House Aging Children and Youth Legislative & Military Affairs
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (4)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1363
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HB1363”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HB1013
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1013”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HR1014
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HR1014”
|
Pre-2017 bill | ||
|
HR2014
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…you, Ms. Chair. Thank you, committee members. Okay. Next is House Resolution 2014 by Representative Ward.”
|
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 4, 2026
Representative John Charles Edwards
Unverified
0:00
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is my third time on this bill in the committee, but I'm just going to invoke the good career of Dale Earnhardt that had number three on his car, and so hopefully some success will come. But as I said yesterday on the floor, I think getting to come before the committee again to reaffirm what we need to be doing for our veterans
and this is to concur in the Senate amendment that adds Senator Sanders as a co-sponsor and adds the Arkansas Veterans Home Task Force as another set of eyes to help with the actual location of a veteran's home. With that I am closed, sir. Any questions by the committee or comments?
Seeing none, what is the pleasure of the committee?
Motion to pass. Representative Bain makes a motion to pass. Any discussion on the
motion? All those in favor say aye. All those opposed. Congratulations, Representative Edwards. The third time's the charm. You've passed your bill. Unless it's a different bill. Okay. All right. Next item on the
agenda is House Bill 1363 by Representative Hobbs. Representative Hobbs, you're recognized to present your bill.
Representative Debra M. Hobbs
Unverified
1:41
Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee. This is really one of those simple bills. It simply increases the Early Childhood Commission from 24 members to 25 members, And that 25th member, if you look, I think, on the last line of the bill, is specifically a member representing the Arkansas Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the Council of Deans. And the purpose in that is that the federal people, specifically the people that were awarding Race to the Top, specifically recommended this addition.
and the Early Childhood Commission feels like this will help them in future federal grant seeking because of this recommendation. Okay. Any questions or comments from
the committee? Seeing none, we do have one person signed up to speak for the bill. Kathy Price, if you're here, if you
would come forward and for the record state your name and organization you're with.
Kathy Price
Unverified
2:49
My name is Dr. Kathy Price, and I'm here as a private citizen. Okay. The purpose of this legislation is to add a member to the Early Childhood Commission, specifically from the Arkansas Council of the Deans of Teacher Education. Up until August, I served on that council. I was a member of it for four years. I believe it's essential for our state to reserve a spot for higher ed on the state's early childhood commission to assist us in becoming more competitive in future federal
funding. We were given 57 pages detailing why we were not awarded federal funding in the original race to the top funds. That would have brought $50 million into our state. Some of their comments were that we needed to integrate and align resources and policies across state agencies, and specific comments were made concerning the fact that the Early Childhood Commission did not have higher education representation on it.
We've been told plainly something that we need to fix in our state, and while I can't you that we will receive future federal funding and I think it's our duty to be as competitive as we can be and this act will help us in that regard early childhood teachers need accessible preparation programs bachelor's degrees teacher certificate and professional development and I hope that you will commit to adding that adding this position in our state by giving those
that prepare future teachers a voice and representation on the early childhood Commission thank
you would you be willing to take questions from the committee I am okay representative Broadway you're
recognized for a question thank you so much ma'am could you please tell me a little bit
about the current makeup of the membership of the Commission from what
Kathy Price
Unverified
4:54
areas do they come um they they yes there are currently um 24 members three are from child care provider agencies
one is affiliated with the arkansas head start one more affiliated with head start one from early head start one from seasonal head start one from hippie which is home instruction programs for preschool youngsters one from early childhood in the public schools one who is trained as an early childhood professional one who is the parent of a child that attends a child care program two representing the business communities that have interest in early childhood one
representing the arkansas chapter of the american academy of pediatrics one representing the arkansas chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians, one who is a clinical provider of behavior and mental health services, and then this would add one from higher ed. Follow up, please. Yes, go
ahead. And is there any consideration given to geography, geographic location in the state with regard to these representatives? I do not believe there is.
Kathy Price
Unverified
6:07
The governor makes the appointments, and I know that his office considers
Speaker 24
6:10
that as he makes appointments thank you so much okay
any other questions are representative Alexander you recognized
if I counted right you said there are four different head start representatives on the committee four different
areas of head start yes okay what
what's the purpose of that I mean I
Speaker 28
6:32
don't understand I'm not familiar with the different areas right and hippie
Kathy Price
Unverified
6:41
home visiting is is a growing thing in our state early head start deals with birth to three and then head start deals with ages three to five I'm not sure I was not involved with the original legislation that set up the Commission so I'm not sure what the reasoning was um i'm sorry one
one additional question i've got the list here now it looks like
there's one member of a who is a parent of a child who attends a child care program yes that's one out of 25 if
Kathy Price
Unverified
7:25
we yes and that doesn't mean uh that the other representatives on the commission have not used child care or not had experience using child care i think we're getting a rather large early
Speaker 24
7:35
childhood commission and you know you have to keep the number manageable in some way okay
any other questions or comments from the committee
seeing none i do not have anybody else signed up to speak either for or against the bill Thank you, Ms. Price. Thank you.
Appreciate it. Representative Hobbs, would you like to close for your bill? I believe I'm going to close. I appreciate a good vote. Okay. Seeing that we're done there, what is the pleasure of the committee? Representative Scott. Motion do pass. Motion do pass has been made. Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
Congratulations, Representative Hobbs. You have passed your bill. Thank you, Ms. Chair. Thank you, committee members. Okay. Next is House Resolution 2014 by Representative Ward.
Representative Ward, you're recognized to present your resolution.
Representative Ward
Unverified
8:44
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, committee members. This is very brief. I guess I can give you a little
Speaker 40
8:49
bit of history of the state of Arkansas
all and the commission of the state flag, but it would take probably a little bit more time than you all have. Today I am here to present
House Resolution. Representative Ward, hold on just a moment here. I just was informed that you have an amendment. That's right. I have one amendment to this. Okay. Let's go ahead and do the amendment first, and then we'll get into the
Speaker 40
9:16
bill. Okay. We have one amendment to this House Resolution, and it's due to a typographical error.
The spilling of Kavanaugh in some parts of the resolution, we have Kavanaugh with a K and some we have it with a C. And so we noticed that it should be spelled with a K and not with a C. That is the amendment to this particular House resolution. Okay, any discussion
on the amendment? Yes, Representative Mary Shorten. Adopt the
amendment. Okay, motion has been made.
um to adopt the amendment any discussion on the motion all those in favor of adopting the amendment say aye
Speaker 40
10:03
all those opposed okay i'm sorry go ahead representative work and continue thank you thanks mr chair uh this particular house resolution will commemorate uh on uh will commemorate willie cavanaugh hooker who is the designer and the maker of the arkansas state flag We will celebrate the 100-year making of the flag as of this month, which is February the 26th.
And the only thing that we simply wanted to do was more or less, Mrs. Hooker was actually born in Madison County in Kentucky, but in the early part, she moved, as a young lady, moved to Jefferson County in Wabaseka, Arkansas. There are several historic monuments and buildings that are currently there in the city of Wabaseka. And we're also hoping by getting some historic things through some other committees,
we're hoping to establish another memorial for her. But we just simply want to give recognition to Ms. Hooker on the 100-year anniversary of the making of this particular flag on the House floor on February the 26th of this year. Very good. We're definitely
proud to have her move to Arkansas and dishonor the great state flag that
we do have. Does anybody on the committee have any questions or comments?
Seeing none, what is the pleasure of the committee? Representative Alexander? Okay, motion has been made. Do pass. Any discussion on the motion? all those in
favor of passing the resolution say aye I'm sorry it will be as amended as amended I'm sorry as amended say aye all those opposed congratulations Representative Orr you've passed your resolution thank you committee with that said those two resolutions that I'm going to run I'm
going to wait and run those on Friday
so we have no other resolutions or bills on there but I do, you should have a report that we'll send out to you called Senior Hunger in Arkansas, and we're going to go ahead and allow that to be presented at this time. So, gentlemen, if you would come and state your name and title for the record. Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
Charles Thompson
Unverified
12:29
committee members. My name is Charles Thompson. I'm Assistant Director at the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Division of Aging and Adult Services.
Our director, Ms. Hughes, is on her way. I made a mistake, and I apologize. I saw four bills on the agenda, and I said, well, you know, I'm sure about 1030 if we get on, you know, and so that was my fault because I made a bad guesstimation. You all clipped through your agenda so quickly. But I'm going to start out with, and she may be joining us soon, but I'm going to start out with presenting the Senior Hunger in Arkansas report that the division has compiled. This is being officially released today. We wanted the committee members to see it and be able to take a look at it and get first viewing.
The Division of Aging and Adult Services as the focal point for aging issues in Arkansas is the State Unit on Aging, as the federal government defines that, takes issues regarding senior hunger as one of our main focuses in nutrition advocacy. Anecdotally, we saw issues as to senior hunger throughout the state, And so we wanted to go ahead and do a report on it, get some hard data with some recommendations.
And as you look through the reports, you'll see that senior hunger in Arkansas, relative to other states, we are rather high, depending on which study you look at. We are either – we're between first and seventh. There's two different studies we looked at. but compared to surrounding compared to other states we are either first or seventh in senior in food insecurity which is that term you'll see that term
throughout our report that encompasses hunger but senior food insecurity is the academic term for issues as to hunger and malnutrition that affects our seniors the seniors the patterns in Arkansas groups that obviously poverty comes into minority population has higher higher issues as to senior hunger and you'll notice that if you look that also that tracks with numbers as to poverty on page 8 if you look it really is telling as to the issues where in the state
where where poverty really affects our seniors and and then we had we had a a few recommendations and one of the biggest issues that we found were that seniors were not taking advantage of supplemental nutrition assistance program what was used to be called food stamps and it's as we all know that was that's federally funded that's federal dollars to provide nutrition assistance to those within a certain percent of the poverty level the seniors the the issue
is the use of SNAP it seems to be what we believe the causes are a stigma and misconceptions about eligibility regarding SNAP and just the issue is the education of seniors and how they would how they would how they would I'm sorry how they would possibly be eligible accordingly the division has decided that we would convene a task force to look at these issues especially SNAP but as other issues but the other issues surrounding is through the senior
and food insecurity in Arkansas see how we could how mitigate or you know really get us really help those seniors out there that are really struggling with issues as to food and as I as I stated here's our director miss Hughes and and miss Hughes I apologize to the committee members and let them know that I would made the mistake of giving you the wrong time to be here and that there was no no fault of
Speaker 50
16:21
your own we were pretty quick in this committee so well
Speaker 51
16:26
I do apologize and I do appreciate so much the opportunity I didn't hear what Chuck said so
Chair
Unverified
16:32
I just want to add just a few comments to what he did say in the report that isn't specifically stated and that is the bad news is that we have a lot of hungry senior adults the good news is that there are some opportunities to take advantage, one being SNAP. I wanted to point out that the revenue that we have for meals in Arkansas is, you know, it is declining,
primarily related to the cigarette tax money. We have lost over the last four years over 55,000 meals because of the decline that we're receiving on the cigarette tax side. In addition to that, because of the stagnant funding through the other federal and state sources, we are in essence receiving a decline you know as well with that because of the higher cost of delivering meals the food cost transportation cost and that type of thing so with overall taken in the last few years a decline of the delivery of
meals by over nine percent for congregate meals and over seven percent for our home delivery of course for those who cannot travel to the senior center to uh to receive the meal in a social setting um we have over well i think the best we can get a count toward is close to about a thousand people right now on wait list now the deceiving thing about the wait list is that that is what they're defining in their immediate delivery area okay so it is not including the way it is not including the people who need meals who
were in further out counties the more rural counties that of course as this report indicates are in fact are food deserts you know are in fact the areas where transportation is just not available to get people to receive uh you know to get to their meals so you know those are challenges the positive thing i wanted to point out is that i just can't say enough good things about your area agencies on aging in your communities they have raised last year they raised well over two million dollars uh the senior centers are out there you know so that the senior
centers that are in your communities uh please know that they are not sitting on their laurels they are doing all that they can do to raise money to kind of fill that gap or that shortage you know is is showing up um and i wanted to point out that seniors contribute to these to their meals uh seniors voluntarily give a donation if they're able to or feel like they're able to and seniors uh contributed over three million dollars in 2011 so without that you can see we
would even be so much more critically in the whole uh and and really be suffering were it not for the efforts on the grassroot level that we are seeing with our providers and with the senior centers and i just really really do want to applaud them and i hope y'all have an opportunity to to know your center directors and to know your area agency directors and and key staff that's all i brought so were you finished okay here's
Speaker 51
19:40
one thing i wanted to also point out
because i'm not a chart person the yellow and the green and
Chair
Unverified
19:47
the red i take that as like a green light yield light and a stoplight that is really not the intention of the color code on these on these chart on the charts so really red just means higher than than green you know green is the lower quadrant of numbers so they're not relative to really anything other than that they're not value related I guess is what I'd like to say but it does show you on each county level the associated
persons that we're looking at and SNAP is the big deal you'll hear a press release of it hasn't already gone out by Joni Jones and myself that DCO will be closely participating with our senior centers and going out and trying to increase the applications that we have you know to out there for our seniors and I think that's right now that's the biggest thing that we can do because we know that there is money there that presents its own challenges because the
primary reasons for not getting food can be related to transportation you know to get to the grocery stores and that type of thing so food stamps is a great benefit but in our population it's not the fix-all I mean I do want to point that out it is not the fix-all but it certainly is an area of opportunity that we have not fully taken advantage of that we really really do want to stress this year I'd be happy to
answer any questions okay I do appreciate that representative Scott you're recognized for question or comment thank you mr.
chairman on page 9 I'm particularly excited to see this seniors senior farmers market nutrition program we have great great farmers markets in northwest arkansas and i have a couple of questions i know specifically personally of a couple of seniors who would benefit from this program a month can you tell me is this fifty dollars worth of coupons a month
or fifty dollars worth of coupons for what what period is that i would have
Chair
Unverified
21:54
to get back with you i really would be afraid to answer that okay i do not believe it is a month But I'm probably wrong. I shouldn't have even said that. I really don't
Charles Thompson
Unverified
22:06
know. Representative Scott, we can get back with you on that because I believe it might have changed from last year to this year because originally we didn't know if the federal government was going to re-up that program. Originally they told us that it was not going to happen this year. So I will go back with our program coordinator who deals with that program specifically and find out exactly how that works and get back with you today.
And if that is just for a month, I'd be very interested in you looking at some way or asking one of us to increase that. $50 at a farmer's market does
Speaker 67
22:37
not go very far. This is a federal program, and it is
teeny, teeny small. The overall funding for Arkansas is very, very small. Well, then my question is, if we want our seniors to eat very, very good nutritious foods, Why did we not start out with a number bigger than $50?
Chair
Unverified
23:00
And again, we'll have to describe that. We'll have to actually go get the program information to you. Primarily, part of that is because we were trying to give a reasonable amount to the largest number of people because the total pie is very, very small. That said, that same area agency, Jerry Mitchell's area agency, is working with Walmart on a pilot project up in that area. So they have an additional program, if it hasn't started yet, that they are co-sponsored with Walmart.
And I believe it is associated with that farmer's market program, but I could get Jerry
to contact you as well. Can you also tell
me, do they have to be a client of SNAPS first in order to receive this $50 or whatever? No. Okay. May I have just one more question, Mr. Chairman? can you tell me also because of the seniors that I'm thinking of they do not have their own transportation can someone else pick up their vegetables
for them at the farmers market or do they have to do
Chair
Unverified
24:07
it in person I would prefer to just truly get the specifics back to you I'm afraid I would miss speak on that I would be more than happy to do that I want everybody to realize that that is one that is specific to that county you know those counties up there is a very very small program but I will get that information to you And I apologize for not knowing more about that. I will also say that one of the things I missed with regard to the state's broader efforts, East Area Agency, East Arkansas Area Agency out of Jonesboro has recently opened up and
they're partnering with their local food pantry areas. And they actually are having a food pantry in their community center. And it's just truly those innovative steps. And they're just truly trying everything to try to get food to the seniors. We have worked closely with Joni Jones, you know, the Division of County Operations with the commodities Because what we're trying to do is identify the counties that have the higher wait lists And truly just patchwork anything that we can If it's just commodities for right now, that's more than nothing
You know, if it's the food stamps, then yes But we have to figure out a way to get them then to the place where they can, you know,
use the card I think growing this program would be a win-win situation it would help our farmers, it would help everyone, and
certainly our seniors. Please work on it. We'll be happy to do
that. Any other questions? Representative Alexander, you're recognized for a
question or comment. I saw the term food desert
in here somewhere, and I haven't looked at all the charts.
Is there a map in here that indicates where in Arkansas those are? Or is there one that
Speaker 67
25:53
could be available? I'll have to ask, we have a statistician that did
Chair
Unverified
25:57
this, and I don't know if we have a county-by-county demarcation of that, but I will ask. We didn't, for example, on the food insecurity levels, have a county-by-county. We just had to go back to the poverty levels on that. So some things we are not able to get, but I will certainly ask.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay. Representative Holcomb, you're recognized? Well, just real
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
26:20
quickly, Mr. Chair, I just want to comment. Of course, I'm not familiar with the area agency in every county, but I know in Jefferson County, who Betty Bradshaw is in charge of, they just do a tremendous job. They have the mills on wheels, they deliver, they have the vans to carry the elderly around. So, you know, like I say, I don't know what's going on in the rest of the state, but I can assure you that they're doing all they can there, and they really do a good job.
Speaker 67
26:47
I just want to make that comment. Thank you,
Chair
Unverified
26:52
Mr. Chair. i would just like to speak to that i am not by this i'm from mississippi and i drive south sixty-five a lot to get and i i tried at all hours of the day and night weekends weird i never tried that read that i don't see betty's fans on that highway i mean every time i go it's just a truly is amazing how rural that area is and i don't care when i'm out and about those bands are ever at past one on interstate six thirty
I mean, you know, they're everywhere. She does
a phenomenal job with the
resources that she has. Anybody else? Representative Julian, recognized. The area
agencies, do they have the ability to work with the nonprofits that help address food insecurity? Maybe I'm, you know, in Jalaski County, you've got groups like Potluck Food Rescue,
and I know that a portion of their food goes to agencies that are programs that deal with the elderly. Is there an effort by the agencies to bring in those nonprofits in a collaborative effort? While I can't speak specifically to that, all I can tell
Chair
Unverified
28:14
you is that the area agencies have been known for, they network with all known entities across the board. I know they do in transportation.
I would just have to ask in these areas where they are if they have specific formalized type of agreements, but I just feel like they take advantage of every relationship opportunity that they can to maximize what is delivered in their regions. Thank you. any other
questions or comments well I do appreciate you coming before the
committee and presenting your report it's some good information and again I would encourage the committee members you know to look at what's going on in
your district in your area as far as this is concerned you know there are needs and you know that's one of the great things about being a legislature is that there are some things that you can do to help meet those needs in your community and so I hope you'll take a look at that and do what you can to help out your district and your communities. With that said, again, thank you all for presenting your report today. If you all happen to have any other questions as we go forward, you know, please get their information and make contact with them.
They're here to help you get the answers that you need to your questions. With that said, we're done for today. I appreciate everyone coming out. the youth committee is.
Agenda
HB1013
HB1363
HR1014
Hunger Presentation
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Representative John Charles Edwards
Unverified
Representative Sue Scott Chair
Unverified
Representative Debra M. Hobbs
Unverified
Kathy Price
Unverified
Representative Mary Broadaway Chair
Unverified
Speaker 24
Representative Randy Alexander Chair
Unverified
Speaker 28
Speaker 29
Representative Ward
Unverified
Speaker 40
Charles Thompson
Unverified
Speaker 50
Speaker 51
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 67
Representative Mike Holcomb
Unverified
Representative Patti Julian Chair
Unverified