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Speaker 1
0:30
All right, members, it's 10 o'clock. We're going to go ahead and get started. Let's call
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
0:44
the meeting to order. We'll follow the normal process. Billy's going to go through all of Section B, give an explanation for both items. We'll come back, and after there's any questions on one, two, or three, and we'll move through the calendar that way. And so with that, we're going to turn it over to Billy.
William Parrish
Unverified
1:01
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We're in Section B. These are the various temporary appropriation requests. The first item is B1, a letter from the Department of Health, Interpreters for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Board. This is for $155,000 in appropriation. It's to expand education, update testing, and provide for administrative assistance. It's supported by fees and use of their fund balance. Next item, B2, is a letter from the Department of Education, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. This is for $70 million in appropriation. It's to provide additional spending authority for the educational freedom account program.
Later in the agenda is a request for a restricted reserve fund transfer. That's item E2. B3 is a letter from the Department of Human Services, Division of Developmental Disabilities. This is for $231,000. It's to cover costs of the Boonville Human Development Center's wastewater treatment plant that according to the letter came in substantially higher than original projected staff learned that the projected costs of 4.2 million were originally contracted in 2024 there were eight change orders in the past two
years so the new cost is 4.4 million which accounts for the appropriation increase mr. chair those are all the VTAs all right
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
2:13
thank you members to any Any questions on B1, B2, or B3? All right, seeing no questions, we have a motion to approve items 1 through 3. We've got a motion. We've got a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing
none, all those in favor and signify by saying aye. All those opposed, motion carries. Section C. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
William Parrish
Unverified
2:37
We're in Section C. These are the American Rescue Plan Appropriation Requests. Items 1 through 3 are direct federal awards, grants made from a federal department, directly to a state agency, and item four is a state award where the executive had discretion in awarding projects. C1 is a request from the Department of Workforce Services Division of Reemployment for $65,500. They have a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor for an identity verification enhancement project for unemployment insurance. This is to migrate data for federal compliance and ensure uninterrupted service for unemployment claimants. C2 is South Arkansas
psychologist's item was removed by agency request. C3 is a request from University of Arkansas Fort Smith. It's for 93,000. They have a grant from the Office of Skills Development as part of the Align program. That's to support the LPN program at the Western Arkansas Technical Center. And C4 is a request from DHS, Division of Aging, Adult and Behavioral Health Services. It's for a million in appropriation. This is to reallocate unused appropriation and funds a separate award to the arkansas state hospital funds will be used to cover construction needs
for unit three at the state hospital which will include sewer needs technology needs and safety requirements mr chair those are all our requests all right thank
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
3:50
you members do we have questions on c1 c3 or four all right seeing no questions we've got a motion to approve we've got a second any discussion on the motion the motion is to approve items one three and four all right seeing Seeing no discussion, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, motion carries. Section D. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
William Parrish
Unverified
4:13
We're in Section D. These are the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act Appropriation Requests. D1 is Department of Transportation. This is $280 million. It's to provide spending authority for awards made from IIJA to the department for the next quarter. Following the request is a list of awarded and scheduled projects and also an inventory of projects that utilize IIJA funding. D2 will be the second-to-last page of the packet. If you go to D2, this is a request from the Department of Agriculture.
It's for $763,000. They have a grant from the USDA Forest Service for the Arkansas State Forest Action Plan. Funds will be used to replace outdated equipment and purchase personal protective equipment for firefighters. And D3 is also agriculture. This is for $84,000. They have a grant from the USDA Forest Service for the Volunteer Fire Assistance Program, and the funds will be used to provide rural fire departments with essential equipment. Mr. Chair, those are all the IIJA requests.
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
5:15
Members, do we have any questions on D1, D2, or D3?
We've got a motion to approve items D1 through D3. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. All those
William Parrish
Unverified
5:32
opposed, motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Chair. we're in section E. This is a restricted reserve fund transfer request. The first item is a
letter from the Department of Human Services. This is a $200 million transfer from the Medicaid sustainability set-aside account within the restricted reserve fund. This is to pay for required state matching funds that support the ongoing payment of claims and services for the
Medicaid program. The letter says the total program cost for the federal fiscal year is $9.8 billion. the current federal share is 69.23 percent that share will increase to 70.52 percent in the next federal fiscal year that starts in october the 200 million dollar transfer is the full balance of the set aside account next item is e2 this is a letter from the department of education division of elementary and secondary education this is a 70 million dollar transfer it's from the children's educational freedom account set aside the letter says it will allow the division to fund efa
accounts during the 26-27 school year. The set-aside account was originally allocated with $160 million. $90 million was released by request to peer last fiscal year in June of 2025. The $70 million request for this fiscal year is the full remaining balance of the set-aside account. Alright, thank you members. Do we have any
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
6:41
questions on E1? Any questions on E2? Seeing no questions, we've got a motion to approve. We've got a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by
saying aye. Aye. All those opposed motion carries section F. Thank you Mr.
William Parrish
Unverified
7:01
Chair. We're in section F. This is an appropriation interfund transfer request. It's for the Department of Transportation. This is a 20 million dollar transfer from the highway transfer fund from interest earnings in the Treasurer Securities Reserve Fund. The Arkansas Highway Improvement Plan of 2016 sought 50 million from existing fund sources to produce a state match that would draw down all available federal aid proceeds from the securities reserve fund were a component along with state surplus and other sources the act requires approval from alc to make the transfer to the department all right thank
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
7:31
you members for any questions all right seeing no questions we've
got a motion to approve we've got a second any discussion on the motion seeing none all those
in favor signify by saying aye all those opposed motion carries section g items
William Parrish
Unverified
7:46
for review thank Thank you, Mr. Chair. We're in Section G. This is a cash fund appropriation transfer request section. G1 is a letter from the Department of Corrections. Division of Corrections is for $224,000. It's to pay costs associated with on-call architectural service fees. It's supported by rent collected in the work release program. Staff learned that's the reimbursements the work release participants make to the program
to offset costs for maintenance and operation of centers. G2 is a letter from Department of Education, Division of Higher Education, for $150,000 in appropriation. This is to award subgrants to institutions for the Connecting Talent to Opportunity Challenge from a federal award to the division. G3 is a letter from Parks, Heritage, and Tourism, Division of State Parks. It's for $27 million. This is to be used for design and construction, including storm damage repairs at Historic Washington State Park and the trails at Mina at Queen Wilhelmina State Park. This is supported by reimbursed funds and insurance disbursements.
G4 is a letter from Energy and Environment Oil and Gas Commission, Office of State Geologists. It's for $160,000 in appropriation. This is to make improvements at the Office of State Geologist Sample Library. Specifically, after repairs have been made at the library, funds would be dedicated to a new security system, extra help for sample preservation, and upgrades to better serve the public. It's supported by the sale of the former headquarters and a performance bond. The bond was paid due to the vendor that was originally contracted for roof replacement defaulted. Mr. Chair, those are all the requests for cash.
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
9:11
All right, thank you, members, if you have any questions on G1.
two, three, or four. All right, seeing no questions without objection, these items are reviewed.
William Parrish
Unverified
9:26
Section H. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We're in Section H. These are miscellaneous federal appropriation requests. H1 is a request from the Department of Agriculture. It's for a million dollars in federal appropriation. This is a forest legacy grant from the U.S. Forest Service to acquire 2,100 acres in the Maumelle watershed for Central Arkansas Water to own and manage.
Forest legacy objectives are to provide permanent protection of forest land that supports local forest-based economies, preserves critical wildlife habitat, and prevents degradation of water quality. For the committee's information, ALC approved $7 million in January to acquire creek tracks of 1,300 acres. Today's request will acquire the balance of the streams tracked for a total of 3,400 acres. Next item is also Department of Agriculture. It's for $492,000.
This is a grant from the USDA to support animal health, national surveillance, and response activities. Mr. Chair, those are all the MFGs. All
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
10:20
right. Thank you. Members, do you have any questions on H1, H2? Seeing no questions. Without objection, those items are reviewed. On the reports, members, do we have any questions on the reports today? All right. Seeing no questions on the reports. Other business? No. quit. So, you
know, Billy, uh, you know, I get, I get told quite a bit. I've been here for a very
long time. Uh, and typically, uh, no one's been willing to say maybe the obvious that maybe I've been here too long. And, uh, before that starts happening, um, I
don't want to be in control of that. Um, today, effective at the end of the day, I'll be resigning and stepping away from Senate.
I promised less that I was not going to give him the courtesy of showing any of you that I actually have a motion but uh but anyway um so staff and members and everybody i mean it's it's incredible uh what we all know sitting in this room is i won't use the word but we we are not
as stellar as we present to the public um they make us shine every single day and they do it with unselfish behavior they do it unseen i mean there's people in the building across the street people in the back here that sit in cubicles and desks that just make us look like to be honest something that we're not and so that's something I'm grateful for and I know that y'all are too and as far as the institution it's a pretty wild thing right it's a it's it's been one heck of a ride 18 years uh has been a blink uh I thought I was signing up for six when I started didn't
work out that way but my family's been very supportive um and y'all have been very supportive um you know the reality is like this institution it doesn't speed up or slow down for anybody you know we get on and we ride for as long as either the people uh let us ride or as long as we're willing to ride um and and to be honest you know we run up to the front we try to grab the wheel and we're going to twist and pull and do everything we can to try to change the direction or impact the direction um and the reality is uh we're just nudging things along and you know at
the end of the day you're hoping that you're nudging things in the right direction and I think together we've been able to do that and something I'm proud
of and I'm proud to serve with each one every one of you so with that appreciate y'all's time and then I'll have some more announcement that will come here in a little while with an official resignation but thank you all very much
Unknown speaker
12:58
The American Pronunciation Guide Presents "How to Pronounce Edward Jern"
Agenda
A. Call to Order
Items for Approval
B. Various Temporary Appropriation Transfer Requests
C. American Rescue Plan Act Appropriation Requests
D. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Appropriation Requests
E. Restricted Reserve Fund Transfer Requests
F. Appropriation and/or Fund Transfer Request
Items for Review
G. Cash Fund Appropriation Transfer Requests
H. Miscellaneous Federal Grant Appropriation Request
Reports
I. Annual Report
J. Monthly Reports
K. Other Business
L. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Speaker 1
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
William Parrish
Unverified