ALC-Administrative Rules
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- October 2, 2026
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
1:50
administrative rules subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council will come to order I'd like to
remind those that wish to comment on a rule to go ahead and sign in be sure to specify the rule on which you wish to comment and we'll be taking up those sign up sheets momentarily first item of business item B which are the agccency's rules for this month B one is the department of
agriculture state plant board the last that they come to the table write them be I'll call
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
2:29
each agency to the table they'll present their rule and then we'll take questions Gentlemen, if you would introduce yourselves and then you can present the rule thank you corey seats Arkansas department of agriculture
Speaker 10
2:53
Matthew ford chief legal counsel department
Speaker 7
3:01
of agriculture. ikeage department of agriculture you're recognized to present the rule thank you sir. Act365 of1987 also known as the Arkansas catfish Processor Fair Practice Act. required Arkansas's catfish processors who an annually purchased over $100,000 of catfish from instate producers to register with the department of agriculture set forth requirements for the payments made by these processors to the producers and put in place enforcement
processes for violations the act was repealed last year Act577 of2025 as a result the department initiated rulemaking to repeal the rules that were based on that now repealed act any questions seeing no questions without objection this
rule is reviewed and approved. thank you sir thank you
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
3:55
members moving to item B2 Department of Human Services division of county operations you're recognized to introduce yourself and present the
Speaker 20
4:15
rule good morning I'm Mary Franklin the director of the division of county operations for the department of humanman Services this morning I'm bringing before you updates to our medicaid
policy manual and this update is to clarify child support enforcement requirements as it relates to pregnant women women who are pregnant we will still refer them to child support enforcement if for child support enforcement services if that is appropriate when they are pregnant but they will not be sanctioned if they refuse or fail to comply with child support enforcement any sanction would not be applied until after the end of their 60
dayy postpartum period if they were already sanctioned when we when they become pregnant the sanction is lifted through the pregnancy and postpartum period and in addition to that change in our section where we cover the reasons for good cause for not cooperating with child support we have removed the descriptor forcible before raper incest. so that word is being removed from the policydditional change that that we are bringing
is related to the Rkidsb eligibility and in that program we are removing the 90 day waiting period when group health insurance has been removed and there is also corresponding update to theI state plan to reflect the removal of that 90 dayy waiting period. there were no public comments on this rule. there is a fiscal impact for the current fiscal year
estimated at73,127 and for next fiscal year estimated at 12,57 happy to take any questions
Chair
Unverified
6:08
any questions Senator Irvin you're recognized for a question Thank you
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
6:19
Mr chairir. I I just wanted to point out I have a question but first I wanted to point out theific change and just tell you thank you I
think language is so important and I just don't want us as a legislature to miss the fact that this word of forcible has been removed and I I just that is so significant that it was addressed because it just reflects our sensitivity towards that issue for a woman who has been a victim of rape or incest to remove the word forcible is significant so I just want to
say thank you and just bring that to our attention as a legislature and just give you credit in your department credit for recognizing that and bringing that to us to remove that word not enough is said sometimes about these actions that are very small but that are extraordinarily significant and I just want to make sure that we recognize that at the moment that we can so thank you for that and just for my colleagues you know, I think it just wanted
to call that to your attention on the I I love the change that we have made here with continuity of coverage if you will please remind me just quickly what is that eligibility to for children to be able to qualify for thisI program. our kids be it is for
Speaker 20
7:54
children who have income above the our kids A limit oh and I didn't bring those with
me which I believe is 142% of the federal poverty poverty level up
Speaker 25
8:11
to about 214%. I can get you those exact percentages but that's in the ballpark but it's
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
8:17
past 200 I think yeah I mean that so it's significant so I I think that's also good information as you maybefield calls from constituents that have questions it's really perhaps we should probably get some sort of a quick data sheet when we get phone calls from our constituents
about eligibility for these different programs that we could just give them an answer and a clear direction to go to their county offices obviously to apply but that eligibility is you know this for kids a for theI program this is what the eligibility is for kids A and for our kids B because your eligibility for medicaid programs are all varied and very different and then I think also add on there pregnant women. if your pregnancy and
and we need to make sure that's super clear and so that wefield phone calls can give good helpful information to our constituents that they can apply for these programs so if you don't mind that would be really great. yes ma'am we actually have a we
Speaker 20
9:20
we publish a quick reference chart that covers all the categories and we update it each year with the federal poverty level changes so I'll be happy to pull that and send it to the committee if you don't and then also send
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
9:32
it to public healthalth and I'll get it out to our members there as well but again I just wanted to
thank you Mr Chair for letting me bring this to the forefront. Thanks. any
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
9:51
other questions seeing none without objection the rule is reviewed and approved we're going to move to item B3 Department of Human Services division of medicalical Services we have two rules being presented today
and so if you'll introduce yourself and present
Elizabeth Pitman
Unverified
10:14
the first rule. good morning my name iselizabeth Pitman. I'm the director for division of medical Services with
Speaker 40
10:20
Department of Human Services. The first rule I'm presenting today is the cell and gene therapy model rule. this is a model that we are participating in through CmS that allows us to enter into valuebased payment arrangements with manufacturers of drugs to treat sickle cell disease these are two very expensive drugs that we are required to cover under Medicaid. they do
have significant value for patients with sickle cell. and through this model we are able to participate in valuebased payment arrangements with those manufacturers where they they rebate us back based on outcomes and so these are favorable payment models for the state that will hopefully result in some savings and better outcomes for our patients. We did not receive any comments on this and these are going through approval with CmS now and happy to take any questions. any questions from the committee
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
11:12
seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved. you're recognized to
Speaker 42
11:17
present the second rule. The second rule I'm presenting today
Speaker 40
11:22
is the medicated medicaids assisted medication assisted treatment coverage rule. this is a simply an administrative change required by Cms we already cover medication assisted treatment orAt therapy for medicaid patients which is a treatment that is includes substance use drugs treatments like naloxone or Suboxone as well as the therapy and labs that
accompany those physicians and other and other providers can provide those these are already covered under a federal rule and a state law. however, CmS is removing an expiration date of their federal rule and extending that out permanently and they've asked us to change our template. so that's all this rule does is removes an expiration date and puts the medication assisted treatment state plan pages on a new template. It does not change our coverage in any way it's cost neutral and we did not receive any comments and I'm happy to take any questions
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
12:15
any questions from the committee seeing none without objection the rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you. moving to itemb4 Department of Labor andliccensing
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
12:47
you recognized to introduce yourselves and you can
Speaker 46
12:51
pres present the rule Lindseay Moore Arkansas department of laborbor code code dirt code enforcement
Dan Parker
Unverified
12:59
director Thank you Mr Chair and good morning everybody. I'm Dan Parker. I'm the chief legal counsel for the department of laborbor and licensing and Lindseay our director here our code enforcement section is responsible for boiler and elevator safety in the state and the licensing and regulation
regulation of our HVvac and electrical licensees. we're here to present the proposed rule required by the very small part assigned to the department by Act591 of2025, concerning local construction plan disputes that involve an interpretation of state law or state adopted building codes Act591 was a 13 ppage act designed to expedite the plan review process for local
construction projects lines 25 through35 on page eight provide that if a local government official and the private construction provider can't resolve a dispute concerning state law or a state adopted building code it either may refer that dispute excuse me to our department and get our interpretation of how the state law or the state adopted building code applies to the particular project
and the rule is is basically simply the procedures to follow in order to get that interpretation from our office so with that we would be happy to answer any questions we did not receive any comments and I know of no opposition
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
14:38
to this rule any questions from the committee seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved. thank
you moving to B5 Department of Labor and licensing contractor's licensing board
Speaker 9
14:54
two rules to be reviewed you'll introduce
Dan Parker
Unverified
15:03
yourselves and then you can present the first rule. yes with me is fellow attorney Jimmy Lawson who is the director for the contractor's licensing board and the residential contractorsittee which are the next two rules they're very minor amendments to the existing rules of the contractors board and then and
even just one simple amendment to the residential contractor's
Speaker 54
15:34
the like it's still iss I think the microphone's not on
Speaker 56
15:42
if you'll ok there you go thank you we're here to present proposed
Speaker 59
15:55
amendments to an existing rule of the Arkansas contractor's licensing boardard rules made necessary by the passage of Ac 235 of2025 concerning the types and level of financial statements required to support the issuance of restricted and unrestricted commercial contractor's licenses. Act235 was a two-page act that changed the dollar amount of what has by rule been designated as a restricted commercial license
from750,000 dollars to $1,500,000. this necessitated a corresponding rule change so that the rules correspond consistently with the act. The proposed amendment to 17 CAR255-401 will do this also the proposed amendment to 17CAR255-305. we'll change the maximum project dollar amount of our light building classification from750,000
dollars to $1,500,000 to mainine to maintain that same consistency we are also presenting a proposed amendment to 17CAR255-501 by way of an additional subsection to the rule to by rule authorize the board'slos long standing policy to defer investigation into owner complaints while civil litigation between the owner and the contractor is pending. Finally there are several amendments presented that simply
clarify grammar, punctuation and style to conform our rules with existing VLr preferences we would be happy we would appreciate the committee's support of the rule and we're happy to answer any questions any questions from the committee
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
17:43
seeing none without objection the rule is reviewed and approved. You recognize to present
Speaker 59
17:52
the second rule. thank you we're also here to present a proposed amendment to an existing rule of the residential contractorsittee it it mirrors
the rule on deferring investigation while there's pending litigation which I just mentioned and which was just approved for the contractor's licensing board it we actually faced that situation much more frequently with the residential contractors committee so we're asking that that will be approved as well and I'm here to answer any questions any questions from the committee seeing none without
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
18:22
objection the rule is reviewed and approved. thank you thank you
moving to item B6 we have Department of laborbor and licensing HVACR licensing boardard are welcome to
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
18:49
have a seat and introduce yourselves and then present the rule Lindsey, director of codelindsey
Speaker 46
18:55
Moore, director of code enforcement on the side Department of Labor and licensing Lacey Kirchner Department of
Sarah Moore
Unverified
19:02
Labor and licensing attorney. good
Chair
Unverified
19:07
morning we're here to present the rules as a result of changes made from Act746 of2025 it clears up grammar errors this still had some mi errors from when we came over from the health department we just clarified we did re license reduction and we also just it was just a basic good cleanup wheel
and I'll take any questions Senator rice you're recognized for a question thank you Mr
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
19:46
Chairman. good morning. appreciate you being here today. one thing I regret looking back and not necessarily your agency but other things is not having enough knowledge as the right questions and finding out later that we
have maybe took one step forward and prove something in three step back and and put more burden on business or protected the industry in a way you all and
I've looked through this and I've looked through the comments and I don't see anything glaring but just a couple of things if you would explain explain and and is there anything in this that wasn't in the act that passed is there any liberties that you
know of that needed cleared up that was done
Speaker 45
20:37
the only thing that was put in there significance in 2020 when we
Chair
Unverified
20:42
came over from healthth there was some discussion about whether we had the authority to regulate local inspectors reggulate and train this board felt it was important to get that training back there so we've we've started a register err a registration for all local inspectors we're going to provide them at no charge training annual training
to get to get these folks a little bit more knowledgeable an untrained inspector is it it affects the consumer it affects the business and it can cost both of them money and we're trying to get the best trained people out there
Speaker 71
21:25
to to protect the industry to protect the consumergre appreciate
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
21:29
that on the changing the number of years from5 to3. before retesting could you just briefly touch on that yes
Chair
Unverified
21:38
that's basically an industry standard there's so much changes going on in the industry right now we're in kind of a a industrial revolution type situation where what we use commonly accepted five years ago is not even a it's not even being used anymore we're especially when it comes to what we call douglass mini splits and so people get out of the trade they want to come back but they don't have any knowledge or they've lost the knowledge or the knowledge since
the time they were licensed so the board felt it was time to get that back under control where the like
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
22:20
other programs after36 months you you retake the test and then on the maybe have lost here on the response I think from the executive director of thehAC deal was asking questions I guess for probably his members
on the it was having to do with children coming up behind their parents in the industry and that I know it mentioned you can't get a license before 18 but is in and I understand the labor and licensing regulations for children because we we addressed that summon legislature is there any impediment here in children helping their parents
in that industry and as long as there's somebody responsible the licensed contractor being responsible for all work that's a great question first and
Chair
Unverified
23:21
foremost we don't want children not being able to work alongside mom and dad. there are federal US Department of Labor child laborbor laws as well as the state child labor laws while I'm not over that program I ran that program for a number of years
what is required in a way is they can go work for their parent they gotta be supervised by their parent and we will not interfere with that now if they they bring their son to work and they're sending them out on a truck and he's 1415 years old with one of the employees the federal law and state law prohibits that but as long as he's working aside mom and dad and doing that it's it's it's legal and we have no objection appreciate that
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
24:11
and that's a concern because we've got so
many young people that that don't know how to do
any trade. I mean even the simplest things and all of this we can do in in some of our best people people that I've had in my business were were trained by an experienced person and they could go to school but they're not gonna get that realli training that you get out on a job you'll find things that just doesn't happen that often but you'll learn them on the job so appreciate that and hope we can continue to to push that but again with the safety of
somebody it's responsible for signing them all. yougre
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
24:53
more yeah thank you appreciate you being here today
thank you Mr Chair. Representativeladyman you're recognized for a question
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
25:02
Thank you Mr Chairman. I'm over here my question it looks like class C license was that eliminated with these changes yes sir thelass C license when
Chair
Unverified
25:16
when the program was built back in the late 80s early 90s. Class C licenses were for organizations like Sears or Montgomery Ward if you're old enough like me to remember those and they would go out do a quick service call put freon in your unit and move on today's technology is different it didn't allow them to replacements it was just service work only and that business has waned because you you just can't do
that anymore you have to have parts to replace so the board took the position that we're gonna take the existing ones move them into alas B license which expands their opportunity to work and on the sizes of equipment they can work. so we you know when we went to red tape reduction noagg you know that was one of the things look at what you can do and we took we took that seriously and this was the result of it sir so we we have an alas A class B
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
26:17
class C was the way we had it before, correct? And I had alas A at one time actually and so can you remind us of what what's the difference in an
Speaker 89
26:29
A and a B and you talked about C already alas B will allow
Chair
Unverified
26:35
you to perform HVAC or refrigeration work up to 25 tons everything's based on a ton 1el,000 BTUs and air conditioning equals a ton. of work so you can do some strip mall work
you could do some light commercial industrial work your residential work is covered and its sales it's service alass A is unlimited. You can take on any type of commercial industrial project or residential without any further limitations to that point also we also expanded other trade work into it we originally had like a 6 ft limit that you could run the electrical to the
condenser unit well folks are remodeling now and they move houses they move their rooms around everything we have to relocate the condensers so we followed other states around us Texas, Oklahoma and such and we extended the doubt that they can dose5 foot of work to get the power to that it still has to meet code it has to meet local permitting we did the same thing with fuel gas the fuel gas has the same type of opportunity for them they can do75 foot where it was6 or 10 ft
and that saves the consumer's money because you're not gonna have to bring out full electricians the people that are doing the work now yourlas A, lass B folks are trained to do this they have to meet all the the international or the Arkansas fuel gas
Speaker 90
28:10
code National Electric code and and they still have to have
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
28:15
inspections one more question Mr Cha if I'm allowed
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
28:18
so really give them a real question here. you talked aboutlas C with Sears and that
that's true I think but back when this law came into effect in the eight0s and we I worked at a plant we had a bunch of technicians I I got an A because we had multiple air conditioning units that we're working on everyday but but each technician that worked for me had to get a class C because they were actually opera putting the the chemical into the machine so does this eliminate that and I don't know where that was actually required but we did it because we thought there was a
potential violation there but does that eliminate that you know that possi that requirement well here
Speaker 92
29:05
in the scenario I don't I've never seen that applied since I've been with the program.
Chair
Unverified
29:12
what they could do and this would probably be companyific is that they would become a registrant to that class A they still afford them that opportunity so it's a matter of you're
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
29:21
talking about an interpretation here right thank you bet
Representative Lynch you're recognized for a question Mr. Landsey, I'm over here a couple of questions one is on the licensing we passed a law a couple of years ago that required4 hours continuing education per year. I understand that's been changed to 8 hours every3 years Preer ok and who made that change that was done at the board's request
Chair
Unverified
29:56
what we did there is the same thing we're
doing in other states ir mirroring their requirements a code cycle the IMCs which is the mechanical code that we work under every three years is changed we changed it to match what our electrical program elevator program and other programs have that it's 8 hours of training per code cycle it was originally4 hours per year and we heard a lot of feedback
from the the regulated community contractors they all agreed they wanted to be because some of these folks hold plumbing or electrical license why can't we do it that way it makes it easier for us to track we're also qualifying the the individuals that are doing the training uhhVAC association has been been great with us. Tom Hunt and his group and you know we're not saying you have to get it done in one year you still got that threeyear
Speaker 98
31:02
code cycle so they can still do it two hours at a
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
31:05
time,4 hours at a time follow up so on the electrical side that 8 hours of training is required the first year after you get your new license. Is that not correct? That is correct. why would we not do the same thing for the HVAC industry well that
Chair
Unverified
31:22
is something we could look at the the thing that we with the electrical is is that the code cycle starts that's
when they have changes the the codes are the classes they have to attend is for code updates The electrical program looked at it from the aspect that you shouldn't wait till your third year to get the code updates that you're already supposed to be working with so that's why that one was moved to the front of the line. HVacc it it we did this and then we're going to look at it uhhvac is licensed or created a little bit differently in their structure
for continuing education and for licensing they still have to have it within three years but it's not set up des designed like the electrical
Speaker 90
32:12
program where it has to be about the code update OK right and the last question is are we changing the
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
32:18
licens ing on the heat and air to a three year cycle also instead of one year at a time it is still annual at this time and that's and the reason for that is I thought the electrical
Speaker 102
32:36
wasn't a was a three year cycle now electrical when
Chair
Unverified
32:42
the part of this also is what s necessitated the the one year or the first year of getting your code we had a program set up the the wording and the the algorithm to build to do what they want to do in a three year licensing we worked on that 2.5 years and could not get a formula that would work
even when we had our old software we've had every year for three years in a row we had an audit finding because we weren't calculating it right. use a spreadsheet, use a calculator yeah you could lay it end to end and it would point in different directions so we went to an annual renewal
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
33:25
right and the last question is have you I know there's a lot of issues with the with the new licensing program I I've heard a lot of people talking about how difficult it is to get their license renewed. Do we have most
Chair
Unverified
33:38
of those problems worked out now you know I've been this is my second launch with electronic licensing and it was the largest launch for our agency for the the number of active licenses we put4 people on it we're now going to entering into our first year of completion. yeah there was a little frustration at first there was some misinformation put out that wasn't true that kind of slowed it down but right now we're
current and I've only heard in the year two verified complaints one of them came from a legislator and I talked with them and we found out what the problem and we called the person up we got them resolved it's new it's changed it's like every other part of the world is it's it's going off of the cellphone it saves us40,000 dollars a year in printing and license paper and and mail and postage
and they've got it with them and they can have 24xs,24 hour access to their own records for putting their records in there where they can find everything lot a lot of times people calls up and I want to know what I did in
Speaker 90
34:50
2017. well here I'll put it to you and put it in your file that way they've
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
34:56
got it so if it's still on the annual cycle and the and the education now is within a threeyear period so some people are gonna be able to renew their license with no continuing education until maybe the next cycle or the one after that is that true that is possible
so how do they provide proof of
Chair
Unverified
35:15
continuing education we have a list of approved training classes on our website they can go to one of those providers they can get their training they get a certificate issued they have to both the provider and the and the person attending the class has to provide us documentation of proof they attended the class OK. so whether they scan that and send it
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
35:36
in to you or how they did it would scan it and
Speaker 90
35:40
upload it to their profile all right thank you
Chair
Unverified
35:45
Representative Baatty you're recognized for a question Thank
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
35:52
you Mr chairir I'm over here my question how many holders oflass C license do you have? We had
Speaker 109
35:59
I don't have the exact number with me today but I think it was under 200, under 200
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
36:05
and so any any fallout from from that group of license holders about the elimination of of of their credentials. I never heard anything directly about
Chair
Unverified
36:17
it. what I heard by a lot of them that I talked with is now they can go out and they can actually expand their work some of them still want to do just a certain type of work they can specialize if they want but we got no
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
36:32
real pushback from anyone on this so you're you this will help the industry eliminating that that license it's gonna help restrictions the individual everyone OK and you took this y'all took this program over from healthalthin
transformation. So2019 and so seven years oh wow yeah I guess it is and and just now getting around to cleaning up typos and and and airs in in the rules how
Speaker 113
37:02
many other rules do you have out there
Chair
Unverified
37:06
that need review forhvac or in general in general in general I've got three more programs to present to this committee all tied intoxts746 boiler elevator and electrical and
we we cleaned up we we we we also took what what we've heard from you and what our secretaries heard from the governor and others we we're trying to go in and simplify these rules, make them clear, understand and some programs without'll be presenting here we we reduce60 pages of unnecessary rules and regulations
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
37:38
that's that's amazing work thank you sir you bet Senator Rri, you're recognized
Chair
Unverified
37:42
for a question. thank you appreciate the discussion
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
37:50
you said there's around 200lass Cs you think did I hear you say that all those would be converted to beeses yes sir ok and and because somebody that may not want to get technically into the B class they may be used still doing some old unit work with R12 R22 or something this is this is not going to restrict them from doing that but they're not into the some of the new stuff that's
epoxxxy and and that type stuff that is more technical and and doesn't seem to be as good as the old time can you tell me where how many location we have to do CEUs I don't have that information is
Chair
Unverified
38:39
it broadly across the state yeah it's around the state tom HunthvACR association they go around they've got chapters all around the state's not a problem for people to
Speaker 113
38:53
the exact number we've got at least40 providers that I'm aware of
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
38:58
and I've been texting while I was listening to to this what is there a different class that EPA would have and I'm like if somebody's a certain class is it ABC also or the
Chair
Unverified
39:13
EA requires you to have a certificate from them for putting in refrigerants or how you withdraw them and take them to protect that's the only thing that's required
by the EPA our license requirement will go you know you have to have that to re recycle the refrigerant
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
39:37
in with that Is is there some work or this
is for contractors are there workers working under contractors with certain classifications that wouldn't know what class they were or do they not have to be certified
Chair
Unverified
39:58
if they are going to work in the refrigerant they they would be licensed they would still be they could be licensed for us we don't require them to have that EPA license that's a federal requirement so they would
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
40:12
have to have that text somebody and found out they've got the EPA dip they don't know what class they they're certified in Arkansas. Well that should be on their license all the licenses have their place that's what I'm gonna
find out are you gonna be here Friday? probably not but if I need to be
I can talk to you don't want you to be I mean I can either hold ask the whole this up till Friday or or I really don't want to do that but umm I'm gonna find out what information in real life that's out there that because when you say you haven't heard from anybody that's what that's that's what my biggest regret people are out here working doing business everyday and they don't know what's going on until this hits them in the face a few months from now and they say why did
you not do that? I said I didn't know to ask so that that's my
regret I'm talking to so I'm not gonna ask you to be here Friday but I I may if I find out something concerning enough I may ask to hold
Speaker 71
41:15
it over I'm just being upfront with you but
Sarah Moore
Unverified
41:18
I I appreciate you answering all the questions today yes ma'enator we did send out notification after the law went into effect after Act746 went into effect notification of the classs C going away and everyone being put to alass B. we did
send out those notifications to all license holders so they did we were able to work with them if they had questions and again
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
41:40
in the in the real world with people is working every day and when they get stuff from a bureaucracy it just it just we missed stuff it just happened so I again I appreciate you saying that but I'll I'll find out whatever else I can in between now and Friday thank you all for being here. Senator
Chair
Unverified
41:55
Dismay you recognized for a question Thank Miss chairir. I'm sorry I walked in
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
42:04
being pulled to the back. can is it possible that I ask a question on item5? Sure we'll give you leeway go ahead all right thank you Mr chairman on item five it's to clarify the level of financial statements required to obtain an unrestricted license and that's related back to the $1.5 million increase that you can have and still have an
Speaker 125
42:23
unrestricted before you need a restricted license I guess. and just senator hold on just a second I believe somebody else presented
Sarah Moore
Unverified
42:31
item5 correct Dan Parker and Jimmy Lawson and they
they still are they still here they are not but if you mean I can get them to reach out to you and answer whichever questions just want to make sure we get the right people to answer the yes I don't want to
Speaker 127
42:49
misspeak on that one got you all right thank you any other questions from
the committee? seeing none without objection the rule is reviewed and approved. thank you.
and we all arranged for them to reach out to senator Dismay. OK thank you Members were moving to item C and just as a reminder in those instances where an agency believes that a rule is not necessary for the operation of a newly enacted law Act595 of2021 allows the agency to submit a written request notifying the subcommittee of its intent to not adopt the request the required rule in requesting that the rule be excluded from the agency's monthly updates on rulemaking
today we have one such request that's from the department of inspector general if they'll come forward
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
43:57
if you'll have a seat introduce yourself and present your request for exclusion. members the request is also in your packet of information. Thank you good morning Samantha Blasingamme chief counsel
Speaker 133
44:13
department of inspector general. we're here today to request an exclusion from the reporting requirement on rulemaking act473 of2025, which is the research andationtection Act requires the department of inspector general to make rules in conjunction with boards of institutions of higher education
to review cultural exchange agreements with foreign adversaries. the act though defines all the critical terms. it sets out the limited exceptions and sets out what the department should review. so the department does not believe that rules are necessary so we' re here to ask for an exception. Any questions from the members seeing my seeing none do I
have a motion to approve the agency's request for exclusion we have a motion as our second the second all in favor say aye any opposed the ayes have it motion carries the request for exclusion is granted. thank you Members were moving to item D as a reminder this is a continuation of our review of theroup re agency rule reports
under Act781 today we have the Arkansas Statelibrary and its report is in your packet the report outlines each of the agcency's current rules all of which they recommend keeping and continuing to enforce can someone from the agency please come forward and and present the rule report. you're recognized
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
46:04
to introduce yourself and present your report. Good morning Courtney Salisfod
Speaker 135
46:19
chief of staff for the department of Education Arkansas State Library is under our purview and so yes we are requesting to keep the three rules that are currently in existence which are necessary to continue our responsibilities and obligations of those state library and I'm happy to answer any questions. any questions from the seeing none do I have a motion to accept the
state library's request to keep and extend its rules as outlined in its report
we have a motion is there a second second any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed the motion carries you Members that brings us to item E these are agency updates on the status of outstanding rulemaking from the 2023 regular session
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
47:18
Members we have representatives from corrections andation here
to answer any questions that you may have about their outstanding rules a written update from each was provided to
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
47:28
staff as of March 1st and it's included on the agenda does anyone have any
questions for either of these agen Representative Vaughtug you're
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
47:50
recognized Thank you Mr Chair. maybe
staff can tell us uh, if not maybe the department can come back and these laws were in 2023 and we still don't have any kind of rules set up for these or how they're supposed to be governed within our schools is there an update on when we'll get
Speaker 143
48:19
those rules ma'am Rebecca Miller Rri counseling ther section, umpresentative Vaughtugt in the
these updates the agency is supposed to tell us each time for each rule and they have done that is there a particular rule that you are
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
48:33
interested in we're just I mean they're all 2023 legislation and we're just sitting over here discussing why we've already had a whole another session and we still don't have rules for all of these 223 laws. I
Speaker 144
48:46
can't speak to that but I know that they've said that they should be filed in May but Courtney Silisford is here for Department of Education if you
Speaker 56
49:09
would be great. Mr chairir. you're recognized
Speaker 135
49:13
to answer the question good morning Courtney Salisford yespresentative Vott so we had um, about 90 rules that we promulgated following the 2023 session. um, most of the ones
that are still on the list were also amended in 2025 and so we knew that they were going to be amended again. um, while we had started the promulgation process we chose not to conclude it so that we can go ahead and incorporate the 25 amendments. Um, none of these are such that it's preventing the law from being implemented or preventing a school from knowing how to implement the program um, but we do definitely hope to have many of these to you in the coming months.
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
49:59
So I think my I think I'll ask a different question also. is this something that we usually do we wait we pass a law two years go by we have a new session and then we decide to do rules. Is that something that we practice quite often?
Speaker 135
50:13
No, not typically and again it was just because of the volume of rules that we had that by the time we again we we did take a long time to get to some of these by the time that we got to them we were so close to the 25 session we knew we could not complete
promulgation before new changes would need to be made and so no it's certainly not a a
Speaker 148
50:34
a common practice nor one that we would want to repeat. so one final question so these are rules
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
50:40
or laws that y'all brought before the legislature and that's how you knew they were going to be changed in 2025. not some of them that either we had initiated or that
Speaker 148
50:50
we were made aware by others that they were going to be bringing you ma'am yes ma'am p re s ent ative
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
51:00
painter you're recognized for a question thank you Mr Chair. this
is a question for staff is there a way we could find out how many rules from all the agencies that are still sitting out there from the 2023ses
Speaker 143
51:16
Representative painter, those are the ones the ones that we are aware of are listed in the agenda and they report on those so
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
51:22
there's only5 rules from across the board that's still left from the 2023 session let's see corrections has one,
Speaker 143
51:30
ation has 12,3,4,5. 67 OK, I just want to make
sure. OK thank you. and a question just for clarity whether a rule has
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
51:43
been implemented or not the department is is following whatever the law is that that has been passed whether in 2325 or whenever OK thank you any other questions for either of these agencies
seeing none we thank you for for being here today it's gonna take us down to item F this is our monthly written updates by agencies concerning rulemaking resulting from the 2025 regular session the updates are in your packet are there any questions for any
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
52:30
of these agencies? seeing none we will file the march 1st monthly written updates.
Unknown speaker
52:41
Having no further business go hogs we're adjourned
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Rules Filed Pursuant to Arkansas Code § 10-3-309
C. Agency Request to Be Excluded from Reporting Requirements of Act 595 of 2021
D. Evaluation of Rule Review Group 3 Agencies Pursuant to Act 781 of 2017 and Act 65 of 2021
E. Agency Updates on the Status of Outstanding Rulemaking from the 2023 Regular Session Pursuant to Act 595 of 2021
F. Agency Monthly Written Updates Pursuant to Act 595 of 2021 Concerning Rulemaking from the 2025 Regular Session
G. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd Chair
Unverified
Speaker 10
Speaker 7
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
Speaker 20
Chair
Unverified
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Speaker 25
Elizabeth Pitman
Unverified
Speaker 40
Speaker 42
Speaker 46
Dan Parker
Unverified
Speaker 9
Speaker 49
Speaker 54
Speaker 56
Speaker 59
Sarah Moore
Unverified
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
Speaker 45
Speaker 71
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
Speaker 89
Speaker 90
Speaker 92
Speaker 98
Speaker 102
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
Speaker 109
Speaker 113
Speaker 118
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
Speaker 125
Speaker 127
Speaker 133
Speaker 135
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
Speaker 143
Speaker 144
Speaker 34
Speaker 148
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified