House Public Health Committee
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (11)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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HB1316
· 4 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HB1316”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1279
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…7, he's passing over. Representative Letting, how about the House Bill 1279? He's passing over. Senate Bill 77, we're I think awaiting…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB13
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…dopted, and so now we'll proceed with continuing to discuss House Bill 13-16 as amended. Representative Wardlaw. I'd like to make a m…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1321
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1321”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1323
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1323”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1324
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…resentative Nichols has informed us that he is passing over house bill 1324 and 1325 do we have anyone in the room who's going to prese…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB1247
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…Bill 42? Senate Senate Bill 43? Representative Wilkins says Senate Bill 1247, he's passing over. Representative Letting, how about the H…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB165
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…ate Bill 77, we're I think awaiting on a amendment on that. Senate Bill 165?”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB42
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “resolution 1011? If not, we'll pass over that. How about Senate Bill 42? Senate Senate Bill 43? Representative Wilkins says Senate…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB43
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…not, we'll pass over that. How about Senate Bill 42? Senate Senate Bill 43? Representative Wilkins says Senate Bill 1247, he's passing…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB77
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…Letting, how about the House Bill 1279? He's passing over. Senate Bill 77, we're I think awaiting on a amendment on that. Senate Bill…”
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Pre-2017 bill |
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Representative Benedict is going to be presenting that bill, and I see her here, and if you'll take your place at the end of the table and introduce your guest
with you, please, and go ahead and present your bill.
Representative Lori Benedict
Unverified
0:31
Thank you, Madam Chair. Assisting me today is Robert Breck, attorney with the Arkansas Department of Health.
Thank you all. The purpose of
this bill is to exempt certain persons, page 1, line 29, and criteria from Arkansas Health Department regulations which were adopted to define and control food service establishments as defined on page 2, line 6, such as restaurants and wholesale or retail vendors. It does not change any regulations pertaining to taxes or local permits and has no physical
impact. As with most laws, as time goes on, original intent of these regulations define themselves in the everyday application of enforcing them to comply with the original purpose. Often, this means very different interpretation of the same guidelines. In order to clarify which products and producers must work from state-certified kitchens, this This bill specifically exempts or deregulates certain small producers from the current law
as written. We have defined cottage food producers as those who produce foods such as fresh farm produce, jams, jellies, honey, sorghum, certain bakery products, and foods not deemed as potentially harmful to consumers and produced at home. These can be sold only in small quantities from the place they are produced, one's home, a farmer's market, or, for short periods of time, at a county fair, weekend festival,
or other special event, as defined on page 3, line 22. This encourages farmer's markets and supports the rights of volunteer fire departments, ball teams, and other groups such as 4-H to continue to use bake sales as a means of fundraising without unnecessary interference by an overly zealous Health Department County employee it allows our newly established Amish families to sell a few jars of jelly jam or a homemade loaf of bread baked at home it defines
specifically what food items are not potentially hazardous it was written in conjunction with the Department of Health does include labeling of products And it's just a good common-sense bill. I appreciate a good vote
Speaker 11
3:28
any questions? Representative Penards. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Representative Benedict, I was especially interested
Chair
Unverified
3:34
in this bill because of the positive impact it would have on farmers' markets. We have a very thriving farmer's market in Fort Smith that has it on Saturdays down by the river, and have – in regard to that specific part of the bill of farmer's market, do you have any idea just how many farmer's markets there are?
I know we have one. I've talked to some other representatives here that have them
Speaker 14
4:07
that are very positive with local farmers coming in and selling their raw products? I do not
Representative Lori Benedict
Unverified
4:13
have any idea how many farmers markets are around the state. We have a very nice one
in Baxter County. We're trying to establish one in Fulton County, and perhaps Mr. Breck, being a health department employee, may have some idea. Actually, I'm not aware
Robert Breck
Unverified
4:31
of exactly how many counties do it, but we are encouraging
counties to have these. Our Hometown Health Initiative, you know, encourages this to get fresh products out to individuals. So we do encourage you, but I cannot tell you. I can find out how many
Chair
Unverified
4:47
there are. Yeah, just I'm, you know, I'm one of the co-sponsors of this bill, but I was just wondering because more and more people are asking for organically grown food, and we've had that an increasing amount of people going down to the farmer's market because of that. So thank you.
I can certainly try to find out. Yeah.
Representative Garry L. Smith
Unverified
5:14
Thank you. Representative Smith, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Representative Benedict, what's the stance on the State Health Department on this proposed piece of legislation? Could you
Robert Breck
Unverified
5:27
clarify that, please? I'm going to let Mr. Breck answer that. Thank you. I would like to say that Representative Benedict and Senator Erdogan both worked with us. We didn't suggest changes to the original draft because of some of the products that were listed as non-potentially hazardous,
but they did work with us. They did take out the things that we felt were potentially hazardous foods. We think that any risk to the public is going to be minimal, and we're not opposing the bill at
Representative Garry L. Smith
Unverified
5:51
all. Well, and I like the fact that it allows entrepreneurship and people to do things that they feel they ought to be able to do as well, but, of course, public safety is important, So that's why I wanted to know officially on record what your stance
Robert Breck
Unverified
6:04
was from the department. Right, and they did also, we wanted the labeling provisions that you'll see in the bill mainly so if there were an incident,
we could track that product back to the producer and try to find out what happens. Whenever there's any sort of foodborne outbreak illness, we have epidemiologists that follow up and try to track that down. And we asked for the labeling provisions, and they agreed to put those in the bill. And so we're not in opposition to the bill at all.
Representative Garry L. Smith
Unverified
6:31
Okay, so let me make sure I understand that. Labeling indicates that it's John Doe at Route 1,
Box 298, Hamburg, Arkansas, zip code, with a phone number and all that thing. Is that right?
Robert Breck
Unverified
6:43
It would have their name and address, I believe. It would also have their list of ingredients in the product, and it would have to be on the product that it was homegrown. Okay. But you'll see those.
Representative Garry L. Smith
Unverified
6:53
They're in the bill. Right. Thank you, Madam Chair. Representative Mayberry, you're recognized. Representative Benedict, are you
aware of any opposition to this bill?
No, I am not. Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion at the proper time.
We'll recognize that at the proper time. Representative Mayberry, Representative Hyde. Thank
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
7:21
you, Madam Chair. Representative Benedict, you came and visited with me on this bill, And I sure appreciate the purpose that you explained to me for this bill of, you know, the typical, I hate to use the word homemaker, but maybe the typical family on a farm or otherwise who might have a little hobby of maybe canning some stuff or growing some stuff in a community garden or wanting to do some things in conjunction with the fair or a special event,
which I guess would be some kind of a carnival in a city or a county or something. and I appreciate the description of labeling and everything. I'm a little concerned, and I think that we, I hope anyway, that we have a new piece of legislation coming before the session is over that's going to deal with farmers markets. Because, and I wondered if you were aware, and if this bill does anything to positively work with the definition of a farmer's market.
that is a common marketing name or a common term used to describe, you know, any kind of produce market, whether it's in the town square or down at the county fair or wherever they can find a spot on the road. And the fact of the matter is that many, and when I think of a farmer's market, and from the way you just described this bill, when you think of a farmer's market, you're thinking about people in the community or a local farmer who's growing products and then taking them out in a roadside stand or whatnot.
And you may not have had this problem up in your part of the state and the northern part of the state, but we certainly have here in the central part of the state. We call things farmer's market, but actually three-quarters of what's there came from the produce market out here on old 161 and shipped in from, you know, other parts of the country that have operations and the products that are kind of sold under the pretense of being from, you know, down at Hardin's Farm down there south of Pine Bluff or something. That's really not true.
And also to address the comment that Representative Pernard's made about organic farming, that's something that's not always a little misleading from unscrupulous folks that
do this stuff. So I just wanted to make that point, I guess. in hope and effort that we, you know, the feel-good part of this doesn't go too far. But I do have
a question as I'm working through this, and let's see, on page 2, starting at line 20,
it says a person at a farmer's market that offers for sale only one or more of the following. And C down there on line 25 says commercially prepackaged food that is not potentially hazardous It's on the condition that the
food is contained and displays, yada, yada, yada, yada. Are you telling me that, you know, you can resell food is what we're saying you can do? What I vision this
Representative Lori Benedict
Unverified
10:25
applying to would be, let's say, the 4-H girls wanted to sell cupcakes
and they wanted to have some cartons of milk for sale with their cupcakes. They could buy already packaged cartons of milk and resell them with their homemade cupcakes. or, you know, perhaps
juice or a drink of some sort.
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
10:44
And once again, I appreciate your answer because I think the spirit of what you're trying to do, I agree with wholeheartedly, but I worry about some of the folks that I've seen at farmer's markets and what they're reselling and under what circumstances they may have purchased it,
whether or not it's out of date or whatever those cases might be. And I know that there's a limited amount of inspection that occurs from the health department at some
Robert Breck
Unverified
11:12
of these sites. Would you like to address that, sir? Well, I would point out that in current law, establishments that sell prepackaged, non-potentially hazardous foods are already exempt. You can see that on page six, line six. You know,
if they're prepackaged foods and they're not potentially hazardous, they're currently exempt under the current law.
Well, I'm sorry, page four. Where was it at
on page four? line six under current law subsection four already allows for the sale of prepackaged foods and though they would be exempt from the the
Speaker 58
11:59
food service requirements okay thanks miss Benedict
seeing no further quick do I represent
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
12:06
to Perry thank you madam chair representative Benedict on page page 3 on line 21 through that paragraph right there the seven consecutive days when get to line 24 I'm thinking of the Hall of Industry State Fair they sometimes will have a you know booths there the State Fair is a 10-day event what would we do in a particular case like that I'm going to ask the attorney for his
Robert Breck
Unverified
12:41
opinion the way I'm reading that that that deals with festivals or celebrations I'm not sure that would include the county fair it possibly could typically that's for things like Toad Suck days and Watermelon festivals things like that Right, but whether or not the state fair would be considered a festival or celebration Could be upward interpretation, but but I will point out that those all the stands that are at the state fairs
All those mobile stands are already currently licensed and they have
short-term permits for that very purpose. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. Seeing no further questions,
against the bill? Anyone who wants to speak for the bill? Representative Mayberry, you're recognized for your motion. I'd like to make a motion of due pass. We have a motion of due pass.
Any discussion on the motion? all in favor of motion to do pass indicate by saying aye any opposed no miss benedict you have
passed your bill thank you very much
this is my first bill representative Nichols has informed us that he is passing over house bill 1324 and 1325 do we have anyone in the room who's going to present the house
resolution 1011? If not, we'll pass over that. How about Senate Bill 42? Senate Senate Bill 43? Representative Wilkins says Senate Bill 1247, he's passing over. Representative Letting, how about the House Bill 1279? He's passing over. Senate Bill 77, we're I think awaiting on a amendment on that. Senate Bill 165?
House Bill 1316, Representative Catlett, are you ready to present that bill? Take your place at the end of the table and proceed then. Representative Catlett has
an amendment to this bill and we'll be handing that out as he's taking his place at the end of the table. Thank you, Madam Chair, members.
Representative John Catlett
Unverified
15:14
I'm here with an amendment to House Bill 1316, an act to allow the Arkansas Department of Health to utilize radio encryption to protect confidential patient data. Just to give kind of a synopsis of this bill, what it is is the AWIN system has the capability of scrambling voice data and, of course, this is encryption. And the way the law reads now, only fire and police are allowed to utilize this capability.
And because of the emergency response that the health department handles for the state and the data they have to transmit in reference to patient confidentiality and the HIPPA law requirements, we felt it necessary that they utilize this capability. They are on AWIN now. They do have AWIN radios. And all this does is allow them to put in their radios the encryption capability.
And the amendment, Madam Chair, is page 1, delete line 28 and substitute the following and decoding police department, comma, fire department, comma, or department of health communications that have been. I'll take any questions. The first order of business will be to take care of
the amendment. Do we have any questions on the amendment? Representative Penartz. Move, do pass on the amendment.
We have a motion to do pass on the amendment. Any questions on the amendment or on the motion? We have a motion to adopt the amendment to House Bill 1316. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Okay, the amendment has been adopted, and so now we'll proceed with continuing to discuss House Bill 13-16 as amended. Representative Wardlaw. I'd like to make a motion at the proper time.
We'll recognize that at the proper time.
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
17:29
Representative Hyde. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Catlett, help me with when there's
this need to broadcast sensitive patient data on a
Representative John Catlett
Unverified
17:42
radio. Okay. Well, for example, the disaster at Albert Park, the health department was responsible for the response and handling the victims of that terrible disaster.
And the cell phones didn't work down there. I mean, and the only communications they had was the AWIN system. And they couldn't transmit any sensitive data, for example, next of kin notification on the death. And to me, it's just this capability is there.
let them use it for this instance so have you conferred with state police and
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
18:33
and and Adam and all those folks that use that and they're not concerned that that that that we're adding someone else to it and may get busy or anything not any problem it's it sounds like it's pretty selective need and and and there's There's no plans, I'm going to guess, from the health department on some new use you're going to have for this or anything. It's
just a – it really would be an emergency situation, and that's the only example that you can really offer.
Representative John Catlett
Unverified
19:01
Well, yes, sir. That's the – and, of course, that's a pretty big responsibility is transmitting
the information, the data on patients in a confidential manner, but both the state police, DIS director and of course I have the attorney from the health departments here and all those above all above are okay with this there's no added money to the state the health department they already had the a win radios so if that answers
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
19:37
your question sir okay thank you master chair representative Wilkins Representative Catlett, they already have the radios. They already have the A1 radios. So all this bill is doing is allow them to scramble. Yes, sir. So everything's already in place. It's going to require no new radios, very
few. And we'll just allow them to add that little block back there that scrambles your transmissions.
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. All right, seeing no further questions, anyone wishing to
Speaker 11
20:19
speak? I'm sorry, Representative Penartz, I didn't see your
Representative Tracy Pennartz
Unverified
20:25
hand. Thank you, Madam Chair. Dr. Breck, as you indicated to Representative Hyde, you anticipate that
Chair
Unverified
20:32
the Department of Health's use of this would be on a probably, from a raw and counter standpoint, very limited?
Robert Breck
Unverified
20:39
Very limited. From what I understand, they're just going to have a handful of radios in the event of a natural disaster. We do have a preparedness branch that was put in place after 9-11 for this very thing. If there's an earthquake or any other type of natural disaster that we might have to respond to, it could be a bioterroristic event, something like that, we would have the capability of using encryption in those events. So it won't be used on a routine basis for – I mean, routinely I'd say we probably use cell phones and landlines, but it's just in case there is some sort of emergency we
Representative Tracy Pennartz
Unverified
21:12
would have that capability. Well, I think it would be helpful
Chair
Unverified
21:18
to me, and Representative Hyde I think has a valid concern, and I would be more
Representative Tracy Pennartz
Unverified
21:24
assured of the issue of confidentiality, which I'm always concerned about, as you well know, that if the Department of Health could at least make a report every six months on the use of this as authorized so that at least if it's one
or two or if it's three or four, we'll know rather than five or six a week. But for my benefit, so that at least we'll know some type of informal, even if it's just an e-mail to this committee saying no use was made of this or we used it once. I'd be more than happy to provide that if you'd like me to e-mail
Robert Breck
Unverified
22:04
that to the staff or to each member of the committee, whatever your wish is. The staff will be fine. I'd be more than happy to see that that's done.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Representative Wilkins, you're recognized. My understanding
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
22:19
is you already have these radios, and they're already being used, and all we're doing is scrambling your transmission. That's correct. Apparently
Robert Breck
Unverified
22:28
you have to have an encryption device inserted in the radio to do that, and we cannot use that. With the Albert Pike incident, we hoped that we could have gotten the state police to okay that, But the way the current law is written, it just wasn't possible without a change in the legislation.
So that's true. We've already got the radios. I don't think they're used routinely. I think they're probably in storage in Little Rock for most of the time. But in the event something happens, they would go out in
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
23:05
the field. Yes, sir. You currently have them, and
you already used them, so it don't interfere with nobody. your transmissions are on a channel by
Robert Breck
Unverified
23:16
their self but they are scannable that's correct and it's my understanding
that and representative Catlett might know this better than I but it's my understanding that we could not intercept the
police or the fire department communications we'd have our own encryption code and so it's
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
23:35
not as if we could be listening into the state police. All you're concerned about is identifying people that may have been lost her life in a disaster that a natural disaster or whatever is transmitting that
without the without being picked up on scanners you're not worried about anybody else picking it up being picked
Robert Breck
Unverified
23:58
up by the general public on scanners that's absolutely correct in the event that cell phones became inoperative because the towers went down hopefully
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
24:07
this system would be available and that is the same thing that the state police are concerned with sometimes and the Game and Fish and everybody else that uses that system is what kind of information are we putting out to the public and what harm does that do more than am I
right about that? You're absolutely correct sir. Thank you sir. Thank you Representative Wilkins seeing no further questions we'll recognize Representative Wardlaw for a motion. Motion do pass. Would that be do pass as amended, sir? Yes, ma'am. So we have a motion do pass as amended for House Bill 1316. Any discussion
on the motion? All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Mr. Catlett, you have passed your bill. Thank you. That leads us to House Bill
1321. I'm going to present that bill and I'll turn it over to Chairman Woods. Okay, Madam
Chair, present your bill when you're ready and have your guest state her name for the record.
with Department of Correction. Thank you. Members, House Bill 1321 is basically a
government efficiency bill. What we currently have now is that we have facilities in the rehabilitation programs in the Benton area that are unable to be used because of the legislation that we have in place today.
So this allows us to effectively utilize all beds in the prison system
to be able to make sure that we're managing our inmate population efficiently and effectively. As you know, we are, I don't know how many inmates we have today, but probably bumping up toward the 17,000 number. Above 16,000. A number of those are backed up in our county jail systems. And since Mr. Hobbs has become the department head over Department of Corrections, one of
the things he's focused on has been to efficiently and effectively utilize our beds. So we're realigning this and trying to make use of all beds. And just to give you an example of how we might use these facilities, as you know, we have a boot camp process within our Department of Corrections. And because of the restrictions we have on the use of this facility today, we are unable to put our boot camp inmates in this facility.
We've had to put them in our Tucker facility. So that's just an example of how we might use this facility. We want to be able to erase the cap so that we'll be able to also utilize buildings that are not now being used on those grounds. So there are buildings that are sitting there, and should money has come available for us to renovate those buildings and to utilize those, then we'll want to be able to reduce that cap. If you will take a look at the bill on page 1, line 32, you'll see, though, in the reduction of the cap that the Board of Corrections will oversee the number of inmates that can be housed in this facility.
With that, we'll take any questions. Thank you, Madam Chair. At this
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
27:55
time, I'd like to recognize Representative Hyde with a question. I'm sorry, Madam Chair. I seem to be on a roll this morning. Just a question as to how many beds do you think this
Speaker 112
28:06
is going to add to our capacity? At this point, none, because if
Speaker 113
28:09
we were to add beds, it would be because we had the funding available to take one of those empty buildings on that campus and redo it.
And at this point, we don't have the funding to do that. But since we wanted to come in and amend this statute to open those beds up a little bit, we were trying to look a little forward and hope that by adjusting the cap, that maybe someday we'd have the money to be able to renovate another one of those empty buildings. And I think that DHS would – that's something they would like us to do in the future. But at this point, even if we had the money and we redid it, We couldn't use the building because we didn't have a higher cap to put any inmates there.
Have you identified? Representative Hyde, may I respond to that, too, as I understand it? While we're not going
to add capacity, we will, though, be able to, with this legislation, utilize the capacity that we have there in a more effective way so that we're actually not having those beds stay empty. We are able to utilize those beds, and that frees up higher security beds
for other inmates that might be in county jails. Well, now I'm really
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
29:18
confused. I thought she said it wasn't going to add any.
Now you just told me it's going to. It's not adding capacity. So we have a measurable number of beds now
Speaker 113
29:35
that are empty while we're backed up in every county jail in the state. Not really. Not anymore. What Mr. Hobbs did was take a very close look at all of our beds across the system and make sure that we were filling as many of those as we can. because sometimes when we have beds that are designated for a particular program, like in this case, work release, we had some empty beds because we couldn't fill them
because, as everybody knows, the available jobs for everyone out there has dropped. Well, that includes work release inmates too. So since we didn't have the jobs for them, we had some empty beds. And what we wanted to do at the time was we were looking at moving boot camp there because those are pretty much our least threatening offenders. But we couldn't put boot camp there because, as statute states now, it has to be a work release or a pre-release program, and boot camp is neither.
So we ended up putting, so we could make use of those beds at Benton, we ended up putting a pre-release type drug program there, but we just wanted to be able to have a little bit more flexibility because through this bed alignment we have converted a lot of program beds to other types of beds now I think that the big concern here has been as I've talked to DHS and officials in the Benton area is that nobody wants to wake up and find maximum security or super max inmates there
and understandably so but please keep in mind we don't have a fence there there is no fence so you have to put very low inmates there which explains why it's work release, pre-release, and why we were looking at boot camp. So it will still be that level of offender, but it just opens it up a little bit. And I appreciate that. And,
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
31:21
Ms. Tyler, I'm sorry. Well, actually, I guess we have two Ms. Tylers down there. Yes.
Dina. And don't go old and new or young. We both prefer
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
31:37
young. I'm pretty certain both of you are a lot younger than me, so I think you're safe on that. And I appreciate both of you here, but especially, Dina, you know, you've always been very formative and do a great job for us. And so I'm just trying to understand better because I have numerous complaints and concerns from my constituents here in Platte County about how many state prisoners we have backed up in our county jail.
So what you're doing, as I understand it, is you're trying to provide a little more relief for my county jail,
Speaker 113
32:08
I hope. That's exactly right. if we can realign more of these beds so that we can fill some of those program beds with other similar inmates, then that allows us to reach down to the counties and pull some up. By Mr. Hobbs doing this, we, I think it was somewhere around 150 or so beds, maybe 200, that this realignment actually allowed us to fill so that we could reach down into the counties.
I mean, our backup today is somewhere around 1,700. I mean, there was a time when it was above 2,000, so this has helped, and all we're trying to do is stretch every bed we can as far as we can
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
32:51
because we're smothering the counties. Thank you. Typically, legislation's not controlling what you do
at a given facility. Is your need today because you're kind of working with another department, is that what this is
Speaker 113
33:04
opening up for you? You're right that legislation doesn't usually control which population, but in this instance, it does.
When that property was opened up for our use, I think that there were some fears way back then, and this was just to set aside those fears. But the core issue doesn't change. There's no fence. And so if there's no fence, we're not going to put much there. Well, and I just don't
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
33:32
want, you know, I wanted some reassurance that we weren't being too restrictive of you all. You know, we have good
people running these departments in the state.
We need to let them do their job, and sometimes we're a little guilty of micromanaging, and I hope this wasn't one of those cases. Thank
Speaker 55
33:53
you, both Ms. Tylers, and thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Representative Hyde. Representative
Chair
Unverified
34:02
Penards, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me ask you just a – I understand entirely why you want to run this legislation, and I really don't have probably an issue with it.
But let me ask you right now, how many people do you all have in some type of facility or house or entity there at the Arkansas Health Center grounds? How many do you currently have? Do I understand you
Representative Penards
Unverified
34:36
have none or you have some? No, we have, I want to say around 350. Okay,
Chair
Unverified
34:46
350, and what type – I guess the use of the term other rehabilitative programs raises a question.
I have a definition of what I call rehabilitative, but it may be different in the correctional system. You consider a boot camp to be a rehabilitative program? Absolutely. So what other programs, when you use the term and other rehabilitative programs, are you talking about? Boot
Speaker 113
35:18
camp is a fine example. There could be a drug treatment for lower-level offenders like a modified therapeutic community.
Substance abuse fits in there. There are several other programs that would be educational. Well, the key here is that you have to look beyond what the program is and look at your housing because we have drug treatment programs at units scattered around the state, but the facilities that house them are different. They're different levels of security. So the offenders that go to a particular program at a particular unit are based on what their
security level is. So we may have a drug treatment program there just like we would have at the Supermax, but the inmates who were
Chair
Unverified
36:09
housed here would be totally different. I understand that part, Ms. Tyler. And you know, I've visited many of our prisons around the state. The other question I have in relationship to that, the 350 beds, and by the way, the great thing about working in public policymaking is you learn something new every day.
And today, through Mr. Hyde's questions, I learned something new that I didn't know, that we actually had 350 beds at the Arkansas Health Center, because I understand what the Arkansas Health Center is, but you're talking really about the grounds of the Arkansas Health
Speaker 113
36:44
Center. Yes, that is built in a campus-like style. There's a building here, a building there, a building here, and some of those buildings we have redone, and that houses our inmates in them. There are other buildings unused, and at some point, maybe we'll be able to use one of those.
Representative Tracy Pennartz
Unverified
37:04
And you would have to come before your budget would have to
Chair
Unverified
37:09
reflect such, and there would have to be funding for that to occur. Of course. Do you know how successful you have been with those 350 beds with regard to those persons that are housed there? Are you pretty successful, 90% successful, with those not recycling? I
Representative Tracy Pennartz
Unverified
37:26
don't think you can look at any prison
Speaker 113
37:30
program and ever think that it's going to be 90 percent successful,
that 90 percent of those participants who stay – who, during a three-year window, don't come back and only 10 percent do. Well, that's pretty good. It would be excellent. It would be excellent. In a three-year period. It would be very, very good. Our recidivism rate over a three-year period is somewhere around 40 percent.
Chair
Unverified
37:55
Just with regard to these type of inmates, not the
Speaker 113
37:59
total system. If you have a lower level offender, like a work release inmate, it's going to be a little higher, and I mean higher in a good way, where fewer of those come back, and I don't know the exact percentage rate of work release offenders, but I know it's better than, say, some of your harder core offenders.
Chair
Unverified
38:20
Okay, one last question. Just to assure me, obviously you already have 350 individuals there. Has there – and since what date have you had
Representative Penards
Unverified
38:31
those? Oh, gosh, probably 20 years or better there. Okay, and you've
Chair
Unverified
38:37
had minimal or no occurrences of problems with those patients at the Arkansas Health Center? There's been no threat to those in the not that I'm aware of okay that
Representative Penards
Unverified
38:51
that satisfies me. Thank you. Thank you
Miss Tyler and thank you. Mr. Chair. Thank you representing arts We do have one more question from a committee member of representative
Mayberry you're recognized with a question. My question's been answered. Thank you Okay Seeing no other questions or is there anyone from the audience who would like to speak for the bill Against the bill What is the will of the committee at this time? I have a motion for a due pass. All in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, congratulations.
Madam Chair Tyler, your bill has passed. It's passed the committee. We should call it the Iron Curtain. It's bill 1385.
I believe it looks like he's making his way to the end of the
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
40:15
table. You'll have a seat. You may proceed. Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members. House Bill 1385 requires that carbon monoxide detectors be placed in new homes that are being built. The only exemption would be a total electric home. And every year over 500 people a year die from carbon monoxide.
Several people show up at various hospitals around the state of Arkansas with carbon monoxide poison. And this could possibly eliminate it or prevent it by just simply installing a carbon monoxide detector that costs between $29 and $39. The Home Builders Association took a look at this bill, and they made some revisions to it. The Insurance Association looked at it, and the State Health Department was okay with it. And I'll be happy to take any questions.
Representative Garry L. Smith
Unverified
41:09
Representative Smith, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Representative Allen. I have a question. I know
you're talking that this would be only in homes that would, I mean, not in an all-electric home, but let me be a devil's advocate. What if you had a power failure and someone needed emergency heat and they might use another technique for keeping warmth in the home? Would you not also think it necessary in an all-electric home under those
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
41:37
conditions? Well, there's the possibility that you would need it. It depends on what
alternative you would you would take most people have backup generators but not everyone yeah and so you
Representative Garry L. Smith
Unverified
41:48
could go down to the hardware store and get a you know some little temporary heat mechanism that would keep things warm would you I mean how would you go out and buy a generator when there's a power outage most times they're out at the supply store don't you agree I agree with you on that well do you think we're
not we shouldn't also say that to be in all new homes
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
42:12
Well, the Home Builders Association did more than in electric homes because in electric homes you don't have gas. I know that, but again, in South
Representative Garry L. Smith
Unverified
42:21
Arkansas, sometimes the electricity goes out, and we have people that have to stay warm. So there might be an occurrence where if it's a new home, they would need that kind of backup ability. And in that case, I think we ought to include the all-electric home if it's a
new construction. But that's my point. Do you not agree?
Somewhat. Thank you. Thank you,
Representative Bryan B. King
Unverified
42:54
Madam Chair. Representative King, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Does the current building
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
43:00
code require this? No, not to my knowledge. Do you know how many people died last year of carbon monoxide? Over 500 people nationwide died. And just recently, there was a family in Ohio that passed away.
And what happened was the apartment was over the garage, and the guy left the car running. And four family members died in the house. And the death probably could have been eliminated with a carbon monoxide detector. Was this in a new home or
Representative Bryan B. King
Unverified
43:30
newer home, or was it an older home? I don't know if it's in a
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
43:34
new home or older home. So you don't know of
Representative Bryan B. King
Unverified
43:37
the percentage of 500 people, how many of them are in new homes or old homes? Because most of the people that I know that's building new homes are doing this anyway, correctly.
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
43:48
Would you agree with that? I would disagree with you. I am a builder, and last year, year before last, I built 22 homes, no, 12 homes. And out of the 12 houses that I built, we'll only place carbon monoxide in two of them. And that was at the request of the homeowner. Now, the majority of the homes that we build, we put smoke detectors in there, but we're not putting carbon monoxide detectors in them. Okay.
We have a question from Vice Chairman Woods. Thank
you, Madam Chair. Representative Allen, I was just curious. Are there other
states that are doing this? Or if we do this, are we going to be a leader in this area? Yes, there are other states
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
44:32
around us that are doing it. I think they're doing it in Missouri. It's one of them, I believe. And I think they're doing it in the
Tennessee area. Okay. I'm just curious. Thank you very much. Representative Perry.
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
44:50
Thank you, Madam Chair. Representative Allen, looking at this, I know one of your co-sponsors is, of course, in the insurance business, which I am as well. Do insurance companies give you a discount for putting a
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
45:06
carbon monoxide detector in the home? That's a good question. I think some insurance companies will probably give you credit for it, just like they give you credit for smoke detectors. Correct.
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
45:20
Okay. What is the average cost for adding a low-voltage carbon monoxide
Speaker 104
45:25
detector? Anywhere from $29 to $39. $29 to $39. Okay. All right, thank
you, Madam Chair. Seeing no further questions,
I'm sorry, Representative Mayberry. You mentioned fire detectors a moment ago, smoke
detector. In new home construction, are those currently required that smoke detectors are installed
in any new home construction? Yes, sir. And you also mentioned the Builders Association with regards to this. You said that they had had some tweaks or revisions that they wanted made. Can you
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
46:08
kind of describe for us what that was? They wanted to exempt the total electric homes. That's why
they're not covered. Representative Hyde,
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
46:24
you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Alan another one yeah just kind of a question you might know the answer to if you pass this bill into law will this become part of the code the building code IBC the
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
46:40
last time I talked with the homeowners association I believe it will home billers association I believe will become part of the code well the
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
46:54
reason I'm asking the question,
and it might lead you to maybe bring another bill maybe down the road on this issue
if you feel strongly enough about it, because I don't think that anyone's going to enforce this. In other words, the building inspectors, the electrical inspectors, is I think who would make the inspection on a new home or a renovation, and unless it's actually part of the code, I don't believe that they'll enforce it. So just something to
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
47:26
check on and might help you with your bill. There was a time when builders started putting smoke detectors in and it wasn't part of it
and then all of a sudden it caught fire. And so most of the time when people – poor choice of words. Most of the time when something is passed, most builders and most builder inspectors we'll try to follow the law. Seeing
no further questions, Representative Lamkin, I see your hand.
Representative Sheilla E. Lampkin
Unverified
48:07
Madam Chairman, at the proper time, I'd like to
make a motion. We'll recognize that at the proper time. It may be just in a moment. Seeing no further
questions, anyone want to speak against the bill, for the bill? representative Allen are you closed for your bill yes ma'am I'm closed representative Lampkin we
Representative Sheilla E. Lampkin
Unverified
48:32
recognize you for a motion pass madam chairman I'd
like to recommend a due pass we have a motion do pass on house bill 1385 any discussion on the motion all in favor
indicate by saying I all opposed no representative Allen I believe you have passed your bill thank you
madam chair any business come before the committee if not remember we have a special order of business on the 15th representative Lindsay's bill we stand adjourned
Agenda
Call to Order
HB1323
HB1316
HB1321
Adjournment
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Representative Linda S. Tyler Chair
Unverified
Representative Lori Benedict
Unverified
Speaker 10
Speaker 11
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 14
Robert Breck
Unverified
Representative Garry L. Smith
Unverified
Representative Andy Mayberry Chair
Unverified
Representative Barry Hyde
Unverified
Speaker 58
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
Speaker 60
Representative John Catlett
Unverified
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
Representative Tracy Pennartz
Unverified
Speaker 108
Speaker 112
Speaker 113
Speaker 55
Representative Penards
Unverified
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
Representative Bryan B. King
Unverified
Speaker 104
Representative Sheilla E. Lampkin
Unverified