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- October 5, 2026
committee to order. Chair, see a quorum. Co-chair, would you like to say anything?
i think she's tied up so okay all right so we'll go into items for review uh tony if
Speaker 8
1:39
you'll take over on that thank you mr chairman item b is a request from the department
Speaker 9
1:44
of public safety arkansas state police they're requesting to surrender three corporal positions at leso sevens in return for an as or three asp lieutenants at leso nine the positions are requested for the i-40 corridor to cover the increase in new troopers providing proper supervision and ensured chain
of command the cost of the positions is estimated to be at eighty nine thousand dollars that's out of general revenue this request does not increase the total number of positions at the division and opm has recommended the requested swap okay you've
heard from tony do you have any questions if not I'll entertain a motion second all right all right all those in favor say aye all opposed same sign motion
Speaker 8
2:31
is approved item c mr chairman item c is a request from arkansas state university
Speaker 9
2:38
at jonesboro the request is for three project program administrator pool positions from the higher education central growth pool these positions will be assigned to work with the administration faculty and students within the college of veterinary medicine which receives its first class of students this fall the duties will include developing recruitment strategies administrative and curricular support for the first year courses and student activities as well as the student ambassador program the department of higher ed has recommended these requests the requested positions and this will increase the total number of positions authorized
at asu by three okay you've heard the report uh any questions all right i will entertain a motion second all right have a motion and a
Speaker 8
3:23
second all in favor say aye any opposed motion is approved item d mr chairman item d has been
Speaker 9
3:31
pulled so we're on to item e item e is a request from the department of commerce economic development commission for an extra help position through the Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act.
Peer approved the appropriation for this position yesterday. Personnel is tasked with reviewing the requested title. OPM has recommended the requested title, which is an extra help. And according to the agency, we reached out. This is going to be a fiscal-related position involved in budgeting and auditing the program. All right. You've heard what he had
to say on that. Any questions? I'll entertain a motion. All right. Second. All right. Motion in a second. All those in favor say aye. Any opposed? All right. Motion is approved.
Speaker 9
4:17
We'll move on to the report. Mr. Chairman, none of the reports require action. I want to point out one in particular, which is item F. This is a reduction in force that was done at Veterans Affairs. It eliminated six positions. The employees in those positions were eligible for severance and a special
Speaker 14
4:37
re-employment consideration with other state agencies. Okay. Any questions on that? Okay, I have questions.
I'm sorry. Hold on one second. Senator Petty, you're recognized. Did
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
5:09
I miss it? Hit the mic. There you go. there we go now you recognize thank you mr. chair uh and and i'm not sure who this is addressed to but but anytime we we do anything that affects veterans uh i'd like to have just a little bit
more uh knowledge and so especially when we're talking about a reduction in force that could potentially affect the uh the services that we provide to veterans so just a little bit of insight if you could on the process
and sure if you would come to the table once you get seated introduce yourselves are you on
bear with us just a second we'll get you working are any of
Speaker 30
6:26
your microphones working oh there's there we go good afternoon I'm
Colonel Rob Ader I am the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Speaker 31
6:32
forever all right sir Wayne Ruth and I'm chief of staff at Veterans Affairs all right
Chair
Unverified
6:42
I'm Rochelle Garcia I'm the HR administrator for Veterans Affairs
thank you okay senator Petty you're recognized for your question so the question
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
6:51
was just uh and I know uh Colonel that a lot of thought and and you're of all people are going to be looking out for veterans but I just
wanted to know uh for for the sake of the audience here what drove that decision and and to be assured that it's not going to affect services to our veterans absolutely
Speaker 35
7:10
and and Senator let me let me start off by saying I really really appreciate the question
Speaker 37
7:16
um and what this body does to make sure that we're taking care of our veterans in the state of Arkansas. That's very, very important to us, and the partnership that we have with you all is vitally important. So I really want you to look at this not as a rift per se. It was a restructuring. So the last time that the Department
of Veterans Affairs was restructured was in 1979, and the structure that we had is not reflective of all that we want to do to be able to take care of veterans. So specifically what I was doing to live within our own budgetary limitations. Again, you know, 88% of the funding that I have for the agency comes from the federal government via reimbursement, and about 14%, or I'm sorry, about 12% comes from general revenue in the state. I needed to reclaim some positions to be able to
expand, and this is what the governor has asked me to do, was that she thought, and I absolutely agree with her is that we had spent too much time and effort on end-of-life care for veterans and at the time we're looking at when we see all the struggles that some veterans have in reintegrating into society that we need to do a better job while they're still productive in their productive years you know after service in our in our nation's cloth so we wanted to be able to expand that and
And so we've started a new program, we're calling it a continuum of care, but basically we're interacting with service members while they're still in their last year of enlistments, and then we're going to carry them and work their benefits before they leave service. And then what we're doing is we're freeing up these resources to create a new position called a VES, or a Veteran Employment Specialist. And their job is to work with Arkansas companies to provide those opportunities so that we're not I don't want to say handhold but we're going to do a warm handoff with these companies that
allow us to be able to walk our veterans as they come out of uniform right into a job and then we're going to care for them through their life cycle all the way through their vet at times when they we need some help at the veterans homes or at the end when we honor them and I'm one of our state cemeteries so this is an expansion it's not so much a riff so these are positions that we that did not reflect what we were doing um and it certainly uh i was trying to free up resources to be able to expand services um and at the end of it you know we actually saved some money too and
and that's vitally important because of how lean the organization is we want to be able to continue the expansion of those services to veterans
all right represent our senator love you're recognized Oh hold on picture hit it again Thank you,
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
10:10
mr. Chair. Yes, sir. So colonel, let me let me ask you this in the same kind of the same thing What are we doing for veteran service officers?
Our is our veteran service officers program still running strong and do you do you foresee any improvements in the veteran service
Speaker 44
10:28
officers? That's a great question. And again, thank you And yes, you know the way
Speaker 37
10:34
we're currently structured is is that I have Um, about six district veteran service officers that cover the, the, uh, entire, uh, you know, state, but then, you know, each County has a veteran service officer. Um, and you know, I'll be very frank with you that sometimes the performance that we're
giving our veterans will vary County to County. And so we've taken this very, very seriously. And so some of the things that we're doing is we're really trying to lean into Making sure that we're going to train them and we're going to have more contact time with them To be able to make sure that the performance that we're getting out of our VSOs is more consistent across the board Part of that is a statutorily. I'm required to provide supervision to to these county VSOs
And a lot of that comes with working with the county judges. And as a matter of fact, tomorrow I'll be addressing all the county judges at the association meeting tomorrow. This is the second time I've talked to them. The first time was to explain the value proposition of having a veteran. Most people don't know that every time you have a veteran in your county, that's about $37,000 that comes into your county without having to do anything. But, you know, especially now when you have a veteran whose whole life is centered around service, how they absolutely make a community better, there's a value proposition there.
So I explained that. So now what we're doing is we're going to be explaining, and we've come up with an algorithm to be able to give a report card to the county judge to
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
12:15
tell them how they're performing. No, no, that's great. I was listening. I just said, wow. Okay, I'm
Speaker 47
12:22
sorry. I didn't know the microphone was just
Speaker 37
12:25
right there. But, yes, you know, I want to be able to have partners with the county judges, and so we're having that dialogue so that they know exactly how their county VSOs are operating
and what other things that we can do to be
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
12:42
able to help them. Okay. All right. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, sir. Senator Hammer, you're recognized. Thank you. Good afternoon. I appreciate what you all do for the veterans. A quick clarification on a statement that's in the handout sheet. Each one of the six employees are eligible for severance pay, correct? Yes, sir. If they should take employment with the state somewhere else, then that severage amount would be reduced if they find employment first,
or do they get that severance regardless?
Well, I'm going to defer to Ms. Barnhill. No,
Speaker 53
13:15
Senator Hammer, once they receive the severance pay, it is theirs. We do not recoup it if they are rehired by another state agent's State Department. But generally, that's what ties them over until they are rehired or somewhere else. If they're transferring immediately to another State Department, they don't get the severance pay. Okay.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
13:35
And just to carry out, if you don't mind, pull the mic a little closer, Kay. Just like in one minute or less, what's the strategy or what is the policy for determining the amount of severance that they would receive?
Because I see that one is 24 years and one is three years. Well, the one with three years is going to get $800, and the one with 24 years is going to get $1,600. Can you just give me a one-minute or less explanation? Yes, sir.
Speaker 53
14:02
It's all spelled out in the Class and Comp Act, and it's all based on the total number of years of service each employee has. And it's a graduated scale with $1,600 being the highest payout and $800 being the lowest. There's one more level in between, but I'm afraid I'd quote it to you wrong. I believe it's $1,200. Okay. So
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
14:18
if the employee of 24 years, and I forgot how many years with the state they've got to have to be able to start drawing their retirement?
28. So if that employee of 24 years doesn't find a state job that's going to give them four more years, they will have lost their benefits. Is that correct? Well,
Speaker 53
14:36
they don't actually lose their benefits. Now we're kind of moving into the retirement area where there's options available. Some employees at that time choose to retire early, but there is a half percent per month penalty, I believe, if they retire early. But some take that option. Some just keep their years as they are and go look for another job somewhere with the government agency where they could get the other four years.
But if they don't do anything, that $1,600 is going to be it until they actually file for retirement from APERS or teachers or whichever the appropriate
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
15:09
system is. Okay, last question. In the case of that 24 and that 20 years of service one, if they weren't able to be hired on by another state agency where they could continue to work toward their 28 years and they were forced into where they had to take early retirement to make ends meet, would they be penalized because they are starting earlier even though they were riffed
or would they have that penalty apply against them? I believe that penalty applies against them. That's something we'll talk about offline. I won't be around next year, but that seems like it
might be something I want to take a look at. And I appreciate the intent of what you all want to do. I just want to make sure you don't confuse my
Speaker 37
15:52
questions with disagreeing with what you're doing. Thank you. No, sir. I appreciate the question, and believe me, you know, one of the hard parts about this decision is because it does impact real humans. And, you know, I've always lived off the theory of, you know, once they're my airmen, they're my airmen until the very end.
And so I appreciate your care. Thank you. All
right. I do not see any other questions. That's the end of the
reports. If there's no other business to come before the committee, we stand adjourned. You win.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
Items for Review:
B. Request from Department of Public Safety, Division of State Police for three (3) positions from the OPM Surrender Pool established by Arkansas Code Annotated § 21-5-225(a). (Col. Mike A. Hagar, Secretary)
C. Request from Arkansas State University-Jonesboro for three (3) positions from the Higher Education Central Pool authorized by Act 778 of 2023, ACA § 6-63-319. (Jacob Oliva, Secretary)
D. Request from Auditor of State for three (3) positions from the position pool for elected Constitutional Officers of the State. (Dennis Milligan, Auditor of State)
E. Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act of 2021 for one (1) position- Department of Commerce-AEDC-State Broadband Office. (Hugh McDonald, Secretary)
Reports:
F. Reduction in Force Report.
G. Special Compensation and Recruitment Incentive Award Report.
H. Arkansas Community Correction Quarterly Caseload Report.
I. New February Provisional Report twenty (20) new positions are approved for four (4) Four-Year Institutions of Higher Education. There are two (2) new positions for two (2) Two-Year Institutions of Higher Education. (Department of Education, Division of Higher Education, Dr. Ken Warden)
J. Fourth Quarter Employee Relative Disclosure Report.
K. Personnel Actions Report- Office of Personnel Management-Department of Shared Administrative Services. (Leslie Fisken, Secretary)
L. Other business
M. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Speaker 1
Representative Les Warren Chair
Unverified
Speaker 8
Speaker 9
Speaker 14
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
Speaker 30
Speaker 31
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 35
Speaker 37
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Speaker 44
Speaker 47
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
Speaker 53