Joint Budget Committee

We'll call Joint Budget order first thing this morning we've got we will recognize a representative eleven representative Wardlaw center rifle or special recognition today you already out with the device sales and. Thank you Mr Terry Rice. Jeff Wardlaw. Representive eleven. Members were here today and this is actually a Saturday we're going to lose our security guard in the bureau I know where each and everyone of you know Dave didn't and what he means to us here to bureau and what he does for us on a daily basis a lot of people don't know this but Dave comes in every morning six and checks is whole building to make sure that you guys are safe all day he stays until the last day to the last member leave this building every night and he does that because he cares about state of Arkansas and representatives and senators so um I can't tell you how much will miss David I don't think will ever replace you thank you for all you've done force. Members if you will Your tension like to read this citation says whereas Mr Dave didn't has been a steady presence in the big mac building on the Arkansas state capitol grounds for most of his career was Securitas working not only to ensure the safety of all but make taking the time to get to know the members of the Arkansas legislature legislative staff and also those visiting the building. And whereas Mr didn't has and dear himself to me many during his time at the big mac building as he made a special effort to learn everyone's name and to make personal connections to those he encountered. Is services have gone beyond securing the fifth floor of the building while he has always demonstrated a willingness to do whatever it takes to provide helpful and friendly assistance. Mr didn't has become a friend to many during his time securing the big mac building he will be missed and remembered fondly by those who have appreciated his genuine kindness and professionalism as he and his wife and family make a move from Arkansas to Colorado whereas the house of representatives of the ninety four General Assembly of the State of Arkansas take great pride in recognizing Mr Dave didn't wishes him well in future endeavors would you please give a round of applause for Mr. Day we certainly appreciate all the work you've done of Dave and I had a conversation two days ago and he was talking about going home to Colorado I just didn't realize it was in two days but the. He's certainly a example very of. Portrait of what public services he he certainly was a service for the people of Arkansas and to the Arkansas General Assembly of the state government thank you for your work all right members we're going to. Go on the special language report representative Cavenaugh if you have that you're recognized thank you Mister chair Mister chair the special language subcommittee a joint budget committee met on Wednesday February the eight bit mac B. and the following recommendations the special language in five amendments on the report was reviewed are recommended for approval to be amended in the corresponding bills and the amendments are released from the subcommittee back to the Joint Budget Committee I move for adoption of the report second I have a motion and a second any discussion. All in favor say aye any opposed. Port is adopted. Also your packet we have a Arkansas state police report it's just for you reporting there's no action. We had time to look over. Is there any questions. Seeing no I will file that report. Nicks Adam is the. I don't see him and members C. one has been asked to be a passed over so we're going to see to. Transaction you're recognized. Thank you Mr chairman I don't see too in your packet page five and see packet. This is an amendment by representative Wardlaw Senate bill one forty seven this site has position changes Mr we'll send that to personnel. Continual Mister Anderson thank you Mr chairman item C. three this is a bill by representative by calling and it has a special language an institution that special language. I am C. for this is an amendment by Senator Payton it's to house bill ten ninety three State Library has special language special language. And the last one was chairman is a bill by Senator Johnson it also has specialized which will send that special language. Next one Adam D. the American rescue plan transaction you want to a little brief. Yes Sir so item D. one this is American rescue plan act funding request by the department of commerce Arkansas Economic Development Commission this is for broadband it is four fifty five million three hundred fifty eight thousand two hundred twenty three dollars this comes out of the estate discretionary awards for funding. I have answered anymore questions but on page four. In the in the packet you can see the counties there is a brief summary on page four for the committee you're having the eight can we do have some questions I'll go ahead and have the Department come up just in case. And the first question is senator Chesterfield. You're recognized my. Thank you Mr. Good morning how are you a I'd like to know exactly how much money we have spent on broadband thus far and are there any counties that have been left out and this is why we're doing what we're doing. Good morning jim Hudson chief of staff department commerce Sir just feel. With this announcmenet if it's approved by JBC today it would bring the total amount from all the different tranches restricted reserve cares Act arpa and then capital projects fund to about five hundred and fifty million dollars then when I saw a map of where it existed there were steel large areas that were not impacted a lot of those winds southeast Asian part of the date of the state is this money going to go to that area or just to the areas mentioned here tell me how we are doing this or is a state wide response to the need for broadband yes ma'am well for this particular approval today to the eight will be an actually County in Chico county so there's money going down there and it's also you know it's it's impacting rulers all over Baxter County it is going to get it in the north but there's more work to get done the good news is there's more money coming this particular list was the result of a competitive process you know applications were submitted. Available money was about a hundred fifty million dollars and we selected the projects that fit the budget and have the highest capability for being deployed relatively soon I guess I'm sure to this committee and the A. L. C. several times it to we've done the easy stuff so from here on out it's harder in terms of the level of effort and more expensive but no one gets left out with the federal money that's coming in from the infrastructure bill hundred percent stake it's covered. Has to be what was of concern to me is that there are some some counties that have County judges and others who are very a astute at applying for money. And then there are places where you have maybe the county knows how to do it but you have the small cities who don't know how to access the money is this a county thing or is it city by city or both which actually neither ma'am it's that in yeah take your point agreed to terms a capacity to comply for grants and some counties is the businesses that apply and they have the capacity may have the technical expertise and so to the extent that we are bringing to you a project to be approved because there are ISPs internet service providers in those areas who came together and identified a project that they could do and they submitted an application for that how do we define business does that in school include school systems or what no ma'am it would be a a business is actually in the business of selling internet services to individual consumers and businesses and they decide where they're going to go yes Matt in large already have a footprint there and they're looking to upgrade their physical plant to include fiber now so get faster speeds. I see what I'm I'm gonna let it go but I am concerned because I know in some areas there were difficulties in uploading data even for the election because of the lack of internet service so I'm trying to get to the practical as well as to the businesses so that we are making sure that citizens are able to access what they need to access and students and teachers are able to access what they need to access yes ma'am I agreement thank you so much thank you Mr thank you ma'am okay Senator Murdock you are recognized. Thank you Mr chair along the lines of was sent Chesterfield is asking and we make it talk about some is offline but I know one ADC was kind of running this there was an effort made in my area to buy some businesses as you describe them to. Do this work they were grant money and we have had issues with that issue would performance and now even issues with payment after they performed to some of the vendors and others that they utilized so. This is as we build for this time who can I get with they can give me accurate plan what you have for. Of the delta counties. And and how we're going to do this and what your plan is it with the with the dollars for Mr at the person who you know within the department of commerce and within ADC who is responsible for the day to day administration this program is Mr Glenn how who is the director of the broadband office the state of Arkansas he reports directly to secretary McDonald the commerce secretary and I can assure you Senator McDonald as a a former CEO of a major utility in this state he understands project management how projects of this scope I need to run and he's asking great questions about how we're monitoring delivery of services so to welcome me on offline conversation about specific concerns I will tell the committee though that it is a concern that we share is to make sure that what is promised is actually delivered that's an important concern for us to thank. Senator Rapert you're recognized for a question. Thank you I just I just thank you for the questions I think Senator Murdock center Chesterfield had very good ones and I just wanted to kind of reminds and highlights come of the process that we've all kind of undertaken in this this legislature has supported so the rule ID broadband grant program actually did work a lot with our cities in our counties and our school districts to work in cooperation with a lot of our internet providers to really leverage as much federal funding and state funding as we could that lead to us having the comprehensive statewide consulting a plan and which led to a lot of a strategic information to develop a broad plan for the state of Arkansas to work in conjunction with all of the internet providers and all the entities that senator Chesterfield outlined so that was a comprehensive survey and strategic planning which I think was money well spent and that got us to you know a really robust I think situation as to where we are now making very informed decisions about internet in placement and how to leverage our state funds with those federal dollars coming down so I just I think it's beneficial just to remind everyone the incredible process that so many people started so long ago and I think Senator Chesterfield went around the state talking about this and so am it's been it's been a it's been a long long process that everybody is pitched in and pulled in the same direction and I think it's great I'm grateful to see a lot of those orange cables all across the state of Arkansas right Senate committees are probably not as great from the moment that they're having to go through the construction but they're they're they're great for that the output if if I may just very quickly to center Chesterfield point It's not miss a part of this particular release of money but with the infrastructure bill that is been passed there is money coming down in the summertime right now we are working on a digital equity plan that is required by the federal government we have been doing road shows around the state you know interacting with community leadership we're working with the Hartland for their kind of our really our policy analyst on this to help us increase our capacity we want to make sure that all of the community institutions you know have a say they have to give us their feedback on what their needs are we're not making assumptions and a really important to note missed required in the federal law that once we complete a hundred percent deployment to all the households in the state. The excess funds that we will have and I think we will have access funds can then be used to enhance what is available to what they call community anchor institutions so now we just hospitals but also clinics libraries schools so it it is a part of it is just not we're not in that part of the sequence yet but it's coming. It's huge is my. Thank you for the latitude because I think it's such an important discussion because it's such a huge investment in our infrastructure for the for the for the time that we are in right now the digital equity piece is very important and that was part of the statewide survey and strategic plan you gotta make sure you have quality service and that the providers are held to a level of accountability so that people have quality products that they can afford so I I think that was really across the board and I think it's very important to all of us thank you for the latitude is. Sir just for you for the question yes I guess that I would use that term just a quick question. A I'd like to know. At one point we had a Blue Ribbon task force dealing with emergency services throughout the state have we upgraded all of them because we had places that were using X. P. as its digital platform and so as we travel the state we found that the discrepancy between those emergency services that are that have been put into place for our citizens that we use this money to upgrade those as well ma'am that's outside kind Mary responsibility in commerce is our responsibility I would say we've not use any of this particular funding for that okay but the other funding pools I'm sure we've got so many silos it's just so hard to keep and this is this one the bigger silos to. Yes ma'am all right thank you and thank you Senator Irvin for informing us about the digital equity piece I was unaware of it it happy to have a conversation tell you more about that issue that please because I sometimes I feel like I'm on the team and then I've been fine I don't have the uniforms they don't know what you're talking about is a little frustrating thank you so. Are you saying no more questions will take a motion to approve the eight projects we have a motion and a second. Any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed the project or adopted mistranslation thank you. Thank you Mr thank you Mr chairman we're on item the one now. Hi to me wanted this is this requires approval also Mister chairman this is for UAMS they're requesting appropriation from the various temporary holding account that is to give them spending authority to support the rural hospital reclassification as part of the expansion of the graduate and medical experts education GME program this is for four million dollars and this goes with the next item F. one which is the release to fund this appropriation okay of members even A. N. effort tied together so this is the this is the appropriation I have a motion and a second any discussion. All in favor say aye any opposed restraint thank you Mr chairman again approval is required for this one item F. one this is a to fund the appropriation of is just approved it is out of restricted reserve fund and if the current bid is for four million dollars for that program. I have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor say aye. Any opposed transferred approved. Yeah. Hold on I didn't see it was. Senator flowers thank you. Of I think it was last week or so. There was a amendment to a bill maybe chairman. DISMANG will recall ma'am that bill's going away. It's going away yes ma'am now that we did this okay so the upgrade from four hundred thousand to ten million. Okay you want you want a letter sent this by claiming this is bill yes two separate issues there I think and the that was just an appropriation increase in case we are able to find funds to further expand the genie program that's one time cost of think of was thought to be close to ten million over three year period at this point would not work out the details of this just preparation that is this is for the conversion and I'm gonna get way over my head here there's a one time cost regards the conversion to a rule hospital designation which allows for some help with the GME program and that's a it's a one time cost of four million dollars that's with this letters for. So you got you got this which will help fund in the future and then the other will help expand the program. Centerview got question just I do have a bill on the four million which is in special language so once this passes will pull that the okay okay. Thank you for the clarification. All right I guess we're down to of the House packet yes Sir Mr. Thank you Mr chairman. So bills are ready in the House packet that's H. upper right hand corner on page one house bill ten fifty court of appeals. House bill ten fifty two we have a motion motion and a second any discussion all in favor say aye opposed Mr chairman thanks to page two in that packet it's house bill ten sixty for legislative audit is ready for do pass also Legarda ten sixty Ford have a motion we have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor say aye opposed. Mr men in the House packet on the last page page twenty one. House bill thirteen sixty two corrections department this is a supplemental this is a that was approved by the governor's letter requested by the governor's letter it is now before the committee for their consideration House thirteen sixty two supplemental of the department of corrections have a motion I have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed the last bill in this package house bill thirteen sixty three DFA disbursing officer this is the second supplemental for that governor's request thirty sixty three also supplemental appropriation we have a motion and a second any discussion. All in favor say aye any opposed. Shares will Senate back in. Yes Sir. On page eight Senate bill thirty four pure of Legislative Research is ready. Page eight Senate bill thirty four have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor say aye opposed. Still on page eight Senate bill thirty seven Supreme Court Supreme Court Senate bill thirty seven got a motion and a second any discussion. All in favor say aye opposed. Mr chairman on page twelve. On twelve in your senate package Senate bill sixty nine administrative office of the courts this is for the court personnel appropriation Senate bill sixty nine. I have a motion and a second we have any discussion. All in favor say aye. Any opposed Henderson still page twenty Senate bill seventy This Is administrative office of courts this is their operating appropriation Senate bill seventy have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor say aye opposed the last bills on the last page in this last one it's Senate bill two fourteen DHS medical services this is the final supplemental request in the governor's letter Senate bill two fourteen this is a supplemental. Got a motion and a second any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed members of what's through your emails and the webpage right now we're not anticipating on meeting to use the but if we need to would be of the call of the chair of claims commission will meet next Wednesday the fifteenth at seven thirty in the morning and we will have a meeting for sure next Thursday at nine AM but just watch your emails and web is see if we have a call of the chair and a life we get some governors letters over the weekend but anyway thank you for your good work we are adjourned.