committee we appreciate you
being here today thank you um also representative wilkins as you see is set for special order on House Bill 1402. Representative Wilkins, if it's okay, I, in an effort to maintain our working relationship with our friends at the other end, told Senator Pierce that he could run a bill real quick that should be non-controversial, but he has a couple folks here with him. So with that objection, I'm going to let Senator Pierce present his bill,
and then we'll have the special order. Senator Pierce, you will be recognized to present Senate Bill 423. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it. Glad to be back on
Senator Bobby J. Pierce
Unverified
2:49
this end. I've got my representative is going to run this bill for
Representative Deborah Ferguson
Unverified
2:53
me, and I'll just help her out when she needs it. And I've got some people in the back that I'll introduce in a minute if I need to, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate your time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Really, all this bill does is just redefine testing infants. When you have a baby in the hospital, they do a little heel prick and take the blood, and they check for a variety of disorders like PKU, and there's a whole list. But all this does, some of the disorders now are genetic and not metabolic, so it just removes the word metabolic and says that they can test for genetic disorders. And I think kind of what drove this, you've heard like the bubble boy that has severe infections.
Those kids, if they're not caught in the first couple of weeks and can't have a bone marrow transplant, then they almost always die. But there are other genetic disorders, but the disorders and what they test for will be at the
Speaker 16
3:58
discretion of the health department. Okay. Senator Pierce, did you
Senator Bobby J. Pierce
Unverified
4:05
have anything to add? Mr. Chair, I'd like to say that this is kind
Representative Deborah Ferguson
Unverified
4:09
of a cost savings for the state.
It is a cost-saving. You hate to put a value on a child's life or on anybody's life, but this is one of the deals where if we don't catch this, the child usually dies, and that's what we're trying to save and save the state because usually the state catches them after they're six months old, which their survival rate is very, very low. And with this test, we can do this test, and we can catch them within the first two weeks, and that is the part that we really need to get the bone marrow plant transplant.
The state usually spends between $250,000 to $500,000 on each one of these children, and they still perish. We've got a parent back here that we need to that would love to talk to you about this with the time frame we're in. But I would like to say I call this the mother bill because these mothers get to hold these children for six months at a time, sometimes a little longer. So that's what we're trying to, where they can hold them longer. So I'd like to just close with that, and I'll take any questions. We will.
Okay. Thank you for the presentation. Members, any questions? Okay. If not, we do have a couple people. I think to accommodate, I think it would be appropriate if there's two people signed up, Amy Scurlock. And let's see here. I think they're two separate groups. So is it Ms. Amy Scurlock? If you'd like to come up and just say a few words, you'd be recognized to speak for the bill.
Speaker 21
5:43
Thank you guys very much. I really appreciate your time, and I understand the time constraints,
so I hope that I can provide informative and efficient information about this. This bill really – oh, and I'm sorry, let me tell you. I am a pediatric allergist and immunologist at Arkansas Children's Hospital. did fellowship training in immunology with Dr. Buckley at Duke so this is an area of passion and expertise for me so I'm happy to be here to testify on behalf of what I think is a very important bill and appreciate your time the bill
really just changes the language so that we could expand newborn screening and the next step that we envision is addition of SCID newborn screening which severe combined immune deficiency and this is done on the heel stick blood spot it's cost-effective it's life-saving and I think it's a positive step and it's good stewardship not only of our state funds but it again is life-saving for these for these babies without early identification and early
bone marrow transplant these babies will uniformly die within the first one to two years of life and we had a case back in November that really brought this home for me this is something we've been supporting for years and it reminded us why this is important the Palachic family which is here with me today lost their precious baby in November and to me this was a preventable death if we had newborn screening in place he would have been picked up transplanted early
and will be about to celebrate his first birthday. Unfortunately, he did not survive past last November because he developed a very severe viral infection and did not make it to transplant. So I appreciate your consideration of this. I'm happy to answer any questions if there are any concerns. Representative Meeks. Thank you, and I'd like to thank you
Speaker 25
7:44
for coming to testify. Is there a reason why these tests are not being done already?
Speaker 21
7:51
You know, really the big issue has been, from my understanding working with the health department, is the language of the bill is a bit restrictive to where it's just genetic disorders of metabolism. And while one form of this could be technically considered a metabolic disorder, really to sort of honor the intent of the language, they wanted to make sure that it included all these genetic disorders. And so I think that, you know, other states are doing it. We have about, I believe, let's see, 11, excuse me, 13 who are already screening and have had great success with this.
It's been cost-saving and has picked up the skid babies early. We have about 11 more that are in pilot programs that will be screening this year. And then about 26 other states, including Arkansas, who are not screening yet, but hopefully
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
8:39
we will be. And insurance, and this may be a better question for Senator Pierce, insurance
Speaker 21
8:45
will cover this? So this is included in the routine, or our vision is that this would be included in the routine newborn screening panel, which already includes other metabolic disorders, hypothyroidism, et cetera, all 27 of them.
So we, you know, would just add that to the panel. It wouldn't be an extra blood draw. It would just be taken from that same filter paper spot. There would likely be a fee increase, but my understanding is that's approximately $5 to $10, dollars, but that, you know, would be something to address with the Health Department as well. Not much
Speaker 31
9:18
at all. Okay, thank you. Thank you for the question. Thank you,
Speaker 21
9:22
Mr. Chairman. Okay, thank you for the testimony. Sure. And Senator Pierce had asked that I introduce a very special guest.
This is David and Christy Palachuk, and who would like to share briefly their story. Yes, yeah, that'd be great. Thank you.
Speaker 38
9:47
be respectful of your time but we just want to introduce this is james and he did pass away in november because of skid and our health bills were minute compared to what they could have been if he had survived and been identified early enough to get his bone marrow
transplant so um as he passed away we promised him that we were going to help him save other babies with his birthday two weeks from
Speaker 41
10:16
today we want you to help us keep our promise? Like I
Speaker 42
10:20
said, this is something that's certainly detectable and there's a cure. It's not something that we detect and try to make his life as well as possible. There's a cure and if they detect it and have a bone marrow transplant in the first three and a half months,
It's like a 95% success rate. When James was detected, he was less than half. Okay. Thank you for your testimony. Do members, do you all have
any questions? If not, thank you for being here, and thank you for your testimony and your work on
the bill. Thank you for your time. Representative Love. Motion at the proper time. Yes, sir. Senator Pierce, are you closed for the bill? Mr. Chair, I'm closed.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Representative Ferguson. Representative Love, you're recognized for motion. Recommended do pass. Okay, thank you. We have a motion do pass. Is there any discussion on the motion? If not, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Congratulations. You passed your bill. Thank you all for being here today. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry about your time, but we appreciate it. That's great. Thank you for coming. Okay. Representative Wilkins, if you'll join us at the end of the table We are being
Probably a good time just for a general Clarification that as we get to the end of the session Things are going to be moving fast And I will just tell you that I'm going to make an effort To accommodate as many members as possible Sometimes our rules are more like guidelines Somebody said that once So I'm going to make an effort To accommodate everybody that I can And in that vein, Representative Wilkins has asked that before presenting 1402,
he present a Senate bill on behalf of Senator Burnett that should be largely non-controversial. I believe that's Senate Bill 385. So if no members object, I'll go ahead and recognize Representative Wilkins to present Senate Bill 385, and
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
12:26
then we'll move to the special order. Thank
you, Mr. Chair. Senate Bill 385 is a county waste district thing. This bill only affects Mississippi County. The underlining says a single county district that has been approved under this section
shall not cease to be valid district under this section if the population of a single county composing the district is less than 50,000. Mississippi County falls under that district. Senator Burnett drafted this legislation to benefit Mississippi County, and it only affects Mississippi
County. So I'd ask for a good vote. Okay. Thank you. Members,
any questions on the bill?
Okay. If not, what's the pleasure, or does anybody speak for or against in the audience? if not what's the pleasure of the committee okay we have a motion do pass any discussion on the motion not all in favor say aye any opposed okay congratulations you have passed your bill thank you mr. chairman you're
Speaker 51
13:42
at least one for one today yeah I noticed nobody
left the room and now we'll move to the special order
House Bill 1402. Representative Wilkins, you're recognized to
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
13:55
present. House Bill 1402 is a simple bill. It's aimed
at helping poor families in Arkansas. Our minimum wage currently in Arkansas is at 625. We have about 19,000 people in Arkansas that are drawing that 1625. That translates into $250 a week, and I would challenge anybody to say that they can live on that.
I don't believe they can. Minimum wage over the last several years has fell behind. We're behind many states. There are 19 states that are above the federal minimum right now. The federal minimum is $725. There's 19 states that are above that. There's 22 states that are at the federal minimum. And there's only four of us that are below the federal minimum. Arkansas is one of them. Now, there are three or four states that don't have a minimum wage at all.
But like many of us, campaigning door to door, that became something in my district that there was a great deal of concern about. Now, I say in Craighead County, I have probably the richest part of Craighead County and the poorest part of Craighead County. It's very hard to talk to people who are making $250 a week and who are trying to support their wives, their husbands, and two children.
And as a comparison, in 1968, the federal minimum wage was $1.60. If we translate that into today's money, that's $10.57. $10.57. sense. So it's obviously that we are falling behind. You're going to hear people talk for this bill and against this bill today. I sent something out by email to you, to all
of you yesterday, that kind of deals, there's arguments on both sides. You know, I don't think the facts
will bear up that this thing, that the minimum wage increase is really
harmful to the economy. There are those that say it does. But I don't think this is a party line issue. I think this is a people issue. I think we've got to make up our mind where we want to help the poor people in this state or whether we don't. And I think that's the issue before us. If I thought it was damaging to the economy, I wouldn't be here.
But I cannot imagine what some of these people are going through trying to raise a family on what they're making. So I know there's people signed up to speak for and against this. I have a lot of facts here that probably won't interest a lot of people, but 10 states have raised the minimum wage this year. And many of you know that the president has recommended a raised and minimum wage.
Arkansas is an extremely poor state, but there is no evidence that this will affect jobs in Arkansas. There's no evidence anywhere. There's no evidence that it supports unemployment because it's just not there. I mean, you'll hear people say there is, but, you know, is it really? I mean, is it really? There's people on all sides of every issue, and I respect that, and I respect their opinion. But in closing, I want to close and let some people talk for and against this bill.
But in closing, this is not about me. It's not about you.
It's not about Democrats. It's not about Republicans. It's about the people of Arkansas, the families of Arkansas. And with that, I want to close, take questions. Mr. Chairman, thank
you, Representative Wilkins, for the testimony. Representative Meeks, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Representative Wilkins. And
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
18:09
I think it's a noble thing that you're wanting to do here. But I've heard a lot of concerns, you know, both just from reading some of the studies, both back and forth.
Like you said, you can find a study, I guess, that will make your point either way. But I have heard from local people and local businesses who said, you know what, we would love to pay our people more than minimum wage, but if we do, we'll either have to do one of two things. We'll either have to go out of business because we won't be able to afford to keep them anymore, or we'll have to pass that cost on to consumers because right now the state of the economy is not as such to where they can give folks raises
or where they can give them more money, you know, how would you respond to that? Because, you know, truly there are going to be some businesses that don't have a lot of extra money that can bump that wage up another dollar, especially when, in some cases anyways, they're now having to provide health insurance, you know, by the mandate. That's
Speaker 65
19:12
an extra cost to you, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
19:16
I didn't mean to interrupt you. But past studies that I have read don't indicate that.
If you go border states where you have one county that has a higher minimum wage than the other, it just don't indicate that. There is no proof that that will raise the job loss. People will lay people off. I mean, they may think they will, but in the end, there's no proof that I've read. And I've read, and I'm like you, Representative Meeks, I've read both sides, you know, but the preponderance of the evidence seems to me to be on the side of the lack of harm with a minimum wage increase.
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
20:01
Okay. And then a follow-up question, if I may, Mr. Chair. One of the things that when you're talking about, you know, the ratings where states do cost or top states for doing business or whatever, one of the categories is cost of doing business. and right now Arkansas, you know, depending on which study you look at, is usually within the top three or top four. Do you think that raising the minimum wage will actually hurt us in that category and
Speaker 65
20:28
thereby making us fall in the rankings or make us, you know, a less business-friendly state?
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
20:34
Representative Meeks, I'm very confident that you're going to hear that's the case. But I don't believe that.
You know, it's going to, you know, just from what I've
Speaker 31
20:44
read, I don't believe that. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker 71
20:49
Chair. Thank you, Representative Ward. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Representative Wilkins, what I understand in Reedville is that this increase is not going to affect all working persons. What I understand is that there are some exemptions in here for part-time workers as well as student
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
21:09
that or thinking that? actually we raised the amount I raised in this
bill I raised the amount the percentage were for a part-time student working less than 20 hours a week or working full-time during the summer the minimum wage would actually be 550 I believe for them under this bill
where it was about 525 before and I've done that by raising the percentage from 65 to 85, I believe, Mr. Ward. And then again, you know, I'm not
trying to, this is not aimed at
students, this is aimed at families that are, family members that are feeding families that are responsible for clothing, the care of their children, and it's not aimed at students at all but I
Speaker 71
22:01
think that most of the people who look at this piece of legislation I think that they think that by raising the minimum wage to 825 it affects everyone across the board I think it's more like the interpretation that if you implore someone then that particular individual
that you employ will be making 825 an hour rather than some exempt some persons in the working class that are exempt from the 825 and I heard earlier Earlier you said that there had been 10 states just this year alone that had either or raised their minimum wage or living wage. And are those any state that is really bored in Arkansas that actually raised their minimum wage
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
22:46
this year? I believe Missouri did. Now, don't quote me on that, but I'm not sure.
I'm not sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Representative Love. be recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Wilkins,
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
23:00
I'm just trying to do some quick math here. We're talking about giving someone that makes minimum wage an additional $80 a week. Is that what we're saying? If you're
Speaker 80
23:09
making $625, which is Arkansas. About $80 a week.
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
23:13
What do you think a mother of two can do with that as far as buying groceries,
buying shoes, buying different things that people usually buy? I mean, what kind of impact do you think that would make? Groceries are going up
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
23:27
from 3% to 6% every year now. And because of the lack of the corn crop last year, meat, chicken, milk, everything else that eats corn,
the price has gone up significantly. We all know about the price of gas and how that can influence a family. And so I think, well, it's not going to get them out of poverty.
I mean, these people are working, and they're still going to be the working poor.
of Arkansas, but I think any raise is a significant raise to people
in this situation. A follow-up, Mr. Chair. Do you think that
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
24:07
this could possibly add some additional stimulation to the economy? I think it does, and I think there's evidence. These
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
24:15
people are going to spend their
money. I mean, if you're a man making $250 a year and you get additional money, I don't think you're going to be able to save much of that
I think you're going to spend that money and that money is going
Speaker 87
24:32
to be put right back into the economy and circulated again
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
24:37
Okay, by stimulating the economy do you see or can you foresee that it could be potential jobs It has proven
Speaker 90
24:44
to be in some areas Okay, thank you Mr. Chair Thank you Representative Meeks
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
24:54
I'm sorry Representative Wilkins I had one more follow-up question that I just thought about.
You know, because you mentioned the president. He's proposing to do $9.25, which is actually a dollar more than what you proposed. And you had also said, I guess, if inflation kicked in, you know, it would be $10.57. No. So, you know, the $1.10 or whatever was $10.57. So why only $8.25? I mean, if it's good, it's going to help out families. why not bump the minimum wage to $9.25 or $10.50 or even $15, you know, to help folks even more? I mean, why $8.25 versus $9.25 like the president wants or even higher if they're going to help working families?
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
25:37
First thing, that's not what I said about inflation a while ago. I
said that in 1968 we were paying $1.60 minimum wage, and that equaled to today's cash of $10.57. Okay. if we had maintained and yeah I really studied very hard on what dollar figure to settle on and of course I filed my bill or drafted my bill a long time
before the president came out that he was asking to raise the federal minimum wage to 925, is it? We'll remain to see if that happens. But I think it's not going to cure, it's not going to make somebody rich that was poor. It's going to help. I try to be fair to everybody and find a sensible solution to something that was sensible instead of something
that was maybe an Ashton for a little too much. I think we've got some catching up to do in Arkansas. This will bring us up to, if it's past $8.25 an hour, and that is more in line with the
rest of the United States than we are now. So it was a difficult settling on a dollar figure.
all right thank you mr thank you uh representative uh womack you're good okay representative harris thank you mr chair and
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
27:18
butch thank our representative whoopins thank you for this bill and i respect you a whole bunch but i just want to kind of state the obvious when you're looking at this and we're talking about us uh stimulate the economy i just want to maybe see if you agree and you know we're talking about whose economy are we stimulating if you want
to go to where I live in West Fork I have 35 employees and we look at and I do pay more than minimum wage because I have the freedom to pay what I you know to pay more because that's the freedom I have as a business owner but if we're looking at raising minimum wage on 35 employees employees because that's what I'm forced to do but I have to do that but then I have to cut out I have the 35th mom who's a single mom I mean so now we have a
single mom who's because I can't afford it anymore so I don't stimulate the economy for that single mom would you see how that could be
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
28:20
a problem well yes I do it but but studies have indicated throughout the states that don't really happened.
And so what I said a while ago, these people are not going to save. These people who are recipients are not going to be able to save this money.
They're going to circulate this money within the economy.
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
28:40
And would you agree, $80 may not seem like a lot for business owners to have
to get out for one person, but when you multiply it by 35 or multiply it by 100 or maybe by 1,000, that's a lot of money. I'm sure we're going
to hear that. Okay. All right. Thank you very much.
Representative Deborah Ferguson
Unverified
29:03
Thank you. Thank you. Representative Ferguson, you're recognized. I'm just asking this question because it's an argument I've heard. I philosophically don't have a problem with raising the minimum wage because I'm like you. I think those people are deserving. But my understanding is that a lot of businesses have their other wages tied to the minimum wage.
So if this minimum wage goes up, then somebody making $20 an hour will now make $22. It's the domino effect in the rest of the employee chain that it will affect. Is that true or not? I
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
29:34
cannot speak to that, Debra. I've seen no evidence of that. Maybe so. I think it would probably go from company to company. I think it would be
company policy more than something you would see naturally occur.
And I think it's up to every individual. But, you know, a guy
that's making $20 an hour can can kindly survive in this world today. But a guy that's making $6.25 an hour is a totally different horse of another color. Yeah, I mean, I agree with you.
Representative Deborah Ferguson
Unverified
30:04
But you see what I mean? It's unfortunate that so many businesses have tied their salaries to the minimum wage. And it's kind of an unfortunate aspect of the whole
thing, if that's true. I don't know if it's true or not. Thank
you, and if y'all will grant me just a tad latitude, I think that's all the questions,
but I just want to note for the committee real quick before we move into testimony, and it is very important, I'm just saying this, it's about the Medicaid debate, but I was sitting up here scribbling out my chicken scratch, and I've made this point a lot, but since we're having minimum wage debate, it's very appropriate to mention that when we talk about these federal poverty lines, when we're talking about who's between 100, who's between 138, you know, there's about 2,000 working hours in a year, and at 625, you're at 12.5, which puts you well over the 100 percent poverty.
And so the good news is no matter what we do on Medicaid, and I mean this sincerely, like no matter what we do on Medicaid, if we left and didn't address it at all, subsidies kick in for anybody over 100 percent, and they're able to purchase federally subsidized health care if you have a job at minimum wage 40 hours a week. So no matter if we choose to do nothing, the people we're talking about in this committee will have access to subsidized care. That's just
a note. We're talking about people under 100% at this point. So that, okay, I'll allow a rebuttal, I suppose.
Speaker 114
31:30
Well, not really a rebuttal, but just more encouragement. Certainly that would be true, but we don't want to stay in subsidized status the rest of time. That needs to be temporary, and we want to encourage it. And I've heard you say it, and I think many members here encourage people to do better, get better. So the subsidized status is not nothing to be proud of. It's something to try to elevate from. Would you agree? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, thank you. But I just
wanted to note it since we're having this discussion and put it in that context.
That's all the presentation. So Representative Link, did you have? Well, I'm just wondering if you might entertain a motion to limit the debate before we go into this. I will – yeah, I will – yeah, you're recognized for a motion, and I'll
do what – serve at the pleasure of the committee. Fifteen
Representative Kelley Linck
Unverified
32:23
on each side? All right. I'm being encouraged 15 for each side, and I
can agree to that, yes. Okay. There's a motion to limit debate to 15 minutes to each side.
members of the audience what this means is that you'll have 15 if you're signed up to speak for or against the bill there'll be 15 minutes allocated to each proponents and opponents of the bill on the proponent side that would include the closing for the sponsor so if this passes you'd be encouraged to keep that in mind and we'll try to reserve a balance of time for Representative Wilkins to close for his bill but that's what we're voting on to limit debate to 15 minutes each side is there any discussion on the motion If not, all in favor say aye.
Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes. The debate is limited. We'll move into testimony for or against. Thank you for your presentation, Representative Wilkins. First, we'll go to against the bill, Ms. Monty McNulty, the Hospitality Association. If you'll set your name and affiliation for the record, you'll be recognized to speak against
Monty Mcnulty
Unverified
33:26
the bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Monty McNulty, and I'm
Speaker 122
33:30
executive director of the Arkansas Hospitality Association.
I'm here, I can tell you that all employers wish that they could play their employees more, but I'm really here to speak on behalf of a lot of small mom-and-pop employers and more about the economic environment in which they're operating today and how scary that is for them. You all are aware of the high fuel costs, the high labor costs,
the high food, employment taxes that have gone up for the employer, not to mention increased regulation on a lot of small businesses and what they're having to deal with in that. I hear a lot about those issues all the time. It's taking more and more time away from their business and
what they are having to do just to contend with those things. There are increased audits both on the federal and the state level because both levels are looking for more money too, but that's a cost to businesses. Certainly the fear and the uncertainty of what it's going to cost businesses for health care, and you know that there's a big education mountain we're going to have to climb on that, but what it's going to cost them, what it's going to cost their employees, and so all
All of those things make it a really scary thing. Now, it's my understanding that if a business has revenue above $500,000, they're under the federal minimum wage now and paid more. So we really are talking about the small business owner and how this would affect them. I fear that hours would be cut. This bill says it would go into effect in October which for many
businesses is in the middle of the business year and so they may have to make adjustments to figure out their year on how to manage that and it could be with cutting employees or employers but anyway I hope you'll take these things into consideration. are a lot of people that that pay wages based on what the demand is and what they have to pay to get good employees and that's a good
Speaker 123
36:15
way to do it so I'd
be happy to answer any
questions thank you for your testimony members any questions thank
you for your testimony against the bill next we'll have testimony for Miss Jane Gray Todd okay now I well we do have a there's only three signed up so if you'd like to speak against we have time I if you don't then no pressure
Speaker 127
36:49
First of all, thank you. My name is Jane Gray Todd. I am working with the Coalition to Raise the Minimum Wage. I think it's very important that we do. Just to give you an example of my background, I was raised in Dela Plain, Arkansas. We were extremely, extremely poor.
But we had fields to work in. There was ways to get out and work. It's not always that case in the city areas. A lot of the people that are in these positions don't know how to get out of it. They just know it. They try. They can't do extra things. They can't think about the better education for their students or getting the books they need or the pencils they need because they're just trying to put food on the table and pay their utility bills. And our students in this state cannot, especially our lower income, cannot go forward like my child had the opportunity to.
If they do not have the basic educational tools in their homes to do it with, and if the parents are striving and struggling to just live and put food on the table, they can't think of the extra things. I see benefits in many ways from raising the minimum wage. And I understand, as Ms. McNulty was talking, I know there are concerns about small businesses. But to me, this money, of course, will go back into the state. It's going to, our economy, we'll see that coming back in.
Because I can tell you again from experience, poor people, they don't have a savings account. They just don't have one. It's just really hard to do that. And $15,000 a year to live on for one person, and you think about paying, Again, you think about it yourselves, honorable members here at the table. How would you live on $15,000 a year or less? So thank you very much for your time. Thank you for your testimony.
Next, signed up to speak against
Speaker 129
39:10
Mr. Craig Cloud. Good morning. I'm Craig Cloud, and I represent Arkansas Enterprises for Development of the Disabled, as well as our Developmental Disability Provider Association, which represents well over 60 licensed community providers in our state. There's primary goals providing services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And first, I want to say I appreciate Representative Wilkins and his, you know, understand, you know,
his arguments of presentation. We are not against higher wages for working Arkansans by any stretch of the imagination. We feel that our employees need to have the most competitive wages. However, I think it would be imperative for the committee to understand that the majority of our services are paid for through fixed-cost reimbursement rates as established by Medicaid for home and community-based services, DDTCS services, ICFMR services. and many of our programs because of the nature of our reimbursement rates
and lack of cost of living increases over the past several years operate on the thinnest of margins. And an increase in the minimum wage could have a dramatic impact upon our service providers and our ability to meet the demand of a higher minimum wage without cutting services or cutting hours to provide the needed pay as a result of the minimum wage increase. And again, we're not opposed to higher wages for working Arkansans.
We understand that. We applaud that. But at the same time, those of us that are dependent upon those fixed dollars to provide the services for the most neediest of Arkansans would put us in a very difficult situation. It could result us in having to cut back hours or services in order to meet that demand. Okay, thank you for your testimony. Members,
we're going to have to keep it civil. The paramedics are gone, so nobody get too up at it.
Representative Meeks, you recognize her question.
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
41:12
Mr. Clyde, how many employees does your organization or maybe a subset of your organization, how
Speaker 129
41:20
many do you normally have? My organization has over 300 employees that work statewide across the state. And our Developmental Disability Provider Association represents approximately, at last count, over 10,000 Arkansans across the state, working Arkansans that are engaged in day-to-day direct care services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
41:40
Do you know how many of those make minimum wage
Speaker 129
41:43
out of the 300? Currently, of those, the majority of those do not make minimum wage. Many of our community providers have to pay minimum wage in order to meet, but some of our providers are able to pay a little bit of a higher salary above the minimum wage in order to remain competitive as well as recruit and retain the qualified employee that we need to provide the services and inherently an increase that goes to 825 we would have to consider moving our
starting pay to 850 to 875 inherently to continue to allow us to compete in doing so without a corresponding increase in our rates to enable us to do that. Many of our providers, we just don't have the resources and the capital necessary to do so. I guess my point is, let's say you had
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
42:33
10 employees that were making minimum wage that you had to raise at $80 a week. You know, you're talking over $40,000 a year that your organization would have to come up just to meet that minimum
wage, and that would be an extra burden, that extra $40,000. And, again, that's not having to bump up everybody else in order to remain competitive. That's correct. Ten employees at $40,000, it would potentially hurt you in what you're actually trying to do. Right. It would hurt us. Okay. Thank you. Thank you,
Speaker 31
43:03
Mr. Chair. Thank you, Representative Love. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
43:08
trying to understand something that you just said. You said most of your providers pay above minimum wage, correct?
Speaker 129
43:15
Yes, sir, just a little bit above minimum wage.
Right now, when you look at the current federal minimum wage, many of our individuals may pay starting out $7.50 to $7.75. The state minimum wage went to $8.25. Those individuals that would be making less than the new minimum wage would obviously have to have a corresponding increase in their minimum wage in order to bring them to the new state minimum requirement, and in doing so could create a burden. Many of our employees, their direct care starting pay is less than the proposed minimum wage,
and that's why without a corresponding increase in our rates for services, it would require us either to look closely at cutting back services, cutting back hours in order to enable us to make the dollars work with regards to that. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Representative Link. I've worked
Representative Kelley Linck
Unverified
44:15
for minimum wage myself over the years several times, and there's a great deal of pride when you get that first raise and you're $0.15, $0.20 above minimum wage.
When minimum wage goes up, you expect to maintain that pride. Do you find that in your employees as well? In other words, you're probably going to raise the people that are making $0.50 above minimum wage to $0.50 above the new minimum wage. If someone is making perhaps $10 an hour now and that minimum wage is raised to eight and a quarter, would you expect you to have to give those $10 an hour people a raise
Speaker 138
44:47
as well? Yes, sir. You have to do that
Speaker 129
44:50
in order to correspondingly make sure that the pay remains equitable across the board from your, you know, that's a good point.
Representative Kelley Linck
Unverified
44:56
Yes, sir. So I just want to make sure. I thought that's kind of what I was hearing you say. I just want to make sure that was clear. And so it's kind of really hard to calculate the exact cost of raising
Speaker 129
45:09
minimum wage because of that corresponding dollars. Yes, sir. Just bringing the current individuals that make below the 825 would be significant. But to your point, for those employees, as you, you know, for instance, if you've got individuals that make 825 now, you move those at 750, 775 to 825, then your current 825 employee is going to have to correspondingly move up as well.
Okay. Thank you. Okay, members, the clock's running. Mr. Maxwell, do you want to make
Speaker 140
45:34
some comments? Real quick, members, I'm Dusty Maxwell with Pathfinder Incorporated and Developmental Disabilities Providers Association. There is another unintended consequence of raising minimum wage whenever it happens. The majority of our clients that work also receive benefits. If the minimum wage goes up, that affects their ability to work X number of hours a day. They would either have to cut back to match the minimum wage.
We have a pretty sophisticated formula that we go through to pay piecework and stuff like that that keeps our clients employed. This would affect that. And also in many other areas where elderly folks, senior citizens are hired, they're on a fixed income too. Anytime the minimum wage goes up for the company to be able to pay them, they usually have to cut their hours.
So, I mean, there is unintended consequences of raising the minimum wage. Okay.
Representative Andy Mayberry
Unverified
46:39
Thank you. Representative Mayberry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to make sure that I understand, to summarize, I believe the testimony of each of you, that if we were to pass this proposal to increase the minimum wage, that the developmentally disabled community in the state of Arkansas would suffer from that. Is that correct? That is correct.
Speaker 129
46:56
Without a corresponding rate increase from Medicaid to allow us to meet the new minimum wage. Yes, sir. Now, if
Speaker 140
47:01
you want to raise Medicaid rates, we're right there with you.
Speaker 149
47:06
Let's stay to the bill, please. Question? No, yes. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dusty,
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
47:11
you would be for raising the Medicaid rates anyway, wouldn't you, regardless of if this bill passed, correct? Would you be for raising the Medicaid rates regardless of if this bill passed? Right now in the current
Speaker 140
47:25
climate, I just want to keep what we're getting. Okay. Well,
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
47:31
let's do this. If the federal government increased the minimum wage, you said to $9,
then what would be your corresponding remarks then? Would you not have to adjust then? We would still
Speaker 140
47:44
have to adjust, but I think the unintended consequences of raising the federal minimum wage would be that there would be more people who would be working less hours. I mean, because a business only has so much money it's going to get, whether it's selling widgets or receiving insurance benefits, or there's only so many people and so much money, and eventually you can keep paying everybody money, but then where's the money coming from?
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
48:08
How many people do you all service, Dusty? Overall, in the disabled population? About 1,100. About 1,100. For Pathfinder. Pathfinder. Okay. Just Pathfinders. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Was that it, Representative
you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. All right. Nobody else has any questions? He said no.
So thank you for your testimony. Next, signed up to speak for the bill, Mr. Brett Kincaid. Thank you,
Brett Kincaid
Unverified
48:58
Mr. Chair, members of the committee. My name is Brett Kincaid. I'm the Outreach Director at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. And it is undeniable that children living in poverty face obstacles their wealthy peers never encounter.
Working to lift families out of poverty should be the top priority for all of us, and increasing the minimum wage is a necessary step toward achieving that goal. A full-time worker earning the state minimum wage working all 52 weeks of the year with no vacation earns $13,000 a year. A worker earning the federal minimum wage under those same conditions earns just over $15,000 per year, even with only one dependent that puts those workers under the federal poverty line. These Arkansans often work two to three jobs in order to meet that threshold, limiting the time they can spend with their families,
creating unstable environments for their dependent children at home. House Bill 1402 gives Arkansas workers the raise they need. It has been almost seven years since the state addressed the minimum wage law. In that time, we have seen a crushing economic recession, two presidential elections, and four different general assemblies, including the 89th. During that time, we have also seen the costs of fuel, food, and other consumer goods rise while the minimum wage has stayed stagnant. It's time that we move to act. Wage earners in Arkansas deserve a raise.
14.02 is a well-conceived idea, also making sure that this increase goes to workers that depend wholly on these jobs and exempting students from a state-mandated pay increase. Raising the minimum wage is good for children and families. It also strengthens local economies. When low-income workers have more money, time and time again we see they spend that money directly in their local economy on basic needs like housing, food, clothing, utilities, transportation, et cetera. This investment by employers pays off directly and immediately in their communities.
The widening income gap in Arkansas means more consumers have less money to spend on goods and services. A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that the top 5 percent of income earners bring home 10 times the amount of money as the poorest 20 percent of Arkansans. These low-wage earners work hard just like their well-compensated peers, but they barely get by on what they earn. By increasing the minimum wage to $8.25 per hour, this General Assembly will make it clear
that they believe people that work hard and play by the rules should be able to pay their bills on what they earn. This pay raise would mean the difference between doing that and not for many of the people we encounter every day. Whether it's the person that cooks your lunch, sells you groceries, or cleans the schools your children attend, everyone in this room has someone in their life that will benefit from this pay raise. I'd be happy to take any questions. all
right thank you real quickly because we're eating into the clock but could you go over what you said at the beginning about being under the federal poverty line
Brett Kincaid
Unverified
51:47
yes sir um the i've got the
anticipating that question mr chairman brought the i've got the schedule for federal poverty rates right uh for the uh let's see 2012-13 poverty guidelines um of course a single earner is roughly $12,000 per year. It's actually a little bit less. A single owner with a dependent, though, is $15,130. And then, of course, of two dependents, you go up slightly to just over $19,000. Okay. I got you.
Speaker 158
52:19
That's the federal line. Federal poverty line.
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
52:25
Okay. Okay. Thank you. Representative Meeks. Question, sir. How would you respond to the testimony that we just heard from the developmental disability? I'm sorry, disabilities, that it would harm them and the services they provide to having to raise the minimum wage? I would respond that I'm
Brett Kincaid
Unverified
52:43
not an expert in their field. But much like this and several other general assemblies in the past have asked families to do more with less,
it seems like that would be an appropriate response. But, again, I can't speak officially in that capacity. I don't run
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
53:00
their business. But would you agree that there are some areas, some businesses, small businesses, whether they be in the medical field or anything of that nature, that only have so much money to pay wages and that by doing so it would actually harm them, where they would have to cut hours, cut employees, thereby really nullifying the effect of paying somebody more because they would be working less hours
or potentially they would lose their job because the employer would have to let them go to make sure that they
Speaker 155
53:31
were able to pay all the other employees? Potentially.
Brett Kincaid
Unverified
53:33
I mean, this is not the zero sum because there are so many variables, but you also have to consider the potential for increased worker productivity by earning more, being happier, being better at their job, being appreciated. You also have to understand that this General Assembly is going to consider a series of tax cuts for employers that very well may offset any increase to their operating expenses based on this. So I think there are multiple factors in play, and that certainly would be one of them.
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
53:59
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Harris. Thank you,
Mr. Chair. But you said a couple things, so we want to make sure that we keep people employed
Brett Kincaid
Unverified
54:14
because you're about helping children, correct? Well, yeah, certainly. Kids that live in homes where parents are employed and earning are better than those that are in
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
54:22
not that circumstance. And since you said it, these tax cuts that we're looking at will help single moms that will in turn help these children,
that will in turn put more money into the homes to be able to get more food and more clothing for these children. Potentially.
Brett Kincaid
Unverified
54:37
I've not seen anything. I haven't seen a bill that would directly impact that, at least not the economic impact. I do know that there are a number of bills that have been filed that would really be more focused on small business, which we're not against in a vacuum. If it can be done and not hurt state revenue, then I think that would be an appropriate thing to consider. But we just don't know the answer. I know much of the tax discussion thus far through the General Assembly has been focusing on small businesses and business owners.
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
55:05
Well, for you, it should be about the children, not about state revenue. Well,
Brett Kincaid
Unverified
55:09
I think that for me, that is not exclusive, sir. I think that they are completely intertwined. Okay. Thank you all very
much. Representative Letting, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is there anybody on the committee who can
Representative Greg Leding
Unverified
55:20
tell me what the cost of a gallon of milk is right now? I was going to say $370.
Brett Kincaid
Unverified
55:28
If it pleases the representative of Letting, I can tell you. I have a family. I can tell you exactly how much it costs. It's $323 most weeks or $299 with a Kroger card.
Speaker 165
55:37
Thank you. That's buying generic. I buy Highland. Okay,
that was the last question Thank you for your testimony Thank
you Next, signed up to speak against the bill is the last person, Mr. Greenberg
If you'll join us at the end of the table you have about three
Dan Greenberg
Unverified
56:15
minutes to speak against the bill Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. My name is Dan Greenberg with the Advance Arkansas Institute. When we talk about the actual impact of the minimum wage, we really ought to be thinking about what impact it's going to have on the truly disadvantaged members of our society. And I'd like us to think about that, because if you look at the labor market, the truly disadvantaged members of our society, with respect to the labor market, are those with
the least job skills. And speaking relatively, those people are the relatively young, the relatively poor, and the minority community. And it's my view that raising the minimum wage is always going to have terrible impacts on the least advantaged members of our society. I'd like to explain why. There's evidence for this view. If you look at historically what happened when we established a minimum wage originally in the United States, you You can actually look at comparative labor force participation rates.
You can look at the census rates from 1890 to 1930. You can see basically equal labor force participation between whites and blacks. You'd assume that those two populations might have different levels of education and different skills in the workforce at that point. Once the minimum wage is established, you have huge increases in black unemployment. Similarly, speaking generally today, you have huge increases in teenage unemployment whenever raise the minimum wage, you had about a two percentage point increase in unemployment in,
let's see, in all three times in the 2000s the minimum wage was increased, there was a two percent increase in teenage unemployment. The 17.5 percent excess teen unemployment in October 2009 was the highest in record. I'd like us to think just a little bit about about the cultural impact of people who are looking for that first job, people from the low-skill community. It's very important that people learn how to work and learn the sort
of job skills you need. That first job in terms of knowing how to behave in the workplace, knowing how to show up on time every day, those aren't things that people are born with. Those are things that people learn in the workplace. And when you make it more difficult for the truly disadvantaged members of our society to get that first job, it's very dangerous because it ends up sawing off the bottom rung of opportunity. It makes it very difficult for the truly disadvantaged people in our community to climb up the ladder. I've got some more observations, but I get the sense that I'm running out of time, so
I'd be happy to take any questions. One
Representative Greg Leding
Unverified
58:51
question from Representative Letting. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The decade following the last time the Federal Government raised the minimum wage, I believe it was 96 to 97, saw one of the strongest periods of job growth in our country's history. In the period between about 1998 and 2003, studies show that states whose minimum wage was higher than the federal minimum wage actually saw stronger job growth. What would you say to
Dan Greenberg
Unverified
59:11
those studies? Well, you have to tease out causation because often you have states that raise the minimum
wage that are doing better in other areas. And so I think it's very difficult to draw some sort of causal link there. Instead, I think you have to essentially look at the laws of supply and demand and come up with an intelligent conclusion based on that. Everybody knows what happens when you lower prices. You have a fire sale. People buy more stuff. Everybody knows what happens when you raise prices. People buy less stuff. There's no reason to think that's not going to take place in the labor market as well. In fact, when you raise the cost of having jobs, it's going to make it more difficult to provide
jobs. And as I say, the people who have the lowest skills are the ones who are really going to get left out. And I think that is
cruel. It is cruelty in the guise of compassion. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Greenberg. That exhausts our balance of time to testify against the bill. Well, the committee used up all the time, so there's no time left for questions or testimony against. There's one person left to speak for the bill.
Speaker 169
1:00:19
That's Mr. Alan Hughes. There is a balance of about six minutes remaining, Mr.
Hughes, so keep that in mind as you testify and, members, as you ask questions. We'd like a little time for Representative Wilkins to close for his bill. Thank you,
Alan Hughes
Unverified
1:00:35
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Alan Hughes. I'm president of the Arkansas State AFL-CO. You might be asking why I'm sitting at this table worried about the minimum wage when my members make more than the minimum wage. But when people we're talking about, we're talking about members, my members,
that they're family members, they're neighbors, the people they go to church with, the ones that are struggling. They're worried about putting those tennis shoes on those kids, the proper clothes, being able to afford stuff to compete with the other
Speaker 172
1:01:02
kids in the school. I've been here at this table several times talking about this issue. The last time we did it, raised the minimum wage, we heard the same stories on both sides, the pros and the cons, great things horrible things but think back when it passed did you see all that happen on a bad side to all the massive layoffs that we've heard about some of
the same people in this room today are here to say in the same thing but I'm asking you because the only thing new about all this is is you sitting at this table today term limits a lot of turnover you've got new faces at this table but did you see all those horrible things happen the last time we raised the minimum wage in the state of Arkansas. We would have to go another two years before we had a chance to do this again. They'll be further behind. Gas prices will keep going up. The cost of milk will be going up.
Everything's going to keep going up. They're just falling further and further behind. And I travel the state, and I'm hearing from my members that's making better the minimum wage, saying we've got to do something for those in a low income, the minimum wage. We've been in this fight every time, and we'll continue being on this. I'm asking you to consider those that are struggling. Give their children a fair chance in school to compete with the other kids. They're not going out and buying stuff. I mean, you're talking about $80, I think somebody used a number a while ago.
That's not a lot of money. We're not talking about putting it in a pension. They can't afford to put it in a pension. They're having to spend every penny. They're one check away right now from going under. You open today's paper, and lookie, there's seven pages of foreclosures in the paper of people struggling. They're not through this. And I ask you to go back and remember, this bill is only asking you to raise it, $1. And we didn't hear all the horrible things. We've heard it, but we didn't see it last time this was passed.
It's not a chart. It's not. It's purity facts. It's everyday living right now. I'm asking you to support this minimum wage increase. And I think Representative
Alan Hughes
Unverified
1:03:09
Butch Wilkins answered most of the questions earlier. Mr. Kincaid, I thought he did a great job on both of them. Thank you for your testimony. Appreciate you. Representative Meeks, quick question.
Yes, sir. You know, you mentioned, you know, last
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
1:03:22
time that we did this, but what was the economy like last time that we actually did this? I think the last time was seven years ago or whatever.
We had a much better economy than we do right now. Now, technically, we might or might not be coming out of a recession, but I think it's hard to compare one economy to the other when we're talking about raising the minimum wage. Would that be a fair assessment? The last time
Speaker 172
1:03:47
we did this, we heard the same stories about some of the economy issues and about the cost, and I'll ask you, if their gas and all the stuff that keeps costing up for the restaurants or these others, what have they done during this time? They've passed it on.
If there's a minimum wage increase right now, it'll be passed on. I hadn't heard anybody testify they're not willing to pay more to help those that need it. I hope that'll
Speaker 65
1:04:12
answer your question. Well, there are other solutions than raising the minimum
wage, but Mr. Chair. Thank you, Representative Meeks. Any other questions? Okay, thank you for your testimony. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman of the committee. Again, no time left on the against side, so we've got two minutes left for Representative Wilkins to close for his bill.
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
1:04:40
thank mr. chairman committee you have heard much as I said you would two sides
of an issue the real issue is his families mr. Greenberg spoke to the students well the students are not getting a raise under this under this bill this bill is strictly aimed at families it's aimed at putting bread milk meat gas in the tank it's providing people a opportunity to the better educate their kids because many of the people I deal with or I have met that
that offered concerns about this to me was you know they were working two jobs they were working two minimum wage jobs and they may work one six hours at one convenience store and go work six hours at another convenience store another store and and the and the children were getting off the bus at home I had one lady who said she had four children which is a lot of children raising this amount of money and and I asked her if the kids ever went hungry she said no but she did so that's what this is all about to me this is not about statistics
you can read statistics you can listen to anything you want to hear there's all kinds of stuff out there it's what you choose to believe it's whether or not you choose with y'all due respect to support families of Arkansas or not and with that I'm closed mr. chairman thank you
thank you for the presentation members what's the pleasure of the committee representative love we have a motion to pass any testimony or I'm sorry any questions on the motion okay if If not, if you have a motion, do pass.
All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? No.
Chair's going to rule the no's have
Speaker 176
1:06:45
it. Okay. We'll roll call. All right. Representative Word. Representative Butch Wilkins. Representative Perry. Representative Malone, Representative Hank Wilkins, Representative Hank Wilkins, Representative
Representative Ledding, Representative Love, Representative Link, Representative Harris, Representative Wardlaw, Representative Hammer, Representative Hammer, Representative Branscombe, Branscombe. Representative Meeks. Representative Mayberry. Representative
Overby. Representative Overby. Representative Ritchie. Representative Womack, Representative Ferguson, Vice-Chair Murdoch,
Speaker 175
1:08:00
yes, Chair Burroughs. You failed to pass the bill, Representative Wilkins.
Is there anybody else here that would like to run a bill? Did I see Senator Key somewhere? Okay. Senator Key? If you'd like to join us at the end of the table, you'll be recognized
Speaker 181
1:08:42
to present at SB361. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senate Bill 361 is an amendment to legislation we passed in the 2011 session
where we allowed administration of glucagon to students who suffer from diabetes and we specified then type 1 diabetes that was an error it shouldn't have limited that to type 1 this is a bill from the the Board of Nursing that they've requested that we modify this language just to make it more general applicability to diabetes the only other change that it makes is a clarification of the reference to federal law and that's the other
underlined portion you see in lines 28 and 35 and also in line page 2 line 6 I'll be glad to
take any questions members any questions representative link and then
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:09:42
love okay representative love thank you mr. chairman senator key This bill just allows for licensed professionals, correct? Licensed nurses? Is that correct?
Speaker 181
1:09:53
This was in the original bill we passed in 2011 was about school volunteers that had training from licensed individuals. And so that part was passed then. And this just simply allows that opening it up to all kinds of diabetes, not just the type
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:10:16
a certificate or something, a certificate of completion from this training? Is that, I mean. I don't recall.
Speaker 181
1:10:24
I mean, we don't address that here, and I don't recall the specifics. Oh, good. Ms. Tedford is here from the Board of Nursing. I couldn't find her a while ago. So, Mr. Chairman, with your permission, Ms. Tedford can help answer that
Speaker 185
1:10:42
question. You're recognized, Ms. Tedford. Thank you. I'm Sue Tedford, Executive Director of the Board of Nursing. The volunteers have a training program, completed training program, that was agreed upon between the Board of Nursing and the Department of Education,
and they do receive a certificate of training at
the completion. Thank you, Ms. Tedford. Thank you,
Speaker 71
1:11:10
Senator Key. Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Representative Ward. On administering this glucose to these students and all, I know that we are more modernized now and they have like those flex pens that more or less measure the amount of insulin in individuals actually administering at any time.
Are these going to be those types of device that these volunteers will be having or will they actually have to use the old type syringes and things where they have to actually measure the amount themselves on how or what amount the individual will be receiving an insulin
Speaker 185
1:11:43
glucagon comes in a pre-filled syringe and there's two pieces you flip the ends you put it together and each person gets the same dosage so there is no calculation or
room for error okay thank you thank you representative
Representative Andy Mayberry
Unverified
1:11:57
Mayberry thank you as if I'm reading this correctly one of the persons who may administer this would be the what we were just talking about those who have been designated as care providers in a plan developed under section 504 is that correct yes sir and with that section 504 plan that that is an agreed upon plan with the parents yes so so the parents have
thank you any other questions okay is anybody in the audience would
to speak for against the bill if not representative link you're recognized for motion motion do pass motion do pass any discussion on the motion if not all in favor say aye any opposed congratulations you passed your bill is anybody here to run any other bills i'm not going to run through the list but if you're here wave i don't see anybody hang tight just a second because we We've got a special order to set. House Bill 1038 by Representative Altus. This is the F word, fluoride.
It's going to be March 14th. So with that objection, we'll set that for special order. Also, House Bill 1011 by Representative Altus will set for special order on March 21st. And finally, Representative Meeks, House Bill 1568, we'll set that for special order on March 19th. So all that will be on your agenda on Thursday when we come back. No other business has come before. We'll stand adjourned until Thursday.
Agenda
Documents
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Speakers
Representative John Burris Chair
Unverified
Senator Bobby J. Pierce
Unverified
Representative Deborah Ferguson
Unverified
Speaker 16
Speaker 21
Speaker 25
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
Speaker 31
Speaker 4
Speaker 38
Speaker 41
Speaker 42
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
Speaker 51
Speaker 65
Speaker 71
Speaker 73
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Speaker 80
Speaker 87
Speaker 90
Representative Justin T. Harris
Unverified
Speaker 114
Representative Kelley Linck
Unverified
Monty Mcnulty
Unverified
Speaker 122
Speaker 123
Speaker 127
Speaker 129
Speaker 138
Speaker 140
Representative Andy Mayberry
Unverified
Speaker 149
Speaker 91
Brett Kincaid
Unverified
Speaker 158
Speaker 155
Representative Greg Leding
Unverified
Speaker 165
Dan Greenberg
Unverified
Speaker 169
Alan Hughes
Unverified
Speaker 172
Speaker 176
Speaker 175
Speaker 181
Speaker 152
Speaker 185
Speaker 147