Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee - Senate

Order and I appreciate everybody being here good morning everybody had a great break and Senator Solomon I'm just going to concur and a house amendments for Senate bill two eighty eight of the top of the agenda that will go straight to Senator Hammer. Thank you. About two members. Senator you're recognized we are concurring on an amendment to Senate bill two eighty eight is that correct that's correct. Senator Missy Irvin district twenty four and so this was an amendment to that we put on in the house which is found on page four just to allow for the flexibility and to. All of the request that was made by the members of the House Committee. Members anyone have any questions. If anyone here to speak for or against the bill. Saying no one senator you're welcome to close for your bill thank you closed and just motion to concur in the house amendment second all in favor say aye aye opposed saying menu bills pass argumentative thank you thank you senator good job. My apologies there were two amendments the first one what the other and then that was just to add a representive brown as a co sponsor of the bill so I'm just going to. Just give me your motion to adopt the second amendment second her the second amendment second those of favour say aye and opposed ayes have it thank you so much okay both amendments now are can courage with my bill thank you okay we're gonna go to senator Hammer. Senator Hammer you okay. Senator Hammer you're recognized thank you measure just the second time today have to guess here that are experts in this area that may be able to answer questions if they come up come to the table thank you we actually Davis and serving as police. Senate bill two ninety nine. And you have an amendments you would explain your amendment yes ma'am it just takes a word shell and converted to may to be permissive. All right motion to adopt the amendment second all those in favor say aye. And oppose ayes have it amendment is adopted you can present Senate bill two ninety nine as amended thank you measure could not destroy their dues or so for a second time to be okay yes please. Good morning my name's Ashley Davis and I'm the executive director of the Arkansas center for nursing. Good morning thank you for having us some Serapeum is from the Arkansas center for nursing and the education representative. Thank you the manager what Senate bill two ninety to nine does is pretty self explanatory the title is to establish our to learn program one of the things we realized is that uh there. There's a missing opportunity for people that are going into the nursing field that while they may be working at a career where their credit hours could be attributed towards the credit hours that required by their program upstream such as LPN working in a clinical setting where some of those hours could be converted over to clinical hours it would be required and there are in program what this bill does is allow a pathway forward so that those clinical hours as long as they comply with the requirements of the degree program that they're in could be counted toward those hours and the two big challenges we face in the nursing field at least two one is the competition for clinical hours as far as locations places and then the other thing of course is dealing with retaining of nursing instructors what this bill that is intended to do is to help create where we can capture some of those clinical hours that are being done in one field to be applied into the other so as to just make that one thing it allows them to earn some money whether get those clinical hours but to it also shortens the clinical time for those hours by by capturing them the manager that's the hundred thousand foot view of the bill we did put me in there so that institutions can have that choice which is kind of a free market thing if you're institution that's providing program and you're not going to allow that and I'm a nursing student I think I'll probably go find a nursing program that will allow that and we'll just make it a free market enterprise approach to dealing with educating our nurses and both of the ladies here to my left and at the end of the chair would like okay. Please go right ahead. Thank you what I will say about earn to learn is Consider you have a large nursing program and you're in a community within a hundred mile radius where you have to compete with five to six other nursing programs for clinical spots well that means everybody doesn't go to clinical is even if you alternate nights weekends semesters so either students don't progress or you don't except as many applicants as you need so what we did is we took a look at some other states in what they're doing how can we borrow and from other states that have already got this figured out and what they've done is they've set up a partnership programs where students can say if they were joining a hospital as a patient care technician or some similar role they could earn a certain number of their work hours and apply those towards their foundational that first year experience as a nursing student so we have capped that number that they could apply to clinical hours in accordance with the state board of nursing regulations but that gives an additional pathway for students to earn clinical credit while they're doing the same types of skills that they would do their foundational nursing experiences plus it helps our stakeholders in the community who don't just need nurses they also need patient care technicians and assistants at the bedside. I have. I think this is just another way for us to but be creative in our clinical experiences that our students are getting but also and develop those relationships with all health care and facilities be a long term care and community based settings are hospitals and toward the students are are developing relationships and building skills and the settings which make them more likely to go to work in the settings and so at a center said other states are doing it or doing it well and and we have added in here that it all would all have to follow the standards set board set forth by the state board as well as their accreditation standards. Okay. Thank you are there any questions from members of the committee. All right CNN is there anyone here to speak for against this bill. C. nine you can close for your bill thank you madam chair this is just a good common sense bills I think it's when those things wonder why we haven't done it before now it'll be an opportunity for us to be able to let those that are in the nursing field or any medical field we're clinical hours are required to build puts money in their pocket while they move forward with their degree program and be able to capture those clinical hours which will help reduce the stress load that is out there in a competitive market for clinical hours And so with that manager members committee I appreciate a favorable vote all right thank you what is the pleasure of the Committee. Motion to pass as amended second. All those in favor say aye opposed Is have it congratulations you've passed Senate bill two ninety nine thank you manager. Okay next bill you have the Senate bill three hundred title pretty well says it all is to create a data repository to collect report track and trend data regarding nursing education nursing workforce in Arkansas one of the things that we discovered in looking at how to help address the nursing shortage in the state is a one stop does it all location to where we can have on going information that we could utilize as verify their filing as verified data to be able to make decisions moving forward so that we don't encounter hopefully will never encounter a time like this in our history again but if we do it would be nice to be able to go one spot and be able to have a is it mentions of a repository where we can go and say okay what we want to know about the number of nurses that are retired what we learn about the number of nurses that are currently going through and ma'am sure what I'd really like to just hit the pause button right here my part and let the two ways kind of expanded briefly a little bit to show how valuable this would be if that's a permit to the chair. So as the executive director of the Arkansas center for nursing we are the state's nursing workforce center so what we are are funded primarily through a grant and given by the state board of nursing they send us the data that they collect during nurse for licensure and as well as the data that they collect on our nursing programs we send out surveys and then we compile all that data and we produce a report every two years on the nursing workforce in Arkansas and the challenges that we've had since twenty twenty has just highlighted the holes in the gaps in that data and this is an opportunity to to be up our and data collection and to be able to and add some more contributors to that repository to where we're able to and better trying to late the the data and for example and we collected data on our nurses that are licensed in the state and we get that data every two years what that tells us is how many active licenses we have it does not tell us how many nurses are going to work as a nurse and so if you look at our numbers it looks like we have a surplus of nurses but I don't know any and nurse employer in the state that would agree with what that data says so we know that it's it's not reliable this is something that we would like to do to be able to say even on a quarterly basis how many nurses do we have able to go to work in our work force not just active license and then we see that the difference an active license and nurses that are actually willing to go to work we'd like to start doing some recalls analysis and looking at why our nurses who are licensed or not willing to work as nurses and so that's the goal of this and it came from realizing that we didn't have and as much data or as accurate data as we would like and we would just like to build that so that we can always and keep better track on. The nursing workforce thank you. The we've you for questions Senator Solomon you're recognized for a question is there a cost to this. Financial impact so there or there would be a cost and obviously we would work with whatever we have and we have asked for and we are going to ask for some grant funds for this but right now the center for nursing hi this is you're going to resort to cost you being centers is association yes why do you need legislation there's no cost to a party in the legislation to ask people if they're working. We would like to be able to pull in more sources and so if we can build this and make it at a statewide and data repository we feel like we would have more and participation in that and a better chance at getting I have funds later on today to build it out and to make it and a larger repository then what the bill today if there or why do you need legislation to call people and ask them if they're working. Well right now we don't know who's not working and so we need to be able to to track that and I don't know that I have a a great answer for for your question I'm sorry but I'm sure may I respond yes Senator Solomon on the back page of the bill one thing I had to mention is that Page one line twenty seven the Arkansas state board of nursing shall create a data repository on the second part is the board may apply for one time funds under the American rescue plan the intent is that we would go and ask for money from the American rescue plan in order to be able to get the set up and get it maintains and part of what I hope would be achieved through the legislation is number one we need to get information out of the entities that may not otherwise be willing or wanting to share that and I hope with this legislation would do it conveyed to them a strong message that you want to come back and ask uses hospitals to give you millions of dollars to pay for travelling nurses then what are you doing in order to help solve the problem by giving the information one of the things I'd like to cheat out of this is that we would have that platform established and we would be able to get that information whether voluntarily or at least have the strong arm of a piece of legislation so they come back and ask for more money we can say you're not participating and and we would eliminate them from the the question such a little bit of a chess move if you would. If a question if you don't receive money from the arpa Fund then who would pay for it. The way it's written it would be the board of nursing that was question was brought up and I'm just going to a big knowledge that prior to the meeting it is the it is my intent that they are a committee would be what would fund this the work shall is in there there would be the debate as to whether or not what if we don't get the record if we don't get the argument is that going to settle the state board of nursing with the responsibility to do it if you took a by the letter of the law you would probably say yes just being fully transparent so I hope that this would also leverage us to be able to be considered for that money from the Arkansas funds in order to be able to get it set up just being fully transparent. No and I appreciate that I'm just. Just curious about what. I'm just curious as the president's that that might set for other legislation that would direct our but money we've not had that yet so I'm not sure how. That precedent it would set a precedent because I don't think we have any other legislation that. That specifically requests money through legislation from arpa with the would say this also just have an open conversation here we're running out of time in the legislature so listen we dropped the bill the chances that would be pretty minimized the second thing is that our permittee's gonna be spent by a certain date and this would this would help accelerate that to get that spent under that certain day right okay. And right are there any yes senator Boyd just kind of going back to what question for you is going back to what Senator Solomon was asking so this is a mandate on the nursing board do you represent the nursing board okay so that the that's what we need legislation is we're telling the nursing board with the nursing board has to do. Neither one of these ways represent the nursing board okay. With the message that but that's the point is that's what we need legislation is to tell the nursing board with the nursing board has to do well and part of it is also to part of it is also. We we make or make a lot of decisions about the nursing field and I think this expands beyond the nursing field you're talking yeah well be and are in a broad range of people we make decisions but as far as going to a one source that we can make good decisions on the basis of. What I've learned through last year trying to get to this point is that's not as easy as it sounds and this will create that data collection point to where we can pull it all in from whether it's the institutions that are teaching the classes or the employers that are pointing nurses or people are out there and we just we just don't have it right now and I think that's what ride I think that's what makes this rise to the level of necessity in order to make it happen for to be making decisions and future we will make competent decisions based on a collection source of data that is that is trusted in whole wish to consider peace mailed. So. Off maybe make this a question so back in two thousand fifteen we were on the healthcare reform task force and this is one of the issues we talked about is from Mississippi had some economic development data or ways that they could. Advancers much quicker than the state of Arkansas because our boards were not talking together but. Well it just to have a Frank discussion I really do appreciate the dialogue yes but that was not just the specific specific to nursing the what Mississippi houses over all for work force so which I think is appropriate not just specific for nursing does this would be just specific for nursing and so in the context of what you're talking about with Mississippi has. You know they're able to basically online and that system by the way is paid for with federal dollars which we would be able to utilize but we've never been able to get traction to get that system actually into Arkansas yet which we continue to need to do Because if if it's paid for by federal dollars it should be available to us as well so. To me that's a better route to go to be honest but that would then it would be a comprehensive on all workforce issues not just nursing because my issue is we need physical therapist we need respiratory therapists we need to win care sentinels we need so many other people in the professional space of health care and I do appreciate this approach I think it's a good it's a great idea I'm a little nervous just about the precedent setting with the R. from any that's that's my only hesitation and then I guess I would need to hear with the board of nursing Department of Health is there anyone here that can speak to where these funds would come from if we don't get an arca Fund where where decide where with that ball into their appropriation. Is there someone that can answer that question. Or if there's other. Federal grants available besides or but that could be utilized. Bills. Matt Gilmore partner health I can't speak to other federal grants Just full transparency senator Hammer I spoke a little go sure I think that is a concern that it would require the board of nursing to Fund this bill I think is intended for the American rescue plan dollars to be used so as far as the nursing board budget they do have some funds I don't think that would be enough to do this. Okay and that five hundred thousand dollars that's listed here and estimates. A and that just as may not exceed five hundred thousand I can just kind of an estimate I can't speak to their estimate I think when I talked to the nursing board about it briefly I think we were thinking around a hundred thousand or so somewhere in there like a little more than a hundred two hundred okay. But they they would have that in there appropriation. I mean I think trying to hold the reason I'm asking is because I've been told we're trying to hold agency budgets flat. So I'm concerned whatever. I think the best way to set a hundred thousand as low better than five hundred right okay. Are there any other questions from members of the committee Senator void. And I don't want to be to the horse I have no Senator English and and I realize we're talking about your bill not her bill but I think it's relevant she had Senate bill three seventy six to amend the law concerning the duties of data and transparency bill if you by any chance asked her if somehow this would fit in that to that have not. Okay any other questions from members of the committee. All right C. nine what's the you're recognized to close thank you would you give me just like thirty seconds to serve because I might want to come back and offer something if you just hang on okay sure. And share in the beard of Want to get this bill through number one but number two just recognizing the dialogue that we're having here today I to what I'd be willing to do and I don't I don't think we take verbal amendments in here but I'd be willing to send over for Amendment real quick and we'll take shall online twenty seven convert that to a may and then that opens up the pathway four to or to move forward but you know if the rescue plan to come through everything's been address today we'll just pull it down perfect and wanted to go ahead and just work to get that amendment if you can't get it you know by the time we leave we'll have the first thing on the agenda for Wednesday the committee chair and and it and your testimony will account for that you don't have to come back if you don't fancy okay we'll do that and that and I'll call right now to see if they can get that sent over real quick okay thank you thank you did you have another one senator Hammer that you're running today I'm actually we worked out with this an entity will call it on three oh two for a moment and we'll do a member's own so what comes in here Wednesday okay to be engrossed it's agreed upon Amendment that'll remove any okay opposition I think that's real too all right perfect thank you thank you so much welcome okay Senate bill three twenty we are going to pass over foreign amendments that hopefully they will be getting for me on that bill and the let's see Senate bill three forty five that is Senator Hill but I can run that bill for Senator Hill Senate bill three forty five. What are we waiting on an amendment for this bill more. We did okay. Senator you're recognized to present Senate bill three forty five you would introduce yourself and you may begin okay Senator Missy Irvin district twenty four Senate bill three forty five I'm running this for Senator Ricky Hill and. I'm gonna let them speak to it we did pull this back and had is amended. Correct David cook director public policy for the Alzheimer's association we agreed we we we pull this down it had amended at the request of the agency it was some language in there that could potentially cause a conflict for the agency in terms of their engagement with the Alzheimer's Advisory Council so based on the recommendation we amended that line out of the bill and bring it back today. And are you we talked earlier about holding the budget flat so it says an increase in the budget. Mark what DHS no Sir we believe we can absorb this with existing funding. And I would say they also is allowed it to where they're not going to hire any new person but they're going to identify these within their department and assign those to existing employees Richard. The thing else. Members anyone have any questions. Saying no questions anyone to speak for or against the bill. Saying no one senator welcome to close for your bill I am closed and appreciate a good vote I'll make a motion to pass the second column favor say aye aye opposed. Thank you senator your bill is passed. Yes. Okay anyone here referred senate bill three ninety two. I think Senator Davis sent me a text message that and we are gonna move per I think Senator Dotson senate bill four twenty four he filed a new bill that replaces for twenty four says Senate bill for twenty four we're just gonna move to deferred agenda and let's help probably withdrawal that from consideration let's see senate bill four sixty three you have four fifty two first okay Senator boy is going to run Senate bill four fifty to four Senator Gilmore. Thank you madam chair state senator Justin Boyd district twenty seven so this is actually something Senator Gilmore and I had talked about in the last legislative session and we never quite got around to doing it all this does is it modifies what used to be called the preamble of legislation from the seventies so it doesn't actually change law but it does have a reflection on state policy so basically it strikes can continuing population growth either causes or aggravates many social economic and environmental problems both in this state and in the nation contraceptive procedures supplies and information as to and procedures for voluntary sterilization are not sufficiently available as a practical matter to many persons in this state. It doesn't change our laws it doesn't do anything it just gets rid of that is a statement as if our current legislature wants to say those things. With that said I'd be happy to try to answer any questions okay are there any questions from members of the committee. Seeing none is there anyone here to speak for or against this bill. Seeing none. Your clothes for your bill there's a motion to pass second all those in favor say aye. And opposed ayes have it congratulations to be passed Senator Gilmore's bill Senate bill four sixty three. Thank you madam chair the. Senate bill state senator Justin Boyd district twenty seven this bill basically directs the medical board that if a physician fails to comply with the requirements of this subchapter on abortion inducing drugs the board shall revoke this is a physician's medical license. Okay are there any questions from members of the committee. See no questions anyone here to speak for or against the bill. C. nine you're recognized close I'm close to make a motion to pass the motion and seconds all those in favor say aye. And opposed ayes have it congratulations you've passed Senator Gilmore second bill. Okay as senator Dotson is not here for for sixty five. And I think it's also or waiting for a fiscal impact on for sixty five and then the last one is for sixty seven. So I can do for sixty seven real quick did as anyone here running any other bills for anyone. Anyone okay I'll turn the chair over one more time four six seven. Senator if you introduce yourself. You may begin thank you senator Missy Irvin district twenty four. Lauren Ballard chief legal counsel for the department at energy and environment. Thank you members and Senate bill four sixty seven is really a reduction of from the Arkansas pollution control and ecology Commission of fifteen members down to seven members that's the the legislation and changes that make up of that commission and I'll let miss Ballard talk about the reason why the agency I decided to to bring this policy Fort. Thank you so and this is in any bill and we were hoping to reduce the footprint of state government consistent with with them the governor's mission and we are currently the pollution control ecology Commission has fifteen members of the quite a large commission so the proposal at contained SP four sixty seven takes that from fifteen down to seven and the way that it does that is currently there eight sort of at large members that are appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate and there are seven members who are representative of different agencies so in the proposed bill we've taken the at large number down to four there's one from each congressional district where previously there would have been too for each can rational district and the agency members I would are we just reading for of those to put it down to three so we go down from eight and seven to four and three takes it down to seven total and at the way the mechanics are set up on that is the agency members will be removed as soon as the bill is effective and to the individuals the at large members will roll off as those come up for exploration or they leave voluntarily and that's the gist of the bill but certainly happy to answer any questions I can't members any questions. Thing nine anyone here to speak for against the bill. Saying nine senator you're welcome to close for your bill thank you I close for the bill appreciate I think it's a common sense approach to really trying to make our commissions a little bit more nimble and to where they can really get more time sometimes when they're too large then people don't show up it's hard to fill the spot so thank you become more effective I'm closed thank you senator I got a motion the second. All in favor say aye. Proposed thing And senator You pastor bill thank you. Okay it looks like we have a doctor of the day here if you want to come to the end of the table or just to announce to we have with us today. Yes. She's from jobs for a. Great welcome glad to have you here with. Well welcome glad to have you here with us we don't have a lot of controversy today so the good data you got to come today so look forward to having you with us in the Senate thank you for what you do for state what you do I think it's also physician's week isn't national physician's weight thank. Right. Anyway thank you for being with us we're happy to have you is there any other business to come before this committee R. AZ and then we're adjourned.