JBC-PEER Review
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Unknown speaker
0:00
Thank you.
Members of the- Am I on?
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:00
members appear if you'll get in your seat please yep thank
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:06
you if you're on the peer subcommittee we're about to start please find your seats everybody else if you would make your way to the back with your conversations in the back or audience if you'll find your chairs please all right call the meeting appear review subcommittee to order and with that going to recognize Billy to start us off. Thank you,
William Parrish
Unverified
1:28
Mr. Chair. We're in section B. This is various temporary appropriation requests.
Item B1 is a letter from the auditor of states for $370 in appropriation. This is to cover a shortfall for deputy prosecuting attorneys. Staff learned this is due to increase in insurance rates. It's supported by the state central services fund. Next item B2 is a letter from the Department of Education, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. It's for $10.5 million in spending authority. It's to provide districts for a uniform rate of tax adjustments. That will ensure school districts get their full amount of foundation funding. These funds will support schools whose net revenues were short when compared against property tax
assessments of the school district. This is supported by balances in the public school fund. B3 is a letter from the Department of Education School for the Deaf and Blinds for $500,000. According to the letter this is to meet the operating needs of the school supported by salary savings. B4 is a letter from the Department of Labor and Licensing Division of Bail Bonds. It's for $36,000 the spending authority. It's to provide for general operating expenses and it's supported by license and application fees. B5 is a letter from Labor and Licensing Division of Electrical. It's for $6,000 in appropriation. It's to provide for additional conference and travel
spending authority. It's supported by license and application fees. B6 is a letter from the Division of HVAC at Labor and Licensing for $26,500. The majority is to cover various operating expenses and $1,500 is for conference and travel. This is supported by license and application fees mr. chair those are all the various temporary appropriation requests all
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
2:54
right members any questions from any members on regarding B 1 through 6 any questions seeing no questions
need a motion a second to approve B 1 through 6 got a motion and a second a discussion to the motion all
favor say aye opposed all right mr. Billy C 1 through
William Parrish
Unverified
3:18
6 thank you mr. We're in Section C. These are American Rescue Plan Act appropriation requests. This section has six requests from the Division of Workforce Services. All requests are for spending authority to return unexpended funds back to federal partners. C1 is $225,000 to return funds from the TANF program. C2 is $53,000 to return funds from the Unemployment Insurance IT Modernization Project. C3 is $99,000 to return funds from the Unemployment Insurance Fraud Detection and Prevention Project.
C4 is $183,000 to return funds from the Unemployment Insurance Equity Grant. C5 is $20,000 to return funds from the Unemployment Insurance Integrity Grant. And C6 is $12,000 to return funds from the Expanding the Public Health Workforce Project. Mr. Chair, those are all the ARPA requests. All right, those are
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
4:02
C1 through 6. Any questions from any members? Motion to approve. Hang on a second. Can we get somebody to the table on C1, please? Somebody from the agency on C1?
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
4:31
Good morning. Name and title for the record, please. Seraph, pull that mic down,
Speaker 21
4:35
if you will, so we can hear you, please. Good
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
4:38
morning. I'm Stephen Giese, CFO with Division of Workforce Services. Okay, thank you. What I just heard was $225,000, and if I understood it right, would be returned
Speaker 24
4:46
to the feds because it was not used am i correct or incorrect on that uh this was for the pandemic emergency assistant funds uh what tannif allowed at that time was a one-time 450 payment that went out to tannif recipients for people that moved or checks that were never
cashed we were required to hold those funds for two years because they had the opportunity to come back and get them that time is now expired and they've not requested those funds so now it needs go back to the federal government
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
5:14
okay thank you any other questions all right thank you all right any other questions on c1 through 6 seeing none take a motion got a motion approved second got a motion second discussion to the motion all in favor say aye opposed all right billy d1 2
William Parrish
Unverified
5:33
thank you mr. chair we're in section d these are infrastructure investment jobs acts appropriation requests d1 is a request from the department of public safety division of state police is for 1.8 million in spending authority they have a grant from the u.s department of justice for the commercial driver's license program implementation it'll be used for overtime and associated fringe costs for cdl coordinators auditing costs and training three vehicles for cdl coordinators audit travel a semi-truck for class a cdl examiner training and it and maintenance costs associated with the program d2 is from the department of agriculture at 69 000 in
appropriation. They have a grant from the USDA Forest Service that will be passed through to Pope County for developing a community wildlife protection plan. Mr. Chair, those are all the IIJA requests. Any
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
6:17
questions on D1-2 for members? Any questions? Seeing no questions, motion to approve. Got a motion, second. Got a motion, second. Any discussion to the motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Opposed? Passes.
William Parrish
Unverified
6:35
E. Billy, please. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We're in Section E. These are
restricted reserve fund transfer requests. The first item is a letter from the Department of Education Division of Higher Education. This is a $12 million transfer from the Teacher Academy Scholarship Set-Aside. According to the letter, it's provided for the
distribution of scholarships. This is for college students who are majoring in education degree
programs. E2 is a letter from education division of elementary and secondary education this is a 35 million dollar transfer from the educational facility set aside this is to fund the education affiliates partnership program
where the department and the public school district share the cost of school facilities construction and major innovations e3 is a letter from commerce economic development commission it's a 25 million dollar transfer request from the economic stimulus program set aside this is used for site infrastructure grants and economic stimulus activities. Mr. Chair those
are all the transfer requests. Members any questions? I need one through three.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
7:33
Any questions from members? Seeing no questions
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
7:38
from members. Motion to approve. Motion second. Motion second. Any
discussion to the motion? All in favor say aye. Opposed? All right and Billy it
William Parrish
Unverified
7:50
takes us to F. Thank you, Mr.
Chair. We're in Section F. This is a reallocation of resources request. This is from the Department of Commerce. Special language allows the department to request up to two reallocations within a fiscal year. This is for effective and efficient operations. This is the first request for the department. On page four is a summary of the reallocations requested. The department requests transferring 64 positions between divisions.
Most of the positions are coming out of the Division of Workforce Services and Workforce Policy and Innovation, and they are going to re-employment and shared services. The department also requests transferring $2 million in spending authority from the Division of Workforce Services and send it to re-employment, the Increased Capabilities of Access Network, the Governor's Commission on Adult Literacy, and the Construction Industry Craft Training Program. These adjustments support the department's organizational realignment and also prevent salaries and match shortfalls, according to the secretary's letter. Questions for members?
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
8:48
Any questions? All right. Seeing no questions, motion to approve. Motion to approve. Second.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
8:57
Got a motion. Second. Any discussion to the motion? All in favor say aye.
William Parrish
Unverified
9:06
Aye. All opposed. Passes. Billy. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We've now entered the review section of the
agenda. This section, G, is cash fund appropriation requests. Item G1 is a letter from the Department of Education, Division of Career and Technical Education for $207,000 in appropriation.
This is to use unexpended funds from previous years on the adult diploma program. G2 is a letter from Commerce Economic Development Commission for $25 million. It's to provide the spending authority for the restricted reserve fund transfer that was approved earlier in the
agenda. Mr. Chair, those are the two cash requests. All right, any questions from members? Okay, Senator Irving. Are you?
Chair
Unverified
9:56
All right. Push it, right? Push it. All right, Senator
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
10:05
Irving, you recognize? Just a question on G2 real quick on the $25
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
10:10
million. Do you want the agency up? Yes. Can we get the agency to come up, Department of Commerce, please, on G2?
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
10:33
Morning. Name and title for the record, please.
Speaker 44
10:36
Good morning. Clint O'Neill, Executive Director, Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Good
Speaker 47
10:42
morning, Tammy Williams, CFO, Department of Commerce. All right, good morning.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
10:49
Senator Irving. Thank you. Good morning. Could you just give me a little bit more information on the site infrastructure grants and economic stimulus activities throughout the state? Could you just give me some examples of what we're talking about, what we're funding, and where in the state, just because I would
just want to make sure rural Arkansas is covered in
Speaker 51
11:07
this. Absolutely. This started for us in 2023 with an allocation of $10 million from the General Assembly, and then in 2025, $50 million, $25 million per year, fiscal year, for FY26 and FY27. For FY26, we partnered with a site selection firm called Site Selection Group, who helped us analyze site development needs around the state so we opened this up applications with an eligibility criteria of communities that have sites of 30 plus acres that are owned by municipalities or
chambers of commerce or economic development organizations and so we had 29 applications of eligible sites to be reviewed we had a team of site selection consultants visit all 29 of those communities and so it was a great exercise for the communities to have a professional site selection consultant come to town do this evaluation of their site so we have notified communities of the awards and we have we'll call it big check ceremony on the 28th of this month
but of the of the applications we receive they range everywhere from due diligence studies so if a community acquires land or they have an option on the land and they just want to do some basic environmental studies, some soil borings, just studying the site to determine is this really a good site to move forward with infrastructure, that's something that we really wanted to lean in on. So we funded several of those as well as actual infrastructure build out, clearing of sites,
making industrial sites more attractive for users. But we have, I've got the list here. It's around 15, 18 or so communities, several in rural areas. I'm happy to get this to you. Okay, good.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
13:04
I just, I think it's really important to partner with our rural communities, as you described, and I'm glad to hear that, because they need to have a collaboration and a partnership in order to really grow any kind of industrial presence or anything like that.
So I think, you know, hopefully, too, you're working with communities to say you have an opportunity, you know, to go down this path and purchase if they don't already have it. I hope we can kind of get to that next level just because I feel like there's missed opportunities with
economic development if we're not focusing on just that very first step. so i appreciate the information thank you thank you
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
13:50
any other questions members senator bryant yeah thank
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
13:53
you mr chair just to just to follow on senator urban what is the is there any clawbacks
to this if you if you give these grants out and they're supposed to do selection or bring infrastructure there and other things get in the way and two years go by is that just money lost or is there clawbacks or are there
Speaker 51
14:14
provisions that make them accountable? There's a matching requirement, and then there's a grant agreement in the same way we would do a grant agreement with a company. So we'll either do a reimbursement or pay a direct invoice to an engineering firm or to a construction firm. So it's not a grant directly to the community.
There are some measures built in to ensure that they're spending the money in accordance with the agreement. okay thank
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
14:40
you any other members is that limited to just 30 acre sites 30 acres is the minimum yes sir that's the minimum yes sir okay all right any other questions okay thank you
all thank you all right that was on g2 right okay any
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
15:00
other questions on g1 or 2 then without objections these will be reviewed billy
William Parrish
Unverified
15:06
thank you mr. chair we're in section h these are budget classification transfer requests the
first one h1 is from the department of parks heritage and tourism keep arkansas beautiful it's a 50 000 transfer from professional fees to operating expenses more operating expenses are needed due to increase volunteer participation next item is h2 this is Commerce Insurance Department this is a hundred thousand dollar transfer from operating expenses
to professional fees this is to support the senior Medicare patrol which utilizes outreach to prevent detect and report health care fraud errors and abuse share those are the two BCT requests any questions on h1
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
15:52
or 2 any questions all right then without objections these will be reviewed Billy aye
William Parrish
Unverified
16:01
thank you mr. chair we're in section I these are pay plan appropriation requests there are 33 agencies that request 15.9 million in increased
spending authority for regular salary regular salaries match and extra help almost all cite the salary adjustments that came from implementation of the pay plan within the classic compact the prosecutor coordinator also cites Employee retirement payout the inspector general cites hiring an intern at the juvenile ombudsman division to help the law clerk and Agriculture sites more extra help is needed to assist with overdue field of water and
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
16:35
sewer projects Any questions members on I Senator Blake Johnson
So you want the agency yes Ag Can we get egg to the table, please?
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
17:04
you you're on number 32 senator johnson yeah i'm on
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
17:20
Yes. Okay. All right. Name and
Speaker 67
17:24
title for the record, please, gentlemen.
Chair
Unverified
17:28
Yes, sir. Westward, Arkansas Department of Agriculture. Inousozaki,
Speaker 71
17:32
Department of Agriculture. Senator Johnson, you recognized? So 12, it has Chico Insights, LLC. What under that is in the pay plan? That just looks like grants disbursement, not pay plan.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
17:50
sir johnson cubilo we're on we're on h
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
17:56
the pay plan where are you referencing please or i i'm sorry we're on
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
18:09
y'all just stay there okay i got a feeling you're coming back no
don't go nowhere sorry that's okay you're ahead you're ahead like it like it all right any questions on
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
18:20
uh i on the pay plan any questions for members senator irving
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
18:26
go ahead who for uh really just for staff
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
18:33
staff yeah so this is an amount of appropriation transfer are these exact amounts of actual dollars that are going to transfer or up to this amount hey hang on one second
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
18:41
you guys just say there if you won't come have a seat beside them that'll save movement in time but gonna defer
William Parrish
Unverified
18:48
to Billy first senator Irving's question go ahead yes sir I may have to defer to
DNA DNA for a more exact answer but my understanding this is a preparation request they will use existing salary savings to pay for these
okay but if they required more money you'd see a transfer from the performance fund correct
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
19:05
okay so do we have how much what that direct that transfer from the performance fund is going to be we've had a few
William Parrish
Unverified
19:15
transfers two months ago that's all seen this fiscal year so far we might see more towards the end of the fiscal year okay I'll make sure to get that
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
19:26
information for you when we see it okay yeah because I'd like to see the difference between the appropriation transfer fund amounts
and what's actually been transferred over if we could get that at some point do you want to make sense yeah jim you want
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
19:48
to come up please mr. hudson ma'am i'm at a loss are you
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
19:53
with department of ag sitting with them she with you okay
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
19:57
I'm going to have the whole, you know, state government up there by the end of this, right? We
Speaker 93
20:10
like you people. Jim Hudson, Secretary of DFA. I didn't hear all the questions. If it's about appropriation versus funding, all the requests
Speaker 94
20:17
for this month are strictly appropriation only. Okay. There is no funding at all with that. They're going to be able to fund these appropriation increases through their existing funds. It's just the authority to spend.
We do have pay plan. The pay plan account's got $45 million in it, but none of those requests are pending for this month.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
20:38
Okay, yeah. It's just a little confusing when you look at this because it says pay plan holding account is marked, so it looks like we're transferring, but it's just an appropriation. Strictly
Speaker 93
20:49
just an appropriation. We're transferring appropriation over from that, but it's not funding. I got you. Right. So there has to be a pre-approved appropriation someplace that we've got to move over for that.
Speaker 80
21:00
Right. Right. Okay. All right. Thank you. Senator Irvin,
William Parrish
Unverified
21:02
the fourth column, if you see performance fund, there's nothing enlisted for this month, but that would be where a fund transfer would go
Speaker 98
21:08
over. Okay. Perfect. All right. Thank you. Thank you.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
21:11
Yes, ma'am. All right. Any other questions? This is on I. Any other questions? All right. Then with the objection, they'll stand reviewed. And we're going on to Jay. Thank you, Mr.
William Parrish
Unverified
21:25
Chair. We're in Section J. These are overtime appropriation requests. There are two on the agenda.
The first one is Department of Education, School for the Blind and Deaf, Deaf and Blind. It's for $5,000. It's due to staffing shortages. J2 is Department of Finance and Administration, Racing Commission. It's $15,000. It's due to support the
operations to the end of the horse racing season. Any questions, members, on J1 or 2? Any questions? All right, then, without objections,
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
21:52
these will be reviewed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
William Parrish
Unverified
21:57
We're in Section K. These are methods of finance. There are 17 items.
The cover letter submitted by DFA Accounting states they have reviewed and submitted 17 projects for legislative review this morning. They are summarized in the attached pages. On page 2 is the first three items with ASU Jonesboro. Number 1 is a new method of finance valued at $743,000 using university reserves for First National Bank Arena Court. Number two is also new, it's valued at $586,000 using university reserves for parking lot lighting, also for the arena. Number three is a revised method increasing funding by $200,000 for continued construction of the equine teaching barn.
Number four is from Arkansas Tech University, it's new, it's valued at $500,000 using repair and renovation reserves for renovation of the whole building, that's the physical education gym. Number five is Arkansas Tech University, new, it's valued at $450,000 using bond proceeds to add an agricultural classroom to the Agri-Education Building. On the next page, we're on page three now in section K. This is Northwest Arkansas Community College's number six. It's new, it's valued at $1.1 million using cash funds to replace the declining Burns Hall's chiller.
Items 7 through 11 are all for the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Seven through 10 are all revised methods of finance for ongoing job order contracting for various maintenance and renovation projects around UA campus. All are increases to existing projects and are paid using university reserves. On the next page, we're on page four in section K. Number 11 is a new method valued at $6 million using parking reserves for the construction of a new 1,700-space parking garage on Razorback Road in Fayetteville. 12 through 13 are for the U of A Division of Agriculture.
Number 12 is a new method estimated at $520,000 using plant reserves for a new hazardous material storage building. And number 13 is a new method valued at $1.1 million using plant reserves to renovate five greenhouses at the Alzheimer Greenhouse Complex. On page 5, we're still in Section K. Number 14 is UA Little Rock. This is new for $7.1 million using cash funds for campus-wide renovations and improvements. Number 15, UAMS. This is new, valued at $7 million, using revenues and reserves for deferred maintenance and minor repair projects.
Number 16 is new, valued at $720,000, using university reserves to renovate space into a radiography fluoroscopy room. Number 17 is UA Pulaski Technical College. This is new method for $440,000, using institutional reserves for the crane room and South Paul Cafe renovation. All right, members, that's one through 17. Any questions? any
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
24:32
questions all right hearing no questions and without objections
these be reviewed and we're on to L 1 and 2 thank you mr. chair we're in section L
William Parrish
Unverified
24:46
these are discretionary grants L 1 our Department of Agriculture promotion boards there's 14 of them L 1 number one is Arkansas rice research promotion boards special revenue grant for 60,000 for research to enhance milling quality for Arkansas rice grants 2 through 12 are all for the Arkansas soybean Promotions Board using special revenues. Number two is $155,000 to Mid-South Soybean Board for interstate collaboration on research projects for soybean industry improvement. Number three is $42,000 for membership dues and project funding to the American Soybean Association. On the next
page, we're in section L, page two. Number four is $95,000 to the U.S. Soybean Export Council for membership dues and project funding. Number five is $40,000 Clean Fuels Alliance America for education and marketing of soy based biodiesel number six forty thousand to american soybean association for the world initiative for soy and human health next page page three number seven 206 000 arkansas soybean association grow for the green yield contest with ua cooperative extension number eight 25 000 to arkansas ffa foundation for education career success and ffa programs
number nine fifteen thousand the arkansas ffa foundation and 4-h foundation for promotion of education for corn sorghum and soybeans for arkansas 4-h and fa ffa youth next page page four in section l number 10 is 13 000 andrew 40 to the three county fair for soybean promotion programs of the fair number 11 15 000 to the iowa soybean association for grants for the farmers fueling the future research project number 12 111 000 to chico insights for research grants for irrigation and aquifer stabilization. Page five is grants number 13 through 15 are for the Arkansas
Corn Grain and Sorghum Promotion Board. Number 13 is $25,000 to Arkansas FFA for grant for the future program. 14 is $15,000 to Arkansas FFA Foundation and Arkansas 4-H Foundation for grants for the promotion of education of corn, sorghum, soybeans, and Arkansas 4-H and FFA Youth. And number 15 is $77,000 to U.S. Grants and Bioproducts Council for the Time is Now promotional project. mr chair that's all section l1 the department of agricultural
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
27:00
promotion boards all right members uh senator johnson you are up and y'all too very
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
27:05
induced yourself young man or ma'am would you
please introduce yourself for the record
Speaker 102
27:12
please amy lyman with the arkansas department of agriculture
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
27:15
thank you ma'am all right senator
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
27:21
johnson you're clear where is it now hang on a second it's operational dysfunction up here all right
Speaker 71
27:30
there you go so i have two uh and that's number one and number 12. can you give us some insight on who gnh associates
Speaker 104
27:43
yes sir and i may if i can i'll go in reverse order if that's okay i'll server number 12 with chico uh inside i just pulled up a little more information on that so that's so that total 111 thousand and forty dollars uh it really is two separate projects so one is uh forty one thousand and twenty dollars this project aims to close the yield gap for overhead irrigation systems through optimized scheduling techniques and then the second one is for seventy thousand and twenty and this work would quantify the water flow needed to optimize productivity while minimizing
the irrigation demand on aquifers so that's a little more information than what was necessarily provided and what was submitted over but two two separate projects all looking at water use and irrigation techniques that was approved by the soybean promotion board i can save you
Speaker 71
28:33
70 000 good at night yes sir great point so uh what about uh i mean who who is that who is that group chico insights i i believe they're a
Speaker 107
28:47
uh i'll miss i'll misstate this and i don't mean to but i think
Speaker 104
28:53
they're associated with chico irrigation uh and just kind of the the research arm of of of what they do um i could get you additional information of who all is involved but they came they gave a presentation be happy to happy to share their full proposal and what they
Speaker 71
29:09
submitted to the board does our extension not do similar
Speaker 107
29:13
research uh i would say that they do i know a lot of work that we've worked with them on
Speaker 104
29:20
through the state water plan and that the research and promotion boards uh hear specific proposals from the university of arkansas as well i think there
There were, you know, total for the Soar Bean Promotion Board was, I think, 111 total proposals that were presented. They ended up funding 96 of them. The University of Arkansas was there for all of those presentations on March 12th and 13th. I think this was just a decision by the board to go
Speaker 71
29:48
this direction on this specific project. Okay, number one, who is GNH Associates? Is that a corporate, or is that an LLC, or is that just some two or three people?
Speaker 102
30:00
This is Ronnie Helms, and he was previously with U of A, and he is doing a research project. This is, I believe, the third year of this project that he's been
Speaker 71
30:17
doing. What's the background in enhancing milling? that he he brings to the table beyond our producers or wrestling or similar on that be happy to
Speaker 104
30:29
to share his full proposal that he submitted to the board and i
think that the overall concern i think what the board was looking at on this one was just the uh the milling issues that i know that you're you know personally very familiar with in the rice industry and trying trying to help address some of those concerns
Speaker 70
30:50
that that exist for for for all of the rice industry yeah that's that's uh seed quality and seed that's as an
Speaker 71
30:57
issue that's not done during milling that's that's seed seed problems so thank you
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
31:06
senator irvin mine's for dhs okay any other questions
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
31:22
for ag all right i guess y'all are excused all right we're going uh so on l1 no other questions uh it'll be approved without objection then all right we're going to get l2 department human services y'all will go ahead and start making your way up while billy gives us the report please
William Parrish
Unverified
31:37
thank you mr chairman l2 this is pages six
and seven with the l2 in the top right hand corner uh this is the department of human services discretionary grants all for the
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
31:47
second bill is dhs in the room for l2 department human services you in the room yeah go ahead and come on make your
William Parrish
Unverified
31:58
way forward these are all for the division of adults aging adults and
behavioral health services these are federal grants number one amends an existing grant to senior arkansas sports organization for the arkansas senior olympics and two through four amend existing grants to our care future builders and new haven counseling and health
services for retired senior volunteer program share those are all the dhs grants in the l2 all
Speaker 116
32:22
right jay name and title for the record please jay hill
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
32:25
division director for aging adult behavior health at dhs do me
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
32:29
a favor pull the mic down a little bit and senator irvin you're recognized thank you
thank you mr hill could you just i i see that this is a federal they're federal grants but um or federal funding i just i'm confused by the grants for this rsvp program so senator thank
Speaker 116
32:46
you these are this is state funding this is not federal funding the rsvp program that's
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
32:53
what i thought okay okay i thought it was state but i
Speaker 116
32:59
think you read it was federal okay okay yes so go ahead the it's it's a it's a program for retired seniors these are persons who are 55 or older who volunteer their time to serve in community and community engagement projects they do a lot of child mentoring Medicaid Medicare application assistance for senior citizens tax
preparation other community projects there are I believe it was last year there were 824 volunteers and they serve just over
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
33:33
220,000 people. So the money
Speaker 116
33:36
goes to the volunteers? Yes, ma'am. It offsets. So it's not really a volunteer position. It's a part-time, limited funding, limited salary reimbursements for their services. How much
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
33:49
administration money do these organizations take from the state grants?
Or does 100% of the money go to the volunteers? I
Speaker 120
33:58
want to say that it is 100%, but if you allow me, let me verify that
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
34:05
for you, Senator, and I can get that for you today. Yeah, I just, you know, there's a lot of conversation during this fiscal session and during joint budget and state general revenue being tight. And I appreciate those conversations, and so it makes me then start to consider what we're doing with our state general revenue. And if these are, if this was federal funding and it was very prescribed, I can understand the spend.
But when we're coming to state general revenue, we're being questioned about what is worthwhile, what is not. We're making decisions and choices. You know, I have a program in my district, Save the Children, which is employing people in my district, and it's losing $500,000 of state funding because there's not enough money. But now I see this for volunteer position that we're going to pay them for through state general revenue.
And I don't know how effective it is. I don't know anything about this program. I don't know if these organizations are taking administrative money from this or not. But I know this program has been very effective at working with children and moms and single moms and poor families in my district and employing people with the money, whereas I don't know how effective this is. And every time we award a grant, if it gets subcontracted out, they're taking administration money, they're taking administration money, and to me that's just not very effective and wise use of our money.
So I appreciate maybe what's happening. I just don't know much about it. And I think we've got to start questioning everything. If things are getting chopped on the chopping block, then we should look at everything to see if it's actually a good thing to continue or not. So if you can get that information for me, I would really appreciate it. Is there a way that we could hold on these just until I can get that information?
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
36:11
So, Jay, if we hold this to the next meeting, which is about two weeks, is that going to interfere with operations or anything? No, Senator. I really appreciate that.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
36:26
I'll be happy to submit that to you today. Yeah, if you don't
mind. It could be great and worthwhile. I just don't really know and just need to question it. Thank you. Thank
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
36:34
you, Mr. Hill. Jay, if you will, email that directly to Senator Irving, but then send it to Billy too so the rest of the committee can have that as well, if you would, please.
It would be my pleasure. And do you know what the total dollar amount we're talking about on this item is? It is $75,000 split between the three providers. Okay.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
36:51
So $75,000 is the top-out amount we're talking about. Okay. All right. Follow-up, Senator Irvin. Okay. Okay. Any other questions on that subject matter? Okay. Seeing none.
Jay thank you very much so without objection we're gonna hold L without objection we're gonna pass out L1 but we're gonna hold L2 to the next meeting everybody understand everybody good any questions all right then that's what we'll do without objection L1 will be sent out L2 is gonna be held over and Jay will get the information okay let's move on to M please Billy Thank
William Parrish
Unverified
37:39
you, Mr. Chair. We're in section M. These are requests for qualifications. M1 is one item for Arkansas State University. Jonesboro is for real estate services.
And on page 5 is a ratification request. ASU has entered into a contract with C. Bond Strategic Consulting for public relations and marketing strategies. ASU states due to an internal error, the contract with Bond began prior to receiving legislative review. issue requests ratification of services valued at 37,500 for services rendered prior to proper review Later in the packet you will see the contract with bond. It will now be said if submitted for review Mr.
That's the end of M1 RFQ and ratification requests
All right, any questions on M1
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
38:23
through 5 from anybody? Sorry, we're just doing one at time any questions on M1 All
William Parrish
Unverified
38:34
right, what's that objection that's reviewed m2 Billy? Thank you, mr. We're
in m2 These are construction contracts They begin on page six with m2 the top right-hand corner number one is department of Corrections community correction with Wittenberg Deloney Davidson revising an existing contract on on-call architectural services
Number two is Northwest Arkansas Community College Crossland construction and mends an existing contract for ongoing repair and renovations after storm damage that occurred in May of 2024. Number three is Northwest Arkansas Community College with Kinko Constructors. It's a new contract to accomplish the replacement of a chiller in Burns Hall on the Ninhua campus. Number four is University of Arkansas with Bernard. This amends a contract for on-call mechanical, plumbing, and engineer services. Number five is University of Arkansas with Cromwell Energy Services. It's a new contract for agricultural building design review for the UA System Agriculture Division
Food Science Research Center. Mr. Chair, those were all of M2 construction contracts. Any questions on
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
39:31
M2 from anybody? Okay, without objection, they'll be reviewed. M3, Billy. Thank
William Parrish
Unverified
39:36
you, Mr. Chairman. M3, these are intergovernmental contracts. If we get
on page 9 of the unpacked, there are 8 contracts. Number 1 is the Department of Correction, Division of Correction with UAMS. It amends an existing contract for risk assessments of juvenile sex offenders. On the next page, page 10, number 2 is Department of Education with ASU Jonesboro.
It amends an existing program for evaluations for the Arkansas Aware Program for mental health awareness and trauma-informed practices. Number three is Department of Human Services with UAMS. It amends an existing contract for medical services for patients of the Arkansas State Hospital as needed. Number four, Department of Human Services with UAMS. It amends an existing contract for the Sexual Rehabilitative Program. Next page is page 11. Number five, DHS with UAMS. It amends an existing contract to fund assessment of children with special health care needs. Number six, DHS with UAMS amends an existing contract to continue the antenatal and neonatal guidelines, education and learning system, and stroke assistance programs.
Next page, number seven, is Department of Human Services with UAMS amends an existing contract that supports physicians with collaborative program development and integrated advocacy of public policy issues. Next page we're on page 13. This is the last contract DHS with UAMS It means an existing contract for the poison control drug information center share That's all the
m3 intergovernmental contracts any questions on m3 from anybody Any questions? Without objection they reviewed m4 Billy. Thank you, Mr. Chair
We're now an out-of-state contracts in for beginning
on page 14 number one is Department transportation with Garcia Hamilton and Associates It's an amended contract that manages the Arkansas State Highway Employee Retirement System Trust Assets for Retirement System. Number two is Department of Corrections, DRB Consulting. It's an amended contract. This is to provide Prison Rape Elimination Act audits. Next item is number three on page 15. This is Department of Education, B&W Evaluation, LLC. It's an original contract. This is also a sole source procurement.
The justification form is green. It's at the bottom of the packet. This is for analysis and reporting. Number four, Education Care Solace, Inc. It's amended. It's a mental health referral services. Number five, Division of Career and Technical Education from Graduation Alliance. This is an amended contract for the Adult Diploma Program. Number six is on the next page, we're on page 16. This is DHS with Woodridge Northeast LLC. It's an amended contract. This is for comprehensive residual treatment services for youth.
Number seven, DHS, ACA GPS. It's amended. This is for IRS, Affordable Care Act, provider requirements related to minimal essential coverage. Number eight is CHS EMS Link, Inc. This is an original contract. It's also sole source procurement, the green justification form, again, is found at the bottom of the packet. This is for network solutions, functionality requests, change requests, environmental updates, on-demand operational needs, new integration efforts, and major licensed software upgrades. Number nine is CHS Records Consultant, Inc.
This is amended. It's for on-site pick-up, shredding, removal, and disposal services. Number 10, DHS, the Presidio Corporation. This is an amended contract for Unified Contract Center Enterprise Integrated Eligibility and Benefits Management. On the next page, we're on page 18, number 11, DHS, EGA Associates. It's an amended contract for School Psychology Specialist Services at Conway Human Development Center. Number 12, DHS, EGA Associates. This is an amended contract for Psychological Examiner Services at Conway Human Development Center. Number 13, DHS, Optum Government Solutions.
This is amended. It's for decision support and data warehouse services. Next page, we're on page 20. Number 14, Highway Department, or RDOT. It's for Castle Art Management. It's an amended contract. This is managing the state highway employee's retirement system. Next page is page 21, number 15, Highway Department again. This is Northern Trust Company. this is again the highway retirement system services number 16 is state department for a social security administration disability determination
with Caleb Neeson this is an original contract is this for social security administration medical consultant number 17 is University of Arkansas with a tribe LLC and it's an original contract for access control consultant services we're on page 22 number 18 University of Arkansas choice energy services it's an amended contract for a continuation of natural gas broker consultants mr. chair that is all of M for out-of-state contracts all right let's start with
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
44:17
representative Richardson who do you want to the table Department of Human
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
44:26
Services all right Department of Human Services please
Scott Richardson
Unverified
44:32
well let's start with number eight so it'd be the EMS link ink so source who wants
to take on the sole source and your
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
44:50
item number eight is that right
that's correct all right mr.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
45:01
title for Good morning. Sarah Cunningham, DHS.
Scott Richardson
Unverified
45:04
All right. You're recognized, Representative Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So help me, walk me through the decision for
Speaker 139
45:12
sole source on this particular item. Sure. So this system we have had for about seven years prior to requesting the sole source continuation. Going into the decision is the proprietary nature of all of the algorithms that they developed
for the interfaces with ARIES as well as LINCSCAN. So what EMS LINC does is they've completed customized enhancements and they provide the electronic imaging and document management solution software that's used in our work with Medicaid, SNAP, summer EBT, and T-beneficiary files. And so what we looked at was really the current cost. We knew the price, and then they've also done a lot of customized work for us.
Speaker 142
46:00
So to continue that and then not have any disruptions in the service. Okay, so does the
Scott Richardson
Unverified
46:06
department not own the algorithms that were produced for the specific software? Would they need to be rebuilt if someone else took over the software? Yes, they would need to
Speaker 139
46:19
be rebuilt. I think from the funding source, we would own it, but we don't have the capability to run it on our own through this solution. So you'd have to have the algorithms taken out, and then they would live alone.
But if there are – I'm not the information officer. She's on at conference. So she would probably be a better person to explain kind of all of those nuances. What would be
Scott Richardson
Unverified
46:44
the impact of holding this one until she can answer some questions for
Scott Richardson
Unverified
46:50
again? What would be the impact of holding this until we can get some answers
Speaker 139
46:56
for those questions? The anticipated contract start for this one would be May 1st. So if we could try to get that, there's been a delay in between.
So we would appreciate an expedited
Speaker 142
47:07
review, but we can definitely get answers
Scott Richardson
Unverified
47:11
for you. Yeah, I would appreciate having that conversation and understanding a little bit more. Yeah,
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
47:39
Representative Richardson, let me ask you, if you got your information by tomorrow, would you think that would
Scott Richardson
Unverified
47:45
satisfy you? I think it would, if I can get a reasonable answer as to why we don't necessarily own the algorithms, why the algorithms themselves couldn't be transferred to us to continue to, or I should say, to a new vendor. I think that would help me understand why we've decided to do a sole source. Do you think you can get that to him by tomorrow?
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
48:12
All right, let's do this. Let's put it on. hold but JBC can hear it tomorrow so it could be released out of JBC tomorrow so if if you can get together and then if you don't get what you need by tomorrow will we pick it up on JBC in the morning that sounds perfect thank you mr. sound good that is that good with you okay all right I
Scott Richardson
Unverified
48:36
have more questions for the department I'm jumping to item number 10 okay can
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
48:40
you handle 10 or is somebody else to the table
this is yeah that one you said ten right represent Richardson yes sir I did okay
Speaker 139
49:16
do you see which one he's talking about yes sir do you need to bring somebody up or yeah Mary Franklin is not here I can do my best or at least take your questions and then get
Scott Richardson
Unverified
49:28
answers to you if I'm not able to answer go ahead representative Richard I'm actually I'm looking at this item and it
doesn't look like it's the sole source the other sole source that's coming from your
department I'm trying to get questions I have questions on or is it Presidio was awarded
Speaker 139
49:45
through a state cooperative contract so it's not so source correct
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
50:04
hey represented rich and Billy's gonna weigh in share
William Parrish
Unverified
50:10
some info may help you that'd be great representatives so number three for the Department of it was
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
50:18
a sole source with B&W valuation. Are you
Speaker 175
50:23
looking for sole source ones represented? No it's not
Scott Richardson
Unverified
50:27
generally just a sole source this is if you look at the sole source justification form special
Scott Richardson
Unverified
50:39
nine the last page what is that item number referencing because that is Department of Human Services
William Parrish
Unverified
50:51
I'm Billy's looking for it represent so you're in the green packet can you tell me which page you're on the green packet I'm looking at the green packet so source letter yes or which page last page last page
Speaker 177
51:09
Okay, yes, sir. This is for in-state contracts. We haven't gotten there yet. Okay, so I'm way ahead of the game. Okay, it's always nice There
Scott Richardson
Unverified
51:16
is another one in this packet. I guess it's a number 13 if I may mr. Chair. Is
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
51:24
that DHS also? It is DHS. It's optimum Okay, you up
Speaker 182
51:31
to optimum or one of y'all? Name and title for the record
Scott Richardson
Unverified
51:34
please. Good morning. Good morning. Elizabeth Pittman director of division of medical services. All right, go ahead Actually, I'm probably asking questions that came from another member,
but one of the questions that I'm curious about on this particular contract is when does it actually expire? It looks like it's been going on for a long. We
keep adding to it. It looks like it's a contracted amount that's fairly standard, but when
Speaker 144
52:00
does this actually contract end? That's not it. It's Presidio. I need Alton 13.
Speaker 185
52:12
when June 30th of 2028 okay so so we're just looking at two years
Scott Richardson
Unverified
52:16
down the road at this point I guess I'm sort of jumping the gun a little bit but my concern is there is another you guys have another contract where apparently we waited till the last minute We're not able to get the process, the competitive bid process in place. And so now we're having to extend that contract. And so my concern is that this one ending in two years, have we already started those conversations? So we're going to be ready to have competitive bid
Speaker 181
52:46
before this ends? We have already completed the RFP, put it out for bid.
We have already completed evaluations, are in the process of reviewing those and doing discussions with the vendors to do an anticipation to awards. So yes, sir, we are actually ahead for once beautiful. That sounds
Scott Richardson
Unverified
53:01
great. So that's what I that's what I was hoping for I appreciate that very much. Thank you, mr. Chair All
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
53:12
right, I was having a sidebar. Did you get your answers? Yes, sir. I did. Thank you so much. Okay. All right So you're done.
You're good for now. Okay. All right. We're gonna send Irving
And then we're going to Representative Mayberry
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
53:26
next. Go ahead. Thank you. Mine's not for DHS. I'm not sure if
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
53:31
Representative Mayberry is or not. Representative Mayberry, yours for DHS? Okay. Okay. I guess you
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
53:37
guys are done. And actually, I just, I mean, Department of Ed could come forward, but if they want to just get me information, that's fine, too. I'm just really interested. I just kind of want to know more about the care source. I mean, the care solace number four, the Mental Health Referral Service, The mental health referral services, mental health counseling referral services for Arkansas schools.
I just, if you're listening, you don't have to necessarily come to the table, but if you could just get me a little bit more information about, like, what this is and what is made available to our Arkansas schools. Is it all of the Arkansas schools? Is it a, are we paying for, like, a line, like a hotline with this information? It's number four, Greg. I'm just mental health has just been a big you know it's the number one thing that I get asked about when I go and visit with my schools is they're just struggling with their kids and mental
health so could you just give me a little bit more information either here or you can get it to me it's no problem but I just want to make sure that we're covering as many bases as
possible and giving these schools you know tools that they can use with their students so I'm just interested
Speaker 189
54:50
in this one uh greg roger department head uh dance christian yes we are offering it to all schools
Speaker 191
54:55
and this is the we got started late in the year last year with carouselis getting as the like the concierge type service that helps districts when they identify a student that needs mental health
to find out the best avenue to get them um we're continuing to introduce that to more schools and that's why we're renewing this this early now
Speaker 189
55:14
so at the beginning of the school district we can try to contact even more schools to get them hooked up with carouselis and
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
55:21
offer that service to any school that wants to use it okay so they kind of just walk you through what's happening with your student and then give advice about how to if
Speaker 191
55:31
they deal with that certain situation yeah if the student is identified of needing services then carouselis helps find that person whether it be
telehealth or in person they're the ones that are going to help find what services are needed for that student okay great okay
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
55:44
good i mean i just i'm glad i asked about this because i didn't know we were doing and we have some information
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
55:51
get to you yeah yeah i mean i love that we're doing this because they need help and this is the number one that thing i get asked about is we've got to have more tools to help our students because we don't know what to tell them we don't know so okay good that's great if you can just get me more information and absolutely let us know how we can communicate this out to our schools like use us as a conduit
for this i think would be a really great okay idea like as for legislators to to talk to their schools specifically about what we're doing here for them yes ma'am thank you great
Speaker 156
56:24
great job thanks all right representative mayberry who's you who are you for say they're great
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
56:33
all right go ahead you recognize thank you and thank you senator irving because that's exactly the line of questioning that i was at kind of red flag what what is this and if you don't mind i'm going to ask just a few more questions to go along with that because it it is very much needed but I just
was curious because it's just a referral so clarify that there's no um that they're not actually providing the services it's just referring them because this is a company I mean I just kind of struggled because I see that this is a company from California in Los Angeles and so are these people that have boots on the ground in Arkansas because I don't know how a company in Los Angeles can find services for our students here in Arkansas yes they
Speaker 199
57:15
do have people here in Arkansas that are working with our school districts to set that up we have
Speaker 191
57:22
an RFQ that we did last year we
didn't get finished with it to work on the telehealth side the telemental health side of it to have people in Arkansas that if a student is identified as needing mental health and mental telehealth is the best avenue for them that this part this RFP would cover that but for right now yeah this is the first step of just working with the districts to identify students that may need some mental health and what is the best one is because it may be a student that needs in-person mental health and that that in-person mental health would be an Arkansas provider so
that's one of the things that we are making sure that they
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
58:02
are Arkansas providers that are providing the service so the so they might link them to an online provider and is that online provider from california or
some other place sold based provider as well it would always be an arkansas provider yes okay um but this company is not providing correct they're just helping the therapy
they're just trying to help make the connection and make sure that the
Speaker 191
58:27
student is getting that service because a lot of time when you see with a referral the student doesn't go
or they missed the appointment or whatever, and then something happens, they get put back in the queue. This company is going to make sure that that student does get that meeting or can make that connection instead of it just keep going on and on and never
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
58:46
happening. Are some of those services, especially if they're online, are they provided during the school
day to kind of ensure that the student receives it as opposed to going home and maybe
not getting it at home? I don't know. I don't
Speaker 191
58:59
know. have to get that information on it but i know that we have been collecting that information
from care solace and and we can send
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
59:07
that out okay and then just help me understand so it total authorized it said one million dollars total after review two million dollars and then it says total projected seven million so that's a huge jump so just help me understand some of those numbers is it seven million dollars actually it's a million dollars a year for
Speaker 191
59:23
seven years okay so it's just This is just renewing for a new year, a million dollars, so they can only go up to a million dollars, but it's a seven-year contract. So at the end of the contract, it would be a seven-year, just a million dollars a year annually, though.
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
59:39
And it's available to every school district in the state, charter schools as well? Yes. Okay. Thank you. All right.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
59:48
Let me ask you a few follow-up questions, because we used to do mental health services in schools for school-based counseling. Did any Arkansas providers bid on this? I don't recall because I don't
Speaker 191
1:00:00
think so I'd have to go back and check and look to make for sure though I I don't I don't remember at this point right now I'd have to see who who all bid on it
Speaker 189
1:00:09
I don't think there were two that bid but I don't I
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:00:13
need to get that I can tell you okay yeah if you don't mind get that I'm not going to hold it but if you don't mind get it to me because I know there there are mental health firms now they're providing services on school
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:00:25
for school based mental health and I'm just trying to understand the overlap that may occur between what this is intended to achieve and what currently is being offered because I know there's also there's a big pushback as far as kids being taken out of class especially core classes
and the scheduling of the time that they could be seen by a therapist or a case manager during regular school hours they have to shift that to afterwards have you got any insight on that uh no i
Speaker 191
1:00:51
i know that we've been collecting information on that and i'm not that's why i don't know but i can get that to see when they're doing it and see how it's being scheduled i know we have that i
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:01:01
just don't have that information okay and so the primary responsibility of
this firm is what is to make sure that a student that has been identified for needing
services is getting those services and that's not currently being done through the school counselor or the school like i said earlier sometimes they they will go through that and get
Speaker 191
1:01:20
a meeting set up and get a student identified as needing services but forever that connection may not happen or it might get just the times never work up or whatever but this this company is going to make sure that once that student is identified for needing services that they are getting the help they need they're going to follow along with that student going to follow back up with the student parents going to follow up along with this the school to make sure that
that they are getting the help. I guess
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:01:47
where I'm struggling is because that should be the job of the therapist and the case manager
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:01:52
that are already providing services. And it should be, but
Speaker 191
1:01:57
I think that you're seeing so many that are identified or so many needs are out there that a lot of time there's so much going on that we want to make sure that nobody's falling through the
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:02:11
cracks. So the mental health industry in Arkansas today that's providing services to schools,
did they show any resistance to this? Were they partners in
Speaker 189
1:02:18
the decision? These people aren't the ones that are going to be doing any of
Speaker 191
1:02:23
the services. They're just going to be following up to offer their assistance to make sure that those services are being provided. Care Solace does not provide the services. So it's still your Arkansas-based providers still doing the services for those students that need
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:02:37
it. Okay. One last question. Are they going to have a presence on the school campuses, or how are they going to interact with the schools?
Speaker 191
1:02:46
They will interact with the schools through their counselors, through their superintendents, through what the process is already set up within the school districts, and offer any assistance that they may need. One last question. Then, how
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:02:59
are they going to make the decision as to which mental health firm to refer to so it doesn't become picking winners and losers? Are they going to have a rotation system, or is that too down in the weeds?
Yeah, I'd have to get that for you. I don't know. I can definitely get that with our learning services.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:03:17
I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I want to hold this one until tomorrow and let it come out of JBC tomorrow like we've done before. Can I do that? Yeah. I'm not going to just want to get a few answers, a few questions. I was told the parent picks. The parent picks? Yes.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:03:32
Okay. I'll tell you what. I won't hold it. We'll let it go out, but we'll have – because this is the beginning of this. this is the first million
Speaker 189
1:03:39
dollars being put toward this is that great no this we started late last year this is a renewal to start the next year so it'd be the this is be the second year okay tell
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:03:48
you what i won't hold it but i'm going to talk to the chair of ed and and we'll do some
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:03:54
follow-up through committee that way okay if courtney's in here she probably can come up here and offer some more on
it let me let me just do offline because we're pushing the 11 o'clock or whatever time
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:04:06
that says but i'll i'll push afterwards and okay we need to bring it up tomorrow and jbc will bring it
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:04:14
up tomorrow okay all right uh any other questions from any other members okay um
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:04:20
we're on m4 right and we're going to hold m48 for representative richardson
that should get his answers to his questions tomorrow and it can clear out jbc right is that right okay otherwise any questions on any other items on m4 all right with that objection other than m48 being held these will be reviewed all right we're on to m5 thank you mr. chair we're in the m5 m5 or
William Parrish
Unverified
1:04:51
in-state contracts m5 is in the top right hand corner this is page 23 of the unpack it number one is
ASU with CBON Strategic Consulting. It's an original contract to provide external communications and PR strategy. This is the new services, the ratification in M1 was for services that were already rendered. Number two is the State Insurance Department with Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care. It's an amended contract to manage a toll-free hotline in the marketplace from the Affordable Care Act. Number three is the Division of Community Correction with Covenant Recovery Inc. It's an amended contract to provide Comprehensive community-based treatment services
Next page page 24 number four is Department of Education in tele blue It's an amended contract that updates and provides maintenance of the software program number five DHS BHC Pinnacle Point Hospital is an amended contract is to continue comprehensive resident treatment services for youth Next page is page 25 number six DHS with collaborative counseling associates This is an amended contract to continue home studies for foster adoptive interstate compact of On placement of children and court-ordered families
Next page is page 26 item number seven. This is DHS HLH consultants It's an amended contract to continue adoption summaries number eight is DHS HLH consultants again This is the minute contract to continue the agreement for home studies for foster adoptive Interstate compacts on placement of children and court-ordered families Next page, page 27, item number 9, DHS, Washtenaw Children's Center. This is an amended contract for emergency shelter services.
Number 10, DHS, Piney Ridge Treatment Center. It's an amended contract to continue sexual rehabilitative comprehensive residential treatment services for youth. Page 28, item number 11, DHS, The Bridgeway. It's an amended contract to continue comprehensive residential treatment services for youth. Number 12, DHS, UHS of Springwoods, ALC. It's an amended contract for comprehensive residential treatment services for youth. Next page is page 29, item number 13, DHS, United Methodist Behavioral Health.
This is another amended contract for comprehensive residential treatment services. Next page is page 30, item 14, DHS with interface security systems. It's an amended contract for ongoing maintenance and monitoring of a security alarm system. Number 15 is DHS with ABLE Therapy and Consultative. It's an amended contract for physical therapy services at the Columbia Human Development Center. Next page is page 31. Number 16, DHS, Karen Connelly.
This is an original contract for physical therapy services for the Southeast Arkansas Human Development Center. Number 17, DHS with Kenneth Rains. It's an amended contract for respiratory therapy at Columbia Human Development Center. Number 18, DHS with Wilson Neurology. This is an amended contract for Neurology Services at Conley Human Development Center. Next page is page 32, number 19, DHS, with Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care. This is an original contract. It's also a sole source procurement. The green justification form at the bottom of the packet explains that.
This is to establish a special short-term bridge contract to continue Medicaid inspections of care reviews. Number 20 is with the RDOTs for Emerging Investments Advisors. This is for the retirement system. Next page, page 33, item number 21, again, RDOT, Osborne, Carrero, and Associates. This is an amended contract for actuarial services. Number 22, SAU Tech with strictly business lawn care. It's an original contract for landscaping services. Number 23, University of Arkansas with ABA D3 event productions.
And this is an original contract for event production services at U of A Fayetteville spring and fall commencement ceremonies. number 24 has been pulled by agency requests so that's not for consideration number 25 is for University of Arkansas Stone and Ward Inc it's an original contract to support paid digital marketing mr. chair that is the end of M5 in-state contracts all right represent painter who
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:09:00
would you like department Corrections please to the table
Speaker 18
1:09:14
Name and title for a record, please. Jim Cheek, Director, Division of Community Correction. Chad Brown, CFO, Department of
Speaker 216
1:09:34
Corrections. Did you, uh, where'd he go?
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
1:09:44
thank you mr. chair thank you gentlemen just a couple of questions contract pay to date is a little over a million dollars we're doing an amendment for for another half a million to finish a year what
since we're spending that kind of money can you kind of go into detail the success rate and the results of that no sir I
Speaker 215
1:10:10
don't have those numbers with me I can get you those numbers as far as recidivism rate on the center
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
1:10:16
right I mean it's it's saying to increase funding for one more year
and I'm just thinking you know we've spent over a million dollars we're now asking for another
half a million dollars it would be nice to know the results of that kind of money that we're spending since we're tightening down on certain things want to make sure that if we're spending taxpayer money we're getting the results that we want and so if you can get those to me I'd greatly appreciate it I don't really necessarily want to hold it but if that's something you can get me today, I would greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 227
1:10:45
Not all hold. Yes, sir. We'll get you
Speaker 228
1:10:47
those numbers today. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right. And, uh, representative Gramlich. Thank you. Uh, I do have
Speaker 229
1:10:53
a couple of questions on the same thing. Mine are more just purely informative for me. Is this the only community, community corrections facility we have, or do we have more? They're just already being more of a permanent funding source. No, sir. We have more of
Speaker 215
1:11:08
these, uh, re actually, this is not, this is a reentry center. So we have them located
around the state. I think we have four that we currently contract with. We have some for females in Clarksville. Actually, they're doing one in Jonesboro. They're doing a pre-audit in Jonesboro. We have one in Little Rock. So we have them stationed around. I think there's 205 beds that's available that we currently utilize right now for these offenders. Okay. Well, whatever we can
Speaker 230
1:11:31
do to get more people out of my jail, I appreciate that. So thank you very much.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:11:39
Thank you. Alright, any other questions for Department of Corrections?
Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:11:44
Alright, Representative Richard, and you're up again. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm looking at number 19, Department of Human Services. Okay. All right, name and title for a record, please.
Speaker 234
1:12:22
Martina Smith, DHS, Division for Provider Services and Quality Assurance. And
Speaker 139
1:12:28
Sarah Cunningham, DHS, Office of Procurement. All
Speaker 140
1:12:32
right, go ahead, Rep. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I kind of referenced
Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:12:37
this earlier. I'm very curious to hear sort of the timeline and why we ended up at a point where we're not ready with a new procurement process for competitive bid on this particular item and having to extend this contract to the tune of, what, $3.4 million?
So can you help me with
Speaker 234
1:13:00
that? Sure. So we did begin the process in May of 2025. we completed the delegation of requests and submitted it to the office of state procurement in july of 2025 and we received notice from the office of state procurement that they wanted to take over this contract in october of 2025 and we've been working with them since that date this contract actually did post on march 20th of 2026 and the bid opening is scheduled for april
Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:13:35
21st. Okay. So you're, if I understand that, uh, what you're stipulating is that the office of procurement state procurement through the transform services has decided that this is a contract that they want to manage moving forward. Is
Speaker 139
1:13:55
that right? Just they took the solicitation. The contract will still be managed by DHS. Uh, we started requirements gathering internally, uh, with our team, uh, our procurement office back in May of 2025 to start developing the replacement solicitation and then
transferred that solicitation development to OSP and Martina and her team have been working with them on the competitive RFP that has been posted like she mentioned March 20th and closes on April 21st so is um is the office of state procurement here anybody's
Speaker 240
1:14:21
in an office if you'll come forward please name
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:14:29
and title for the record and after that you recognize go ahead representative thank you good morning Jessica Patterson director of the
Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:14:45
Office of State Procurement good morning thanks for being here so tell me a little bit about what the delay why the delay in this process obviously the initial requirements were gathered on time I'm ready to move forward with a the solicitation for a bid what happened that caused us to have to have a delay at this point
Speaker 243
1:15:06
well when we first took over I guess let me back up we started in the summer of last
Speaker 246
1:15:11
year bringing more procurement centrally within the office of state procurement we rolled back our delegation
authority to two million dollars and so we started the process of taking on more contracts or more the solicitation of more contracts centrally within the office of state procurement on this contract specifically I think that they had started their requirements gathering but then we had to take those requirements and and work with them to put them within the format that we use I think that that's been an ongoing process I can get you more information on on on how that has progressed and any
delays that were that we experienced but that is generally what our process has been for many of DHS's contracts okay so is there currently are there currently more contracts like this that are in queue
Speaker 248
1:15:58
that are gonna have to be bumped and continue
Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:16:01
for sole source not that I'm aware of so this is the only one that's been impacted in that way I think this is the only one that has been impacted in this way
Speaker 243
1:16:11
all right thank you very much I appreciate it
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:16:18
thank you Mr. Chair you're welcome any other questions for for these folks okay not
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:16:24
thank you all very much let me get our dot up to the table about the retirement one please
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:16:47
good morning Amy tile for the record please good morning I'm Robin
Speaker 251
1:16:55
Smith, Asher's executive secretary. Okay. Uh,
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:17:03
question I've gotten, I'm going to, I'm going to back up a little bit, uh, to the contract that was with castle arc management out of Chicago. So I'm going to combine it with what's number, uh, 20 on ours with meridian investments. Um, I guess the question I have, and I'm trying to go back to the days of retirement committee on the on the castle arc it seems like that's a lot of money we're
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:17:32
paying them to manage the the portfolio am I taking that out of context or can
Speaker 251
1:17:39
you speak to that for a minute castle arc operates more like a chief information officer for us and they do more than just manage investments they also do asset allocation for the whole portfolio including Meridian and Garcia Hamilton they they coordinate all that they also train the board and they work on special projects for us do risk assessment that type thing okay and the
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:18:06
same thing for for meridian then
Speaker 251
1:18:08
meridians meridian just operates as a bond manager for us
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:18:12
okay okay I'll just I'll get off conversation with you offline conversation okay all right thank you appreciate any questions anybody else on anything dealing with M5 in state contracts last call anybody all right then these will be approved without objection Billy in yes your section in or all
William Parrish
Unverified
1:18:35
the monthly reports if any members have any questions on a
specific report we'll be happy to address those questions I'm sorry anybody got
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:18:44
any questions on any of the reports listed under in one through nine. I'd like to get Medicaid to the table please on the trust fund.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:19:18
Good morning, y'all. Name and titles for
Speaker 254
1:19:24
the record, please. Misty Eubanks, Deputy Secretary, DHS. Andy
Speaker 255
1:19:27
Morgan, Medicaid Fiscal Officer. And Elizabeth Pittman, Director
Speaker 182
1:19:32
for Division of Medical Services. All right, good morning.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:19:34
I know a lot of conversation around the Medicaid Trust Fund in the past, and a special report asked for this, and it's on page six of six. i guess my question is just talk to us about the direction of it given that it's uh if i'm reading
it right it's down 42 percent if i'm not reading that right correct me and just the direction that it's going against the obligations that we have and just refresh our memory
Speaker 258
1:20:03
a little bit would you please sure thank you for the question um currently we are running at 99 percent of budget As far as what we've loaded to our annual operating plan, again, we continue to monitor that very closely, having weekly meetings, if not more frequently. Again, we do not believe that the trust fund will be exhausted in this state fiscal year, and we do have $100 million set aside for this year, although we do not believe we'll need to tap that currently.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:20:32
Okay, so I'm going to run these numbers by you. Tell me if I'm misreading it, and I'm looking at after nine months of this. We started with, I'm going to round the numbers off. We started at $491 million. The credits were $286 million. The debts were $495 million. And that leaves us with the end imbalance of $283 million. So for the remainder of this fiscal year, you feel confident that we're going to be able to fulfill our obligations with what we have through the rest of this year?
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:21:04
yes that's correct okay and what about the forecast beyond
Speaker 258
1:21:13
this year any comments you have about that again we're watching that very closely we have not completed our annual operating plan for next year however i believe jim hudson stated that we would continue to have a hundred million and set aside um yeah okay
Speaker 94
1:21:38
jim name title for a record please sir jim hudson secretary dfa as i shared when
Speaker 93
1:21:48
i presented the the governor's balance budget you know where i think we're fine for this year and i think we are fine for this year we'll finish the fiscal year just fine. I think for FY27, we will have to move the $100 million into Medicaid. Timing of that exactly, I'm not sure. It'll probably be in the first half of the fiscal year. We do have proposed in the Governor's balance budget a second $100 million set aside that we'll have in there to
backstop additionally. I don't expect at this time that I'd have to get moved over. We will have to have a conversation, as I've said, not only about the income
Speaker 94
1:22:21
side, but the expense side. And that's something that we can have as we get into
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:22:26
the next regular session. Is that $100 million captured within this $283 million? It is not.
Speaker 93
1:22:31
It is not. It's not at DHS. It sets in a restricted reserve account right now. Okay. So they have to request it, and then it has to come to you, to
Speaker 265
1:22:39
this body, and you release it to move it over.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:22:42
All right. Thank you. Yep. Anybody else have any other questions? All right. Senator Hickey, you want to push a button there, please? All
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
1:23:04
right. all right you should be good to go thank you mr. chair i don't sit on this committee is it okay if i ask questions sure is all right i know i do this during the regular pier
however with the restricted reserve and we're using this and we have the next we say we're going to put in another i've listened to what senator hammer said so that's really not included in our budget though so you know it's why do we not if we're pretty sure that this is going to happen keep happening at 100 million a year and i heard what you said why don't we just put that in the budget so that it shows up as that expense item yeah i think as i said we need
Speaker 93
1:23:41
to have a conversation about you know the funding level for medicaid
going forward you know there's a lot of volatility in the balance on medicaid the report you have is snapshot as of the end of March I guess this week the numbers in excess of 400 million so there's there is a lot of movement in that so I don't think we can necessarily pick just one particular week and say that's our snapshot for whether or not you know we need to move additional money in there I think we need to be really kind of understanding what is a desired minimum amount that we want to have in there and if we get consistently below that minimum out you
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
1:24:16
look at adding capital to it right again appreciate you all and I know that you know it's just just the way it comes here but and I've been asking this stuff and I understand about cyclical but it seems like to me that it's always more than what what we keep saying so if we're going to have to move that hundred million right at the first of the fiscal year or what we're saying is is that we're going to we're going to fully exhaust all the funds between now and June 30th that's in that is in the balance of that trust fund, correct? No, sir. I did not say that.
Okay, well, they didn't. Don't believe that. Don't believe that at all. Okay, well, then that's what's confusing to me. So what we're saying is we still believe we're going to have a balance, but you're just saying that we're going to move that restricted reserve money over into there as more of a cushion. So we're not saying that we're going to exhaust all of the balance within that trust fund in this fiscal.
Representative John P. Carr
Unverified
1:25:08
No, sir. No, sir. Don't believe that at all. I think the forecast that Secretary Mann has provided at the table when she's
Speaker 93
1:25:15
been here still hold true, I agree with those.
I think that when we're talking about having a sustained balance below $200 million, we need to be having a conversation about injecting capital at that point. So, and I
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
1:25:29
know that we've continuously asked that, and I know that's a discussion between the legislative branch and the executive branch. But what I'm hearing is are we going to try to say that we're going to maintain the $200 million? Because that's always been one of my hang-ups is that we've not decided at what the minimum is going to be.
So are we saying that that's what it's going to be, the $200? I'm saying that's the conversation we need
Speaker 93
1:25:53
to keep having because, you know, $200 is a relative number, you know, according to the expenses. It may not be enough if expenses are surging too much. I think we just have to look at what the cash burn rate is. and the cash burn rate has been significant this year but intentionally so we know that that money's been spending down that's not been a surprise we knew we knew it was going to come down it had been very very high for a long period
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
1:26:16
of time and I agree with you it's just at some point over the
last year and year and a half it's not you all to blame us as much us sitting up here also we are going to have to get that established of what we're going to keep is at a minimum and I say Whether that's $200 million or $250 million or $150 million, I don't know. And I think that that requires the expertise of not only DF&A but also DHS. I would assume that that needs to come from you all on what that balance needs to be. I think we've got a great working relationship with DHS,
Speaker 93
1:26:55
and Secretary Mann and I are talking regularly about where things are at in terms of Medicaid. but i do i really do want to circle back to the the point on the expense side of things i don't think any of us want to be in a place where the conversation is just about how we add more money to medicaid because a lot of states get in trouble on that we need to be talking about what are some things that we can do to control the expense side of things as well sure
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
1:27:22
and and i would agree with what you're saying it but but this is going to be my point to that if if we've spent and are spending 300 million dollars more a year out of a trust fund
or a restricted reserve fund that's not in rsa and i hate to use the word manipulating that's a bad word but i don't know what else to say it's not providing an accurate balance budget in my opinion because we are we had we have expense items that are not within rsa uh that really is makes that budget unbalanced from my viewpoint if they're ongoing expenses every year and i know somebody say well we're always can cut here we can always cut there but if these are ongoing and we're seeing
a trend like that it's just we need to get those within rsa so that that is part of the budget yeah i think
Speaker 279
1:28:10
you know i i agree that we ought to we ought to cash flow positive that that should be
Speaker 93
1:28:16
the goal for for these things i think when you're talking about medical expenses much like with ebd you know there there is volatility and you do spend down sometimes but i would agree there's not a sustained path for multiple years where you're spending down yeah i don't know what
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
1:28:30
that what that variance is if it should be 50 million or if it should be 60 million or if it should be
30 million i just don't think it should be
Speaker 281
1:28:38
400 million or something of that nature so i we just keep me keep talking about it thank you secretary hudson yeah thanks sir thank you
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:28:46
mr chair for the leeway you're welcome uh adding to that the you know just a high level view you correct me if i'm wrong you know we had stuff if we had stuff legislatively either because we motivated or you know the administrative branch admin you know motivates it that's going to either add or take away cost um you know to the to the system the other thing is whatever the up or down reimbursement
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:29:08
rate is by the feds based on the programs that come those are all variables that are going to affect that dollar
Speaker 93
1:29:15
amount that's that's a great point you know fmap dropped the the rate dropped last year i mean we're living through that right now it's forecast it's going to go up next fall next october so we'll actually get more
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:29:27
federal income you know coming in in the next fiscal year right so the the the fluidness of it the the argument's going to be or the debate's going to be what's the what's the safe cash balance in there if it's 200 million given the fluidness of
it you know if it's up or down yeah and that's what you got to arrive
Speaker 94
1:29:47
at but your your first point is is really really important and i would just encourage all members to take heed of it you know every time that we pass a mandated benefit you know for medicaid there's a real world cost on that and it comes straight out of that trust fund and so as we increase the burden on
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:30:04
that we are burning the cash faster refresh my memory i know but as it is right now whenever legislation is passed do we have a fiscal impact to the medicaid budget for what that is that a
requirement to be attached to it is dhs
Representative John P. Carr
Unverified
1:30:19
prepares that every time there is one i think i think there's more work that we can do to
Speaker 93
1:30:24
make sure we have a good structured process on that because there are things that we do like for example with the lottery and with retirement plans that we make sure that we're looking at that stuff early and we're bundling it all together so we have a complete picture of
Speaker 94
1:30:39
the fiscal impact for all the changes i just think there's more toning up we can do in that process
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:30:43
all right and then the last question is the numbers I gave you a while ago are after nine months so right now just correct me if I'm wrong you got a 283 million dollar
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:30:53
balance we got three months left in the in the fiscal year so the next three months you think and you don't know what the final number we're going to arrive at but with the balance that you got in there we ought to be able to get through
Speaker 93
1:31:08
this next three months with that balance in there as i've said you know i think secretary man's communicated at the table you know 130 plus 130 to 150 million you know we'll be in that range you know we're not going to be at zero we're not going to be below 100 million i think it's it's we are spending down there's no doubt about that
but also remember too that expense medical expenses are not evenly distributed over the course of the fiscal year they they bunch at different
Speaker 94
1:31:31
points in time in the year right so some of it could come
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:31:35
in after the fact okay sir all right any other questions for these folks all
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:31:42
right thanks for the healthy debate sir thank you any question any other questions on in one through nine all right these are no action items so without any questions on that and with no other business coming
before us thank you all for being here we are adjourned Thank you.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
Items for Approval
B. Various Temporary Appropriation Requests
C. American Rescue Plan Act Appropriation Requests
D. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Appropriation Requests
E. Restricted Reserve Fund Transfer Requests
F. Reallocation of Resources
Items for Review
G. Cash Fund Appropriation Requests
H. Budget Classification Transfer Requests
I. Pay Plan Appropriation Requests
31. Auditor of State – Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys
J. Overtime Appropriation Requests
K. Methods of Finance
L. Discretionary Grants
M. Service Contracts for Legislative Review/RFQ Approvals
Reports
N. Monthly Reports
O. Other Business
P. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
William Parrish
Unverified
Speaker 21
Speaker 24
Chair
Unverified
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Speaker 44
Speaker 47
Speaker 51
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
Speaker 67
Speaker 71
Speaker 63
Speaker 93
Speaker 94
Speaker 80
Speaker 98
Speaker 102
Speaker 104
Speaker 107
Speaker 70
Speaker 116
Speaker 120
Scott Richardson
Unverified
Speaker 139
Speaker 142
Speaker 153
Speaker 175
Speaker 177
Speaker 182
Speaker 144
Speaker 181
Speaker 185
Speaker 189
Speaker 191
Speaker 192
Speaker 156
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
Speaker 199
Speaker 18
Speaker 216
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
Speaker 215
Speaker 227
Speaker 228
Speaker 229
Speaker 230
Speaker 234
Speaker 140
Speaker 240
Speaker 243
Speaker 246
Speaker 248
Speaker 251
Speaker 254
Speaker 255
Speaker 258
Speaker 265
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
Representative John P. Carr
Unverified
Speaker 279
Speaker 281