JBC-Personnel
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15 documents
Bills discussed (15)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1005
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “K. GL#20- HB1055 & HB1005 Department of Education Amendment KMW081, KMW082”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's … |
|
HB1009
Act 118
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…- SB36 Department of Agriculture Amendment BSS056 M. GL#23- HB1009 Department of Public Safety Amendment DJC038 Member Amendme…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1009 is now Act 118 |
|
HB1018
Act 122
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ent of Public Safety Amendment DJC038 Member Amendments: N. HB1018- University of Arkansas East Arkansas Community College HAR…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS EAST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1018 is now Act 122 |
|
HB1023
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “I. GL#13- HB1023 Department of Human Services- Secretary’s Office Amendment…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - SECRETARY'S OFFICE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 … | Joint Budget Committee | Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's … |
|
HB1036
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…- Educational Television Division Amendment KMW086 C. GL#8- HB1036 Department of Health Amendment CJW031 D. GL#16- SB4 Departm…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's … |
|
HB1055
Act 126
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “K. GL#20- HB1055 & HB1005 Department of Education Amendment KMW081, KMW082”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - OFFICE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD APPROPRIATION FOR THE … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1055 is now Act 126 |
|
HB1068
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “J. GL#15- HB1068 Department of Finance and Administration Amendment JAP070”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's … |
|
HB1077
Act 127
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…, and Behavioral Health Services Amendment LCW089 F. GL#10- HB1077 Department of Human Services- Division of County Operations…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIVISION OF COUNTY OPERATIONS APPROPRIATION FOR … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1077 is now Act 127 |
|
SB21
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “E. GL#9- SB21 Department of Human Services- Division of Aging, Adult, and…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIVISION OF AGING, ADULT, AND BEHAVIORAL … | Joint Budget Committee | DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. |
|
SB23
Act 133
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…elopmental Disabilities Services Amendment LCW091 H. GL#12- SB23 Department of Human Services- Division of Youth Services Am…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIVISION OF YOUTH SERVICES APPROPRIATION FOR … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB23 is now Act 133 |
|
SB24
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…s- Division of County Operations Amendment LCW090 G. GL#11- SB24 Department of Human Services- Division of Developmental Dis…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIVISION OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES SERVICES APPROPRIATION … | Joint Budget Committee | DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. |
|
SB29
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…bers and Staff Only'. Items held from previous meeting: O. SB29 Lieutenant Governor- Letter dated February 20, 2026, from L…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE OFFICE OF THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. |
|
SB36
Act 135
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “L. GL#21- SB36 Department of Agriculture Amendment BSS056”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB36 is now Act 135 |
|
SB4
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “D. GL#16- SB4 Department of Health- Licensing and Regulation Boards Amend…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH - LICENSING AND REGULATION BOARDS APPROPRIATION FOR THE … | Joint Budget Committee | DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. |
|
SB59
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…s, ex officio A. Call to Order Governor’s Letters: B. GL#4- SB59 Department of Education- Educational Television Division Am…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION DIVISION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2026-2027 … | Joint Budget Committee | DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. |
Machine transcript
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then it's called the order good morning everyone. it's early without objection I'm gonna call the lieutenant governor's office up concerning their budget and the personnel itemams it is carried over from yesterday anyone object to that if not Miss Wells and the rest of you if y'all can come up putcenture come forward
Good morning. thanks for being here if you would identify yourself for the record and then present whatever you would like and then
Speaker 10
1:39
lieutenant governor's office Sandy Hall lieutenant
Speaker 11
1:46
governor's office. thank you and good morning everyone. I know yesterday whenever we were here there was a lot of unanswered questions so just want to
clarify a few of them ultimately like I mentioned yesterday, we would like to move the lieutenant governor's office to the state pay plan to be able to get every position just up to where we are with our counterparts and other constitutional offices just to continue to be competitive with state agencies and the private sector and I know one of the questions with these maximums in in the pay grades the lieutenant
governor does not intend to max out any any position of that room is there to be able to whether that means if she decides to do a raise in the future or just to be able to give the future next lieutenant governor also the room to be able to just accommodate whether you know depending on what position and the person they are hiring to to be able to compete with with everyone
else and then we did as well and Miss barnhill put you on the spot too but we did meet with Misss barnhill and her team at O pm and we did get approval on every position and the pay grade that aligned with that position and so there were no no concerns I do understand that the percentage is a big number of when you look at the when you look at the spreadsheet but that percentage is is that way because
and with the in 2024 when we did have a 10% raise prior to that it's been nearly a decade since that office has had a razes to those positions and so that number will just it's that high because of that and I think I think the biggest question was if we were going to max out and I think we we got that clarified with members and so if anyone does have any more concerns, I'm happy to talk about that but I don't think there's
anything else OK well appreciate a good vote thank you. OK I have Senator Johnson and Senator Hill in the queue Senator
Speaker 19
4:23
Johnson There you are. So during the pay plan did we not give you all a million dollars to to to meet that no sir You wasn't increased during the
Speaker 26
4:35
pay plan. Hu-um. Tony I can't speak senator to whether or not they received money at this point in within the pay plan we can research that and see if they received money but the pay plan itself, the uniformlassification and compensation Act would have not provided anything to any
constitutional office it's all executive branch agencies so whether or not they received some money at that time I don't know but I know the pay plan itself, the classic compact would not have provided them anything Senator Hill thank you
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
5:25
for covering everything the way you did did you come up with a percent that I asked
Speaker 33
5:30
you to yes sir with kind of ballpark where we
Speaker 9
5:38
are looking to take all of these positions with an initial increase based on the appropriation we're asking for the actual percent would be around30. it's still not a small number and I understand that but if we took it from the decade that we have not received an appropriation increase it about matches with adjustment for inflation from that point to now and so but yes sir the
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
6:08
initial yes sir thank you that that's that that was where I I was at yesterday wanting to know what our what our percentage increase was on it because when you look at the other one if you went up to the max
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
6:25
it was pretty substantial which is not the plan senator thank you Thank you Mr chairir I think after we discussed a little bit with this yesterday afternoon some hesitation that I had is is you work for a constitutional officer that that this legislature 50 years ago stripped a lot of power from
and made them a part time position and so you have an you know an executive branch constitutional officer that is expected to do the duties of leave the senate during session and outside of that you know politicians would be politicians they got to do what they got to do but my question was like you're asking to go to a salary that is competitive within the market um'm a firm believer that government markets aren't meant to be competitive with the private sector they just aren't you get
security, you get retirement you get things the private sector can't but then you're asking to be compensate with other agencies that have more more duties that work for a full time constitutional officer so I'd like for you to just kind of give us your day to day operations like what does your staff
Speaker 11
7:30
do to justify the ask. and great question senator and thank you for taking the time yesterday afternoon to just talk to us and with that there's three of us that are in the
office full time for example chief of staff, umjo austin handles our legislative policy and communications but even with that we both uh'll I'll step in and help with those duties as well just because there is really just the both of us that would that handle that and then we have our executive assistant who keeps us all in line, make sure everything runs smoothly at the office and so with mine day to day is I still have to handle the admin side excuse me
the admin side of the office which is dF andA OPm talking to you all you know making sure everything as far as the constitutional office because we still have to no matter how small we are we they treat us just like every other agency so I still have to make sure closing books audit everything is still done correctly make sure we keep up with that but in addition to those duties just like I mentioned being able to assist with the policy the legislative work being able
to make sure the office runs smoothly when we are working with constituents and that may mean we're working with constituents who have issues where we need to delegate and reach out to our federal delegation that may mean a different state agency that they're having issues with that we're helping them and then a lot of the times we get a lot of Hispanic constituents where I'm to my knowledge I I think I'm the only one who speaks Spanish and so everything comes to me and you know if any of you all
I think have in the past you know had someone and so you know being able to delegate you know assist the you know those constituents and then in addition and I I could be here for a long time but you know John austin the speechwriting the legislative word being able to we're still expected my lieutenant governor was attorney general for eight years and so it comes with a lot of work coming into the lieutenant governor's office. She does expect a lot of us and just be able to know
what the current bills are what the legislative work you all are working on and what is going on on the national leveling from local to national we are we have to keep up with that and then like I said I could be here so much we're always happy to help we have an incredible team that we do manage and while I do understand other positions and other agencies do have a workload because we are not able
to delegate that with5 other staff members it's John austin and I that handle that handle a
lot of that workload. thank you thank you Any further questions seeing no questions we'll move to a motion. Do I have a motion to adopt the proposal that's presented so we guess a motion that the need a 2nd 2 OKok all in favor say aye
all opposed Chair rules no has the motion we'll
take this up later thank you do you want a roll call dus see five
hands all right call the roll please
Speaker 48
11:45
Representative Kavanaugh Representative Kavanaugh votes no Representative Jeremiah Representative Richmond Representative Holcomb Representative Tipy McCullough Representative Clowney Representative Jean
Representative Evans not seeing Representative Evans going to his first alternate representative MacGruder. Not hearing Representative MacGruder going to Representative Barnett OK Senator Petty
Senator Blake Johnson Senator Bryant Senator Caldwell Cender hill Senatorlededing Senator Disang Not hearing Senator Dismay going to Senator Scott
the motion the motion fails for a lack of majority. it reverts back to the present budget current items and then we'll if if if if the committee decides to hear it again we'll have to expunge the record with a vote and have another vote but at this time it fails thank you thank you both Mr chairir yes ma'am I'd like to make a motion that we expunge the vote
have a have a motion that we expunge the vote do I
have a second a second all in favor say aye all oppose nos have it terror rules. thank you
thank you we'll go back to our regular items on the agenda and I'll turn the meeting over to Mr.
robertson to make to make his comments on each each letter.
Speaker 48
17:17
thank you. thank you chairman Starting with item B, item B is governor's letter4. this is a request for the department of Ed Education television division or AETn the request includes elimination of one AarPBS deputy director position taking the agency from 93 to92 positions and cutting $140,000 from
Speaker 63
17:36
regular salaries and match in their state operations
and cash appropriations. any questions Do I have
a motion motion second all in favor say aye all opposed likewise hearing none motion
Speaker 48
18:00
passes next item. Mister Chairman. items C andd these are related we're transferring positions within
Speaker 63
18:08
divisions of the department of healthalth itemtem C is governor's letter 8. This is a request for the department of healthalth division of Health transfer three positions and nurse practitioner and two registered nurses from the division of healthalth to the nursing board taking them taking the division of healthth from 2,206 authorized positions to 2,203 that are letter also requests the transfer of300,768 dollars in regular salaries and match to the nursing board as well any questions
seeing none do have a motion motion to have a second second all in paper indicated saying aye posed
Speaker 25
18:52
likewise motion passes next item. Mr Chairman itemd is governor's letter 16. This is a request for the department of
Speaker 63
18:58
healthalth nursing Board and the dietetics Board. This letter is a follow up to governor's letter eight shows the nursing board receiving the three positions transferred in from the division of healthalth taking them from30
to33 authorized positions along with300,000 dollars in appropriation.dditionally the letter also requests one additional administrative coordinator position at an SGSO4 for the dietetics board this takes them from 1 to 2 positions along with an additional53,0 0 $0 in regular salaries and match. you've heard
the recommendation any questions? if not a motion el ian second
Speaker 25
19:41
all in favor of a opposed likewise motion carries the next item
Speaker 63
19:51
and I are all related uhdHS requests transferring positions from one division to another due to previously approved reallocation of resources itemtem E is governor's letter 9. this is a request for DHS Division of agging anddultha behaviorvioral Health Services they're receiving two transfer positions a DHS division administrator from DdS and a program eligibility specialist from Countyopps this
will increase their total authorized positions by two from 1179 to1181 and their total regular salary and matching appropriation will increase by $27,337,000. you've heard the recommendation any
questions? Hearing no, saying none that have motion motion to have a 2nd 2 all in favor indicate by saying aye
Speaker 25
20:42
pose likewise seeing none motion carries the next item chairman.ext item is
Speaker 63
20:51
item F. this is governor's letter number 10 a request for DHSdivision of countunty opps transfers out three positions one social services supervisor expert to youth services one programme eligibility specialist to uhAA and one procurement coordinator to the secretary's office. This will cut their total position authorization from 2013 to2010 lower their appropriation for
regular salaries and match by $240,000.
thank you any questions have a motion motion second all in favor indicatedb second all in favor indicated of saying pose likewise hearing
Speaker 25
21:29
none motion carriesex item thank you Mr. Chairman. Idamg is governor's letter 11. This is a request from DHS Division
Speaker 63
21:36
of Developmental Disabilities transferring out one DHS division administrator position to DAA. This will increase their total
appropriated positions from 2490 to2489 and lower their regular salary and matching appropriation by $183,000. any questions saying no to have a
motion oh and the motion's made the
second all in favor indicate by saying aye and he opposed motion carries next item
Speaker 25
22:04
Im H is governor's letter number 1el. This is a request for DHS division of youth Services receiving the one socialcialer
Speaker 63
22:14
supervisor expert expert from Countyopps. This takes their total position appropriation from 121 to122 and increases their regular salary
Speaker 66
22:22
and match appropriation by $83,000 you've heard
the recommendation any questions seeing none have motion motion to have a second I have 2 all in favor in the cabbing a pose likewise
Speaker 25
22:45
not seeing none motion carries next item. thank you Mr Chairman Le item
Speaker 48
22:49
fordhS is item I. this is governor's letter 13 request from DHS secretary's office receiving one procurement coordinator from countuntyopps taking their total number of
Speaker 63
22:58
authorized positions from642 to643 and increasing their regular salary and match appropriation by 103,000.
you've heard the recommendation any questions? seeing none to have motion motion to have a second have a
second all indicated in favor say aye
Speaker 25
23:20
pose likewise motion carries thank you next item Mr Chairman next item is item J. This is governor's letter
Speaker 63
23:26
number 15 a request from DFfa for their shared services in budget management services appropriation the request calls for four positions to be transferred from budget management services to the shared services division. This will increase shared services total authorized positions from42 to46 and increase their regular salary and match
appropriation by614,000 dollars. The letter also requests that budget management services appropriation eliminate four additional positions and realign a number of existing classifications within the salary section with the transfer of the four positions to shared services in the elimination of the additional four positions budget management services will cut their total authorized positions from 190 to182. They've also requested to lower their regular salary and match appropriation by 948,000. you've heard the recommendation
any questions seeing none to have motion they have a motion to have a second second all in favor indicator of saying aye pose likewise
Speaker 25
24:30
seeing none motion carriesexx item'm thinking Mr Chairman, the next two items items K andl are related. This is the
Speaker 63
24:37
transfer of66 positions for the child nutrition program moving from the department of edd to the department of agriculture starting with item Ky this governor's letter 2 a request
from the department or for the department of education this is
Speaker 48
24:54
for elementary secondary education and the office for early childhood. so there's two amendments here and two bills being affected. any
questions would the department has come forward
thank you all for being here would you identify
yourself Good morning Courtney Salis ford chief of staff. g re
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
25:45
g rogers department senator Bryant you're recognized Thank you Mr Chair and just just for staff we're we're on governor's letter 20 correct? first page I was just looking through this yesterday and I was trying to just looking at section of the first page where we're
reducing positions335 to308. typically the following section is where the salaries follow low but the the number of positions to the number to the drop of the requested salaries isn't doesn't math for me because if I had335 positions at 138 I reduced that to308 and I have 13 million5. it's only300,000 dollars of change. Am I am I reading that wrong?
let me interrupt here if if you would would you explain what we're talking about in these letters so that so the whole committee will be aware that is this this is the one moving the breakfast from the department of ed to the department of agriculture, correct? it's moving nutritional programs from all nutritional so all the so if you would give some background and explanation so for the other committee members so
Speaker 77
27:03
when early childhood transferred over to us last session part of that came with us to from DHS was nutritional programs which included commodities different adult feeding programs, different programs that came in and it went over to with our child nutrition program that we already had and looking at how those are lined up. we began having discussions with the department of agricultural and it would fit better with them because all these grants come from the US department of agricultural by having all these programs with
our department of agriculture that opens up some different opportunities for Arkansas suppliers Arkansas things have been going on with Arkansas and it just fits better with the department of agricultural than it does with the department of Education so we went and had we've had many discussions with the department of agriculture we entered into an MOU with them to go ahead and start this process to see how it's going it's going well and so we've made this request now to just transfer the agri the nutritional programs that we currently have to the department of agricultural.
and the positions that you're seeing there are positions that are are currently assigned to or working in the different agricultural I mean nutrition programs and it's based off the grades and the number of positions that we have there so that's why it's not the it depends on what grades are moving over there so it might not be all the a 1 to 1 thing Id I'd have to go look at each grate that's going over there broadly is
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
28:27
it is it am I am I reading that wrong? you're you've got a couple of sections where you're I can see where you're moving staff but I can also
I don't I just looked at the next governor's letter and where where the staff is moving into the department of agg
Speaker 77
28:45
it goes up oh yeahcau that's just what we're amending sorry that there's other line items in there that aren't showing up in there that's why it's not adding up we're just changing the ones that are moving so when you see that there's like extra help line items and other line items in that appropriation that's why the the totals aren't adding up because we just are including in the letter what's being amended not all the lines in our operation appropriation there. so there's like operate there's
more there's extra help conference fees and travel, professional fees, capital outlay all those different things aren't going to be
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
29:18
amended that are still in the appropriation I understand that but I'm just looking at at on page two of 24 line item one regular salaries 13,840,000 reduced to 13,520,000 the math of about320,000. Usually that ties up to the number of employees and positions in the column above it and if we're going from335 to308 in my
in my simple marine head the math usuallysu those line up if you add a position you add 100,000 if you delete a position you add you delete 100,000. I'm just not seeing where those employees regular salaries match. I I don't know if I'm under because that's just the appropriation
Speaker 77
29:55
for the regular salaries and it would depend on the grades that were going on there I don't know that it would be an exact 1 to 1 match
Speaker 84
30:12
unless you're paying30 employees 10,000 each. Yeah, all the
Speaker 77
30:23
appropriations yeah I mean it's it's we've moved the appropriation assigned with those employees for the salaries they're even making or the vacant positions of which that are assigned there to them so it's if someone's already in that position then that appropriation is going with them as well and if it's a vacant position the whatever grade that
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
30:43
position is authorized to start at is going with them as well yeah I unders I understand it just doesn't30 positions should equal more than300,000 if if we're just lumping those together. So I'm just trying to make it math in my head.
Speaker 87
31:03
Mr Chairman with your permission you're recognized Mrhudson youir Jimhutson Secretary DFfa senator what you have there is the state appropriation for for state funding. I think these
are majority federally funded or a large portion federally funded. that's a different appropriation section. so that's why you're not seeing the number's foot. we're just strictly
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
31:24
reflecting in there the state piece that's making the move. OK. so if you were just a broadly look at governor's letter 21 which I moves those positions into Department ofagg. you go from607 to673 and then on regular salaries you're asking for 2.4 million
for those70 positions which, which to me matches so if we're just talking about state dollars it looks like you you'd pull at least that much 2.4 million out of Ed and move it over
Speaker 91
32:04
to agg. so what's what's going into ag is the whole thing and so you're reflecting both state and federal on thats state
Speaker 87
32:10
that is a that's a bigger number that's going to be there. but what we're pulling out in this particular appropriation
section is strictly just the state funding. the the numbers do foot. there's not all reflected there in that because the things that don't change we're not
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
32:30
putting in the in the governor's letter obviously. OK I guess I look at page7. it's kind of the same thing we're going from 177 employees down to 138 section 1, Section3ty into section 1 takes the salaries from 1.4 to969,00.'s500,000 for almost fi0 employees
Speaker 82
32:50
because that that once again that's we're talking about as as Secretaryt
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
32:53
it just seems like we're leaving more money in Ed and then finding new money foragg No because
Speaker 77
32:58
there's a federal corporations that are going with that as well that that's showing the state appropriations that were taken out of the state appropriations and the state funding that's going with that all the federal appropriation and all the federal for those fully funded federal positions is going to ag as well and so that's what you're looking at that section is just those that are reflected to the for the state appropriations
because there's some that are paid from states and some that are paid from federal. So what that section two there is is the state appropriations not the federal appropriations and most of the positions are federal
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
33:33
appropriations OK I'm gonna hit the I'm gonna hit the believe button and I might get offline so you can maybe unpack a little to do that just to
Speaker 87
33:41
and again I think everybody's completely line of view we want to make sure that we've got the money going where it needs to go so and I think, I think we looked at this enough we feel pretty comfortable about it but we will give you an explanation
one on one if you'd like you senator Bryant and apologize for interrupting a while ago but I wanted the explanation because of the same reason of the question you're asking let me ask of the chair if I may misrepresentative Kavanaugh'll get to you in just a second
Is everything being transferred all the money every dime every penny, every precision that's involved in this program is what's going over to the department of agriculture the Department of Education will not retain any funding, any position, any knowhow, anything to say well they may have something to say but it's all going over to the department of agriculture and I
think that's what Senator Bryant was after and that's what I'm after that's what most of the committee wants to know we won't know what's going on down there and what's coming out of the governor's office and what's coming out of your office and what's coming out of Secretary Ward's office we want to be sure that every bit of this is being transferred into the department that's your call but we want to be sure that all of the money funding and
positions again I repeat myself but that's what we want to be sure of can you assure this committee that all program assets involved in the nutritional program of the state for the children of this state for the well being of these children is going to the department of agriculture it will be a minister so far as you're concerned in the same manner but it's being transferred to the department of agriculture which has control over
commodities and other nutritional programs is that correct? Yes
Speaker 76
36:02
sir umpresentative Woootton on that page two right there it says please delete
Speaker 77
36:05
section 10 appropriation for child nutrition programmeers entirely and renumber that is where most of the appropriation for those positions is and that appropriation is transferred to the department to the department of agriculture said the
Speaker 99
36:16
word most what I'm after is the word all. Yes, the rest of the appropriation is in the state appropriations
Speaker 77
36:23
so that's what I'm saying that's why it doesn't add up because if you look at on page two also
where it goes with the regular salaries that is just the state appropriations and we are transferring the state appropriations and funding related with those positions that are paid from from state funds to Department of agriculture. the rest of the positions on there are covered in that section 10 that we're taking completely out of our section and amend it to the department of agriculture that cover all the federal positions all the federal funding that go with ton s programs and other nutritional programs that are transferring to it that's why it says that whole section 10 is coming out of our section and
they have an amendment put that whole section 10 in their appropriation actct that's where all the the main most of the positions sorry I'm saying most again that's where the federally funded positions are paid from in that appropriation so the entire programs are transferred to the department of agriculture. what you're seeing there is the the split of the appropriation between whether it was a a funded position or a state
funded position well I hope you can understand my position when when I see everybody go to scrambling down there that tells me you know we
Speaker 79
37:32
we we need to be on the same page that that's just because I need I guess better glasses because I was missing that appropriation t0 that
Speaker 99
37:39
I was looking for to explain it because I was I was messed up why it wasn't in there but I was just overlooking it
that's my faults represents Kevin all you're recognized it is hit the mic and it didn't work there you go thank you Mr I'm going to switch and we're go
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
38:04
I'm gonna go to EFAducational Freedomccount Acxts we've got where we've got it at309 million. Is that at the current level that we've been funding it does that match what we've been funding Yes ma'am so it's all the money that we've put in the EFA accounts this actually matches that funding. ok and do we have a projection of what we might have to have moving forward because there has been such an increase in it we've been taking out a
Speaker 79
38:34
restricted reserves do we have any so the309 does match what we have a
Speaker 77
38:42
number of participants for this year that's going in it the application process is open right now but the309 does cover what the two restricted reserve transfers were done this
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
38:53
seeing as the people applying so what I'm trying to say is if we're at309 or we're expecting a bigger increase? are we going to have to come back and take more
money out or restricted reserve or something else as we're trying to
Speaker 79
39:08
budget forward I think that that's why in the governor's balanced budgets we did she did set
Speaker 77
39:13
aside that70 million just in case that does happen since we are going through the open portal process right now and what's is there an
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
39:20
increase in the application so far have you seen that? Well I hadn't seen an increase because we're
Speaker 77
39:25
still going through seeing who's approved and seeing is it is popular. I don't know that we are going to have an increase but we are at about the same right now. OK all
right thank you that's a very good question and if the chair may I want to comment on that and I want you to take it back to the ad and to Jacob down there whatever his name is we cannot continue in my opinion having been director of the department of finance and administration and having been involved in the legislature we cannot continue to fund it at the level we're funding it
400 close to400 million dollars and I'll carry that forward today in the house rulesittee but I'm telling you we're headed for financial disaster if we don't get a handle on these applications and the number of folks involved in it and I'm thinking about the440,000 other kids in this state and I've heard everybody that and comments from others relative to the program
but we we we can't fund it if it goes like it went in Arizona to a billion dollars this year. Mississippi just voted it down several other states have gone back and changed so you need to take that message back down there and the governor's office needs to be aware of that too sorry it's got to use my
coaching voice. you were you're free to respond
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
41:12
thank you Mr Chair. I think it's important to remember something that we've overlooked that is actually in the Learns Act is that when they go universal which this has been the first year we'll be headed into the second year it says that the state board ofucation will come up with rules to efficiently and effectively administer the funds and so it's not that we just have to continue on if 100,000 kids apply or whatever at some point
we can ensure that the state board of education comes up with rules to determine how we're going to distribute funds based on the number of people that apply and based on how much money we are willing to put into that program and that's something that is overlooked it's not talked about and so it I think it's an important conversation to have and if we you know continue to watch the rules that are going through on the EFA program to look at how and what expenditures are allowed for home school and private school
students I think it's important to keep an eye on that and not just live in the comment section on Facebook and read headlines because there's a lot of other things going on that are in the details and if we're paying attention to those which we should be doing as members of this legis la ture to ensure that we're we're paying attention to the way we're administering funds and that the state board of edd is doing their job in coming up with those rules and that we're doing our job in
passing rules to ensure the long term sustainability of the program and what parents and families are allowed to spend those funds on so there's a lot going on and sometimes I think we you know just look at maybe the phone calls or like I said the comment section on on Facebook and we need to we are responsible as members of the legislature to pay attention to the facts and the details about what is actually happening versus the noise and so I just encourage all of us to look at the facts of what is
going on right now in terms of applications in terms of rules and how we are administering the program and that would be that would be my advice and word encouragement to
those in this room. Thank you Mr Chair. thank you madam co-chair. let me add to it We currently fund or this year's 8162 in the pub public found in the
foundation 818162 next year it goes to 8037 it's going down but here's the thing we're still4,000 dollars short of what is being provided by surrounding states and that's involves the loss of funding and money when we spend400 million dollars on another program and I appreciate the fact that they're coming up with rules and regulations but your department
estimated37,000 people or students would be involved this year44,000 in you're still working on the applications where is it going to end it's the question I have and how much money are we going to spend and what about the4,000 dollars shortfall in adequacy funding and you can call it whatever you want to call it but that's still involves440,000 other children and teachers in the state thank you any further business
Mr Robinson ok any further questions any other comments? OK all oh
ok.presents rulesch Woolridge you're recognized There we go thank you Mr chair. I just
Representative Jeremy Wooldridge
Unverified
45:12
had a question kind of what the chairs were talking
about. So foundation funding obviously we're inadequacy study that I'm assuming is gonna increase. I don't know that it's decreased since I've been here. Does the309 million for EFA's account
Speaker 72
45:31
for an adequacy increase? so the amount of the EFA scholarship is 90% of what foundation funding is so if you all increase the foundation funding amount then the EFA scholarship amount automatically increases. It is decreasing to what Representative Woootten
said to 830 because300 dollars paid by the state on behalf of school districts for
Speaker 119
45:53
insurance is coming out of that so the EFA scholarship amount will again decrease in proportionate to
Representative Jeremy Wooldridge
Unverified
46:00
that. so appreciate that. So if funding increases though is there a budgeted amount for the EFAs to increase but I'm assuming you can't budget it because we don't know what that potential increase will be right that's completely dependent on
Speaker 72
46:13
what you all determine is the adequacy foundation funding amount. OK. do you know what the breakdown
Representative Jeremy Wooldridge
Unverified
46:21
is like I I don't expect dollar for dollar but if it increased by $100 do we know what that it would
Speaker 72
46:28
increase the EFA budget? I mean yeah 90 cent s on on each dollar so potentially could be a large amount of money it could to to representative I'm sorry senator Davis's point we prioritize the applications based on the amount of funding available. so whatever is appropriated and budgeted that's how many we approve. um, obviously yes in this case the
governor put70 million set aside in case we need to because the the difficulty with budgeting sometimes is we know how many private schools are out there we know how many private seats are out there but we don't know how many homeschool students are out there other than filing a notice of intent, we have no way of tracking students who are homeschooled or knowing how many of them are going to apply for the EFA account. that is where we've seen the increase in numbers this year. it to what Mr.Rogers said it kind of levels out because we had about 2500 students graduate. so then when
you have about that same number come in with homeschool students it balances out but it is difficult to budget going forward without knowing how many students are actually out there.
Representative Jeremy Wooldridge
Unverified
47:33
So will you have room in your appropriation to make that work or will you have to come back to this body after the foundation funding
Speaker 77
47:44
set we would have to come back I mean right now the309 for EFA's does cover the44,000 but with the EFA's going up being more next year that that depends on
how many resign up for that but anything over that
we would have to come back here for. thank you thank you Mr chairir. just want to comment on that we have790 million dollars in the trust fund and we were we were spending400 million not not of the790 but I'm just using this as an example of where we are financially we're spending400 million out of reserve restricted funds or other funds in general revenue and that's
half of what we have already in the adequacy funding did you follow my train of thought we're spending half on44,000 of what we've got to support 4440 1000 children that that are not involved in it
Speaker 82
48:48
is that not correct so yeah so there is400,000 dollars309 million
Speaker 77
48:53
is ready is for EFAs for adequacy fund wage
spend almost600 million dollars a year out of adequacy into public school fund which is a3 billion dollars budget so yes we do want to make sure that the adequacy fund is building because we're going to turn right around and take almost600 million out of it again as Miss Hollis Ford was talking about one of the reasons one foundation funding is going down it's because we the state is now going to be paying the employer portion of all the insurance for everyone who elects to participate in the teacher's entrance program which right now is going to be close to300
million dollars. so when you're saying that we're not go that adequacy is below that you're not included in that300 million dollars we're also going to be paying in teachers insurance for everyone that participates in it. Foundation funding also doesn't include the maternity leave or any of the other categoricals that are in there that are going to schools that do support addicts that do support students every day on that it's not just foundation funding foundation funding is just the is just the bottom level of it
I realize that foundation is just one part
of the total appropriation but the point being that we've got to take care of what we've started with440,000. this is just my personal observation learnarns is in direct conflict with the federal adequacy with the supreme court state supreme court ruling on adequacy lunge flies in the face of that and then constitution well that's just my personal opinion. and and that's we'll leave that to the courts to decide but Lance flies in the face of that
and and and again we're talking about44,000 versus440,000 young people. so with that and didn't intend to get into this discussion but we did I think it's overall I think it's a discussion that needs to be made and colleagues we need to be considered of those people that are involved in public education today. any further business yes well I do appreciate the riding
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
51:04
debate on this it is well outside of the scope of the committee so with
that I would like to make a motion to approve item K. OK. all in favor say
pose likewise thank you this motion
Speaker 26
51:20
carries next time you Chairman moving on to item l this is the follow up to item K.
Speaker 63
51:25
This is governor's letter 21 for the department of agriculture. this is the companion letter and amendment receiving the66 positions from
the department of Education along with regular salaries match the request will increase the total positions authorized from607 to673. and you could see the classifications being added on pages one
and two of the governor's letter. any questions involving the transfer of the nutritional programs from the department of Education and this is the acceptings of it by the department of agriculture any any questions?
saying that to have a motions have a have a second in a motion a motion in a second all in favor indicated was saying aye pose likewise thank you next item
Speaker 48
52:16
Mr Chairman moving on to item M, this is governor's letter number 23 a request for the
Speaker 63
52:21
department of Public Safety shared Services division they're requesting to realign a user support analyst grade ISTO4 to an IC security analyst at ISTO6. This does not change the total number of positions authorized and they are not requesting any change to the appropriation within the
within the bill. any questions saying none do I have a
motion? I have a motion to have a second all in favor say aye pose likewise
Speaker 25
52:51
seeing none motion carries next is Mr Chairman last item is item N. This is a memberber amendment from Senator Caldwell changes the
Speaker 63
53:00
title from assistant to the president to assistant to the chancellor. this is that
East Arkansas Community College there is no change in positions and there is no
change in appropriation it's just a title change. you've heard the recommendation any questions? seeing none is there to have a motion have a motion and a second all in favor indicated saying aye opposed likewise seeing none motion carries any further business being no further business we're
Unknown speaker
53:37
adjourned and thank you for your forbearance. this is the one
Agenda
A. Call to Order
Governor’s Letters:
B. GL#4- SB59 Department of Education- Educational Television Division Amendment KMW086
C. GL#8- HB1036 Department of Health Amendment CJW031
D. GL#16- SB4 Department of Health- Licensing and Regulation Boards Amendment CJW032
E. GL#9- SB21 Department of Human Services- Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services Amendment LCW089
F. GL#10- HB1077 Department of Human Services- Division of County Operations Amendment LCW090
G. GL#11- SB24 Department of Human Services- Division of Developmental Disabilities Services Amendment LCW091
H. GL#12- SB23 Department of Human Services- Division of Youth Services Amendment LCW092
I. GL#13- HB1023 Department of Human Services- Secretary’s Office Amendment LCW097
J. GL#15- HB1068 Department of Finance and Administration Amendment JAP070
K. GL#20- HB1055 & HB1005 Department of Education Amendment KMW081, KMW082
L. GL#21- SB36 Department of Agriculture Amendment BSS056
M. GL#23- HB1009 Department of Public Safety Amendment DJC038
Member Amendments:
N. HB1018- University of Arkansas East Arkansas Community College HAR139 Senator Caldwell
Items held from previous meeting:
O. SB29 Lieutenant Governor- Letter dated February 20, 2026, from Lt. Governor Leslie Rutledge Amendment JAR134
P. Other business
Q. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Representative Jim Wooten Chair
Unverified
Speaker 9
Speaker 10
Speaker 11
Speaker 19
Speaker 26
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
Speaker 33
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
Speaker 48
Speaker 63
Speaker 25
Speaker 66
Speaker 77
Speaker 84
Speaker 87
Speaker 91
Speaker 82
Speaker 76
Speaker 99
Speaker 79
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
Representative Jeremy Wooldridge
Unverified
Speaker 72
Speaker 119