ALC-Executive Subcommittee
Video
Transcript
3 documents
Bills discussed (1)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HR1
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “…es (DHS), Division of County Operations - SNAP Updates from HR1”
|
Pre-2017 bill |
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- ggml-large-v3-turbo.bin
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- October 5, 2026
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
1:00
All right, we've got members coming in, we'll go ahead and get started and call an executive
subcommittee to order. All right, first on the agenda is the consideration of the emergency rule from the Department of Human Services. Go ahead and invite them to the table, please. this is the SNAP rule right good afternoon I'm Mary Franklin director of
Speaker 17
1:41
the Division of County Operations with Department of Human
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
1:46
Services okay if you would just briefly describe what the rule is and why and
Speaker 20
1:53
then we'll see if there's any questions yes today I'm bringing before you a rule that will affect the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program the snap program this rule is necessary due to changes that to the able-bodied adult without dependents work requirement in snap and these changes came about in the passage
of the one big beautiful act of 2025 the changes include raising the age of individuals who are subject to that able-bodied adult without dependence work requirement from 54 at the upper limit to now 64 at the upper limit it also changes the exception to the work requirement for individuals with children in the household the new requirement requires parents of
children age 14 or older to also be subject to this requirement to work whereas previously before this new act parents or households with children under age 18 were exempt so that is a change. Previously we had implemented exemptions or exceptions from the requirement to work in SNAP based on passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 23 and that act added homeless individuals, veterans, and individuals age 24 or younger and in foster
care on their 18th birthday or higher that they were accepted from the requirement to work, but the new federal law removed those three exemptions, so those are no longer exemptions. This new federal law added some new exemptions for Indians, urban Indians, and California indians specifically as described in the health care improvement act so we have added those exemptions in addition to that the federal law also changed some shelter some of the shelter
deduction requirements in the previous to this law individuals who received um like assistance like through the LIHEAP program or some type of shelter assistance were automatically qualified for what's called a standard utility allowance and now that is limited to age 60 or older it does not mean other households can't also have a standard utility allowance but they have to meet the requirements
Speaker 17
4:26
they're just not automatically eligible by receiving something like LIHEAP and that is a summary of the changes of this rule happy to
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
4:34
answer any questions great so just to recap this is as a result of the big beautiful bill so that we meet the requirements associated with that and then there's and as emergency rule we have
the permanent rule coming yes sir okay all right any questions I see senator boyd
Senator Justin Boyd
Unverified
4:59
you're recognized just oh right here
thank you mr chair for clarity's sake on
i guess the third page it says 3210 and i'm trying to understand we've changed some his and replaced with their and he and she and replaced with they um are we going from singular to plural or we i mean what any sense of why we needed to update that i can't find where the the paragraph that to read how it fits in there
Speaker 29
5:31
oh those are just grammar changes we're making throughout the manual not just limited to snap so anytime we update a section we are just
standardizing that that's the only reason so so for
Speaker 32
5:43
the record we're just standardizing it to make it plural rather than singular yes
Senator Justin Boyd
Unverified
5:50
okay i just wanted to clarify that we wanted to make it plural and that's what we were trying to do. Thank you.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
6:02
Representative Rye? You turned it off, sir. Hit it again. And you're recognized. Okay.
Representative Johnny Rye
Unverified
6:10
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mary, before this meeting, you and I spoke just a little bit, and I know people around the state have had some questions with the SNAP program due to the federal situation that came about about three or four weeks ago. Can you kind of explain to us what happened with us as far as the food banks and things like that and when the SNAP is actually reunited with the people that, you know, belong in there?
Speaker 20
6:40
Yes, sir. Due to the federal government shutdown, we were notified by the Food and Nutrition Service, which is part of the USDA, and it's the agency that funds and regulates SNAP programs in the states they they provided us guidance to hold November benefits and not send them out and they sent us this guidance midway through October and so based on their guidance we held November benefits so those benefits were late we subsequently got guidance
that gave us instructions to issue benefits based on a partial allocation of benefits based on 50% of the normal allocation. And then we got guidance that said now base it on 65%. And then we got guidance that said issue full. And then we got guidance that said hold, don't do anything. And we finally, with the federal government reopening, got guidance to issue those full benefits, which we were able to do last week. And happy to report that we are current now on issuing November benefits.
Anyone's benefits who had been held during that time have now been issued. And so on a daily basis now, we're issuing any newly
Speaker 17
7:58
approved households that weren't previously approved. So for all intents and purposes, back to normal as far as the operation of SNAP. Thank
Speaker 39
8:06
you, Mary. And thank you, Mr. Chairman, sir.
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
8:11
Thank you, Representative. All right. Any other questions? Senator Rice, you're recognized. Thank you. Just a question I should have thought to ask before.
On the emergency funding that Arkansas did and the chair signed off on, is that in any way reimbursable? Not that my understanding. I'll
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
8:30
allow the agency to speak to it, but we understood that on the front end that that wasn't going to be reimbursed by the feds, but you're happy to speak to that if
Speaker 20
8:41
you will. I don't have any information that leads me to believe there's any way that Arkansas could be reimbursed for
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
8:47
that. But it was totally caused by the federal shutdown, correct?
That is my understanding. And, you know, there is a lot of agencies that get money back, employees get back pay, and all. So is that anything y'all can check into?
Speaker 28
9:06
I can certainly ask the question of FNS. Okay. Thank you. You're
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
9:12
welcome. and senator if I may there was that was one of the reasons you know you saw some other states like Louisiana was doing 45 million dollars to help cover those SNAP benefits and that as I
understand those states were told at that time that money would not be reimbursed by the feds so that was again just something that was looked at I think as I was told to see do we want to do that um and what is the likelihood that gets reimbursed and there wasn't so um yes sir uh senator hester you
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
9:41
recognized yeah i'm just gonna lean in a little bit more on um what senator boyd asked and and there's no page number so it's impossible to track where we're at but uh when we remove he
she and put they what is the intent behind that is it the intent that the department thinks there's more than a he and a
Speaker 29
10:06
she no sir I think it was just to mean it didn't matter whether it was male or female just that they good
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
10:22
thank you okay any other questions see none without objection the proposed emergency
rule is reviewed and approved and the
review and approval shall be effective upon adjournment of legislative council meeting Friday November 21st 2025 all right um thank you it looks like I think that's it thank you very much and then director Garrity you're
Speaker 52
10:44
recognized thank you Marty Garrity with the Bureau of Legislative
Speaker 53
10:47
Research before you you have a revised security policy for the Big Mac building um the changes in this revision reflect the fact that the Bureau is no longer contracting with a private security company
and the fact that State Capitol Police is now providing security for the Big Mac building. There is one correction under 4.01 under page 3. It should read by officers of the Arkansas State Capitol Police, and we'll make that correction. But this would require a motion to approve the changes.
Speaker 49
11:21
Okay. Any questions on this change? see none I will obtain a motion I have
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
11:29
motion I have a second all right any
discussion see none all in favor say aye any opposed ayes have it all right members thank you very much thank y'all we're adjourned
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Consideration of an Emergency Rule: Department of Human Services (DHS), Division of County Operations - SNAP Updates from HR1
C. Presentation of the Draft MAC Security Policy - 2025
D. Other Business
E. Adjournment
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — ALC - EXECUTIVE SUBCOMMITTEE, Nov 20, 2025 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
| Exhibit B - DHS - DCO Emergency Rule SNAP HR1 10-29-25 | Exhibit | 274 | Official source ↗ |
| Exhibit C - MAC Security Policy_2025 Proposed Revisions_11042025 | Exhibit | 5 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Speaker 1
Speaker 3
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
Speaker 17
Speaker 20
Senator Justin Boyd
Unverified
Speaker 29
Speaker 32
Representative Johnny Rye
Unverified
Speaker 39
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
Speaker 28
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
Speaker 52
Speaker 53
Speaker 49