Revenue & Taxation- House

Where you're recognized resent your bill. I'm representative Julie Mayberry I'm gonna let my guest introduce herself. You need a key and the immediate past chair of the Arkansas early childhood association public policy committee I my day job is I consulted with dot to dot consulting. Good morning glad to have you here you can go and present your bill thank you first of all I want to give thanks to representative less Eads for allowing us to have discussion here today members you know we're not voting on this bill today we can't vote on it because there is a fiscal impact to it and we're not gonna do that until after an education bill gets through an after an income tax bill gets through and all that so this is actually a wonderful feeling for me because I'm not trying to get you to vote yes today. It takes some of the pressure off and really I think I wish we could do more bills like this to where we're talking about the bill and having discussion of it so I have a bill you have to file a bill to get a fiscal impact and we do have a fiscal impact on it but my goal today is to hear from you as members and to also allow you to hear from many people who work here the reasons why we need a bill like this I admittedly will say this is probably not the bill. That needs to be passed it it needs some work and I want your input I want your input everybody who's here I wish we had more opportunities to pass bills like this that we know that we've all worked on together so um this does deal with early childhood care and it is a crisis in the state we need to be building a better infrastructure not only for businesses in this state I'm sure many of you have had businesses in your community say there's not enough child care I can't get workers to work but also if we want to improve K. twelve education we need to start at birth. And that is when the child's brain is growing the most zero to three and it is where we spend the least amount of time thinking about and working towards I can go on but I don't want you to hear from me I want to hear from the experts today and so I brought Jeanette to kind of share what we're dealing with in the state. Thank you. So I started in early education after my first job out of college was fifth grade school teacher and ended up in a long course of events in HR for a for profit child care company in the nineties and I remember the first week of that job I found out what we actually paid people at that time I had a toddler who's now thirty and I was like how you can get anybody can work this job so I say that to say I I've said for a long time I hope we can get this figured out and I'll probably be gray which I don't know if you can see from here that's happened but I hope I'm not dead so that's my motivation today and that we have done every thing that can be done to improve the quality of early education in this state with the resources that have been provided but until we address the workforce issue we will go no further so I think that's really my bottom line today we've been looking at how we might do that this bill is modeled after a bill that was passed in Louisiana in two thousand and seven and it's been done very effectively for so we know that the most important component of the early childhood classroom is it's teacher not unlike our technical K. twelve counterparts but in my state minimum licensing requirement is that I need to be eighteen years of age and free of some criminal background history and tuberculosis free so we've got a ten year old girls. Caring for very young children and I think what we have mistakenly thought for and decades is that this is babysitting and it is not the brain research tells us that there's more happening in those first five years than at any other time and specifically around executive function skills and if you ask any employer in your area that's what they want from their employees executive function is I work well with others I show initiative I'm a problem solver those skills start in infancy and they are that groundwork is laid before I ever get to kindergarten so the women and some men were like ninety nine percent as you can see by the people behind me that are caring for those children are far from being babysitters we consider ourselves brain builders we go by lots of names but one one of my colleagues did the math we've got when I enter into an early education program as a six month infant as my family goes back to work and I stay in an early education program and in a child care setting so that my family can continue to work or go back to school I will have spent eleven thousand five hundred hours in this setting and you will not come up with a number equal to that until I get to the end of ninth grade from the day I start kindergarten eleven thousand five hundred hours so you can't say that the people working in these programs albeit eighteen years of age making minimum wage our teachers right but that's where that that's where the disconnect is we have what we call a trilemma in early childhood education that there's a cost quality in compensation and until you address them all simultaneously you can't move them forward so our wages do not encourage educated work force they don't encourage in a work force to stay in their location which affects the quality of care the implementation of curriculum with fidelity is one of the number one Indicators that a child will have a positive outcome and building positive relationships if you got turnover that's higher than one might want to admit you're not gonna have either of those things so but we can't we increase the wages without passing that on to parents and my guess is that you've already heard from constituents that child care costs too much so that's we can't find ourselves between what we might call rock and a hard place and that the only thing to do is that we're going to have to support outside the system we've placed early education and in a public market and it's not working that it's based on that what parents can afford and what the quality of care any child should receive priority can card should not be exclusively based on what the family can afford. I I do want to point out that the beginning part of this bill deals with work force incentives and I thought it was a really important part of that bill and now I think it's even more important I do want to point out that our education bill that we will see here soon that the starting teacher salary will be fifty thousand dollars a year which is great for teachers but if we're trying to recruit and retain early childhood educators. Who will be working twelve months out of the year and won't have Christmas break off and won't have spring break off and work until six o'clock at night and don't get off at three you're gonna have a hard time even more difficult time recruiting those early childhood educators because they're going to say I love being around children so let me instead do K. twelve and they're going to back away from early childhood education so I think that's an unintended consequence that we need to think about and start working on how do we fix that going forward the other thing that I want to point out is that I'm excited that in that plan that it moves early childhood education to our education department so we are beginning to think of it as education and not just babysitting so want to start out with that so the very beginning if you'll notice it deals with some uncensored incentives and tax incentives for our workers to attain certain levels of certification and they would get a tax credit to if if they have that which is going to help them might actually need to be a little bit more now. Do you do you mind sharing how much are our. Educator early educators are making right now so the University of Arkansas for medical sciences put together a work for study for us in two thousand and seventeen the updated in August twenty twenty two and there is a most of our educators even with a child development associate credential so um a nationally recognized credential and an associate's degree are still making in the fourteen dollar range so that's the that's the tricky part right I've got a scholarship program in my state thanks to some additional money that was received from the federal government previous to the pandemic and the division of child care provided some seed money to get that started so we have hundreds of people going back to college to get their CDA or their associates degree but when I get out I'm going to make an extra fifty cents or a dollar now when I think about my nontraditional students who often are leaving children to attend class I'm just not sure I'm willing to do that for fifty cents on the dollar when I get done but that's all they can do that's what they squeezed out the profit margin in an early education program on average across the country's three percent. And most of you who own a business would have gone into business for three percent profit margin and what eighties is that that profit is kind of a misnomer because really it just means with the air conditioner break down we can fix it or the van that picks up the school age kids means we can fix it so that's what we're talking about is how how that razor thin margins for our programs and the only way to give that new scholar added money for that acquired education which we know affects the quality is the pass it on the parents. So this part where we're doing the incentive does improve hopefully some salaries but and and help them economically with some intent income tax cuts but also would improve the quality of care and so as I'm as we mentioned Gina mentioned this this bill idea the root of it is from what was done in Louisiana that's the base of this and I do want to point out that this is from Louisiana. The number of centers with higher quality ratings two to five stars increased more than sixfold from seventy three and two thousand eight to four hundred and sixty in twenty eleven and the proportion of centers with quality ratings of two to five stars more than tripled from fifteen percent in two thousand eight to almost fifty percent in twenty eleven and then the number of directors and staff would level one credentials increase from nine hundred and sixty three in two thousand eight to two thousand six hundred and twenty and twenty eleven the number of directors and staff with higher level credentials levels two three and four increase from two hundred and eighty four in two thousand eight to one thousand six hundred and three and twenty eleven so we have the the stats to show that that peace can work we have to figure out what the amount is is right and whether I mean basically we chose the numbers that you Louisiana currently is using I kind of rounded them off because there were odd numbers. But the other part of the bill if you if you look at the DFA impact on it you might have had some questions because DFA makes reference to there only being three levels in the state of Arkansas of care and my bill references six levels and so that might be confusing to a lot of people well I had to write it that way because in December we went from three levels to six levels and they are R. the the child development centers are now starting to apply to move them from a level three to level four five or six or whatever level they they can move to time you Williams from the from DHS is here I'd love to see if I can get her up here to kind of explain these levels because that is the important part of this bill. You would just please introduce yourself for the record Tony Williams director of the division of child care and early childhood education thank you so we had three levels since two thousand ten in Arkansas and in December we brought over a package through the at promulgation process to add three additional levels because what we found in the eleven twelve years that we've been operating in what we really knew early on is that at level three we have providers that exceeded that level they really were above that and we want to honor that so we added those additional levels four through six M. and we have about thirty or forty programs that have applied since the beginning of January to level what we call level at our increase their level go from level three to maybe level four three six As you can imagine it's like any kind of quality system the higher the levels the requirements increase you know staffing child ratios start to decrease staffing qualifications increase we used two different tools that are nationally recognized one is called the environment rating scale and one is called the program administration skill for centers and that's really to look at this is a business and if you're gonna run a business properly you need to have policies financial procedures personnel procedures in place of that program Administration scale or business administration K. scale for family childcare adds that element for these programs to get really financially solid and have good policies in place. Happy to take any questions. If if possible I would love to to have Gina come back up and and sit here and see if we can answer some questions to members I also don't want to take up too much time answering too many questions because I do have a lot of people who want to speak not necessarily for against the bill but just explain what what the situation is so do you all have questions. Members any questions. I think your testimony so good they don't have any questions quite yet so just keep going that's great then I then I if you if you don't mind I would love for them to also hear from so we hadn't missed daycare believe she's already spoken and the next on the list It would be a livia Gardner. I believe she is signed up to speak for the bill. If you just with the introduce yourself for the record you can go ahead Sturch yes Sir a good morning Mr chairman and members of the committee hi my name is Olivia Gardner I'm the director of education Policy Arkansas advocates for children and families were an organization that's been advocating for Arkansas's children since nineteen seventy seven I'm gonna try not be repetitive today of the things that you've already heard very valid arguments for families across the state one of the most challenging parts of having a baby is finding high quality and affordable child care this makes it difficult for parents how to enter re enter or stay in the work force the pandemic also exacerbated issues in child care or child care system and created an impossible situation for parents employers and child care providers. There are working parents who are struggling to find the balance between child care and work children struggling our children who are missing about valuable educational opportunities employers who are wondering when their employees with children will be able to return to work and child care providers who are fighting to stay open and serve their communities. Our state's economy loses out on hundreds of millions of talk hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity because of lack of child care options this bill will help businesses retain workers and help parents get to work and it's not speculative as Gina and representative Mayberry mentions similar legislation has been in place for easy in and seen success I I won't go into all the compensation issues and and the crisis that are early childhood educators face but this bill would be a positive step in addressing the compensation issues that have been mentioned and allow centers to stay open and be fully staffed therefore allowing families to go back to work with the peace of mind that their children are in high quality and safe environments thank you. Thank you for that members any questions. And I'm sorry for my voice. All good I have seen no questions thank you for your testimony next on the list would be Amanda Baldwin. Morning you just would push your button there and then state your name for the record you can go and get started sure I'm Amanda Baldwin I'm the program coordinator for a program for children and family in the delta of a state childhood services and I'm here to speak about being a director of our early childhood programs and the issues that we have had over especially over the last few years with having enough staff and quality staff to work at our centers it so I have been in this position for about twenty five years total the or bin an early childhood for about twenty five years and that over the last few years it's been the hardest that it ever has been getting staff for our centers and it is the one the quality of does that staff the for workforce also the B. to be able to compensate them for that at credentials that we're asking them to have when they come in so um we are located or I'm located at a state and we have a vast variety of state college students graduating and yet we can't seem to recruit them into our early childhood classrooms because we cannot compensate them for the degree that they have just completed and we have classrooms that have not been opened because we can't stop them we have a waiting list of young children especially infants and toddlers one of our centers alone has more than a hundred children on the weight infants on the wait list and we cannot give that parents of space because we do not have the teachers in the classroom to be able to provide the care that they need to go to work and so we are. Continuously interviewing trying to find that quality a staff member and and we're just not been able to find them the one to work qualified have left to go on to bigger and better things that can pay them more and we are still looking for you know the people who are those brain builders that are wanting to be there for those children. And so that's that's why we need this bill. Thank you for that members any questions. Maxing nine thank you for your testimony. The next room Nick Horton. I'm speaking on a different bill ten twenty seven I apologize. You don't wanna speak on this one. it's a little bit hard to read here got is it correct moral. By said that wrong just introduce yourself record you go to get started yes Sir correct men at the presidency of peoples bank insured Arkansas good morning chairman and members of the committee I'm here today is a father of three again a president CEO of the community banking shared in Arkansas and that a founding board member of grace discovery center faith based center that cares for about sixty five children for the past seven years and so what that what I've seen from my standpoint is definitely too needs access to high quality education and like the previous Speaker said that zero to two infant range is a critical critical need to I see it from the center I see for my employees I see it from my neighbors at in my community in Grant County I believe we only have one better beginnings level that's at our school district there's no better beginnings leveled at child care facilities in our Grant County district and then and and in our ceiling County should you stand area we only have one so what I love about this bill is is going to incentivize higher quality standards for childcare facilities at the second issue we face is the compensation attracting and retaining talent and again this bill does a great job at it pinpointing the incentives to to get a to making those teachers obtain higher credentials and higher quality care and so just wanna provide my perspective from outside the education system and what this means to to my community. That left your baby you're recognized. Does your institution provide child care expenses as a a benefit to your employees if you feel so strongly on this out right now we do not do you have plans to do that no it's something that we've discussed and you know I've just seen this bill for a couple of times you know whenever we provide employee benefits we want to you know of provided to employees across the board and so that that's one thing that I would just have to Challenge on how to to give benefits to a certain you know group of employees and not the others but Kind of the same thing this committees having to do with a lot of these bills that we're seeing today yes thank you. thank you Senate members any other questions. All right. There's no one else signed up to speak for or against the bill representative Mayberry I have a question or two. I'm recognized thank you. I forgot to announce really have got some special guests here my mother and stepfather and sandy lock over here my mother was an early childhood that the the teacher and a director so mom you have and then you want to say you get. I'll come on mom I need your help mom. All right so. I've got daughters that have both struggled to find the child care for their young children it's an unbelievable expense for some of the young family so I certainly appreciate the bill one of the questions I would have is have you talked with anyone in the governor's office about how this bill would interface or work with what they're gonna do regarding pre K. in the in the education bill that we're waiting on so I've had some limited discussion as you know there are other things that are a little bit more pressing and so there have has probably not been enough that's the difficulty of a brand new governor coming in I have had discussions with people before numerous staff members these are all things that I sent to DHS well in advance with the talking about this for a while you all as members no it's just kind of hard we've had a very short amount of time it's drinking through a fire hose you know. Well as I certainly support the idea notes on that we need to do and then the other question I had was it should this bill pass this would be the only if at least from my understanding the only refundable tax credit that we have something knowing that we're not going to vote on this bill today I think that maybe that's something we can all kind of discussed how that looks and maybe get with the FNA and and see how that looks but that's the only question I really have members yet the other questions represented Mayberry. I know you want closure the bill yeah I I would just like to say that that my goal today was really to to bring attention to it if you don't want to discuss out loud right now by all means come to me and and tell me what your concerns are we have lots of other things to it to discuss as well anybody else watching or in the room I will say I want to make note that excel by eight has been out there for a long time working very hard on issues like this and Jamie ward could not be here today I'm sorry about that I would love to allowed you to hear from her as well card is is biggest can be on this issue and and I'll be honest with you some of the criticism that I I know that's out there came to me right after right away after I filed the bill that it's a little confusing and businesses one it's simplified you know it make it a little bit easier and that it's not that much of a credit and incentive for the business to do it that it's a really small amount we only have so much money to go around though so if we increase that then we increase the fiscal impact so those are all decisions that we truly can't make until other things pass and we see how much money we have to work with but open to ideas on how to fix those those issues and address them. All right thank you I just I just believe support this out again I don't know if this bills one or or maybe it is but I absolutely know that that in a big investment pre Kate will solve a lot of society's ills right now well I I do want to point out could you say pre K. and and and pre K. is three four years old and and really where the crisis is is zero to three so that's why I want to make sure we're thinking even earlier yeah I I agree well thank you for the testimony thank you of those of that you that spoke again we're doing everyone the same way any bill that has a fiscal impact we're going to let them be heard and we will wait to take a vote on these bills as we kind of get more understanding of what money is left over after some of the big bills that are coming our way so I appreciate very much thank you thank you. I remember that takes us down to representative ray house bill ten twenty six this will be a concurrence and Senate Amendment. Representative ray you're recognized. Okay thank you Mr chairman colleagues the house bill ten twenty six is the bill we passed out of here in a week or so ago and on when I got to the Senate in an eagle eyed proofreader caught a one word typo and so we need to amend that to avoid a double negative there and that's that's the concurrence on the amendment be happy to answer any questions members any questions. No questions. Okay. Seeing no questions no one signed up to speak for against amendment presented rate you're closed yes Sir would you like to make a motion I move that we I'm a do pass on the concurrence of a motion the concurrence Senate Amendment all do pass all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed congratulations your bill is passed and if you'll stay right there will move you down the house bill ten twenty seven you're recognized. All right thank you Mr chairman so moving from house bill ten twenty six to ten twenty seven this bill would require voter approval of any new advertising and promotion tax or an increase in the rate of an existing advertising and promotion tax and that's all the bill does there are no other substantive changes in the bill I do wanna emphasize just because I've had a few questions that the voter approval would only apply to a new tax or to an increase in the rate of an existing tax so for your areas that already have an advertising and promotion tax this bill would not affect them unless they want to increase the rate in which case they would just simply have to seek voter approval on that. The the reason for the reason that I'm running the bill is because I believe that whenever possible it's reasonable that voters ought to be able to consent when their taxes are being increased most not all but most local taxes have to be approved by a vote of the people before they can going to affect think for example a local option sales tax or an increase in a in a school millage for example but that doesn't currently applied to advertising and promotion taxes those can be passed by just simply enacting an ordinance and I think that our our laws and policies should be designed in a way that airs on the side of protecting the taxpayer if you look at statistics from the tax foundation for example if they show that our overall tax burden is still the highest in the southeast of State local combined and that's even after eight years of significant work of lowering our tax burden and if you look at the rankings on sales tax in particular the state and local combined sales tax is the third highest in that we have the third highest in the country and then the AMP Tax is layered in on top of that so it's even higher than it looks in a lot of instances so what that looks like in reality is for taxes that you pay on prepared food at a restaurant you know in little rock north little rock Fayetteville hot springs some of these areas you're talking about tax that is higher than in forty seven out of America's fifty largest cities so if you go to a restaurant and enjoy a meal with your family your taxes going to be higher than it would be in Las Vegas or New York LA or San Francisco so those are that's just some of the things that I have taken the consideration here accident of of. worked with several or work you know communicated with several groups around this legislation I've amended a few times to address some of the concerns from the Municipal League and little rock convention for conventions and business visitors bureau and so I feel like we've gotten the bill in a good place that everybody can live with and with that I'd be happy to take any questions representative Cavenaugh you're recognized thank you Mr chair if they want to reduce it does it require an election. No I did not include a provision to require an election to reduce the tax because I I think most people would mind if their taxes were reduced just wanna make sure yeah. Thank representative members any other questions. All right see no other questions we do have a couple folks signed up to speak. for the bill we've got the cordon. Just introduce yourself for the record you go again yes thank you Mr chairman I do wanna speak on this bill it. Sorry about that no no worries they'll tell me I should step in spoke so maybe I should have I think the chance to speak today my name's the cordon and I'm the founder of seed and CEO of in the new group here Arkansas code opportunity Arkansas action to me I see this bill H. B. ten twenty seven is really about one thing and represent a very touched on some of these but to me it's really about fairness there's other benefits like having more voter participation in local government and keeping taxes low so our communities can thrive but ultimately to me this is about creating a level playing field in Arkansas to my knowledge there's no other local tax that can be imposed a raise at the local level without the direct consent of the voter's sales taxes and millage is all sorts of other local taxes require a vote of the people. Except for the advertising and promotion tax or the MP Tax and I think this is fundamentally wrong and unfair I think the citizens of Arkansas Arkansas should have a say in this tax just like they do the other ones. And in fact I think it might be even more important when it comes to this issue that voters have a say because this tax affects the cost of food. Cost of lodging. It also creates an unaccountable unelected NP commission to oversee the funds. I think creating an AMP tax at the local level is a very serious matter. And it should not be taken lightly. Or rush through a city council or quorum court without input from the taxpayer's. These taxes can also be raised as high as four percent in some cases. Without a vote of the people again. After they've been initially imposed and I think this is again fundamentally unfair but would be addressed by this legislation the other thing I would add in all keep my remarks short is there has been some polling done on this topic in voters Arkansas voters about two to one support the opportunity to speak and weigh in on AMP taxes at the local level including a majority of independent voters. I think the great thing alternately about this bill is that you can be for the a and P. taxes or you can be against AMP taxes and you can still support this legislation because ultimately this bill is about fairness and simply letting the people of Arkansas have a say in how their money is being spent. Thank you members any questions. Right the philosophical question sure. Being that you know I think both of us and I don't know you personally but I know of you for a number of years and they represented rate I've had this discussion somewhat but you at every year this this General Assembly raises or lowers taxes or fees in some way without a vote of the people so philosophically could I agree with most what you're saying nine but the. Citizens back home elect their city councils to represent them in what they think is best for the city. So how do you reconcile what we do down here verses taken that ability of the city council to do what they were elected to do from those people that elected them clearly if they do something that the most of the citizens don't like they could on election night vote out of office so to speak but do you how do you see this is not being all over bearing from the state side. I think it's a fair question I think that argument would probably have a little bit bit more weight with me personally if all the other local taxes dinner also require input from voters so I think this one's a little bit of an out liar in that case and the other thing I would say I think at the state level it's it's a little bit more difficult when you've got a hundred thirty five people plus state agencies plus the governor's office with the veto pen plus you've got a three fourths requirement that you've got a clear in order to to do something like that so I think the hurdles there's a little bit more accountability for checks and balances there when you're trying to raise taxes at the state level versus at the city level you've got you know a city councillors and they can just five of them can can do this without any input okay I appreciate that incinerate yet yeah if I could just build on that answers your It for anyone who's interested in requiring voter approval of tax increases at the state level you see me later about cosponsoring HJR one thousand four. Okay let's stay on topic you. Thank you for that the members any questions of Mr Horton. All right saying that Nick thank you for coming thank you thank you and we have. The. Joseph Johns. Mark good morning you you're recognized you introduce yourself for the record you can go ahead begin good morning thank you representative right Germany is my name is Joseph Johnson I at work is a policy analyst at the Arkansas center for research in economics or acre we are privately funded research organization within the economics finance insurance and risk management department at UCLA right now I'll be speaking on my own behalf I don't represent the interests you CA or anyone else in the university and their interest for house bill ten twenty seven but again I'd like to just make three quick points about what house bill ten twenty seven does today the first is that what the bill does provide stronger protections for voters in its original form which required and P. elections to be held in general or primary elections I'd the the current bill as it stands requiring anti tax elections on to being or MP to a taxes to be include in their special elections is still improvement because anti tax commissions can still pass and be taxes without any sort of we again this was brought up in in the last testimony but they can still be brought up and and so passed by the anti tax measure without any sort of voter approval I think that this bills at least a small improvement on that again I'm talking about the different kind of taxes that are that are currently required to be approved by by voters of verses that local governments must seek voter approval prior I pledge revenue for bond payments under Amendment nineteen of the Arkansas state constitution our school districts was also hold elections for county property millage rate increases and then I counties and cities must also hold elections to pass a local option sales taxes as the court mentioned earlier and the Arkansas Municipal League has been working with representative around this bill and they actually asked me in two thousand eighteen the. At fifty seven Arkansas cities and towns have AMP taxes ranging between one and four percent a little rock of course the highest at four percent because they have one percent a decision not to provide for public parks. And seconds there's a higher voter turnout for general and primary elections than for for special elections again the former version of this bill would have required general primary elections to be where a and P. taxes were listed but the Arkansas municipal league House spoke with representative ray and we feel that that is a better way to before but this bill to have them be included on special election ballots instead of a general primary. And I do have a a short hand out here that solves describe briefly but there's been research by Dr Jeremy corporate all it to you in the the university of central Arkansas that says that there's a lower voter turnout for special elections than for general and primary elections between two thousand twenty and nineteen eighty one and be again Ford for general elections is a forty four percent turnout with a a corresponding forty four percent passage rate for Arkansas local option sales taxes county local option sales taxes during primary elections there's a twenty three percent voter turnout with the fifty seven percent passage rate and then finally at the opposite and there's a nineteen percent voter turnout for special another elections as well and I corresponding to seventy six percent passage rate we see an inverse relationship between voter turnout and passage rate and right now we're trying to essentially close that gap and and make sure that as many Arkansas voters have the chance to support or or oppose the the tax legislation that the MP Tax commissions are proposing. third the the cost of special elections has been high in Arkansas since nineteen eighty one the there been over one thousand four local option sales taxes elections since nineteen eighty one which costs an estimated ten million dollars to administer and this implies an average total cost of two hundred fifty thousand dollars per year for the past forty years course's NO data for anti tax collections because this would require this bill would be the first one requiring such elections to happen but we we do think that that's at least to a good idea right to to start doing that and finally the combined out of state and local tax rate in counties with cities that have an anti tax can reach upwards of eight point six three percent and and cities such as little rock is a six point five percent of course statewide sales tax the Pulaski County sales tax is one percent The Little Rock city sells or state tax sales taxes one point one three percent so in short I. house bill ten twenty seven I required a few taxes to be listed during primary and general elections but has since been amended to required a few taxes to be listed on special election ballots this still positive change but since voters currently aren't consulted at all unless you count the the representative democratic process which I think comes just a little bit short. It's again I'd like to thank you for after hearing just wanted and to be happy to answer any questions. Our members any questions. Representative right you're recognized yes Sir thank you Mr chairman once again Sir as you were speaking of about the elections being in primary and also in general general elections is that the only two times at this time. The tax would be so will the the bill originally it was written such that and P. taxes be included during general primary elections but it's been since been it isn't been amended of course by the Arkansas Municipal League in representative ray in conjunction to I have those anti taxes included on special election ballots only. So. Follow up surveys you don't have bathrooms is so it would only be those two times. And I have sent the representative representative ride they would they would be able to hold that election on on any date that's allowable under seven eleven two oh five that's the statute that governs when local measures elections can be held and currently they have four days per year that they could put that on okay thank you. Thank you Mr thank you president representative right members any other questions. Seeing none thank you for your testimony. Thank you. There's no one else signed up to speak for or against the bill. The representative ray would you like to close for your bill. Yes thank you Mister chairman I'm I'm close to the bill and I moved to pass all right members thank you for the bill and we have a motion do pass is there any discussion on the motion. Not saying none all those in favor signify by saying aye. Oppose ayes have it congratulations you pass your bill thank you Committee thank you for your patience. Member that is all we have on the agenda today we will be. Probably in fact I say we will be meeting Thursday I'll let you know whether it's nine o'clock or ten o'clock so just keep your phones and look out for that and then sending else three nine we're adjourned.