ALC - Occupational Licensing Review Subcommittee
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- October 2, 2026
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
0:17
it was signed on September 17th the 1787 helping to establish us as currently the oldest and sometimes miraculously the most stable government currently in existence so just wanted to acknowledge that us today. thank you sir with that we'll get started and we'll start with the state plant board
Speaker 9
0:53
Good afternoon if you all would identify yourselves yes sir corery seats Arkansas Department of Agriculture, state plant board Mike
Speaker 11
1:04
Stoneage Arkansasike Sthoge Arkansas department of agriculture thank you
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
1:09
sir Matthew Ford department of agriculture OK
Speaker 9
1:14
and you all may proceed thank you sir. we are here today for three occupational licenses actually it's two there is there are three on the agenda but the third lime vendor
was repealed by Act557 of2021 so that
Chair
Unverified
1:32
that license is actually not in effect now the remaining two are agricultural consultant licenses and grain dealer licenses with regards to
Speaker 9
1:48
a consultants this license was created by Arkansas code annotated 1713101
atc in 1987. the legislature in that act recognized that the agricultural community should have a choice in seeking the advice of whomever they choose regarding control of pests, plant pathogens, weeds or the use of fertilizer, lime or micronutrients but also recognized the that the benefit of having a mechanism whereby persons licensed by the state plant board as agricultural
consultants may thereby hold themselves out as a licensed agricultural consultant and it's that license that we are the first one that we're here for today. currently there are 10re0 well for 2026 there were 184 licensees and by having the required educational or experience
Chair
Unverified
2:59
background along with a period of continuing education required every two years they may maintain themselves out as an agricultural consultant and charge a fee for their service. Members are there any questions ' ll
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
3:18
ask my cochair thank you Mr Chair. so I I pretty much asked this question of everyone who presents before us what is the current state of the career do we have enough people
performing these duties? do we need to have more or less and if so are y'all doing anything to promote more folks to take up this occupation I would say our
Chair
Unverified
3:43
current status is is adequate we generally don't vary too far from the number we have right now and I've been not made aware of any need for an an increased number of people out there as an ad consultant. awesome thank you. members are there any other
questions Seeing none without objections,
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
4:06
this report stands as reviewed the second license is for grain dealers. this
Speaker 9
4:12
license was created by the Arkansas Grain Dealers Act from 2015 codified Arkansas code annotated 2 24-da101 at sec. It requires grain dealers to obtain a license from the plant board before entering into
contracts for the purchase of grain. These licenses are are issued to business entities and are issued to dealers in grain which are defined by statute as corn wheat, oats,
Chair
Unverified
4:45
barley, rye, rice, solo, soybeans and oil seed. Members any questions
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
5:03
Senator Johnson, ir, you are recognized thank
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
5:07
you Mr Chairman gentlemen thank you for this I I was curious when we have these these special revenues in this particular license is is $800 a year where does what is done with that revenue I know it's special revenue for something but what all is what all is
Chair
Unverified
5:27
it goes directly toward the costs of maintaining the people within the department of agriculture that monitor the
program conduct the audits receive the reports that sort of thing. So
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
5:42
for a myriad of of purposes. The license itself sir no the fee oh yes sir ok so it's not just to to I mean I I I see these these regulatory things I wanna make sure it's just not a circle we collect money to to to regulate you but main thing we do is collect the
money and but this covers other grain related and and commodity related things that your department the department of agriculture does I
Chair
Unverified
6:15
would say specifically it goes directly toward these grain dealers there there's a very long story about how this licensing procedure and this act came about but it is to ensure that grain dealers don't receive
grain from farmers there is generally a period of time between when the dealer receives the grain and when the farmers are paid for the grain and there have been situations both in Arkansas and other states where some between those two events the dealer goes under and the farmer is left without being paid for the grain that he sent to a lot of small businesses deal
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
7:04
with that problem at one level or another
so thank you for that I I just wanted to make sure because I'm I'm sensitive to the fact that everything we do regulatory wise has a a real purpose and not just to to you know to perpetuate the system so to speak right thank you thank you Mr chairman members are there any other questions see none Without objection this report stands as reviewed
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
7:41
and gentlemen thank you all for being here today. thank you sir Next we have the Department of Health Engineering section and if you would please introduce yourselves
Speaker 34
8:13
good afternoon members thank you for allowing us to be here at
Speaker 39
8:23
re s a Lee engineer Department of Health Craig Smith attorney for Arkansas department of healthalth. thank you and you all may proceed thank you Mr Chair.
Speaker 41
8:32
we are presenting two licenses under this report water distribution operators and water treatment operators distribution operators are water system operators that deal with water distribution systems and facilities treatment
operators obviously for treatment facilities water system operators are necessary to ensure the safety quality and quantity of water that are dispersed in in public water systems these licenses are required under the federal safefe Drinking Water Act and so with that open to any questions my coachchair yeah good afternoon thank you for being here so just
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
9:11
kind of like I did with the previous,
where are we at with having enough individuals to perform these duties across the state obviouslybviously waters of major issue that we're all are concerned about. I know in some of the rural areas that I represent, they've been having trouble getting, you know, folks to that have these qualifications to come work within their water systems so where are we at with this occupation and are we doing anything to try to promote you know more of this in the in the state if there is a need
Speaker 35
9:47
sir you're correct we do have problems in the rural areas and there is also a large number of water operators that are retiring right now we have programs at some of the community colleges and com central Arkansas waterter has an internship program and of course our training academy SAU tries to promote it. OK so so we do have a pipeline
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
10:14
where we're trying to mentor the next
generation it sounds like. All right, thank Representative Beck, ir
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
10:28
you are recognized thank you, Mister Chair. and and this may be a question that we can talk about that offline I guess but
the the operators just not so much about the operator themselves but how does are are are the systems actually I'm assuming they're the ones responsible for the quality of the water
are the is there a routine checking of the water systems to make sure they are delivering and yes sir we routinely sample
Speaker 35
10:56
the systems and we inspect them every 2 to3 years and the funding for that is part of that part of
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
11:02
this fee off of this license or not part of it is through
Speaker 35
11:08
the 40 cents a month fee that everyone pays on their water bill and then we also get federal money just one quick question go ahead sir and the frequency of that
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
11:20
roughly would be I'm not sure it's not set in stone but like you were you would check a system twice a year we just we physically inspect the systems every
Speaker 35
11:32
2 to3 years depending on the size but we're also available all the time to make technical assistance visits if they need it or if we know of a concern all right thank you members are there any other questions
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
11:51
seeing none without objection this report stands as reviewed. thank you all for being here today Next we have the Arkansasfessional Bill Bondsman's license Bo. You are who we call when we get in trouble, right? if you will please identify yourself
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
12:24
Lay Kirchner counsel for the department of laborbor and licensing.
Speaker 63
12:30
Paulurnett, director of the Arkansas Professional licensing bail bonds board. thank you and
Speaker 64
12:36
Chairman. we submitted this report with the clarification between the business fees and the transfer agent fees and with that we're happy to answer any questions members are there any questions my coachchair
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
12:54
so just like the previous for this occupation do we have enough folks that are licensed bail bondsmen I guess would be the appropriate term and do we need more or less? how how is this occupation faring in the state right now? Yes Mr Cochair, we are actually good and we're on average
Speaker 64
13:10
we're averaging about 2 to3 new agents a week a month a month OK I was gonna say that's a lot of new agents if
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
13:18
we're doing that I'm sorry a a month but yes I
think we're good and then if he's collected looks like you're collecting about a little over half a million dollars every year and annual expenses roughly 100,000 less than that is that basically going to employees or what what what do we spend on the400,000 dollars on it actually goes
Speaker 64
13:42
to yes it goes toar goes to our our operations but the other part goes to the domestic abuse and domestic peace funds for the child abuse rape, domestic violenceence commission so
that's where the rest of the funds go sir. OK
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
13:57
so you use just what you need and then the rest gets transferred over there
Chair
Unverified
14:05
sir right right thank you Representative Gonzalez you recognize her
Gordon Watkins
Unverified
14:09
how much are y'all transferring over to the domestic peacece fund it roughly
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
14:16
estimates too and our finance department does it so roughly estimates about75% of what we take in through the fees and
finds we can only keep enough to keep the board to keep our personnel and maintenance and operations up and running.th everything else gets transferred over so sorry I will get back with you with that number exactly that one I don't have in front of me but that's good
Gordon Watkins
Unverified
14:41
enough do you know if that is that 100% of their funding or do you know what do not know on that one thank you you're welcome Members, are there any other questions
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
15:01
Without objection this report stands as reviewed and thank you all for being here today Members we don't know yet but we we think there will not be a a meeting inoctober but we'll find out after I think ALc tomorrow so with that thank you all for being here and we are adjourned
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Comments by the Co-Chairs
C. Review of Occupational Authorization Entities:
D. Other Business
E. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
Speaker 9
Speaker 11
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
Chair
Unverified
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
Speaker 28
Speaker 34
Speaker 35
Speaker 39
Speaker 41
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
Speaker 63
Speaker 64
Gordon Watkins
Unverified