ALC-Administrative Rules
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Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
1:30
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. 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
agency's rules for this month B1 is the Department of Agriculture State Plant board I'll ask that they come to the table for item
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
2:24
B I'll call 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
Speaker 8
2:48
Department of Agriculture Matthew Ford Chief Legal
Speaker 10
2:53
Counsel, Department of Agriculture. Mike Stage,
Speaker 7
2:56
Department of Agriculture. You're recognized. Present the rule. Thank you, sir. Act 365 of 1987, also known as the Arkansas Catfish Processors Fair Practice Act, required Arkansas's catfish processors who annually purchased over $100,000 of catfish from in-state producers to register with the Department of Agriculture. Act 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 The act was repealed last year, Act 577 of 2025. As a result, the department initiated rulemaking to repeal the rules that were based on that now repealed act.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. Thanks, sir. Thank you.
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
3:48
Members, moving to item B2, Department of Human Services, Division of County Operations.
You're recognized to introduce yourself and present the
Speaker 20
4:10
rule. Good morning. I'm Mary Franklin, the Director of the Division of County Operations for the Department of Human 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 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-day postpartum period. If they were already sanctioned 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 rape or incest. So that word is being removed from the policy. Additional change that we are bringing is related to the Our Kids Be eligibility. And in that program, we are removing the 90-day waiting period when group health insurance has been removed. And there is also a corresponding update to the CHIP state plan to reflect the removal of that 90-day waiting period.
There were no public comments on this rule. There is a fiscal impact for the current fiscal year estimated at $73,127 and for next fiscal year estimated at $12,507. I'm happy to take any questions. Any questions? Senator
Chair
Unverified
6:03
Irvin, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
6:14
I just wanted to point out, I have a question,
but first I wanted to point out the significant 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 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 and 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 just wanted to call that to your attention. On the, 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 for children to be able to qualify for this CHIP
Speaker 20
7:49
program? R-KIDS-B, it is for children who have income above the R-KIDS-A limit.
Oh, and I didn't bring those with me, which I believe is 142% of the federal poverty level up to about
Speaker 25
8:06
214%. I can get you those exact percentages, but that's in the ballpark. Yeah, but it's
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
8:12
past 200, I think. Yes. Yeah, I mean, so it's significant. So I think that's also good information as you maybe field 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, for kids A, for the CHIP 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 you're pregnancy, and we need to make sure that's super clear so that we feel 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
Speaker 20
9:15
we actually have a we 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 yeah if you
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
9:27
don't mind and then also send it to public health and i'll get it out to our members there as well we'll do but again i just wanted to thank you mr chair for letting me bring this to the forefront. Thanks. Any other questions? Seeing none, without objection,
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
9:47
the rule is reviewed and approved. We're going to move to item B3, Department of Human Services, Division of Medical Services. We have two rules being presented today, and so if you'll introduce yourself and present the first rule. Good morning. My name is
Elizabeth Pitman
Unverified
10:09
Elizabeth Pittman. I'm the director for Division of Medical Services with Department of Human Services. The first rule
Speaker 40
10:15
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 value-based 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 value-based payment arrangements with those manufacturers where they rebate us back based on outcomes. And so these are favorable payment models for the that will hopefully result in some savings and better outcomes for our patients we do not receive
any comments on this and these are going through approval with CMS now
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
11:04
I'm happy to take any questions any questions from the committee seeing none without objection
Speaker 42
11:12
this rule is reviewed and approved you're recognized to present
Speaker 40
11:17
the second rule the second rule I'm presenting today is the Medicaid-assisted, medication-assisted treatment coverage rule. This is simply an administrative change required by CMS. We already cover medication-assisted treatment or MAT therapy for Medicaid patients,
which is a treatment that includes substance use drugs, treatments like naloxone or suboxone, as well as the therapy and labs that accompany those. Physicians 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
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
12:10
take any questions. Any questions from the committee? Seeing none. Without objection, the rule is reviewed and approved.
Thank you. Moving to item B4, Department of Labor and Licensing.
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
12:42
You're recognized to introduce yourselves, and you
Speaker 46
12:46
can present the rule. Lindsey Moore, Arkansas Department of Labor, Code Enforcement Director.
Dan Parker
Unverified
12:54
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good morning, everybody. I'm Dan Parker. I'm the Chief Legal Counsel for the Department of Labor and Licensing, and Lindsey, our director here. Our Code Enforcement Section is responsible for boiler and elevator safety in the state and the licensing and regulation of our HVAC and electrical licensees.
We are here to present the proposed rule required by the very small part assigned to the department by Act 591 of 2025 concerning local construction plan disputes that involve an interpretation of state law or state-adopted building codes. Act 591 was a 13-page act designed to expedite the plan review process for local construction projects. Lines 25 through 35 on page 8 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 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 basically simply the procedures to follow in order to get that interpretation from our office. So with that, we will be happy to answer any questions. We did not receive any comments, and I know of no opposition to this rule.
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
14:31
any questions from the committee seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you thank
you moving to B5 Department of Labor and Licensing Contractors Licensing Board two rules to be reviewed you'll introduce yourselves
Dan Parker
Unverified
14:58
rule yes with me is fellow attorney jimmy lawson who is the director for the contractors licensing board and the
residential contractors committee which are the next two rules uh they're very minor amendments to the existing rules of the contractors board and then and even just one simple amendment to to the residential contractor's rule, but I'll let Jimmy explain those rules. Thank you,
Speaker 54
15:29
present. We're here to present. I think it's still.
Speaker 56
15:37
I think the microphone's not on, if you'll. Okay, there you go.
Speaker 59
15:48
Thank you. We're here to present proposed amendments to an existing rule of the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board rules made necessary by the passage of Act 235 of 2025 concerning the types and level of financial statements required to support the issuance of restricted and unrestricted commercial contractors' licenses.
Act 235 was a two-page act that changed the dollar amount of what has by rule been designated as a restricted commercial license from $750,000 to $1,500,000. This necessitated a corresponding rule change so that the rules correspond consistently with the Act. The proposed amendment to 17 CAR 255-401 will do this. Also, the proposed amendment to 17 CAR 255-305
We'll change the maximum project dollar amount of our light building classification from $750,000 to $1,500,000 to maintain that same consistency. We are also presenting a proposed amendment to 17 CAR 255-501 by way of an additional subsection to the rule to by rule authorize the board's longstanding 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 BLR preferences. We would appreciate the committee's support of the rule, and we're happy to answer any questions. Any questions from the committee? Seeing none, without objection, the rule
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
17:38
is reviewed and approved. You recognize and present the second rule.
Speaker 59
17:46
Thank you. We're also here to present a proposed amendment to an existing rule of the Residential Contractors Committee. It mirrors the rule on deferring investigation while there's pending litigation, which I just mentioned and which was just approved for the Contractors Licensing Board. We actually face that situation much more frequently with the Residential Contractors Committee, so we are asking that that rule be approved as well, and I'm here to answer any questions.
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
18:17
Any questions from the committee? Seeing none, without objection, the rule
is reviewed and approved. Thank you. Thank you. Moving to item B6, we have Department of Labor and Licensing, HVACR Licensing Board. You are welcome
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
18:44
to have a seat and introduce yourselves and then present the rule.
Speaker 46
18:50
Lindsey director of code for Lindsey Moore director of code enforcement on the side
Sarah Moore
Unverified
18:56
Department of Labor and Licensing Lacey Kirchner Department
Chair
Unverified
19:02
of Labor and Licensing attorney Good morning. We're here to present the rules as a result of changes made from act 746 of two 2025 It clears up grammar errors. This is still had some more errors from when we came over from the health department we just clarified we did license reduction and we also just it was just a basic good cleanup bill
and i'll take any questions senator rice you're recognized for a question thank you
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
19:41
mr 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 to ask the right questions and finding out later that we have maybe took one step forward to improve something and three step back and put more burden on
business or protected the industry in a way and 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 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
20:31
the only thing that was put in of significance in 2020 when we came over
Chair
Unverified
20:37
from health there was some discussion about whether
we had the authority to regulate local inspectors regulate and train uh this board felt it was important to get that training back there so we've we've started a register a registration for all local inspectors we're going to provide them at no charge uh training annual training to get these folks a little bit more knowledgeable. An untrained inspector, 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
Speaker 71
21:20
people out there to protect the industry, to protect the
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
21:24
consumer. Agreed. I appreciate that. On the changing the number of years from five to three before retesting, could you
Chair
Unverified
21:32
just briefly touch on that? Yes, that's basically an industry standard. There are so much changes going on in the industry right now. We're in kind of an Industrial Revolution-type situation
where what we use is commonly accepted five years ago is not even being used anymore, especially when it comes to what we call ductless mini-splits. So people get out of the trade, they want to come back, but they don't have any knowledge. 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 or like other programs after 36 months you retake the test
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
22:14
okay uh and then on the uh may have lost here on the response i think from the executive director of hvac deal was asking questions i guess for probably his members on the uh 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 and i understand
the labor and licensing regulations for children because we we address that some in the 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
Chair
Unverified
23:16
and foremost, we don't want children not being able to work alongside mom and dad.
There are federal U.S. Department of Labor child labor 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've got to be supervised by their parent. 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 14 15 years old with one of the
employees the federal law and state law prohibits that as long as he's working aside mom and dad and doing that it's it's legal and we have no
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
24:06
objection okay I appreciate that that's concerning 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 and all of this we can do and some of our best people people that I've had my business were were trained by an experienced person and they could go to
school but they're not gonna get that real-life training that you get out on job you'll find things it just doesn't happen that often but you'll learn them on the job so I appreciate that hope we can continue to to push that but again with the safety of somebody it's responsible for signing them all couldn't green
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
24:48
more yeah thank you appreciate you being
here today thank mr. chair representative ladyman you're recognized for
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
24:57
a question thank you mr. chairman I'm over here my question it looks like class C license
was that eliminated with these changes yes sir
Chair
Unverified
25:07
the class C license when 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 free on in your unit and move on today's technology is different it didn't allow them to do replacements it was just service work only and that business has waned
because you just can't do that anymore. You have to have parts to replace. So the board took the position that we're going to take the existing ones, move them into a Class B license, which expands their opportunity to work on the size of equipment they can work. So when we went to red tape reduction, no lag, that was one of the things. Look at what you can do. And we took that seriously, and this was the result of it, sir.
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
26:09
So we have an A, class A, class B, class C was the way we had it before, correct? And I had a class A at one time, actually. And so can you remind us what's the difference in an
Speaker 89
26:24
A and a B? And you talked about C already. Okay. A class B will
Chair
Unverified
26:30
allow you to perform HVAC or refrigeration work up to 25 tons. Everything is based on a ton. 12,000 BTUs in 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 it's sales it's service a class 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 uh other trade work into it we originally had like a six
foot limit that you could run the electrical to the uh 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 follow other states around us texas oklahoma and such and we extended it out that they can do 75-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 do 75-foot where it was 6 or 10 feet. And that saves the consumers money because you're not going to have to bring out full electricians. The people that are doing the work now, Your Class A, Class B folks are trained to do this. They have to meet all the international or the Arkansas
Speaker 90
28:05
Fuel Gas Code, National Electric Code, and they still have to
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
28:10
have inspections. So one more question, Mr. Chairman, if
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
28:13
I'm allowed. So really getting to my real question here, you talked about Class C with Sears, and that's true, I think.
But back when this law came into effect in the 80s, and I worked at a plant where we had a bunch of technicians, I got an A because we had multiple air conditioning units that we were working on every day. But each technician that worked for me had to get a Class C because they were actually putting 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 possible that requirement well i here in this
Speaker 92
29:00
scenario i don't i've never seen that applied since i've been with the program what
Chair
Unverified
29:07
they could do and this would probably be company specific is that uh they would become a registrant to that class a they've still afforded them that opportunity okay so
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
29:16
what's the matter you're talking about interpretation here yes sir all right thank you you
Chair
Unverified
29:24
bet representative lynch you're recognized for a question
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
29:26
uh mr lindsey i'm over here a couple of questions one is on the licensing uh we passed a law a couple of years ago that required four hours continuing education per year i understand that's been changed to eight hours every three years correct sir okay and
Chair
Unverified
29:51
who made that change that was done at the board's request what we did there is the same thing we're doing in other states mirror mirroring their requirements uh a code cycle i the imc is which is the mechanical code
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 eight hours of training per code cycle. It was originally four hours per year and we heard a lot of feedback from the regulated community to 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 come the individuals that are doing the training HVAC 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 three-year
Speaker 98
30:54
code cycle okay I can still do it two hours at a time four hours of time yeah
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
31:00
follow up so on the electrical side that eight 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 is
Chair
Unverified
31:17
something we could look at the the thing that we where 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 to 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 HVAC it we did this and then we're going to look at it uh hvac is licensed or created a little bit differently in their structure for continuing education and for uh licensing uh they still have to have it within three years but it's not
Speaker 90
32:07
set up the design like the electrical program where it has to be about the
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
32:13
code update okay all right and the last question is are we changing
the licensing 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
Speaker 102
32:32
reason for that is i thought the electrical
Chair
Unverified
32:37
wasn't was a three-year cycle now no electrical when the part of this also was what necessitated the first year of getting your code. We had a program set up, the wording and the
algorithm to build, to do what they want to do in a three-year licensing. We worked on that two and a half 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 okay so we went to
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
33:20
an annual renewal all right and the last question is have you
i know there's a lot of issues with the with the new licensing program i've heard a lot of people talking about how difficult it is to get their license renewed do we
Chair
Unverified
33:35
have most of those problems worked out now i 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 um we put four people on it we're now going 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 okay one of them came from a legislator and i talked with them and we found out what's the problem we called the person up we got them resolved it's new it's change uh it's like every other part of the world is it's going off of the cell phone it saves us $40,000 a year in printing and license paper and mail and postage, and they've got it with them,
and they can have 24-hour access to their own records. We're putting their records in there where they can find everything. A lot of times people call us up, and I want to know what I did
Speaker 90
34:45
in 2017. Well, here, I'll put it to you and put it in your file. That
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
34:51
way they've got it. So if it's still on the annual cycle and the education now is within a three-year period, so some people are going to 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 continuing education? We
Chair
Unverified
35:10
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 person attending the class has to provide us documentation of proof they attended the class. Okay, so would they scan that and send
Representative Roger D. Lynch
Unverified
35:31
it in to you or how they did it? They
Speaker 90
35:35
would scan it and upload it to their profile.
Chair
Unverified
35:38
Okay, all right. Thank you. Representative Beatty, you're recognized for a question. Thank you,
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
35:47
Mr. Chair. I'm over here. my question how many holders of class c license uh do you have we
Speaker 109
35:54
had i don't have the exact number with me today but i think it was under 200
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
36:00
under 200 and so any any fallout from from that group of license holders about the elimination of of their credentials i never heard anything
Chair
Unverified
36:10
directly about it uh 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 real
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
36:27
pushback from anyone on this. So this will help the industry? It's going to help. Eliminating that license? It's going to help the industry, the individual, everyone. Okay. And you took this, y'all took this program over from health when?
Transformation. So 2019? Yes, sir. And so seven years. Oh, wow, yeah, I guess it is. Yeah, and just now getting around to cleaning up typos and errors in the rules, how many other rules do
Chair
Unverified
37:01
For HVAC or in general? In general. In general, I've got three more programs to present to this committee, all tied into Acts 746, boiler, elevator, and electrical.
Right. And we cleaned up. We also took what I've heard from you and what our secretaries heard from the governor and others. We're trying to go in and simplify these rules, make them clear, understand. And some programs that I'll be presenting here, we reduce 60 pages of unnecessary rules and regulations. That's amazing work.
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
37:33
Thank you, sir. You bet. Senator Rice, you're recognized for a
Chair
Unverified
37:37
question. Thank you. I appreciate the discussion.
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
37:43
uh you said there's around 200 class c's you think
did i hear you say that all those would be converted to b's yes sir okay and because uh somebody that may not want to get technically into the b class they may be still doing some old unit work with r12 r22 or something this is this is not going to restrict them from doing that no but they're not into the some of the new
stuff that's epoxy 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 uh how many locations we have to do ceus i don't have that information is it broadly across the state yeah
Chair
Unverified
38:34
it's around the state uh tom hunt hvacr association they go around they've got chapters all around the state it's not not a problem for people to get
Speaker 113
38:46
get you the exact number uh we've got at least
40 providers that I'm aware of and
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
38:53
I've been texting while I was listening to this uh what is there a different class that EPA would have and I'm saying if somebody's a certain class is it ABC also or
Chair
Unverified
39:08
the EPA requires you to have a certificate from them for putting in refrigerants or how you withdraw them to 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 research recycle the refrigerant
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
39:32
with that is is there some worker 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 if they are going to work in the
Speaker 94
39:51
refrigerant they they would be licensed they they would
Chair
Unverified
39:57
still they can be licensed for us we don't require them
to have that epa license that's a federal requirement so they would have to have that i'm
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
40:07
fine i've i've texted somebody and i 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 okay so that's what i'm gonna find out are you gonna
Speaker 79
40:22
be here friday uh probably not but if i need to be
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
40:25
i can talk well i don't want you to be i mean i can either hold ask the whole list up till friday or or i really don't want to do that but i 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 every day 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 going to ask you to be here friday
but i i may if i find out something concerned enough i may ask to hold it over i'm just being up front with you that's a problem
Speaker 71
41:10
but i appreciate you answering all the questions and
Sarah Moore
Unverified
41:13
senator uh we did send out notification after the law went into effect after act 746 went into effect notification of the class c going away and everyone being put to a class 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 i deal
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
41:35
in the in the real world with people working every day and when they get stuff from a bureaucracy it just it just we
miss stuff it just happens so i again i appreciate you saying that but i'll find out whatever else second in between now and
Chair
Unverified
41:50
Friday. Thank you all for being here. Senator Dismang you recognize for question.
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
41:55
Thank you Mr. Chair. I'm sorry I walked in from being pulled to the back. Is it possible that I ask a question on item five? 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 dollar increase that you can
Speaker 125
42:17
have and still have an unrestricted, or before you need a restricted license, I guess. Senator, hold on just a second. I believe somebody else presented
Sarah Moore
Unverified
42:26
item five, correct? Yes, that was Dan Parker and Jimmy Lawson. Are they still here? They are not. Okay. But if you, I mean, I can get them to reach out to you and answer whichever question. I just want to make sure we get the right people to answer that. Yes. I don't want to misspeak on that one. Okay. 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 okay thank you members we're 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 act 595 of 2021 allows the agency to submit a written request notifying the subcommittee of its intent to not adopt the request the required rule and 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
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
43:52
forward if you'll have a seat introduce yourself and present your request for exclusion
members the request is also in your
Speaker 133
44:05
packet of information thank you good morning samantha blasting game chief counsel department of inspector general we're here today to request an exclusion from the reporting requirement on rulemaking act 473 of 2025 which is the research and education protection 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 seeing none
do i have a motion to approve the agency's request for exclusion
we have a motion is there a 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 we're moving to item d as a reminder this is a continuation of our review of the group three agency rule reports under act 781 today we have the arkansas state library and
its report is in your packet the report outlines each of the agency's current rules all of which they recommend keeping and continuing to enforce can someone from the agency please come forward and present the rule report.
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
45:59
You recognize to introduce yourself and present your report. Good morning.
Speaker 135
46:12
Courtney Solis Ford, Chief of Staff for the Department of Education.
The 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 the State Library, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions from the committee? 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. Second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion carries. thank you. Members, that brings us to item E. These are agency updates on the status of outstanding rulemaking from the 2023 regular session. Members, we have representatives
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
47:13
from corrections and education here to answer any questions that you may have about their outstanding
rules. A written update from each was provided to staff
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
47:23
as of March 1st, and it's included on the agenda. Does anyone have
any questions for either of these agencies?
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
47:45
Representative Vaught, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Maybe staff can tell us. If not, maybe the department can come back.
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 those rules ma'am rebecca
Speaker 143
48:14
miller rice um counsel in the rules section um representative vott 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 interested
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
48:28
in oh 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 nother session and we still don't have rules for all of these 2023 laws i can't speak
Speaker 144
48:41
to that but i know that they have said that they should be filed in may but um courtney salasford is here for department of education, if you have some questions. Yeah, if
Speaker 34
48:51
she can come to the table, that would be great. Mr. Chair.
Speaker 135
49:05
You're recognized to answer the question. Good morning. Courtney Salis Ford. Yes, Representative Vought. So we had about 90 rules that we promulgated following the 2023 session. Most of the ones that are still on the list were also amended in 2025, and so we knew they were going to be amended again. While we had started the promulgation process, we chose not to conclude it so that we could go ahead and incorporate the 25 amendments.
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. But we do definitely hope to have many of these to you in the coming months. So I think I'll ask a different question
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
49:54
also. Is this something that we usually do? We wait, we pass a law, two years goes by, we have a new session, and then we decide to do rules. Is that something that we practice quite often?
Speaker 135
50:08
No, not typically. and again it was just because of the volume of rules that we had that by the time we again 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
Speaker 148
50:29
certainly not a a common practice nor one that we would want to repeat so one final question
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
50:35
um so these are rules or laws that y'all brought before the legislature
and that's how you knew they were going to be changed in 2025 or updated? Some of them
Speaker 148
50:45
that either we had initiated or that we were made aware by others that they were going to be bringing. Thank you, ma'am.
Chair
Unverified
50:54
Yes, ma'am. Representative Painter, you're recognized for a question. Thank
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
50:59
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 2023 session?
Speaker 143
51:11
Representative Painter, those are the ones that we are aware of are listed in the agenda, and they
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
51:17
report on those. So there's only five rules from across the board that's still
Speaker 143
51:22
left from the 2023 session? Let's see. Corrections has one. Education has one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Okay.
I just want to make sure. Okay, thank you. And a question just for
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
51:38
clarity. Whether a rule has been implemented or not, the department is following whatever the law is that has been passed,
whether in 23, 25, or whenever. Correct. Okay, thank you. Any other
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
51:53
questions for either of these agencies? Seeing none, we thank you for being here
today. It's going to 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 of these agencies?
Elizabeth Pittman
Unverified
52:26
Seeing none, we will file the March 1st monthly written
updates. 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 7
Speaker 8
Speaker 10
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
Speaker 94
Speaker 79
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
Speaker 125
Speaker 133
Speaker 135
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
Speaker 143
Speaker 144
Speaker 34
Speaker 148
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified