ALC-Occupational Licensing Review Subcommittee

Chair sees a quorum with that thank you all for coming the first thing we're going to do is to take up item number baby. Where we need to have a motion to suspend the rules to take up the supplemental candle which is going to be C. one and C. two can I please have a motion for that. Your motion all in favor say aye I need a second. Second all in favor say aye. Motion carries with that we're going to take up number C. which are going to be C. one and C. Tait. One explain. You. Please we want to go ahead and have Arkansas security department to please come forward and embrace yourself for the record please. Thank you for coming if you're introducer self for the record please good afternoon madam chair members Campbell maclaren interim commissioner Arkansas securities department. I can't hear any I am B. as. Director of consumer services and a legislative affairs Arkansas securities firm thank you for joining us you can continue with the presentation. Thank you I'll start with an introductory report and a little historical background on our department. act two fifty four of nineteen fifty nine placed responsibility for the sale of securities under the jurisdiction of the state State Bank department and provided for state securities commissioner ACT four seventy one of nineteen seventy three amended that act to provide that the securities division was no longer a part of the State Bank department and would be renamed the Arkansas securities department Agnon ten of two thousand nineteen established Arkansas the department of commerce in place the securities department within the new department of commerce the Arkansas securities commissioners appointed by the governor and reports to the secretary of commerce. The mission of the Arkansas securities department is to promote an environment in which the securities and financial markets within the department's jurisdiction function efficiently and without unnecessary regulatory impediments and in which the Department protects the financial well being of the Arkansas citizens through effective consumer protection and education while that might sound like a mouth full simply put our our department aims to protect investors and and enhance the capital and financial markets in Arkansas our department prides itself on employing a measured approach to effectively maintain investor confidence promote capital formation and create a level playing field for those seeking access to Arkansas's robust economic environment. With thirty two employees and a budget of approximately three point six million dollars the the department collects and processes nearly twenty million dollars each year. After the department's budget is funded the remaining funds of approximately seventeen million dollars or turned over to the general revenue fund to fund the state's budget. The department is responsible for regulating the securities industry non depository mortgage lending industry money services industry state chartered credit union industry and state chartered savings and loan industry in Arkansas at the moment there are no state chartered savings and loan or state chartered credit union licensees in Arkansas. The individuals licensed and registered fire department and who are the subject of review today fall under the jurisdiction of the Arkansas securities act and the fair mortgage lending Act. The Arkansas securities act provides for the registration of securities registration of firms and individuals to sell securities or render investment advice the examination of registered firms and enforcement of the act through administrative and civil actions and the ability to cooperate with law enforcement agencies to bring criminal actions the firm mortgage lending act provides for the licensing of brokers bankers and servicers loan officers the examination of licensed entities and enforcement of the act through administrative and civil actions are Forsman staff often cooperates with other state and federal entities to make and receive referrals and to bring joint actions on enforcement matters that cross state lines. we like to think of our staff of thirty two is lean but mighty the close of fiscal year twenty twenty one our department on the security side registered one hundred twenty eight thousand eight hundred thirty six broker dealer agents investment adviser representatives one hundred twenty two state registered investment advisors nine hundred ninety SEC notice filed investment advisors and one thousand two hundred sixty four broker dealer firms. was nine hundred fifty nine broker dealer branch offices in Arkansas on the mortgage side at the close of fiscal year twenty twenty one our department license four hundred twelve mortgage companies eight hundred eighty eight branches and five thousand five hundred twenty eight loan officers in Arkansas our staff provides key gatekeeper and ongoing oversight functions for a registered community evaluating applications monitoring and customer complaints and disclosures and conducting examinations at this point I'm happy happy to open for any questions anyone may have. Thank you for your presentation of members do we have any questions. What. on the questionnaire that we have you the questions that we ask everyone we ask about how many complaints The New receive how many claims have you received I know you said during the hyperlink but what's the number of complaints that you've actually received in during the calendar year twenty twenty one we opened a total of over eleven hundred enquiries and received over one hundred complaints through the. Through the of the Arkansas Public and on referral from other state agencies and federal authorities. When you have a complaint and if I have a finding you are you able to find someone is there a five that can be levied beyond just license being taken away yes ma'am our our act provides for on the security side in the mortgage side for for funds enforcement fines up to ten thousand dollars per violation and twenty thousand dollars for elderly. Thank you one other thing is you talk about your total revenue was twenty a little over twenty million dollars but you only really need like three point five for years and so the rest because of general revenues can you give us a break down of what makes up that fees collected so we know whether or not it's of renewal initial if it's for a penalty or fine if you could send that to us I'd appreciate that sure that would be a problem okay thank you to. Any other questions. Seeing none. Can I have a motion to. Thank you thank you reviewed thank you. Thank you thank you all so much. Next up we're going to move down to item number D. one which is going to be from the state board of embalmers and funeral directors please if you can come down. Once you make your way if you will please introduce yourself for the record thank you. Senator Garner do you have a question now or is it for later okay. I need you to executive secretary of the you know directors and embalmers board. I am already occurs I am the director the funeral services division in the prepaid funeral benefits division with the Arkansas insurance department thank you for coming are recognized for your presentation. I'll just tell you right now you're gonna get short changed for me. On the lengthy description of what the funeral directors of the funeral services division as a quick preference would be this prior to July first of nineteen or two thousand eighteen. There existed three separate boards within the state there was the embalmer and funeral directors or they operate independently of any agencies there was the burial association board and there was the perpetual care cemeteries board that operated out of the securities division now under ACT seven eighty eight of nineteen or two thousand and seventeen we started a sentence but Senate bill six twenty four essentially those three boards were abolished and the Arkansas State Board of infomercial director cemeteries and burial services was established effective July first of two thousand eighteen at that point the operational staff among the three segments that I just mentioned came over to the Arkansas insurance department and we created the funeral services division we have regulatory oversight in the State of Arkansas all over all embalmers center licensed funeral directors operational facilities whether to type a full service funeral a tight B. mortuary type C. cremation or tidy body transport service we regulate apprenticeships we also regulate burial associations of which there are currently a hundred and thirty one B. A.'s in the State of Arkansas there a hundred and for perpetual care cemeteries in the state of Arkansas and going back to embalmers and funeral directors essentially there are roughly six seventeen hundred or so active embalmer and funeral director licenses in the state of Arkansas four hundred and thirty eight active type ABC Indy licenses in the state of Arkansas and somewhere between two hundred fifty and three hundred fifty apprentices at this point in time. Thank you anything else to add. All right. Senator garner you're recognized. Thank you. Yes ma'am thank you madam chairwoman sometimes you just got interest in time and I'm from South Arkansas my district covers Camden Arkansas I'm sure you're aware what my questions will be give some backstory the county corner down there is also a private funeral director and has multiple licensed with the state and I know the boards had to take some pretty dramatic actions against him I know the family I know them fairly well but this isn't me actually coming at you in one way or the other I understand that there were numerous alleged violations and you'll have to pick a course of action you can explain to me how that process worked kinda maybe the members here can counter understand that these boards we do see to have a substantial amount authority when it comes to this and there are consequences whether it's just fairly or not fairly I'm not placing judgement on board their decision and it's more about they can understand what happened that situation. Yes Sir thank you senator I'll go ahead and kind of field as much as I can at this particular point in time. Without naming names you're aware with the funeral home is has actually been the Camden local news in the Arkansas Democrat as as of today essentially the general services division currently operates with one inspector investigator position now while the law does not specify a frequency with which inspections are to take place we tried desperately to do at least one on site inspection of these type a B. C. and D. facilities once a year. we did have a previous inspector that began operating in January of two thousand and twenty in and within a month and a half after COVID hit the governor put a moratorium on travel and so we had to kind of modify our our auditing or inspecting schedule once we got special approval to go back on the road the inspector at the time travel to the Camden market did an on site inspection of all of the operating funeral homes in that area took a number of pictures and came back in the inspection report indicated there were numerous violations either the day hours of operation were posted there were potential FTC violations with either a priceless or contract forms that the preparation room was filled it was being used as a storage room for all sorts of things other than actually preparing bodies multiple trash and debris on the exterior of the funeral home and based on that inspection it was decided to refer the matter to the Arkansas state board of embalmers funeral directors cemeteries and burial services last year As I recall there was a consent order that was put forth before the person in question the county coroner who also operates this funeral home and they agreed to take the actions needed within ninety days of the execution of the consent order to address the issues that did not happen now between the time that the consent order was signed by the the person in question we had a transition and the inspector who had previously. Visited on site was no longer with the Department we hired on a new inspector at the beginning of November of last year and To follow back up after the ninety days had already expired he went back down there took a number of pictures dozens of pictures you only see one or two in the newspaper and confirm that nothing had been done for the consent agreement. to complicate things a little bit more this particular person in question is not only the owner and operator of the funeral home he was once a board member on the embalmers and funeral directors board which was the old board that was abolished under the two thousand seventeen ACT seventy eight so essentially. With him not following the board's previous directives to clean facility and since there were still potential hazards to the public to the employees violations that we don't regulate including Federal Trade Commission violations it was decided to refer the matter back to the board for reconsideration we set up a hearing for this past Tuesday on the seventeenth it was to be at nine AM the board meeting convened on time and essentially the respondent and his attorney were no show and we operated for two or three hours and finally when it was well when it was determined that we might not have them appear in person the board went ahead and had the hearing in absentia and based on that hearing May the were board members made the recommendation for the revocation of the type a federal license for that funeral home the funeral directing in funeral bombing licenses for the individual who owns and operates the funeral home it was a unanimous decision among the board members and is again being reduced to writing to be sent to the parties at we do broadcast those meetings sometimes will previously during covered we would video of project those meeting so someone could take a look we do keep of an open line so people can call in and listen it is our understanding that there was a media person from your area that was listening in on it because within minutes of the meeting or with in minutes of the hearing being finalized we got an email from this person asking for pictures and some additional information long and short of it is this have to the board had convene the meeting and most people departed from the room the attorney for the respondent showed up and seemed a little surprised that this had been done in his absence but clearly the department sent multiple notifications via regular mail and certified mail to the funeral home they were received and it clearly listed the time and date and the location of the hearing and they just did not show up as they should we already understand at this particular point in time that the attorney for the respondent will be appealing the board's decision which he's entitled to do and so we'll just let the process take its course at this point in time understood two questions you mention it is FTC or FCC I'm sorry Federal Trade Commission at are to receive or yes okay what what is the action it shall send to them and what's kind of what's the reasoning for that I'm I'm looking or in about why you would do that. Is it so they can investigate there's criminal actions they can take I I just I'm Ingrid will and it's interesting I'm I'll be honest in the in the four years that this new board has been in place this is the first time to my recollection during a hearing that that recommendation was made by a board member I honestly cannot speak for the board member who made that recommendation but it was heard by all of the board members in attendance during the meeting and they thought it was appropriate essentially since we are not task we don't have regulatory oversight over Federal Trade Commission related issues there is overlap because essentially we do regulate the contract form so the any contract forms the final billing statements that are generated by the funeral homes for the families are required by the Federal Trade Commission to have certain disclosures on then there's a handbook we refer the funeral homes to a website with the FTC and they can clearly see what the required disclosures are for the contract as part of our inspection process in addition to taking photographic evidence of the condition of the funeral home and surrounding area we note issues with preparation rooms casket display rooms chapels if there's following in ceiling okay we'll get a little bit long time on this I mean coach also basically there could be federal action taken as well if the FTC decides to yes or no on that is that kind of which I just enjoy information on what to make I would say possibly here's the thing if the license status are revoked yeah then I don't see that the FTC's going do anything after the fact that the license revoked because I'm PM kind of using the time thank you madam chairman told me final question mmhm as the elected corner of Washita county does your decision affect this individual's ability to do their job in that role is there do they have what the word is that you can't regulate or is it is it is it is a question make sense it does make sense it doesn't will you are correct is a corner of the county is not under a regulatory oversight we don't agree. S. any kind of corner related issues I thought is he can sings operate per normal day in that particular function okay thank you thank you madam chairwoman. All right that may be I have a question so if someone's license are revoked in a family is paper like prepaid services or something and so the funeral home's license gets revoked what happens to that family if I paid prepaid services. That does fall in my I've been the The director slash manager the prepaid funeral benefits division for eight years at this point in time we had a very similar instance in Northwest Arkansas in October of last year the funeral home decided to close down after. Fifty years of operation and essentially once we caught wind that the funeral homes closing down the Commissioner signed an investigative certificate for me to have the authority to travel to that town and take physical possession of all of the prepaid funeral benefits contracts files and and records I did that actually third quarter or third week of August so I before the shutter their doors I had possession of all of that the department wants to keep those here for safekeeping because of something happens in the funeral home closes down immediately and we don't have access to those files. Someone has to the services so the families will go to a September running for your home or someone else that's in that particular area now the deal is is they can use whomever they choose Arkansas law gives them the authority to use whomever they choose at the time of need we let surrounding area suffered funeral service providers know that we are the department is in physical possession of those contracts in this file so if they service jondo they'll ask us to copy the contracts and whatever pertinent documentation of the funeral home needs to do the services and we do that and then. If the funeral home in question is closed for good essentially we will as the Department administrate that Bach of prepaid business until such time as either everyone dies or cancels and it runs off to nothing or we've had instances in the past where such local area funeral home say Hey listen I would like to make a make a bid and essentially acquire that walk a business because I'm gonna be servicing these people anyway those types of transactions or for your for within budget the deal is is especially if it's cancer trust funded it's important for the department to take immediate possession of the contract files and I have I'm I've been acting as an administrator over six to twelve different funeral home state wide for the last eight years I get my I travel to the bank and I get added as a sign or on the account for trust and nothing comes out of the trust but for me it is an administrative hold with the Department puts on those funds so the funeral home can't read the fine and and run away. The better part is if it's insurance or annuity funded the policies reside at the insurance company the insurance company is not shutting down the insurance company has the policy and anybody can file a claim against the policy at the time of need with proper documentation that the person is deceased so the we have a checks and balance on that one again currently I'm in ministry and walks of business that a different funeral providers that have been going on for over a decade thank you very much any other questions members. Senate senator Hammer you're recognized for your question thank you madam chair the one of the questions I have is regarding insurance burial policies you're equipped to answer their that right that's under your purview. You for referring to burial associations certificates yes it is that is one of the three segments within the funeral services division so my question is got a of constituent who purchased an insurance policy from a funeral home And remember the purchase for died like a twelve months thirty months after they purchased it there's a clause inside the contractor said that if the death occurred within two years of the time that it was purchased that they could refund them the premiums back and not have to pay for the cost of the funeral is that standard industry practice or is that even you're able to answer I would say it's not within the actual funeral services industries purview a two year contested Ellery is a standard practice within the insurance industry so a lot of insurance companies when they issue policies from for example if it's an insurance policy that requires medical underwriting if you have to complete an evidence of insure ability before you get the policy issued a lot of funeral homes will require a two year contested it in the event that you as the applicant misrepresent your medical history on the application we've had never I worked in the insurance industry for ten years before I came over to the department and we saw numerous cases where someone would say no I haven't been treated for cancer in the last five years I haven't had a heart attack or Baba whatever cases in based on their incorrect answers they were issued coverage now if they die within the first two years I would say in less it's and less is guaranteed issue on behalf of the insurance company the insurance company is going to point it might be medical you're on the person and they're gonna go back and say oh well you said that you didn't he said that he had been treated for cancer in the last five years we didn't have architect a last five years with the medical record shows that he has been treated actively he had a heart attack or whatever in those instances an insurance company is within its legal right to unwind the policy essentially it's a recision of the coverages if it never happened and if it happens within two years then they could or would refund paid in premiums now a similar type thing to which you're referring would be an instance where if a if it's a simplified issue type of thing they might not require the met. Ical the questionnaire to be completed by the applicant but they're still a cabbie out that if you expire within the first two years first two years is typically the front end load on the policy the collector administrative expense the commission expense Bartlebaugh and so the insurance company keeps the majority of the funds or what they take on initially as front end load so if someone expires within the first two years if they have a provision in there certificate of insurance that says if you die within the first two years will refund the premiums but the policy is not going to pay the face amount of the policy. K.. manager yes you're recognized follow up if you if you got two corners under your your jurisdiction yeah I understand that no Sir they are not okay and then one more measure yes thanks the. The number of counties that have mortgage in order to be able to handle unclaimed bodies and I'm trying to connect the dots between that seem like there was a conversation maybe with crime lab in being able to get the bodies back where they came from can can you speak as to what the necessity or what the more shortages in the state or if there are any problems along that line. Unfortunately I don't think we have that type of data I would expect that all counties with Arkansas should have at least a cooler for the housing advice they may not some of the smaller van out but we don't have the statistics because we don't regulate them I would say that we have a number of very small rule funeral homes in the State of Arkansas that are so small that they don't have their own course so they don't have a place to House Arkansas embalmer and funeral director rules do provide that if you don't have a. Refrigeration facility on the premises that you're allowed to use something within a certain distance from the funeral home and a lot of the smaller funeral homes will utilize the morgue of cooler until they can prepare the body but I don't have statistics as you needed our thank you thank you Sir. Thank you any other questions from members. See none thank you very much for coming. Thank you thank you everyone for the committee thank. I with that we're going to move on to item deed to which is going to be there real estate commission. Three. Which are exhibits D. three in the form your package. If you will recognize yourself for the record please. My name is Andrea offered I'm the executive director of the Arkansas real estate commission thank you for coming in you can go ahead with your presentation thank you madam chair. The mission of the Arkansas real estate commission is to protect the public interest through the examination licensing and regulation of real estate brokers and sales persons and through administration of the real estate education program and the Arkansas time sure act we currently licensed fifteen thousand three hundred and two total real estate licensees of which ten thousand five hundred eighty six or sales persons and four thousand seven hundred sixteen or brokers in our real estate education program there are twenty eight licensed real estate schools and forty nine licensed real estate instructors we also have twenty five registered times your agents and seventy two registered times your plans. The commission consists of five members appointed by the governor to serve three year terms we have a staff of fifteen positions divided equally between investigations licensing and Administration. Arkansas has some of the lowest real state licensing fees in the country. We require among the fewest hours of education to both obtain and maintain a real estate license and we have one of the lowest percentages of complaints per licensee in the nation and particularly among our bordering states in twenty twenty one airy see received one hundred six complaints for complaints a licensee ratio of point six eight percent. In other words we received one complaint for every one hundred forty seven licensees taxes received one for every twenty eight licensees. I like to pick on Texas sorry if there are any Texas financier. Today in twenty twenty two we have received forty two complaints there ninety two investigations in process with forty two cases completed so far this year. Well certain complaint issues are prevalent regardless of market conditions we do find that other complaints rise to the surface based on what is happening in the real estate market for example over the last several years we've seen seen many complaints from prospective buyers who believe their offer either was not presented or was not presented properly. In such a highly competitive market with housing inventory in great demand buyers to make offers above list with few or no contingencies and terms favorable to the seller are finding it difficult to understand whether offer was not accepted. Another common complaint issue relates to property condition property description or inspection and repairs this is not a new issue but it is one that has taken a different direction based on what is happening in the market as we've seen more and more buyers who are removing their inspection clause from the contractor they're waving their right to inspect or their stipulating that they will inspect but they won't request any repairs from the seller those buyers then discover some issues with the property but they know that there are fifteen or more buyers lined up behind them ready to take their place so they pushed through to closing only to discover that what they hoped was a minor issue with the property is actually quite extensive and so those buyers will often come to us and file a complaint against the agents involved in the transaction as a means of obtaining some sort of remedy. Moving on from complaint issues we've seen a drastic increase in license applications and you licensees the Commission receded three thousand one hundred twenty nine applicants in two thousand twenty one and as of today we have receded one thousand four hundred twelve applications so far in twenty twenty to which exceeds the total number of applications we receded in many of the years during and immediately following the recession I mentioned earlier that we have over over fifteen thousand real estate licensees the last time we had that many licensees at this point in the licensing year was nineteen ninety. It follows that with an increase in licensee's we've seen an increase and in the agency's revenue the real estate commission has to funds the general fund is funded by licensing fees and it funds the agency's overall operations the recovery fund is a consumer protection fund which is supported by a one time fee of twenty five dollars charge to each new licensee and also includes interest earned from investing the funds balances. If damages are assessed against a licensee who is insolvent the Commission covers the claim from the fees collected excuse me from the fees collected in this fund the the recovery fund can also be used to support the commission's education efforts to keep its licensees and the general public informed of changes and regulations market conditions and illegal practices our annual fee revenue is approximately one point four six million in our annual expenses are approximately one point two million as of April thirty twenty twenty two the agents agencies general fund cash balance is two point oh nine two million the recovery fund cash balance is nine hundred sixteen thousand eight hundred forty eight. The agency lasted into reserves in fiscal years twenty eighteen nineteen with a capital outlay for licensing database management system which was developed to spec for air received by by the I. S. and the purchase of one new vehicle prior to that the agency utilized reserve funds during fiscal years twenty ten to twenty thirteen which corresponds to the recession and a consistent to decrease in total licensing numbers with that I'm happy to take any questions thank you I have a quick question it is dealing with the schools I noticed that we have one license for real estate association. My understanding is by looking at this as so CI a tion this the ones responsible for the training is that. This is the real estate association license is similar to a school license but the association is is different from a school in that it's a professional or trade association that offers real estate education so in this case it would be the Arkansas realtors association. But it doesn't on the schools that you have that is correct they do not own the real estate schools do they provide the trainers. They provide trainers for their own association offer training but the other schools are all independently owned and operated and have their own instructors and it looks like we only we have one license for real estate branch. School yes ma'am. But the yes then we have a main branch for twenty six yes ma'am okay our legacy located throughout the whole state is it pretty yes ma'am okay I thank you with that are representing the group you're recognized for a question thank you very much. My question is do under the brokers Latins it is required for anyone that. Manages third party property I was meeting someone else's property I must be required to have a broker's license in order to get that brokers last and the traditional way have to take a licensed for sales agent which I took that course twice and both times was told to excel the chapter own property management that it was not required for this sales license I would be required to hold that sales license for two years place it with a broker and share my property with that broker the procedure for my property during that two years of which I could take a broker's then take a broker last this. I took a course twice and then after I become state Rep in questioning I found out that there was a waiver buried in rules that would allow me to take that brokers test if I had a certain amount experienced if the board was okay with that they had discretion whether they were okay with me get in the way for they were gracious enough to do that and I recently passed that brokers isn't thanks for all the help. Although that took me several years and most of it was my fault because I didn't dig into those rules and no the exceptions when I asked the board why weren't those. Out in front issued we don't want anybody to know because we have more problems with property management is the fact that our recovery account more than the sales so my question is this also in taking the brokers test only ten percent that broker test with about property management ninety percent was about sales had absolutely no interest in sales when I got to where I head over ninety properties I started looking at property managers I wanted someone else to do it. I didn't find anybody that did property management the way that I thought it should be done also in digging up and that there although you do have offer courses own property managed not required not required that they study the fair housing act is not required that they know what the best practices she is. They just got to be a good sales agent in order to be a property management I will tell you that I'm bothered by that I would like to see something in there that would require you know in the in the state in the nation landlords are getting attacked and and I do believe there's a lot of room for improvement it landlord's in Arkansas. So my my question for you do you have anything planned in the future to make that better or would you consider a property management license specifically for property management that would require in teach skills and that continuing education and that. Thank you representative McGrew we. We have a at times discussed a separate property management license. It has not it is not ultimately been been determined to be a feasible option but that is something that I can bring before the board again. And we are constantly looking to improve the education that is offered to our real estate licensees and I do believe that property management is an area where we can and should do better and we are looking to do better in that specifically with how we train supervising brokers like yourself to have a better awareness and knowledge of our property management rules. Thank you for that and I would ask you to express that to them I would be very willing to come work with them all legislation that would provide that I thank were failing in Arkansas we could have better. At property management we haven't sales agents be property managers it's a totally different skill set to be a property manages to sell property and so I would highly encourage you to bring it up to them and be and you can sure sure my name and information with might be glad to come talk to them about that yes Sir I will thank you thank you senator Clark. Yes I would like to follow up on of Richard McGrew he certainly has a lot more property in a lot more experience with this than I do. Of and let me save you know reading through this but experience of with. Of. Your agency and with real estate brokers period I think overall we do a good job thank you except for the area the representative group just brought up. and I think this is one those areas where licensing has got in the way that's not necessarily the. Licensing is wrong it's just that somehow we're not. Scene. Of what needs to be done. one we ended up with a couple houses that needed to be Rented. I didn't wanna mess with it didn't have time new but in that time and so what two people are new people that are. Would be good six months later. They said we can't rent the house. Okay them so what someone else they wanted. Really that was hard to find anybody that was interested. That's a problem. If we got people out here that looking for property managers and I can't find but to do it that's a problem and but then the set but you know if your site you got to sign a contract that will that. If. We get paid regardless of who find somebody. I said well the problem with that is. That I've had it with somebody else for six months. They didn't find anybody so I'm not so I ended up put it on Facebook myself written that in the next month. And three years later. I'm property manager to houses now the other little house. That rented for a whole lot less. They took care of only three months after the people weren't panel which is what I thought they were taking care of. I found out they weren't paying. And they were waiting for their. Income tax to come back and again I'm a business man bill collector. You know we you know how that turned out. And so we took that back over. And I'm with representatives yeah in order I can do this business. Okay I'm doing it for two houses I could I could go into this business into this business but to do that. I have to become a real estate agent which I don't want to be. For two years right. It's a different business right. And the and I think it's high time that we recognize that that is a different business and because somebody can work for somebody like Mr group for a while and get really good at that and not ever have sole house. And I think we need to recognize that there's a different licensing path and a different type of business and of don't you agree yes Sir thank you. And again thank you but I think everything else makes lots of sense and I think you're doing a good job thank you. Senator Hammer you're recognized for your question thank you ma'am chair will your fund balance was how much two point what did you say two point oh nine two million I believe was okay what is a healthy balance that you need to keep in their to cover your obligations you mentioned something about a software package thank you had by for licensing what what's a good healthy balance that you need carrying their. I would say. Really two million to to be very very safe and with our our annual expenses being around one point two million but certainly I I would not want to see it dip below one point eight. I'm just are you all have any discussions because it seems like everybody wants to be a realtor these days. But somewhere down the road is going to it's going to turn down right are you all having discussions about the potential turned down and how that will affect your fund balances given the fact some people may not renew their licenses or what conversations are you having around that yes Sir we are monitoring that one one thing that I've I look for is the attrition rate year over year of renewals because I do anticipate that after the new license applications begin to level off we're going to see more and more licensees who drop out of the business within the first year to two years and so I I do think once the market cools it will have the same effect on our license numbers which will then impact our fund balance so we are we are being aware of that we are keeping a close eye on the fund balance and and not necessarily seeing the growth in the fund balance as an opportunity to to take on any added expenditures. And on the home inspection subject you had just a minute ago you said that some are declining to forego that only to find out later so are you finding that people are taking a larger percentage of home warranty and I know that only maybe cover certain things like washer dryer heat air I'm not sure covers structural damage do those home warranties that they purchased include the option to get structural damage included or is that mainly to the you know the fixtures in the HVAC type stuff as far as I know it is it's largely systems and appliances but I will I will admit my expertise is not in the in the home warranty offerings okay all right thank you thank you measure you. Senator love you're recognized for a question. Are they represent. Thank you thank you madam chair thank you for the promotion I have a I have a the question I'm just listening to the conversation you're having with the representative of the agreement and senator Clark in regards to I guess the the. We don't have a path yet but a path for for property managers only are there any other states that have like maybe a license for just property management. There are. And I I I have that data back at my office and I would be glad to provide that to you after this meeting there are a couple different ways that the different jurisdictions handle it they can have a separate property management license or they can have a sort of property management enhancement to the license okay so so this would be this would be anything you know novel it would just it's just that we're not doing here in Arkansas but there's other states that are doing that's correct there are not I would not say the majority of the states are doing it but there are other states that are okay so that so we could have some legislation that we can look at it from other states to say all right this is what we could fashion okay Sir are then that's that's. That's my question thank you thank you ma'am chair thank you and if you will send that information staff of get it out to everyone certainly. Any other questions. See none thank you for coming thank you so much now we're going to move on down today three which is going to be exhibits D. five and D. six which is going to be the Arkansas division of environmental quality if you will please come down to the table in introduce yourself for the record. Allen York on the associate director of the office of water quality. Stacey wassail the deputy associate director of the office of water quality thank you all for coming feel go ahead with your presentation thank you of the wastewater licensing program ensures that treatment systems are operated in a manner protective of public health the environment and the valuable infrastructure systems that they represent the state of Arkansas currently has eleven hundred eighty eight permitted facilities that required operated lights and excuse me and operated a licensed operator. We currently have four thousand eight hundred and forty six operators across four different operating classes those operators are charged a forty dollar exam fee to take the the class exam that they require and then our charge forty dollars biannually to renew that license the program has no other revenue sources End. The issues that are under cover usually uncovered as part of our compliance and enforcement inspection process where we will inspect a facility or receive a complaint regarding facility and then discover that an operator either is on licensed or does not have the proper license be happy to try to address any specific additional questions that you have all right members I'm Senator Hammer I see that you have a question you're recognized thank you senator are you over municipalities. I'm treatment centers I'll let miss Wallace leads to the question yes we have four separate classes of licensing for municipal systems. All right so you do the inspection of the municipal system Trieste systems yes Sir we do okay is this on the water system or the way systems or both these are just on wastewater systems okay so are you seen up tick as far as I know there was an issue where people you know what people are putting in you know down the college and all that kind of stuff and getting into the public systems when you all what tested maybe like you know of drugs and and other things that are going in there are you seen up tick in that is I think the level off. And at this time our lab is not capable of performing the analysis to detect those pharmaceuticals and that requires some pretty and expensive and high tech equipment that we are not we don't have right now that capability and but it is my understanding that we're not seeing too many of those issues in aquatic life where those waters where those waste waters are being discharged into receiving streams are in the mission and this is on your wheel house just tell me but with with the residential growth that's going on in the the strain that's being put on in this poll systems are you all involved in the process anywhere prior to let's say a municipality or community that's about to have a large Development put on its system do you have any jurisdiction over determining whether that system can handle it before that that subdivision is licensed to proceed or is it strictly on the municipality to make that decision. But when a subdivision is going if they're going to request their own wastewater treatment facility they would tell us how many customers they are planning to serve and so based on that there would be a design flow that they would have to meet and when we are looking at permits that are already in place if we see that they are and the flow that they are treating is ACT four give nearing their capacity then we will recommend to them that they may need to look to upgrade their facility to handle additional flow. All right so large subdivision Tainan to municipal sewer wastewater treatment plant. At what point is it determined that the system is about to get over loaded because say you're adding three four hundred houses to that and the system is having trouble keeping up with that because part of what I get concerned about is that in a desire to grow some municipalities may get themselves in a situation where there systems can't handle it then it becomes a burden of all taxpayers because maybe a certain number houses have been added to a system that can't handle what they've got already and it just complicates it anymore is that in y'all's will house or do you even look at that or is that even a concern well that is not something that we would necessarily have information about an information about houses tying on neighborhoods tying on would go to that municipality and that municipality would have to make the determination on whether their system could handle that additional flow so where we might see it is in when we're reviewing their monthly reports and we see their flow is at or near their capacity for treatment that's when we would identify it but we wouldn't see it on the front end when those neighborhoods are planning to be built or are tying on to that municipality so it's after the fact that you would find out then yes Sir okay thank you. Representative love you're recognized for a question thank you madam chair and into an insane thing I'm I'm to your left in that same vein. I'm more concerned million in Senator Clark ran legislation in regards to municipal water systems have in the future Maintenance bill ten do you all do you all look at the future maintenance because I would I would think that that would be a issue if say for instance a system breaks down and fifteen years or so do you all look at that the the future maintenance that's built into that system to ensure that we won't have any issues down the road. That are you are you following the question I'm asking I believe so and so we this is more towards the permitting then our licensing and but we do consider those maintenance when it were looking at the nonmunicipal domestic system sales of those small treatment plants and they're required to have the five year plans and demonstrate that they'll be able to operate that facility and as far as the municipalities and the larger systems go and I am uncertain of how we look at that information but I can get with some of our permit engineers and provide that information to you okay that that would be it that that's to me that's very important because that actually falls back on the taxpayer's when people can't. Capitalized there are just municipal wastewater systems properly and then we have the end of the state in the Albany the bill amount or something to that date in effect so if we can get that information to staff that would be good yes Sir I will get that for you yes if you give that to staff of the get it out to members. Senator Clark you're recognized. Yes you have a different situation from what I think we ever see in that you have more money going out the money coming in of hello OR you pulling that off exactly. Thank the of the the short term answer is the. The license fees for fiscal year twenty twenty four basically abated for these for these licensees so yes in the short term we had more going out than we had coming in but in the long term we actually have. Pretty significant reserve right at about four hundred eighty thousand. I couldn't that I missed the reserve here somewhere I believe it is an exhibit the and it's in someone of paragraphs okay. All right thank you thank you. Seeing no other questions thank you all for coming appreciate you being here. Thank you thank you so much. Members at this time we'll need to make recommendations if you have any recommendations after these that we reviewed be sure internal me in before our next meeting we do about a week before that I write. I thank if you turned in to staff about a week before a meeting so we can get it on the agenda. I thought we'd been doing them so we can discuss on. But in the next. And the next meeting is going to be. Thursday June the sixteenth so just bear that in mind. I will be here. I just found the all right C. and no other business we are adjourned thank you all for coming.