ALC-Hospital, Medicaid, & Developmental Disabilities Study Subcommittee
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- October 2, 2026
Unknown speaker
6:46
for everyone who get their seats we'll get this committee started
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
7:25
Hi good morning everyone. we'll go ahead and get this committee
meeting started I appreciate everybody coming in know it's a very busy time of year and lots going on but this is really a very important topic so I really appreciate everybody taking some time out this morning a very important subject that we've got going on so Senator Englishs would you like to say anything before we get started right if we could have the folks here from department of DHS come on up Janet and Misty and Mary ranklin if you guys want to come up and get started on our presentation
I think tanf is something we really need to understand and something that's much more state directed than other programs that we partner with the federal government on so we thought it was really important with our discussion to make sure we understand what what is tanf what in the world is that money used for and currently where is it being used in our state and if you guys will get your questions ready I think there'll be a lot of things that you want to ask some questions on so ladies if you'll announce who you are real
quick for us and get started we appreciate you so much for being here first thing on a Monday morning to get us going thank
Speaker 51
8:26
you thank you good morning Janet mannn DHS secretary. My
Speaker 53
8:32
banks DhS deputy secretary. Mary Franklin, director of the division
Speaker 55
8:37
of county operations for DHS. thank you all members there's a the presentation that's
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
8:42
up there is in your book the umatea done a phenomenal job it's only and thanks Kate for doing such an outstanding job for all of us there's a lot of work going on in this committee and I cannot, I don't know what we'd do without her so all right ladies
Speaker 58
8:57
we'll let you take it off thank you Mary is
Speaker 54
9:05
going to give us all the details right. the first part of the presentation
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
9:09
is about they can you pull your microphone just a bit closer is that better? much better
Speaker 62
9:16
thank you the first part of the presentation is about taf which is temporary assistance for needy families and it is a block grant that the state of Arkansas
receives this first slide is just familiarize everyone or remind everyone of the four main purposes of TAf which are to provide assistance to needy families to ensure that children are cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives by providing financial assistance to families in need.nother purpose of Tanf is to promote job preparation work and marriage to reduce out of wedlock pregnancies and births and to
encourage the formation and maintenance of two parent families in addition to those four main purposes of TAf.anf can also be used to fund services that were authorized under prior law before the Ttaf law and if these services were approved in the 1995 or 96 aid to families with depe dependent children's state plan we were asked to provide a summary of the
how the tanner funds are used as far as the grants go and one of the Department of Education division of elementary and secondary education receives part of the tanf block grant they received7.5 million dollars annually for the Arkansas Better Chancegrame and the purpose of Arkansas Better chance is to offer high quality education early education services to children from birth to age5 exhibiting developmental
and socioeconomic risk factors in addition it provides educational opportunities to help children become school ready and this grant is also part of our taf maintenance of effort and it is authorized and required in state law that the7.5 million annually goes to Department ofdd from the tannF block grant. we also provideta of funding to the Arkansas division of higher
Education the career pathways initiative this funding is also mandated in Arkansas state statute there's not a specific dollar amount listed and that dollar amount is is negotiated annually but the career pathways initiative or CPI promotes job preparation, work and marriage for participants who have custody or legal responsibility for a child under age 21 and with an income of less than 250% of the
federal poverty level so the CPR program supports participants by increasing access to education improving pre preparedness for high skills or high wage jobs by collaborating with employers to identify the workforce demands in the course the goal of of CPI is to continue playing a critical role to help families with low income to improve their circumstances. right those two we wanted to
specifically call out because statute does govern the funding and for those two agencies then in addition to that we also have some existing taF subgrants and one is to the Arkansas Baptist Children and Families ministries it supports tanf purposes 1 through3 they provide residential assistance to protect children and empower mothers in Jonesboro, LittleRock and Springdale who are at risk
for homelessness. These mothers are taught s stability while they're pursuing education and viable employment. the children are provided afterschool transportation tutoring and summer enrichment programming and weekly counseling with licensed counselors. and their goal is to remain steadfast in their commitment to equip mothers with the essential resources to transition from the inconsistency to empowerment
we also have a current subgrant with the Arkansas alliance for Boys and Girls Club that helps to meet tann of purpose one and the boys and girls clubb alliance offers a variety of programs to support youth in achieving positive outcomes in their three priority areas which are academic success, good character and citizenship and healthy lifestyles they counties they serve are Ashley Benton Columbia Crawford, Crintenon, Dehea, Garland
Hotspring, Jefferson, Logan, Miller, Phillips Pope pulaskielinene, Sebas we have a sub grant with the Arkansas Human Development Corporation. the Ahdc is dedicated to offering crucial services in youth development to individuals ranging from age 14 to21. they the initiative targets those encountering barriers in the impoverished delta region
of Arkansas by forging partnerships with 14 municipalities local communities and faith faith faithbased entities the AhDc aims to actively involve and empower the youth with the specific demographics AhdC strives to acquire a quaint participants with employment opportunities entrepreneurial skills financial li ter ac y and the prospect of gaining knowledge through structured programs while concurrently earning income. we can take a break just right
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
15:11
there we do have one question right here and also um, I think that you guys in the past have sent us a list and it should be your packet I'm gonna find a a warre what we're spending on each one of these sub grants do you have that with you today so when you give this to present just at the beginning of each one how much we're spending on each one of those subgrants if you can go over the first three real quick and then I'm going to recognize uhpresentative
Speaker 68
15:38
beatty after that. OK so the human development corp OK so the human development
Speaker 62
15:41
corps they were awarded se 52828 dollars30 cents for July through December of 25 the Arkansas Baptist Children and Families ministry was $89,044.18 also for July through December of 25 the boys and girls clubb453 45338 $6.90
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
16:13
and that's a good got the ones we've done so far if you just
want to at the beginning of each one if you don't mind sharing the amount that would be helpful. I appreciate that. right Representative beatty
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
16:30
will recognize you. thank you madam chair I was hoping that we would we would get a little bit of information and changes on the 10 if I and and correct me if I'm wrong is that that some of our communitybased organizations had been notified that their
funding at after the end of 25, they would no longer receive funding and then with the government shutdown I think there was there was a hold on the half that they were promised so I I guess my question is is for those communitybased organizations that did receive6 months of tanna funding or grant is there any plan to extend that timeline beyond December um31st of 25 for them to expend those funds now that the government's reopened
Speaker 58
17:15
yes sir thank you for the question so I think multiple pieces to your question. so we did notify the seven subgrantees in May that we were giving six month sub grants and that anything after December31st was unknown at the time that happened in May during the government shutdown we we waited30 days we operated in good faith we did ask all of our sub grants including CPI and AC to h al t duties. I believe it was
approximately 10 to14 days we have given them notice to resume their activities as soon as the government voted to reopen to honor to honor those sub grants. I also do need to note that we do not have the taf award yet for federal fiscal year 26 I believe last week we reported in committee that we were still waiting on4 grants to have notice of awards from the federal government we did receive the older American Act subgrants or grant
awards last week also we received the social services block grant on Friday so we have gotten two of the four that we're waiting on so we're currently still waiting on tanf we're still waiting on umunity services block grant CSBG but we have we have notified them that they can resume services through 12:31. now we are looking at to enter your final question we are now looking at what to do in January
with what with the amount of resources that we have we've not made any decisions on new grants we are considering the grant award with the an extension for time only if they haven't spent all of what was subgranted to allow them to spend it January through June and we've got to make that decision obviously is this week so that we can notify them but also bring the paperwork before y'all and would you
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
19:16
bring that paperwork before us I just got
Speaker 81
19:20
corrected that it doesn't come before y'all so I apologize but sorry yeah
Speaker 83
19:24
to extend for time only is an administrative change so we're able to extend because you've already given them the blessing for the scope of service as well as the saline amount on the grant so
Speaker 84
19:36
we could just do that with the paperwork change. So I I guess to be more
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
19:42
specific and pointed with my question when will that administrative change in that communication to these organizations be delivered
Speaker 58
19:53
it will be delivered this week we have to we have to make that decision we've been waiting we were hoping that grant award would come so that we could then also work on some payments and some other things it hasn't so this week
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
20:05
we have to notify them well that was my concern.
I know some of these folks after they halted funding their you know, questioned about what they're going to receive but more importantly they're they're concerned about the funding that they have now that that they didn't spend that had the deadline of of year end and are they going to have any extra time to extend that so I think the sooner we
get that communication out that would would would relieve some of these parties yes sir our intent is to
Speaker 51
20:32
honor the full amount of the subgrant for the six months even given when we asked them to halt some duties
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
20:37
but yes sir, I understands sooner better than later. right, I'm sorry about that thank you so
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
20:45
much for answering the question Senator Love thank you madam chair I want to pick up where Representative
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
20:58
beatty left off so you you you have provided a no cost extension if I'm understanding correctly on funds that have not been
Speaker 58
21:08
expended in the grant. No sir actually what we just testified to is
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
21:12
that we have to make that decision this week and Representative beatty was asking us to do
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
21:18
that as soon as possible. OK so alright so now'm confused because you are halted you all have halted spending for some programs that were funded by tan
if but then you just gave then you you did like say for instance HAhdC they they've received752,000 dollars so apparent it's either you you you
had money that was left in the grant you didn't have money left in the grant like kind of clarify that because it's
it's it's a little confusing on on this side have you received your award or have you not?
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
21:53
We've not received the new award for federal fiscal year 26 for Tanf
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
22:00
which startedoctober one. OK, right so all right I got that but did you have money left
Speaker 104
22:07
over in the in the previous grant we did have some funds left over that we have spent to pay the first quarter of our state fiscal year which would have been July through September then we have we did not ask anyone to stop services until November7, we had gone I think37,38 days
into the government shutdown in good faith thinking that we would get that you know they would vote reopen we would get our award when the government did vote to reopen I believe around the 14th or 15th of November we then notified the subgrantees all of them on I believe that following Monday that they could resume activities in good faith but we did tell them we did not have the notice of award but since government had been reopened in good faith that we
wanted them to continue resume their
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
23:05
operations OK, so are you are you saying that we haven't paid any of the expenditures from from the for that time period we
Speaker 61
23:15
have paid through the first quarter of the state fiscal year so we've paid for invoices
Speaker 62
23:23
through September30th. We have not paidoctober forward. We did allow them to continue working in the month of October
we asked them to halt when we got to November and we still had the federal government shut down and with the uncertainty without having a tanf grain award for federal fiscal 26 we have since told them they could restart services around the 14th of November and told them to go ahead and send invoices for October and they can send invoices for November minus the time period we asked them to halt activities and as soon as
we get the octo get the26 grant award we will work on getting those payments out to those
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
24:11
agencies for October and November to date.
OK, so then umm so for the CDCs for the child protective child those sinners
are are have they been halted or are they have they resumed work? They, they all
Speaker 62
24:28
of the sub grants were halted for the first part of November but we have since
told them since the federal government reopened and we know that TAf is funded we have told them to go ahead and resume activities and when we get our 26 grant
Speaker 112
24:46
award we will be able to catch up our payments so can I make a slight clarification to that answer. so the subgrant award to this children's advocacy center is to the umbrellagan organization that gives technical assistance and guiding guidance to the individual501c3s that are out in various counties and
communities. I don't know what the direction from CAC has been to centers in communities so I can't speak this team we cannot tell you if they've paused operations if they've gone to a shortened day at what services I can't answer thatelizabethulley would need to answer that for this body. So Misty then
Speaker 113
25:22
answered me this were those grant awards cut or are
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
25:26
we still funding at the same level as they were funded in 2025.
Speaker 112
25:36
they were reduced they all across the seven they all received a pro rata reduction and that was part of the formal notice that we gave them in the letter was that we could only fund for July through December31st this portion of each of the discretionary subgrants and that is because we are operating within the four corners of our notice of award
which is56.5 million dollars annually. we have expended basically all TnF reserves at this point and so just like our other grant awards were operating on
Speaker 116
26:16
our annual amount year over year. right so we were over annual amount because I
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
26:23
guess we had we had some carryover from the previous years orrrect prior years
Speaker 112
26:30
when the program was at DWS and particularly during COVId we got influx of one time funds and so we were able to
honor a bunch of those communitybased discretionary sub grants to get through that federal funding but now we're adjusting back to the base award mail on an annual basis.
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
26:51
OK so are you're saying all subgrantees not just so
Speaker 112
26:57
at this point we're only funding7 external subgrantees. we have the two that we discussed earlier, those are in addition and those are statutorily required that we
fund those plus we use that as our match our our MOE so we have to put up some match to receive tanf and we use the AC program and part of CPI to do that. We also within anana if there's a core grant function where we give direct benefits and cash to beneficiaries, right so the Tanf program and then we pay salary to TanNf case managers. we also do eligibility so that
cost us money to run and operate. We had to furlough those 26 or30 employees as well because we did not have sufficient reserves to continue paying them. so the subgrants is one portion oftaF but it is not the entire breadth of the program. Senator Love is ok can I put you back in the queue? I'm getting a long line of
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
27:58
questions over here please do thank you thank you Senator Petty thank you madamir and I
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
28:13
apologize I guess it's early in the senate side's a little slower than the house side just want to clarify
so the subgrants that you were talking about a minute ago that was this total subgran award and of that subgrant award in some cases may be situations where they have not spent all of their subgrant and for those you're going to give a time extension. Is that is
that did I understand that correctly yes sir that is what we testified that the decision has
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
28:43
to be made this week and they have to be notified if there it for time only extensions which would allow them to expend any of the sub
Speaker 104
28:49
grant money that was awarded to them that has not been spent. OK. Is there a reason why we wouldn't? I
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
28:56
mean that that seems like that would be easy up to the to the agency whether or not they wanted to extend the time or not? Is there any reason why we wouldn't
want to do that? I don't believe so we were we're kind of hoping that the tta fod
Speaker 58
29:07
would have come last week so that we could have put it all together and done one
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
29:14
action with paying some bills and giving
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
29:19
that extension ok and then the going back to to earlier testimony you were talking about I think Representative Beatatty talked about there was a at least a a conversation around past this initial six month period whether or not there would be an an additional six month extension as you as you kind wean these maybe off of of the
tanf these subgrants or or or something along those lines that's my word but not yours but anyway there was a conversation around whether or not those sub grants
would get another6 months it is that still under consideration as well or is that off the table at this
Speaker 104
30:02
point? we are not there yet with funding so I'm the
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
30:07
time only extension is time for current funds that have been pro that have been given in the sub grant for July 1 excuse me through
December31st if they don't spend it they can have6 months to to spend that. We told them in May in the letter when we were doing the the grant and having to reduce it that there was unknown if there would be new funds available for January through
Speaker 104
30:32
June. at this stagedd haven't I don't have my grant award it's very hard for me to grant to consider subgranting any
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
30:39
new money if I don't have the current grant award that but
but it's it's not off the table you just don't know yet it's mean from looking at some of our
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
30:57
projections and going forward it's very slim that there will be new money. OK. and
and the new money vers whereas the six month extension was it because of old money I think as Senator Love was talking about reserves that were were left over or was if if everything comes in flat there's no new money
does that mean the child advocacy centers in these subgrantees would not get any or because they were included in these previous sub grants they would there would be money available for consideration not saying you have to commit to that but but for consideration. I'm not understanding the the the the nature behind the funding of these subgrants and the funds that were used to fund these six month sub grants yes
Speaker 58
31:45
sir I think with the sub grants
they are discretionary they if we have the funding
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
31:52
and since we are now living within the four corners of56.5 million dollars a year and we no longer have reserves because they've been spent there's not any new funding to sub grant when you look at the oblig ations that we are spending taf on that is that that is the struggle that we're trying to forecast out with and we that's why we told them in May
Speaker 104
32:16
we are spending more and more of our
reserves. We I mean I don't even think we have many reserves left and so we chose to reduce all of the subgrants by the same percentage point to to give them six months of a reduced
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
32:31
amount but we also put in that letter in May that it
was unknown if anything would be granted in new funds in January. thank you. Thank you and before we move on to
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
32:45
the next person. so what are you guys if any are you hearing anything on the federal level? are they s keeping you
in the dark pretty much? I'm just kind of curious if you're hearing anything so I hate to commit but just
Speaker 58
33:00
if you're hearing anything of on that level so we did hear last week at the beginning of the week that some of the federal funding notice of awards would be would be coming last week we didn't know which ones they were as reported earlier older Americans actct SSBG and CSBG and TAF were outstanding for us we did receive two of those four
categories last week we received OAA or older American act I believe on Tuesday or Wednesday and then on Friday we got notice of award for the social services block grant or SsBG we have checked this morning we don't have anything on the CSBG for communityervices block grant or fortanF. so we are hoping that maybe by the you know daily we're
Speaker 60
33:46
we're trying to check on on those awards right thank you so much uhpresentative beatty.
Speaker 143
33:55
hang on and Technology a time delay on our apologize for that madam chair members of the committee just kind
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
34:09
can we get a list of the providers
that were notified because saying when you were notified about the funding past December the understanding a lot of these providers are are telling me is
that that they were told there would be no funding after the end of year 2025. So could we get a list of of of those providers that received notice that they would not be receiving funding going forward not that not that it was contingent upon receipt of money but that we're notified there will be no more money I think that would be helpful for members to to look at and see which affected entities are in their districts and and then my question have have y'all looked at which programs you're going to fund
for 26 and27. I'm not asking about how much or at what level but have you had decisions that that the department's made that we're not gonna fund the this subset of of organizations going forward and are you I I think I heard you say that there would be no new contracts so not looking at at at new providers but only maybe looking at the ones that were already out there and that that had outstanding contracts. I know that's a lot but
Speaker 58
35:30
yes sir we will get you a list. it is the seven subgrantees or the only subgrantees currently we will get you a list of those we've not considered any new subgrantees at all
Speaker 152
35:47
go ahead I I think at this point we've not had any conversations about funding external sub grants. So whether they're an existing provider or a new obligation at this point it's premature
because we've not even received our current grant award. we do know that our grant award will be the56.5 million and we do know that with current operational costs as well as other obligations to ABc and CPI it will be very difficult
Speaker 118
36:16
for us to continue funding external subgrants OK Representative Allen thank you madam chairir thank
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
36:31
you all for being here appreciate the work that you're all doing. Yeah I'm gonna follow up on a on a question could you tell me how much money do y all have from the previous grant left over from the previous funding
Speaker 104
37:06
No sir we don't have the exact balance as of this morning we we will get it for you. We have some projections that
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
37:14
I mean they change every week but
Speaker 152
37:18
y all did have money left correct? So looking at the spreadsheet I have with me today which is is a few weeks old we headed into the new fiscal federal year with around
Speaker 112
37:29
8 million total dollars so that was to pay cash benefits that was to pay all of
staff coded as well as to honor obligations that we had ongoing and I know that we have paid out several of those obligations because we've been paying as much as
Speaker 118
37:49
we've had liquidity to do so and so I can get you our updated amount that we have in our current account for today.
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
37:58
but there is money left correct?
Speaker 118
38:01
yes it's just insufficient to continue paying all of our obligations without the new award.
Representative Joy Springer
Unverified
38:08
thank you thank you thank you Representative Springer. good morning thank you madam chairir I appreciate receiving this document here but I wanted to ask about and I and I like to see numbers do you all have separate budgets that you've dis that you've made up for each one of these entities that you're providing these funds to like for instance if you go through the ones
that that are receiving the discretionary grants like ABC the children and family ministries the Arkansas alliance for Boys and Girls Club you have separate budgets that within your department for each one of those ma'am so you budget a certain amount and then you have then you have the amounts that you've allocated to be s given spent given to those is that correct ok so that's something then that you can pull together
and share with us then I guess that's what I '
Speaker 112
39:11
m getting at it is part of the sub grant agreement and we'll be happy to reach out to our office of procurement and we can provide those
Representative Joy Springer
Unverified
39:17
that would be if we had that to see as well thank you
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
39:22
thank you thank you reverend Springer senator Irvin thank you
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
39:32
you said two of two are statutorily required which ones were those again?
that is to AC and to
Speaker 152
39:47
CPI so ABC Department of that's a transfer them to the department of edd. Yes, that's correct that is7.5 million automatically so we pay them in four quarterly installments and then for CP which is part of higher education career pathways initiative. we are statutorily obligated to provide Tnf funding to that program and we we negotiate with them annually
Speaker 112
40:13
about how much that budget will be based on what services they're giving and
Speaker 118
40:19
since we have taken on the tan of grant we've actually reduced that number over the last couple of years that we've been in charge of
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
40:27
that but none of the other like the discretionarries are those are not statutory that is correct and
Speaker 112
40:32
those fluctuate on a state by state basis so each each state uses their taF block grant in a different way in some states elect to use
Speaker 152
40:43
these for external sub grants but I think
Speaker 118
40:47
mostly TnF funding goes to support child welfare and some other initiatives around the four tenants of
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
40:54
TAf. and then this is it did y'all give us this list?
Speaker 112
40:59
so this was responsive to priorblr request so we've been asked over the
Speaker 152
41:04
last few times we've discussedanf with the legislature to um, give all of
Speaker 118
41:13
the vendor expenses from 19 to2025 and so this is just an an enumeration of that list and we had previously
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
41:22
provided this. all right and then so as this list continues or changes who specifically makes the decisions so so this is a vendor list so this
is outs you have included the discretionary grant funding in here but then the the additional
Speaker 177
41:44
fund expenses are from what administrative or
Speaker 62
41:50
to provide services for our tea and workpays recipients reimbursement services or services that we supportive services in order for them to do the work activities required in their plans so you'll see a variety of different things that could be also be related to serving our team OK, like a restaurant's on here so what what
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
42:11
I mean I'm just trying to understand that
Speaker 83
42:17
what year are you looking at? I'm so sorry.222 we would need to reach
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
42:28
out to DWS to verify oodrill buffet. I'm
Speaker 112
42:31
just trying to understand so we would need to reach back out to DWS because they were the administrative body
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
42:38
at that time so ok when did y'all become the administrative
Speaker 150
42:43
body again 20223 July1 of2023 the program transferred to DHS.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
42:49
OK, well it's listed also on 2023. I'm just trying to understand some of these expenditures of these vendors and trying to understand you know what what
Speaker 58
43:05
this is for we would let us get with DWs about some of the older expenditures we we would
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
43:13
not know specifics and then from July 1 of 23 through current
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
43:22
it would it would be the DHS OK and and but it would be retroactive then probably 2023 would have been paid for
Speaker 185
43:29
services in 20 twenty2 or 223. it it could have it well since it transferred in
Speaker 58
43:35
the middle of calendar year 23, which is how this is enumerated it could be it it could it could have crossed over. OK. OK and then and then the last thing
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
43:46
that I just wanted to say too though is that
federally, uh, if we don't ress let's let's just say the federal government gives zero money for
TAiff. then we would we would have to change the statute for those two programs
Speaker 83
44:06
I think when reading the statute perhaps there's a clause in there that says if we don't receive any yes if funding is available thank you OK Senator Loe thank you madam chair
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
44:26
thank you all for the the expenditure sheets so I'll continue to hear you all state that you're trying to operate within the56.5 million and so I I thinkpresentative Allen was trying to get to this but how much was do you all not have the budget for 2025 since 2026 is going to be56.5 million what was the budget for 2 your your your budget for 2025.
and then for 2024 because what I'm looking at is these expenses a total for just say 2021 was30.6 million a total for 2022 was33.6 million a total for 2023 was55.9 million a total for 2024 was47 million and so we now see that we're at
2025. that's48.7 million and so you we were saying that we're cutting we're cutting back people and we have56.5 million Now I'm not saying that I mean I understand that you have administration but I'm just trying to figure this one out. we're cutting back what's the administration it seems like we have included the our match or what we're supposed
to have with with7.5 million and then the CPI which we don't have a number for but I'm just trying to if this is the overall expenditure list right now at 2025 we're at48.7 million so if you all can kind of guide me through this then I can better understand
so those in those prior years
Speaker 62
46:33
there were more taf reserves. there were other taF federal year block grant money left which enabled workforce services before TannF program came to DHS to do several sub grants outu outside of the funding that DHS received during that time for operating Tanf the the transitional employment assistance programme theorkpace program the funding for our child welfare and youth services activities there was more money there was
there was money on the table at that point but over those years that money has decreased that's why you see you know that the number spent on the tannav block grant decrease and you're looking at a number48 million for 25 and the block grant for 25 is only56.5 and that's all we are expecting going forward so you're you know that48.5 shows the majority of the the federal year block grant
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
47:34
being spent now I mean don't get me wrong I'm just trying to better understand
so are we are we trying to I guess incur a little cushion so that if something happens then we have money to operate. I mean but I guess that's what I'm try I'm trying to figure this entire thing out because if we if we're saying we're cutting back on programs right and we had excess in the are we trying to are we trying to kind of
accumulate some excess I mean not not I'm not trying to judge you whether it's right or
Speaker 112
48:15
wrong because I don't operate I'm just trying to better understand. thank you for your question. I understand what you're asking so these expenses were expenses only paid through commitment item four which is grants and aid or through professional fees and services and interagency transfers. these expenses do not represent direct salary, fringe benefits paid to direct clients
out in the field so these numbers are in addition to other types of main 10 ance and operation spending so you would add this money from these three types of expenses into other expenses that we paid I do have available and I may have shared that previously withblR what are your annual spending onanf has been so like in in one year let's just talk 2025 I don't know the exact 2025
number but for example, I just don't have that with me today but for example we spent in one annual year77 million dollars total in tennis so we had both the base plus the reserve in another year we spent almost 90 million because we were honoring subgrants that were subset that were sunsetting and that we had obligations on
Speaker 118
49:32
so I'll be happy to send those numbers and those years to this
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
49:39
body. So has our base always been56.5 million sir ok so that's been our
base we've been we've been expending over our base and I hear I hear what you're saying so with the discretionary did
you did you did you say state that all discretionary has been cut the same? That's correct. so
Speaker 112
50:04
in this past subgrant agreement time period from July1 through
December31st there was a pro rata percentage that was applied to all the remaining external subgrantees so
Speaker 118
50:15
we cut them each equally based on their annual amount the prior S y if we could get the numbers
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
50:24
for the 2025 I I would just like to see the numbers from 20242025 and then and we have those
Speaker 112
50:32
readily available. I'm sorry I don't have those today. In addition, I think there is one other thing I'd bring forward
which is state of Arkansas was receiving some contingency taF money each year that is money that comes from other states not expending their full allocation and then being redistributed to states based on application but you need to meet some very strict unemployment numbers and other data we had been getting that funding when the program was not with DHS but upon looking at the federal
requirements we stated that we do not qualify for that funding anymore so that was a loss of funding annually anywhere between7.5 million and5.6 million dollars it just
Speaker 152
51:24
depends on how much extra from other states was available but again we
Speaker 83
51:30
do not meet the federal criteria to get that allocation thank you thank you
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
51:37
madam chair thank you Senator uhpresentative Crawford
Representative Cindy Crawford
Unverified
51:44
Thank you madam chair Hello ladies it sounds like to me that you keep saying the four corners of the state that that is something new that we're doing with the56.5. iss that what I'm hearing?
Speaker 152
52:08
So atdhS we maintain our grants on an annual
basis so we only do state fiscal year obligations that go up to our notice of award amount we have been spending TNf previously beyond that amount because there was significant commitments as well as significant reserves we are now at a state with this grant that we are no longer able to make commitments to either our our
budgets inside or to external budgets that exceeds56.5 million dollars
Representative Cindy Crawford
Unverified
52:51
annually OK so the four corners of the state is not
Speaker 83
52:57
new it's what we've been doing anyway that's how we practice grant management at our
Representative Cindy Crawford
Unverified
53:02
agency. OK. all right. another question the new funding for the older Americans Act will that helped the senior centers across Arkansas.
Speaker 58
53:19
Yes ma'am I believe so that was one of one of the areas that we had to pause activities for a certain time period with certain sections within the senior centers not all of the senior centers but we can get you the specifics. OK.
Representative Cindy Crawford
Unverified
53:31
It Will that be discretionary funds or no it's specific it's ongoing operations yes
Speaker 58
53:36
it so it's not discretionary it's not new money it's it's what had been budgeted we have just now received it very
Representative Cindy Crawford
Unverified
53:49
money they pull it straight from the feds it doesn't
Speaker 188
53:54
come through the state is that correct? no ma'am that is not correct that they have
Representative Cindy Crawford
Unverified
54:00
a subgrant a ta of subgrant so we will be getting cut? Yes ma'am. OK didn't know that. OK how were the CACs funded before COID. I mean everybody got all that extra money and so everybody is
now screaming we realize that so do you happen to know how
Speaker 152
54:30
that extra money hit so again we inherited these programs from DWs based on documents we've received is that the CAC umbrellagan organization began receiving taina funding in 2019 and then they've received allocations since then. I am not privy to how the individual child protection centers out
in communities have been funded. I know it's been a mix between voca funds which I understand have also been cut we do not administer or receive voca funds they also received some funding through the commission on right domestic violence and child abuse that's housed at UMs again we don't receive those funds and we don't distribute those funds and then it's my understanding that they're
all501c3s so they do individual community fundraising and get other grants and and services but again I can't speak to that we don't operate those organizations
Speaker 213
55:31
thank you thank you madam chair thank you Representative beck thank
Representative Cindy Crawford
Unverified
55:35
you madam chairir I I've almost wore up my button clicking in
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
55:43
and clicking back out and clicking back in as people ask questions so great questions from the rest of the legislators here they and and I'm I'm trying to
understand a little bit you you you it looks like you've done quite a bit of funding out of reserves all right which would indicate that there's a lot of reserves alright? Now maybe I'm looking at reserves the wrong way but so my question would be I'm just gonna ask a few questions you however what mandated the reserves of being built up I mean our what caused these reserves to first of all accumulate another thing then
the other thing is I would like to see like you know where these reserves were not necessarily the back like who's who is in charge of these reserves you know so they're there's this pot of money somewhere and who is it is it the the agencies that you're you do they have reserves down in them or is it is is itdHS and that type of thing and then the last thing is it's just a request if if if these is reserves are there is there any way we could see a
history of these reserves where they were and who was in charge of them the last three years or something or maybe the last four years you know so we can get a kind of get an idea of what happened here because I mean it does appear that there were some very large re s er ve s somewhere maybe that's needed for some reason but anyway if answer those two questions and if if it is possible to get us the information as to the the amount of the reserves who was in charge of those reserves whether they were transferred to you guys at some point or something
of that nature I would
Speaker 184
57:36
certainly appreciate it So it's my understanding that these reserves
Speaker 152
57:41
had built up over time with the prior administration it atdWS Mary Franklin can certainly explain more about that but as umt and TNF eligible recipients went down there were there were less opportunities to spend those
funds directly with clients so it's my understanding that during the administration there was a time period where they weren't distributing a lot of funds to outside agencies I do think some of the funding went to support that we owa boards some of the funds went to support other work initiatives but I do not think they were doing discretionary subgrants to not for profits in communities then and I only know this because DHS got approached as a
recipient forim sub grant money the federal government came in and had a conversation with state of Arkansas and said if state of Arkansas cannot use the fi6.5 million in tanf we would be happy to give you a permanent reduction and then that way we could give this funding to other states or you can expedite spending on reserves. so then there was a concerted effort to find organizations that met the four tenants of TAF and to
get that funding out to organization s that is one of the ways that our division of youth services got some funding for diversion, right and for also for skills training for our kids who were not in treatment settings right so I just know that because we got approached could you all utilize some funding of course we said yes we would we would be happy to use that to help our kids who are in
juvenile justice. so from there there was a concerted effort to spin down the reserves and there were lots of grants and awards made and then they were expended then the program came to DHS and we have spent the last couple of years making sure that we could honor our commitments faithfully while still paying our employees and paying clients who were entitled to these services and
at this point we just don't have a reserve. we would like to have one quarter in reserves in case there is the long federal shutdown and that would be approximately $14 million as I said sometime in September we only had about 8 million and I know that number now is down to about 4 to5 million but again I will get you that exact number as of today but that's sort of the history and I will try we have put together some of the
Speaker 83
1:00:36
documentation that you're asking for and we'll be happy to share that with
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
1:00:40
you all. So just a quick follow up so the the documentation that you're gonna share with us is going to say where the reserves were in other words who who was in charge of the reserves yes that's correct and and those balances and sort of just say I don't want need a whole lot of detail here but just like a year by year basis how those accumulated and then how the spin down went because
obviously as you said the federal government came in and said use it or lose it so at some point we they reached ax reached out to DHS and said do you need some money for something and so I would like to just to just to see how that went up and back down and where where where it went when they were told to either utilize it or we weren't going to get funded at56 million dollar level we'll
Speaker 83
1:01:32
certainly work with the other agency to flush out some of that as well. we do have some
documentation around closure of the federal grants in and other information. You
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
1:01:43
know one of the and not just as a brief comment man 11 of the one
of the most frustrating things it is as a legislator is when you're funding something and and there's this this pot of money out there somewhere that's actually funding the same thing and you you get a feel that the funding level
that you're at everything's adequate then all of a sudden people come they they
need additional fundingle well it's because they've been spending down reserves that were there or whatever and we don't
we don't necessarily either we're not diligent enough to to drill down to find out that there's actually money coming from another source again I I think what we're doing is fine the the things that we're using utilizing on his spine but it's frustrating to know that that at some point funding's not enough and it's because we were spending down reserves and you know it it gives us a false sense of of of when we're setting a budget how how to set the budget to make sure that we fund everything appropriately so that was that's the reason for
me asking for this reserve and how it got built up and where it's
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:02:49
at now thank you. thank youpresentative senator dismay thank you madam chair so just to make sure that I because I'm looking at this list
and I do appreciate it being provided because there's a lot that I don't understand. I mean I'm and I just want to confirm for them what I'm hearing is we're kind of headed in a new direction we're going to I'm I'm I'm hoping there are some formulas equations whatever where we measure outcomes for the dollars that we're spending man when you
have a whole bunch of money and we had excess you're less likely to pay much attention and I think that's what we find ourselves falling into and then we started funding things and now those saying that maybe that weren't funded before want the same amount and all we're we've got to start asking for justification in particular with these nonprofits or whoever may be involved because if I looked at this list I mean I could choose to be offended from Cersey Arkansas becauseillem Springs is getting a one off or whatever
and I have no idea how that came about it's nothing againstalm Springs it's just how did how did that work out and how is that fair to the rest of the state so I do very very much appreciate this renewed look at what's happening because without it I'm not I'm not sure that we are accomplishing much in a goal besides getting some money out the door it may be each one of these entities are doing well and above and beyond but I hope for sure that we're gonna measure some outcomes to ensure that that's the case because like I said a lot of this is I mean some of this I don't
think I want to know where the money was going and how it was being utilized. I'm just by doing some quick Google searches. but anyway so that that is the plan y'all are going to have number one there's not as much money we have to control how we're spending it and whatever we do spend we're gonna
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
1:04:33
get the biggest bang for the buck. yes sir so thank you for the question. So outcomes have become a very large topic of conversation and outcomes can vary from subgrantee to subgrantee they're not just
outcome x for all of them because they're serving different populations or serving different entities and doing it in different ways one area that we have been very conscious of with our subgrantees and still having those conversations is we're wanting to see services not salaries infringe because if something occurs where we do have to make a reduction salaries infringe is very hard to recover from when you need to go fundraise or do something for services so we
are taking a new look at it, we are trying to add some additional outcomes and we are having those conversations with the subgrantees.
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:05:24
My mother piece would be you know during COVID and those dollars coming in the state we
essentially required a form to be signed that they knew that those dollars had the potential to be one time money short lived and to not anticipate being able to utilize those in the funds so you know in essence don't increase your over he ad based on this to your point you know do what you can for some short term outcome
or you know turn it into a long term outcome I I hope that we move I think those things were signed with some of these entities that are talking about you know the the shock of not receiving continuing funding I would just if that doesn't exist make sure that everyone that receives a dollar understands that that dollar may not be there next year because of a you know reorganization of priorities a new administration, whatever it may be that it you know it is possible
that they're not be there Yes sir
Speaker 138
1:06:23
I'm not familiar with the form from COVID but we do put funding funding
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
1:06:28
availability clauses in all of our agreements with contracts and sub grants but we will go back and look at it again for additional yeah yes sir thank you senator Representative Allen
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
1:06:49
thank you madam chairir. I just happened to look down this list and I saw a company called Allen Transportation. let the record reflect that's not my company. OK Representative
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:07:07
beatty thank you madamir. Just just to make certain that the way I interpret the data that you provided on the sheet of vendors these are the actual amount of monies that
Speaker 235
1:07:19
have been expended and sent to these entities yes
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:07:25
sir this is taken from an ASIS report so the other half of this that that I think would be helpful is the amount of the initial award for each of these entities to show
what what what they're expecting to receivecu just a quick a quick scan you you got about7.7 million dollars left if we're operating
with the56.5 you gave us.
Speaker 152
1:07:53
so a couple of points about that. So for for years that these were not at DHS we don't have access to those and not all of these are on a sub grant agreement lots of these were paid through purchase orders reimbursements, other methods of payment. however we do know through AIS that these were tied tonf expenses in addition this
money is on top of operating costs so we when you canbine let's just say like the the total line from 2019 while that was at DWS I'm sure if you combine that with their operating expenses it would be way in excess of the56.5 million I I hate that the senator dismay left the
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:08:51
room because I I I think he would've been kind of keyed in on restate what you said right at the beginning of that about the some of these there are no contracts and it and and you don't have that information or can't find it.
Speaker 118
1:09:08
I I mean so so prior to the grant being administered I I
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:09:12
understand that when I'm not laying blame on you guys
Speaker 152
1:09:16
for that yes so some some of these went for instance like inter interagency transfers so like
payments to we owa boards for instance that was ongoing. I don't know that there's an agreement or contract for that some of these amounts that are are lower amounts for instance we're on purchase orders so one of the first things we did when we took over agreements is we got a spreadsheet and we entered into formal subgrant agreements with all of our ongoing vendors to
Speaker 83
1:09:53
just make sure that all of our documentation
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:09:59
was in good order. well how about providing us a list of the ones you don't have information on that there's no agreement there it's Yesir I think that might be enlightening there are several on here that are larger awards that that started after 2023
so I still think it would be helpful to have what was the award amount for those that you do know the the the dollar
Speaker 184
1:10:34
amount on yes sir and in any of those that have happened since DHS will be happy to provide all
Speaker 194
1:10:40
the documentation available because I I
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:10:43
I think Senator Dismay's question and and the line of of question he was going down his own outcomes I think that's what we want out of this we want to see that these
programs are impactful and are changing lives and and and providing the intended use of these funds to improve quality of life I do see a couple on here that
you know the the payment to uhdHS that's the salaries and and covering employees that 1.7 million Yes, on the second to last page at the top
is that just your operating cost
Speaker 83
1:11:42
for this would be a grant most likely either to our division of youthervices or division of childrenldren and
Speaker 241
1:11:50
Family Services. and so if if it's not
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:11:56
I think I think I want some information on each of these that are going to a state entity or a state organization as to what the state's doing with that money and and how it's being expended by the state because that's one thing we do have that we hold accountable and and we can we can weigh in on that just like leg audit
I see Arkansas legislative audit $94,400. I don't see that looking back to 2019. so don't I don't know what that was for is there a certain audit
that was required on this or is it an administrative function that was passed on to leg audit what what that what that
Speaker 152
1:12:35
payment was for so that's likely our payment to legislative audit for auditing the program and that may be that when we when we pulled it when we keyed it into asis we put it in professional fees and services so when we did the Aisxct it came back in that in that manner but in prior years I don't know how the other state
Speaker 83
1:12:57
agency coded that payment to legislative audit but that would be a normal ongoing payment. I can also ask legislative audit if they were testing the TnF program when it was at DWS as well and and then I I guess my
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:13:12
my last question cause because in that that causes me pause to just as far as the validity of the information that we have here if you just ported something in from from
the system can you pull in and get a a total paid and you know like on each year or you know just show 219 by entity to show that the total and the change over the over the time time frame I I think that would be helpful too. I I know may be just asked for the information in a different format. and if you can't do that
just send me this information in in excel spreadsheet and I
Speaker 244
1:13:58
can do it myself. OK. we'll we'll work
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:14:04
on that because Idd I just kind of want to see the trend and on some of these because some of them do or are popping up on here like pulaski County at420 almost425,000 dollars. so it's just things that jump out at me not picking on Pulaski County, not picking on leg audit. it's just things that cause me pause
and I want I want to see where and how that money's being utilized
Speaker 58
1:14:31
yes sir we'll we'll work on it. I think what you're asking is buy entitya time over time year over year excuse me
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:14:38
you know so that way I think if you give me the total award that you have and then we can
see how how this has progressed because what I what I heard earlier is you were told if if y'all can't spend this money in Arkansas then we're going to reduce your your award and at that point it's like we need to get rid of our reserves and then operate within the56.5 million that that we're being given and make certain that we
utilize that instead of trying to hold back a quarter's worth of reserve or you know six months of a reserve in there you need to expend this money and employ it in in the state like the program was intended and again not laying blame on you guys or on VWs but the program was intended for these funds to be deployed throughout the state and sitting in a bank account over there is a slush fund is not deploying those funds to in the manner in which they were intended so with that
I'll get out of the queue and and let let some of my colleagues speak and thank y'all for answering
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
1:15:44
the questions. thank youpresentativeandy Senator Irvin so yeah just follow up again these are federal funds and I just think we've got to make sure that we understand that at any point the of the of the subgrantees do we ask them how they spend their money because I mean, I'm looking at a lot of this and I'm thinking that's a lot of money
that they're receiving. Do we ever I mean so I want to make sure that they're spinning it wisely, correctly and and so we're real clear about that that's one of my questions. So do we ever look at how restore hope initiative is spending the uh6.2 million dollars that
they received in 2025. Yes, we do
Speaker 62
1:16:31
they have a subgrant agreement so they
should be spending within the within the terms of that agreement when we receive invoices we do request follow up documentation we give them some time but we request follow up documentation and then we also do monitoring at least you know, once a year where we may go even and look deeper so we are doing that OK so if you'll just look it
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
1:16:58
with me, I just want to make sure I'm clarified.202 5 let's look at 2025. on this list of what was paid out of
expenses on 2025. you have seven are the subcontract discretionary subgrant people alliance of boys and Girlslub, Arkansas Baptist, Children's Arkansas Human Development Corp Children advocacy Centers of Arkansas, our house, Pulaski County reststore Hope and then on that last page career pathways initiative and DOE those are by statute So the rest of those let's just pick Conway County Community
Service incorporated. How is that funded?
Speaker 118
1:17:42
so that was a subgrant during that time period and that's one of the ones that we have subsequently sunsetted. so we did not renew it for this this new state fiscal year
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
1:17:57
OK, so we've limited it to we've got7 main entities but then the rest of the expenditures on here were just they were also discretionary
Speaker 152
1:18:10
grants some of them but like for instance if you look at this at this line that says smacky's catering services for $172,000 for instance that is part of the allocation that was given to division of youthervices and they utilize that at our C step facility to feed juveniles who were participating in that in that diversion program so rather than giving the money
Speaker 213
1:18:41
directly we pay we paid a bill for them and that came out of their
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
1:18:46
allocation portion got you so I think what may just be
helpful is just being able to like identify each of these like as you I'm not sure if AI has the ability to do that but like that that makes sense when you start looking at, you know, yes, some of these were discretionary that pop up during the year based on what our needs are basically is that right?
Speaker 83
1:19:11
we'll use services has a set allocation and they were spending out of that set allocation with this vendor but yes and
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
1:19:18
then likeood Bank of northeast Arkansas. They had an
Speaker 194
1:19:21
ongoing subgrant agreement and we fin we finalized that and then we paid it out in sunset them and so they were not renewed for
Speaker 118
1:19:28
this state fiscal year. OK. OK all right thank you. I I appreciate
Speaker 248
1:19:32
it thank you thank you Senator Irvin and colleagues I'm going to
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:19:36
let you know today we do have a hard stop
at 11:35 but if you've got a presentation we'd love to bring you back if it's ok next month to finish up we're not going to stop right now we'll stop at 11:35 but there's a lot that you you prepared for today we haven't been able to go over so if it's ok we'll bring you guys back next month and to finish up what we've got here maybe we'll have some more answers to some of the questions that everybody's presented today that's OK. right Senator Petty
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
1:20:04
thank you madam chairir. looks like I'm the last one so I'll be re. Thank you ladies. I know there's a lot of questions it's been very helpful to for me and
so thank you for being patient and answering these. I think I understand the numbers but I wanted on the go forward basis much like Senator Dismay and Representative beatty mentioned based on outcomes I I I love hearing that but can you help me understand with the current forget about the reserve forget about the spending 90 million out of a56 million because you use don't I think I understand all that now but going forward56.5
million dollars if the math is right roughly7.5 million is spent statutory and then looking at this schedule that we had roughly 8.7 or 9 million so leavee's about40 million dollars and I know there's some administrative costs in there for salaries at at DHS. what else is make is that40 million dollars spent on roughly40 million dollars what what are we doing with TAf with some of these s block grants
and and sub grants going away what are we doing because that may be something where we want to as a legislative body help you prioritize just because ofs up your child advocacy centers or
or whatever their programs are statutorily or otherwise. so if you
Speaker 62
1:21:32
could help me there so in addition to those two for CPI and ABc that are statutorily required we also andcPI is 9.9 so7.5 and CI was
9.9 for this year we also support the activities and the payments do our clients in the transitional employment assistance programme that that is the state's cash assistance work programme associated with TAf and the workpays program which is also for clients who were in the tea program but who ended their team because they went to work. so workpas is is a secondary program to help them just get those next steps in
job stability and help them increase their earnings so they get additional support through their time and work pace there's the salaries for staff there are system costs related to maintaining the systems where where these service these programs are determined eligibility in the case management they're other parts of the money fund child welfare activities in DHS and activities in the division of youthervices and then also you know supportive expenses
across the department for finance for legal for procurement all all of you know for leadership all the associated costs are what make up
Speaker 250
1:22:56
the rest of that 40 approximately40 million. follow up sorry
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
1:23:03
about that so so basically the the tour that we did the presentation that we had last week or the week before last, there at your workforce those those are the programs that you're talking about that are that are being paid or some of them are being
funded out of out of that and then the the balance just a ballpark just curious on on all the administrative inhouse don't have to give it to me today if you don't
t know it but just just ballpark of of the56 million how much
Speaker 152
1:23:43
of it is administrative cost so in 2025 our administrative costs were right around $12
million butrector Franklin also spoke about funds to division of childrenldren and Family Services so that support in 2025 was about $25 million so went to the activities at the hotline went to investigations went to fund frontline child welfare workers we also have an allocation that goes to our division of youth services as we spoke on earlier, I think
that was around $7 million last year and then our systems cost for 2025 was right around $2 million for instance and then I'm just looking here and I don't have the salary and fringe number in front of me
Speaker 118
1:24:40
but those would be additional expenses as well and that's what you gave me just roughly close to
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
1:24:47
the40 million that we were talking about. OK. thank you. thank you
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:24:55
all right thank you all so much. if we could just I think we had two that we didn't do. our house and plastic those last few if we could get those done and then we'll start with a snap next month and when we come back in January if we could answer some of the questions that colleagues had today that would be that would be great. So I think in your slide presentation we had just two or three maybe we can finish those up by 11:30 and I will start fresh on the snap if I'm making sense to youmy Franklin. Yes ma'am thank you OK the this slide is on the
Speaker 62
1:25:26
child advocacy centers which is one of the current se discretionary subgrants the amount of their award for the July25 through December 25 period of time was $1,900,833.88 and they support the development and support of of the local child advoc advocacy centers that are located throughout Arkansas they provide specialized training technical assistance and sub grants to those local
organizations the goal of the grant to the child advocacy centers is to you know for them to remain proactive in helping reduce abuse and neglect within our underserved communities across Arkansas and to continued training and collabor ation with law enforcement and the local communities to improve outcomes of abuse and neglect
and then our house is one of the subgrantees their grant award for the July25 through December 25 period of time was $950,416.94 in our house they work to empower homeless and near homeless families to take charge of their circumstances and build a better life for themselves the familiess being served usually are experiencing multiple in interconnected crisis and trauma including domestic
violence, incarceration extreme poverty health conditions mental illness, behavioral health challenges and and more you know and those things in combination can definitely start a family down the road to where separation or even foster care could could be necessary so that is the group that our house works with We also have a subgrant with pulaski County Youth Services their subgrain amount for the
July through December 25 period was $250,589.21 they they have an afterschool program the emerging champions youth academy. it provides professional and leadership development, soft skills training to increase their self efficacy to provide postsecondary pathway resources career certification completion opportunities while they're improving school attendance graduation rates for
low income youth and to introduce them to valuable workforce experiences that's the purpose of that grant. and restore hope the restore hope initiative is also a subgrantee and they're July through December 25 grant award amount was 252,900 dollars59 cents and they focus to assist in response to crisis you know of unprecedented growth and prison and foster care
population the 100 familiesmilies initiative is a community community led initiative designed to help families move from crisis to stability and on to thriving lives so that that is what restore hope the purpose of the grant and that gets us through our tentative portion of the presentation thank you all so much for your time and all this today
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:28:56
and we'd like to do item C secret mann just to give an update on the reimbursement rates under the
Speaker 58
1:29:03
Living Choicessisted waiver. yes ma'am. quick update we we supplied the letter we have finished the cost report analysis we we recommended holding steady at the current rate we did put it out for public comment that was reported last month that public comment period ended on November 22nd and we have received numerous comments. I actually asked for
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
1:29:25
the official count this morning. We got 161 comments so we are going through those to be answered and then we will be
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:29:34
coming forward with a a final recommendation thank you so much. I appreciate thatgain colleagues we'll be back in January to finish up on snap and to get the questions on tann have answered thank you all so much for your time today and with that we're we're done. thank you.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Overview of Current Status and Developments Regarding the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) [Exhibit B]
C. Update of Reimbursement Rates Under the Living Choices Assisted Waiver Pursuant to Act 213 of 2022, Section 15 [Exhibit C]
D. Other Business
E. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
Speaker 51
Speaker 53
Speaker 55
Speaker 58
Speaker 54
Speaker 62
Speaker 68
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
Speaker 81
Speaker 83
Speaker 84
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Speaker 104
Speaker 61
Speaker 112
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Speaker 116
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
Speaker 60
Speaker 143
Speaker 145
Speaker 152
Speaker 118
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
Representative Joy Springer
Unverified
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Speaker 177
Speaker 150
Speaker 185
Representative Cindy Crawford
Unverified
Speaker 188
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Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
Speaker 184
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
Speaker 138
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Speaker 250