ALC-Administrative Rules
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Speaker 15
1:00
all right members we will call this call this to order welcome to the administrative rules subcommittee.
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
1:20
I want to remind everyone that those who wish to comment
on a rule can go ahead and
sign in. Be sure to specify which rule you wish to comment on. We'll be taking that sheet up momentarily. So please make your way over there if you wish to comment on a rule. But members, if you'll stand, let's go ahead and pray and kick off our meeting together. God, thank you for your wisdom. We know that you will grant it to us if we just ask for it. So Lord, We come to you asking for your wisdom and protection, and we know you're the same God that sent your son over 2,000 years ago for us and the same God that has been with us 250 years ago to form this country
and 189 years ago with this state and today. You're the same before and today, and so we ask for your wisdom and guidance for all Arkansans as we head into a wonderful Merry Christmas season that you'll just be with everybody as they get to be with their families and keep them safe. And thank you for the honor to get to serve those great people here today. And just ask that you be with us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, members, we're called to order. You'll look on the agenda. We'll move to item B on the agenda, which is a report from the executive subcommittee concerning emergency rules.
That report is in your packet. You'll see the details there. And without any questions or objections, that report will be filed. All right, that will be filed. Moving on to C in your packet. We'll call these agencies to the table. And so let's see. This is the agency's rules for the month. So let's first have the Public Service Commission make your way down.
Speaker 21
3:11
The members, while they're making their way down, there are five rules for review in this section. So
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
3:17
you can look ahead if you'd like to plan any questions. Otherwise, they'll be presenting their rules for our review. All right, welcome to the table. If you'll introduce yourself for the record, you'll
Speaker 26
3:31
be recognized. Sorry. Good morning. Danny Hofer, Chief of Staff of the
Speaker 28
3:37
Public Service Commission. Good morning. Don Kelleher, Staff Attorney.
Speaker 29
3:42
Good morning. Jason Dahm, Director of Pipeline Safety for the State of Arkansas,
Speaker 26
3:49
PSC. thank you for being here you can present your role thank you so much for this opportunity so we are here to present our our amendments to our arkansas gas pipeline code for design construction operation inspection and maintenance of natural gas systems part of the public service commission includes a pipeline safety office and the pipeline safety office is responsible for the inspection safety and maintenance and oversight of natural gas pipelines throughout
the state of Arkansas. Part of the pipeline safety office is that it comes under the oversight of federal FEMSA and every year FEMSA makes different changes to its own rules that we must then make amendments to our rules to comply with so that we're in compliance with the federal FEMSA guidelines. So the changes that we have made here in this rulemaking docket are all just compliance changes to comply with the federal FEMSA rules.
During the process, we opened the docket, so our rulemaking process is fully litigated at the PSC, and we received comments from a number of gas utilities. Those utilities made some recommendations on our initial straw man rules. we adopted those changes and those utilities then filed letters in the docket stating that they you know had no comment or had you know no further
comment that they were good with the way the rules ended up they did not appear at the public hearing because they had filed those letters in the docket so that's what we're here to present
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
5:30
before you today thank you members any questions? All right, seeing none, appreciate what you've done in working with alignment with the federal codes and laws and through the public comment process. Without objection, this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right, members, we're moving to number two, C2. This is Department of Corrections. You're welcome to come down.
Members, we have two rules for review, A and B, and so we're going to ask them to present both together, and then any action will be technically separate, but we're going to have them review both together. So
Speaker 40
6:11
if you'll introduce yourself for the record. Lana McCaslin, Chairwoman,
Speaker 43
6:16
Post-Prison Transfer Board. Kevin Smith, Administrator, Post-Prison Transfer Board.
Speaker 40
6:20
Welcome. You can present your rules. Thank you. We're here presenting or seeking approval for our Arkansas Post Prison Transfer Board Transfer to Parole or Post-Release Supervision Rule.
It is 16-CAR Part 23. This will replace outdated policies and procedures and overhaul and implement substantive changes in statute for all the different statutes that have been done in the last couple of years. Key changes include implementation of court-imposed post-release supervision, inclusion of transfer procedures for felonies ineligible to receive earned release credit and restricted release felonies, implementation of mandatory hearing offenses as they relate
to transfer to post-release supervision, procedures for discharge for early release for offenders who committed crimes as a minor, and also outlines the research-based criteria the board uses to make transfer decisions. so the the other rule is a 16 car part 20 and it will repeal the old policy and and just make way for this new policy and i'll take any questions thank you
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
7:26
members this is page 25 26 if you're trying to stay up where we're at any questions from members seeing none without objection uh the
both these rules rule a and b on the agenda will be reviewed and approved thank you all right members going to number three on our list department of energy and environment oil and gas commission you're welcome to the table page 30 in your packet members all right if you'll introduce yourself you'll be recognized Amanda land
Speaker 49
8:07
chief legal counsel of energy and environment Alan York director
Speaker 49
8:17
are recognized thank you we are here today seeking review and approval of the oil and gas commission rule regarding permitting and operation standards for pipelines that are used for transporting hazardous liquids it is pursuant to act 150 of 2025 and it is necessary to receive to receive delegated authority from the department of on FEMSA and there was a public comment available and we did not receive any
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
8:46
public comments on this thank you thank you members any questions seeing none this is reviewed and approved thank you for being here today thank you members moving to number four Department of Finance and Administration you are called to the table. Page 32 in your packet, members. Thank you for being here. If you'll introduce
Speaker 55
9:23
yourself for the record. Good morning. I'm Doris Smith, Administrator of
Speaker 57
9:29
Intergovernmental services good morning committee paul gering chief counsel dfa good morning i'm jim phillips
Speaker 56
9:38
assistant general counsel dfa welcome you can present your role thank you mr chair dfa office of intergovernmental services is seeking the subcommittee's approval of amendments to the pregnancy health organization's grant program rules the general assembly in act 1006 of 2025 Extended the program and also made changes to the definition of an unauthorized pregnancy help organization
We held a public comment hearing on November the 13th of this year and The public comment summary was made available to the BLR and posted on the IGS website We're happy to answer any questions about the proposed changes to the rules Thank you members any
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
10:14
questions Not see any the majority of this was around matching definitions and we appreciate the work on review of their um without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you thank you mr chair thank you all right members we're going to number five second page of your agenda uh with the secretary
of state's office oh oh hold on hold on i'm sorry if we can pause here let's let's stay here on on before dfna if you'll wait
Speaker 61
10:47
for a second i believe senator irving's got a
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
10:53
question Senator Irving, I'm going to try to get you here. Hold up. It's not
working here. One second. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I apologize. Just quickly, and I approve of the rule, but is there any additional allowance for a hospital to participate?
in something like this for ultrasounds where we don't have pregnancy crisis centers. I'm wondering if there was a way to extend that to other communities where there possibly could be a rural hospital that could provide the same level of assistance. So the program is available to any entity
Speaker 55
11:38
that offers... I'm sorry, can you turn your microphone on?
Thank you. So the program is available to any organization that offers care to pregnant females in an effort to keep them from having an abortion, so it will be open to them. We have had the application period, so in future programs we can do maybe an extended outreach to invite others who may not have known that they are eligible to
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
12:09
apply. Yeah, so I just think it's a, for an example, I mean, you have a health center, you may not have a pregnancy crisis center in Clinton, Arkansas, but you do have an ultrasound there.
You do have ultrasound technicians at the hospital there, which is affiliated with Conway Regional Hospital. So, but they're not going to deliver babies there, but they would, by definition, care for a pregnant woman if she came into the emergency room or whatever. So I would just like to see this opportunity or I would like to see this grow because there's a lot of women, Mountain View, Arkansas, for example, we don't have a pregnancy crisis center, but we have Stone County Medical Center, which has an ultrasound, an ultrasound technician that could possibly say, hey, we're going to be able to try to offer these type of same services for these expecting moms.
so they don't have to travel, you know, an hour and a half to two hours to
Speaker 69
13:13
receive something like this. So just something I wanted to throw out there,
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
13:18
if you don't mind considering that and looking at that and maybe having some communication with and looking at a map of the state of Arkansas to see where these things are offered and who's taking advantage of it, and then let's figure out how we can fill the map, fill it up. Absolutely. Yeah, and I think it would be really good, and we could see this program grow,
and it will be beneficial to the expecting moms. Absolutely. Thank you. We appreciate that. Thank you.
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
13:46
Thank you, Senator. Any other questions? Seeing none, thank you again for your time today. Thank you. All right, members, we'll go to number five, Secretary of State's office. You're welcome to the table.
welcome as you get situated if you'll turn your mic on and introduce yourself for the record
Speaker 75
14:16
morning nathan lee chief counsel arkansas secretary of state's
Speaker 76
14:21
office good morning tanner thomas senior counsel secretary of state welcome you can present your role thank you senator senator representative thank you all for being here today and reviewing this rule with us act 998 was passed this previous session in order to ensure transparency for politically active organizations that take money from hostile foreign nations think china iran and it lists in the act itself the secretary of state in that act was given the mandate to
implement these rules and or implement the statute via rule and to implement forms to make it easy for those parties involved to register with our office on that and our focus on this was to make it easy efficient and fair for all parties involved and to make it practical on this when we open it up for public comment for 30 days we received zero public comments and we're here today to answer any questions we appreciate your time and review thank you members any questions all
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
15:17
right see none appreciate your work on this this is going to really help us i thank you that
uh sounds like the public agrees that you've done a great job with with no comments as well so without objection this will be reviewed and approved thank you thank you center all right members we are going to d on your agenda this is the evaluation of the rule review group three and those agencies so we will now continue to review those reports under act 781 today we have the division of elementary and secondary education and its review and its report is in your packet the report outlines each agency's rules and it categorizes those into rules that are recommending
to repeal and those they are recommending to keep uh or to force continue to enforce can we have the department of education come present those please so members there's only two and that they're requesting to repeal so we'll
have them come to the table all right if you'll
Speaker 77
16:19
introduce yourself for the record good morning courtney solace for department of education um yes so as you stated we do have two rules that we are proposing to repeal um and then that would leave us with 99 rules that we
would be requesting to continue sorry i should have said my name first courtney solace ford um department of education or i think i did sorry um i'm just not with it this morning uh the first rule that we were asking to repeal is um governing professional learning communities This originally was promulgated pursuant to Act 427 of 2017 as a mandatory rule. Then in 2025, it was amended by Act 791, which removed not only the statutory requirement for funding for PLCs, but also the rule-making requirement.
And so we are requesting that those rules be repealed. You want me to go to the second one? Yeah, let's go ahead and do both. The second one is rules governing payments under the Arkansas Children's Education Freedom Account program. These were temporary rules put in place until the full and final version of the rules could be promulgated because they were just temporary in nature to facilitate funding until the final rules were done. These are no longer needed. All relevant provisions were included in the full and final version of the rules, and so we are requesting as well that these be repealed.
And as I stated, that would leave us with 99 remaining rules that are necessary to satisfy our statutory requirements as well as the Administrative Procedure Act requirements. And so we would ask for continuation of those rules. Is it fair to state that a large part
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
17:57
of the request to repeal these is to match current state law with LEARNS Acts and other acts that have been passed as of late? That is correct. Okay, thank you. Members, any questions?
Okay, we're going to need a motion to accept the recommendation from the agency on the repeal of these two and the continuance of the others. Got a motion and a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all in favor, signal by saying aye. Opposed, like sign? All right, it has passed. Thank you for your time. Appreciate you being here today. All right, members, we're going to E on your agenda, and E is updates on the status of outstanding rulemaking.
So we have in-person updates concerning the rulemaking from the 2023 regular session. One second here. But if you've got any questions, you can see those in your packet. They do, the agencies stand ready for any questions if we light up anything, but otherwise we will move forward. Your updates are in the agenda too as well. All right, seeing no questions, we will move to F.
This is our agency monthly report pursuant to the Act of 595 of 2021 concerning the rulemaking of the 2025 session. There's no action required at this time, but do we have any questions on those? Any discussion? All right, seeing none, those reports will be filed. Members, that's all we have in front of us. Any other further business? Seeing none, thank you for being here today. Safe travels. Merry Christmas to all. We're adjourned.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Report from the Executive Subcommittee Concerning Emergency Rules
C. Rules Filed Pursuant to Arkansas Code § 10-3-309
D. Evaluation of Rule Review Group 3 Agencies Pursuant to Act 781 of 2017 and Act 65 of 2021
E. Agency Updates on the Status of Outstanding Rulemaking from the 2023 Regular Session Pursuant to Act 595 of 20211
F. Agency Monthly Written Updates Pursuant to Act 595 of 2021 Concerning Rulemaking from the 2025 Regular Session
G. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Speaker 10
Speaker 15
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
Speaker 21
Speaker 26
Speaker 28
Speaker 29
Speaker 40
Speaker 43
Speaker 49
Speaker 50
Speaker 55
Speaker 57
Speaker 56
Speaker 61
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Speaker 69
Speaker 75
Speaker 76
Speaker 77