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- October 2, 2026
Members if you start taking your seats we're going to get started momentarily. I know you did I really didn't know
right members I call this meeting to order chair Siaorum Billy you're
William Parrish
Unverified
2:47
ready to start thank you Mr Chair. we're in section B. this is a very temporary appropriation requests. there's only one item on the agenda it's from it's a letter from the University of Arkansas Arkansas school for mathematicsciences in the artts. It's for $3 million in appropriation over several line items. According to the letter, it is utilized existing general revenue and prior year carryover funds to support
Representative Kavanaugh p re s ent ative Kavanaugh you're recognized for a question assume you want the University of Arkansas to come up to the
Thank you Mr Mr Chairman you could
identify yourself for the record then uhpresentative Kavanaugh you'd be recognized to ask
Speaker 27
4:02
your question. Coryalonna executive director AMsA. Steve
Speaker 28
4:06
Maock, director of finance AMSA. Tara Smith CFfo
Speaker 30
4:10
for the University of Arkansasystem Off. thank y'all. for being
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
4:14
here. My question is I'm a little
confused when I look at this request it talks about the construction of a new maintenance building, littlettle Pine struction stairwell renovation. but when you look down at what they're actually requesting, you're requesting for regular salaries, extra help, personnel matching. So my question is do you have skilled tradesmen on salary and that's what you're needing to pay out of this money if OK, I want to give a little bit of background
Speaker 34
4:44
as to the process that's used to get appropriations approved through
the regular legislative process. I'm well aware of that ma'am.
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
4:52
very well that probably more so than you. that's where the error was made. that's
Speaker 34
4:56
why I just want to go back this was back from when the AMSA requested in preparation for the the last legislative session. There are forms that are filled out sent to ADHE that then come over to the legislature and there was some staff turnover that was occurring at AS M S A at that point in time in finance and those forms did not get filled out correctly such that the appropriation levels
were not sufficient from when they were presented back during the legislative session so that is going on in combination with the capital projects that are provided in the in the letter listing which indicates it's ongoing operations plus their capital projects so that's why you'll see that there's a requested increase to the line item for the salaries and fringes within the within this request AmsA it has a revenue coming in from the state this year that
totals 1el.98 million dollars and at their current appropriation levels they're actually beneath that. So I just want to explain that that ties back some to that original request back during the legislative session if you knew that you
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
6:04
hadn made a mistake during the budgeting process on your re on your salaries match and extra help. how come you haven't made that request and now you're tying it in to where it looks like you're trying to improve construction. sure I can I can help speak
Speaker 34
6:22
and then if AMSA wants to follow up with my conversations as the new finance directors this Stteen that was came into his role. he was evaluating what the projected spend was going to be for ASMSA this year and recognized that there was going to be shortages prior to the end of the fiscal year so as he was doing his projections out we worked together to put his number s together to see what appropriations would be needed hence then the request was made. um, once the MOF was approved the methods of finance for those
capital projects we jointly put the numbers together for their ongoing operation as well as the capital projects that had been thus approved through the methods of finance process so that we could bring both of those requests together and how long have you known
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
7:06
that you're you're gonna need this additional appropriation for for personnel. This is not for construction. The way this is present ed is that this is tied to construction so how long has it been since you've known that you're gonna you messed up during budget and you didn't do the proper forms how long has that been?
Speaker 28
7:25
we've been aware of it for the past couple of months we've been working through identifying exactly what the need is this request will bring us back to be more consistent with prior year appropriation levels and because that carry forward was not considered we had a shortfall in
Speaker 44
7:42
these categories so during budgeting process we did
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
7:47
not give you this authority now you want to increase that authority.
Is that what you're trying you're saying that during our regular budgeting process
you did not ask for this authority and we reduced your authority now you're asking for more that's correct to be
Speaker 45
8:06
consistent with prior year levels yes but again you didn't ask for it correct? The submission was not made on time and how much excess funding do
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
8:15
you have in that appropriation? I'm sorry what was the question how much excess of funding and appropriation do you have in that line item? in which specific line and
Speaker 28
8:29
regular salaries and regular salaries extra
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
8:31
help and personnel matching. right now
Speaker 28
8:34
the request is that we're increasing by683,000. that's not what I'm asking generally every
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
8:39
agency has excess funding requests and appropriation. How much excess funding requests have he had in those personnel in those line items in prior years or in current year what
Speaker 34
9:00
I can give you overall appropriation. Now I don't
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
9:03
want to overall appropriation. I'm asking for these three line items that you're asking to have this additional appropriation what is your balance in those? you know
Speaker 38
9:13
how much you've submitted she's wondering what your balance is versus what you've submitted thus far yeah. I
Speaker 28
9:19
know that we're on track to be roughly if we have any kind of we've got about a3.5% buffer with with where this increase will land so
without this we're not going to be able to track with where we were in actuals in fy 25. which were I believe they
Speaker 32
9:36
were close to4.5 million. I can get the exact numbers for you chairman I will have a request
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
9:42
at the proper time. Representative Vauugt you're recognized for
a question thank you Mr Chair. I'm gonna
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
9:54
ask a question then I'm gonna ask for a little bit of leeway if that's OK sir. so
I'm looking at your operating expense and that's a pretty big dramatic jump to 1.4 million. can you tell me why that's a such a dramatic increase I'm gonna start
Speaker 34
10:19
and then I'll let you so I'm going to go back to where their appropriation levels normally are, which was in F25 prior to the error being made in the legislative request process for appropriations. Normally their appropriation levels in
operating expenses5.25 million that was up by25's level so in fy 26 because the failure to complete the forms correctly it dropped them down to3.14 million in operating exp ense s So where the quest the request for the transfer is an additional 1.4 over the current level of3.1 million which puts them at4.5, roughly4.5 million which is still a a a decline or a decrease from Fy2 from from prior years' appropriation
levels by approximately 13.3%. so even with this request to the increase again there was an error made in those Fy26 requests. they would still be lower than what their Fy25 levels the prior years's levels were for that particular line of and can you tell me and you might have already answered it and
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
11:25
I just missed it. can you tell me when you figured out that y'all had had this mistake Sure it
Speaker 34
11:31
was sometime in late summer and as they were working to on their capital project on their capital
projects, um, again there was a method of finance process and they're you know, reviewing how much those capital projects were going to be in realizing that there was not enough sufficient appropriation for not only the capital projects but also there ongoing operations because of that era it was it was probably August when we started discussing about putting those numbers together to bring forth that request to ensure that there was efficient appropriations to actually spend the revenues that they are receiving through the state. OK, and then I'm going to try to
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
12:10
piggy up back off ofpresentative Kavanaugh. so you have 1.4 million in excess in the appropriation to move over to there, right? did say it yeah
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
12:28
and then some school funding actual funding so how much funding, how much appropriation funding do you have left over after you move this 1.4. action they're speaking to
Speaker 34
12:42
actuals of what is essentially are you so they have an an actual funding they get they're they are set to receive 12.9 million from the state overall in carryover funds because of the nature of AmSA they do not get to you know they don't charge tuition and fees so there's no other means of being able to find any capital needs for their campus. They essentially over you know over some years they have to cut in any sort of operational spending
to put back to save up for capital projects which has put them in the scenario where they have carryover actual funding balances such that they spend those at the time that they're doing those capital projects when those expenses are coming through. So the 1el.9 million that they'll be getting in funding this year they've got approximately how much in your carry forward balance that will then support those additional costs related to capital projects yeah we we ended the year just over 8
Speaker 32
13:40
million I believe it's 8.4 million in our
state treasury 13+8 so can they and don't think there's
Speaker 34
13:54
plans to spend the entire the entire amount for in fy fy 25 because those costs those capital costs will spread out over over several years so that kind of leads into my last question before my leeway. does that mean you're going to
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
14:06
try to come back to us next fiscal session and say we spent this much so we're gonna need this much more money.
from the state are you trying to spend down we're we're spending down that residual carryover in the
Speaker 28
14:21
state treasury balance and we're asking for the appropriation to utilize those funds in our state treasury account. right a little Willieway sir
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
14:32
I hate to bring this up here it's the only time I've seen y'all, but there was reports about a big celebration going on on y'all's campuses after Charlie Kirk was assassinated. These reports came from students
that actually go to school there and nothing was done to stop the students from having these big celebrations over the murder of a man I know some students that talked about nobody should be it should not be celebrated when anybody is murdered and still the celebrations went on. Can you please explain to me why no one in staff would stop these children from celebrating or your staff from celebrating the murder of of a man
Speaker 27
15:16
speak to thatpresentative Vaughn I have no knowledge of such celebrations or actions happening. I agree with you that the loss of any life is abhorrent in and of itself let alone relishing or celebrating on that no concerns have been brought to senior leadership or myself on this matter but it is certainly something that we will investigate based on this information today will disagree with that because it was
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
15:38
brought up I know parents that called and ask why this was being allowed to happen on your
campus. So I would do a little bit more
investigating and ask the people who were actually contacted maybe ask around and see who was contacted about this malicious thing that actually took place on your campus. Thank you sir. Representative Kavanaugh you're
recognized thank you Mr Chair. I would
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
16:06
like to ask that we hold this until the next meeting of ALc so they can provide the information that we've requested which is the
information of what their fund balances are in these special items. are we meeting in december it'd be December chairman, I just want to make sure that I'm understanding what
the motion is and how long we want to hold I mean if it's possible to get we could probably get the fund balances today for a Friday meeting if we wanted to take a look at the fund balances if I'm and I wanna I guess
I wanted to make sure I understood where we were too and so what we're talking about is is you submitted a request for preparations that were s not sufficient for the mac actual amount of spending that you were able to do and funding yes. and the amount of funding you receive to be able to spend so we're we're not talking about you getting any more or less money we're talking about giving you the authority that you failed to ask for during the actual sessions and you're just kind of rectifying that here but again there's so I think p re s ent ative au ug t had a
question about additional monies whatever I mean I anticipate what will happen is I mean there are no additional moniess but for instance on the capital projects you may not be able to fully utilize or spend those amounts on the capital projects so there'll be a continuation of that capital project so that you can you know complete it at some point in the future and so that would be most likely what would be the outcome if I'm understanding correctly but I would I mean I don't know that we need to hold it until after the first of the year
and I would also want to make sure that I understood what the impact of that would be and the other thing is if we have to do something in an emergency situation I mean I I would rather the you know more of us have the ability to vote on that then fewer of us so I want to work through the timeline before we kind of finalize a motion Representative Kavanaugh is your motion
to hold it a month or are you willing to wait until Friday and get the information or explanation that you're
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
18:22
requiring. We can wait and get the information on Friday but with the
realization that if they can't come up with the the answers that we want there will be a hold on it made for Friday for a month. we'll hold it till Friday.
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
18:41
go ahead and then just to make sure that we don't have something fall through the cracks with communication and on what the request is can you
restate Representative Kavanaugh exactly what you want them to provide and how to provide it and and and and make sure that y all have
I guess the communication paths needed to to wrap this up before Friday. Thank you
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
19:07
Mr Cha. Yes, I would make the motion that we hold this until Alc Friday so that you can provide us the information about your funding levels that you currently have for all these line items that you have down so you can tell us exactly what you have and how much you have
left in those fund balances. Quick follow up question it's ok to
Speaker 34
19:33
make sure that you understand what she's asking generally in the in the on the funding side of it the funding is one bucket not necessarily broken out it's the appropriations that get broken out by line items so there's not necessarily a funding grid that does it by line item from an appropriation so I just want to make sure that we follow up on your appropriations when you ask for
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
19:56
them you ask them by line item on those appropriations that you asked for I would like there's two things we'd like to know how much if you have any excess appropriations on these line items, OK? and then how much funding you have to back up this request. funding essentially would be a total yeah ok that makes sense thank you so you understand you need
Speaker 103
20:18
to be back here Friday we don't need a motion we'll just hold this until Friday.
William Parrish
Unverified
20:34
OK Billy ready to move on to C thank you Mr. Chair we're in section C. this is the American Rescue Plan At preparation requests there are two. the 1st 1 C1 is a request from the department of healthalth it's for 139,000. This is to ris return excess or unused funds to the Cdc staff learned the original war was 9.3 million in fiscal year 22 for infectious disease detection and mitigation.
Item number 2 C2 is also from the department of healthalth. This is for $1 against return funds to CDc staff learned the original award was for a415,000 dollars and fiscal 22 for data collection that was for the surveillance for emerging threats to mothers and babieswork. The reason it is $1 is because of a routing error that was made when the agency requested a rec reallocation in fiscal year 24. all right members
are there any questions on C1? C2
If not I'll take a motion she hasn't hit to
have a motion to approve items 1 c1 andc2 we have a motion in a second all in favor say aye any opposed motion is passed moving on to d thank you Mr
William Parrish
Unverified
21:59
Sher we're in section d these are infrastructure investment and jobs actct appropriation requests the first oned1 is from the department of
Transportations for 280 million in the spending authority. this is to provide IIJA appropriation for the third quarter behind the request it's a 23 page report showing all projects obligated with IIJE funds we'll move to the next itemd2 that's on page 25. on page 25 isd2. this is from the department ofublic Safety state crime labs for347,000 in appropriation. they have a grant from the National Highway Safety Administration to complete
toxicology testing of motor vehicle crash samples in a timely manner to s satisfy reporting requirements. funds will be used to purchase test kits, lab supplies and training for staff. d re is a request from the department ofublic Safety division of state Police. this is a reallocation that previously awarded appropriation the requestri requesting to transfer350,000 from overtime to personal services matching. This is to align costs with the federal fiscal year 26 grant budget and it is part of the coordinated national highway safetygrame.
D4 is from the department of agriculture it's for759,000. they have a grant from the USDA to replace equipment and upgrade dispatch systems for improved wildfire response as part of the state forest action plan. D5 agriculture416,000SDA grant to strengthen wildfire suppression capacity in highrisk communities these six agriculture half a million. this is a grant from the USDA to implement the nursery and orchard improvement supportgrame. D7 agriculture78,000 USDA
grant to support volunteer fire assistanced8 is again agriculture600,000. This is a grant for the USD to support rural contractors through a partnership with the Arkansas timber Producers Association. This is through the temporary ridge programme D9 is agriculture75,000 USDA grant to support the community wildfire defensegrame. D10 is the last item for agriculture. This is 2.5 million. they have a grant from the EPA to help advance the gulf
hypoxia action plan implementing nutrient reduction strategies. all right members I'm gonna go
down each item as I call that item hit your button if you have a question for that item any questions ford1? d2 d 3 D4 D5 D6
Speaker 115
24:42
D7 d 8 d 9 Senator Johnson is yours ford9? I was trying
to get to d10 but she quit
Speaker 119
25:02
and quit what's your question Somebody's got to explain what
Speaker 122
25:13
the gulf hypoxia OK somebodydy from department of agriculture
here please come to the table and introduce yourself for the record
Te wentz naturaltsource division Arkansas Department of Agriculture senator
Chair
Unverified
25:35
you recognize So what's the gulf hypoxia action plan and
Speaker 122
25:43
and who came up with that and is it so the gulf
Speaker 131
25:49
hypoxia task forcece is the 12 member states along the Mississippi river. thegulf
Chair
Unverified
25:54
hypoxia action plan is a larger scale plan to reduce nutrient loss across all all of the Mississippi river basin the 12 states along the Mississippi River do have nutrient reduction strategies or laws strategies so hypoxxy is a pretty fancy word for as nutrients enter through the Mississippiriver to
the Gulf of Mexico. it creates large algal blooms as algae dies it decomposes and that ox as it decomposes it consumes all the oxygen in the water and so it creates these large anoxic or hypoxic areas where it's unsuitable for aquatic life. so what we're trying to do is through voluntary non regulatory practices is redu reduce the nutrient loss so you're talking about like
Speaker 122
26:37
buffer zones and stuff like that with with going and paying people to create cost share
Chair
Unverified
26:44
programs incentive programs to help incentivize producers to implement those costshare programs to reduce nutrient loss. Do you have any production loss in that we try not to in the practices we're recommending and trying to utilize we try and reduce the amount of acreage loss for production is that like putting in culverts
Speaker 122
27:04
and and creating those small buffers between the field and the and the ditch or yes sir so right now we're mostly focused in
Speaker 131
27:12
on what's called two stage ditches in
northeast Arkansas it's really trying to better utilize
Chair
Unverified
27:18
the ditch ditch network in East Arkansas to move water and reduce maintenance costs and in the same time increase sediment reduction in sediment loss or nutrient loss OK thank you sir right do I have a motion to
approved1 throughd10. have a motion in a second all in
favor say aye any opposed motion has passed. Billy, moving on to
thank you Mr Chair we're in section E. this is
William Parrish
Unverified
27:57
a restricted reserve fund transfer requests is a letter from UAMS this is a request to transfer 2.9 million from the various general discretionary and majority vote set aside that's an account within the fund it's to support three programs at the university the higherrisk pregnancygrame, IdhI stroke
programme and the following baby back homeme programme for the committee's information at5.8 million dollars transfer was made for these programs plus a sickle cell program back in June of this year. right is anyone from UAMS here to answer
a question we have a question from a member if you will please introduce yourself for the record
Chair
Unverified
28:50
chairman I'm Andy Davis with UAMS. Senator Crowllell you're
Senator Steve Crowell
Unverified
28:57
recognized for a question. Hey Mr Davis I just heard him say you did5.8 million back in June for the same programs and now we're doing 2.9 so it kind of looks like we're we just why are we asking for so much these
Chair
Unverified
29:10
programs have been around for a few decades and in the last couple of years lost some federal funding so uhuM ma and the governor's office have been working together to try to revamp the programs to reduce
the cost but also keep them going so this is funding to just keep them going for several more months while we continue to work on when did we know the federal funding was gone oh
Senator Steve Crowell
Unverified
29:32
it's hard to say exactly when we've been working on this for probably a
Chair
Unverified
29:39
year or more OK OK. so you have no other questions you're excused thank
you all right members I have a motion to adopt this item. have a motion in a second all in favor say aye. opposed motion is passed moving on to
the items for review thank you Mr Sher
William Parrish
Unverified
30:09
we're in section F section F is an appropriation and or fund transfer requests there's only one item is from the public defender commission commission for parent counsel. it's a $16,000 transfer of appropriation from legal
services slash refunds reimbursements to extra help. this is to employ a lawyer that will take a part time position. This lawyers taking a part time position with the public defender commission and now with parent counsel instead of a contract position that
Speaker 149
30:35
was initially intended. seeing no questions for that objection this
item is reviewedg Thank you Mr. Chair. we're in section G. this
William Parrish
Unverified
30:50
is a cash fund appropriation request. this
is again from UAMS it's 2.9 million. this is to provide excuse me the spending authority for the transfer that was approved in the restrict restricted reserve section seeing no
questions without objection this item is reviewed. you Mrir. we're in section
William Parrish
Unverified
31:14
H. these are miscellaneous federal grant appropriation requests the first oneh1 is a request from the department of humanman Services division of county operations it's for 1.1 million it's been in authority. they
have a grant from the Center for medicare and Medicaid Services to promote continuity of care for incarcerated juveniles after their release. staff learned the funds will be used for system changes to software H2 is office of attorney general 112,000. they have a grant from the office of inspector general to purchase vehicles H3 is proper of hill 2.8 million. they have a grant from the department of Health and Human Services to provide resources and services to clients who are HIV positive. uhh4 isarkage and tourism
86,000. they have a grant for the National Park Service to acquire40 acres and create boating access at theostarriver. H5ark's heritage and tourism zone410,000, another National Parkervice grant to improve the Sn snowden waterfall restst area with a new bridge. h 6 ar k s heritage and tourism326,000 and National Parkervice grants to rehab the wastewater treatment facility at Queen Wilhelmina State Park age7 Parkage and tourism450,000
uharker grant to acquire740 acres to improve the trust and hold or wildlife Man area HA Parks and tourismone425,000 another grant this one to renovate the campsite at Crawley's Ridge State Park. H9 Park's heritage and tourism 2.1 million of this grants to improve Hobb State Park with the new construction of campsites cabins and access road and utility connections. H10 is from the department of Public Safety. This is for345,000. they have a grant from the department of justice
to enhance state victim compensation payments h through h14 are four different requests from DFfa to spend grants totaling534,000. This is from grants from the department of justice on Project Safe Neighbourhoods, h11 and 1el are for the western disstrict and age 13 and 14 are for the Eastern disstrict. Project Safe Neighbourhoods combats violent crime and makes communities safer through funding, resources and training for law enforcement prosecutors and their teams. so we'll move ahead to h15
H15 is a request from the department of laborbor and licensing appraiser's Board. it's for38,000. they have a grant from the Federal Financialstitution exam Council to carry out the appraisal regulatory agency support programme. age 16 is agriculture. this is a se million dollars appropriation request. they have a grant from the USDA Forervice for land acquisitions in the Mammel Water Excellence o programme. age seventeen's last request this is for agriculture at 925,000. they have a grant for the fordervice to purchase two
dozers 2 transports,2 trucks and a wildland fire simulation table but share those are all themFGs. right I guess I'll go down each
one of these to see who these questions
are for so any questions for h one RepresentativeRo, you recognized we had somebody from DHS
Speaker 155
34:45
please identify yourself for the record good morning my name is Mary Franklin I'm the director of the division of county operations for DHS.
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
34:58
Representative rose you recognize. Thank you Mr Chair. thank you M Franklin for joining us. I just had a quick question and noticed most of these seem to be a change in an existing program but for this grant it was listed as a new program simply as data processing and I was just curious if that was something you could share a little more specifics with us about
Speaker 158
35:16
yes sir this grant is for system changes to an existing system our existing eligibility system and it is to help us implement requirements of the consolidated appropriation Act of 23 which is going to expand eligibility to juveniles who are leaving incarceration for testing and evaluation and continuity of care after the release to help set them up for
success you'll be seeing policy on this and the rules committee in the next few months because we are still working through the process but this grant in particular was to help us make the system changes to get ready to implement this could you elaborate at all
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
36:03
on what system changes needed to take place yes sir thank
Speaker 158
36:10
you update the healthcare application process and rules to allow eligible juveniles to request healthcare up to30 days prior to release.
from the institutional setting an eligible juveniles will remain eligible for at least30 days after their release date. updates to enhance the redetermination process to redetermine the suspended benefits of non eligible juveniles up to30 days prior to release. and to continue them eligible for at least30 days postre release. we had to create a new interface with the Arkansas
MMIs system the system that handles claims and payment processing on the claims side for Medicaid services and also to enhance our community partner portal for public institutions to be able to submit applications online for these eligible juveniles to give them an additional way in addition to paper should they choose to use the online avenue to submit these applications and the so they will also be able to
track any applications they've submitted for juveniles that are getting close to release and also we're creating training materials and guides for those public institutions to use for this process I couldn't tell werere you saying that some of these things are already
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
37:34
done or these are things that you will be doing some of these things are already done so is this is this like paying a contract or or is it a staffing thing what is it's
Speaker 158
37:50
paying a contract for the system change
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
37:53
so these are contracts that you've already negotiated and essentially have enacted and now we're coming in to pay for those
Speaker 158
38:01
where this request today is for the appropriations so that we can use this grant funding to pay for
those services thank you all right any questions for H2? h 3 4 6 7 8
Speaker 115
38:21
9 10 11 12 13 1el 11 OK.dF andA somebody come up
to the table
identify yourself for the record please and then Representative Richardson will be recognized for a question. Jimhudson's secretarydFfa
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
39:08
Doris Smith administrator of DFfa intergovernmental Services Alan McVeigh chief of
Speaker 175
39:13
staff theFfa good morning thank you guys
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
39:16
for for being here the safe neighborighbourhood programme, is is that the same program that was basically being done in pine bluff a while back
Speaker 178
39:28
pine bluff was funded for a projectject Safe neighborighbourhood programme
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
39:32
and then this will go to allow it to move across the state,
Speaker 180
39:36
correct? The programs are across the state they are determined by the US attorney's office for each district eastern and western depending on the funding that is available in the designated programs that they determined to fund so which were in
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
39:52
the east and western district will these programs go to oncece if it's approved some have been in the
Speaker 180
39:59
past we we're waiting on the appropriation to deliver the funding but like Marion Pinebluff Blytheville, Jonesboro west Memphis those those decisions have not been made yet though you know get the appropriation first and we'll get
Speaker 185
40:13
the recommendations from the US attorney's office we'll work with them to get the list finalized that's that's what all I needed. thank
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
40:30
14 15 16 Represent Kavanaugh have someone from the department of agriculture Please identify yourself for the record
Turn your turn your mic on OK sorry good morning. I'm Jim Jolly. I'm the forestry manager from the Arkansas department of agriculture forestry division. Innuazaki fiscal officer department of agriculture Representative
Speaker 194
41:18
Cavanaugh you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr Chair. I'm over here.
Chair
Unverified
41:25
thank y'all for being here. real quick
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
41:27
question on the land that you're purchasing for7 million dollars? what land is that and what's it going to be used for? you can explain that so so the
land is in Pulaski and Perry counties and central Arkansas water will be purchasing it to for their possession they're holding and the reason why they're purchasing it is they're being proactive in purchasing land around waterways such as a bigmel river and then the there's creeks that drain into the lake mall mall and they're being proactive by
preventing sediment from and chemicals from flowing into these waterways and it reduces the cost of the treatment for the city water and how many acres is that? It's1325 acres and there's six tracks so want to make sure
I understand this it's a grant from the department of agriculture
to purchase land but you just
said that a water system was
purchasing the land central Arkansas water is is a quasit state agency and the department of agriculture is the lead agency for the forest legacy programme and so the funds will be passed through the department of agriculture to the to central Arkansas water to purchase the property
they can't apply for the grant directly it has to go through the
department of agg yes because we're the the lead agency and and the applications come through us and and go to the US Forestervice OK
so you said there are quasiate agency but they're just a water area.
they're just rural water. How is that a quasiate agency well
they they're formed by the legislature so they were
you investigated that before we you know allowed applications and so it was determined that they were eligible to be a stateolder
Speaker 197
43:56
of the property OK so basically the state's not gonna own
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
44:02
this land. The land is going to be owned by the water central Arkansas water yes ma'am thank you Senator
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
44:23
thank you Mr chairir. Mrjollym I'm right over here this area is in my district can you give me a description
of where this property is in relationship to Lake Moel itself and the and or the lakemll me watershed because we have a couple of different watersheds out there that I'm concerned about right it
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
44:47
it's all within the thelake Mallel watershed and part of the property is on
the northwest side of Lake Mamell and the the other property joins the US For Service in Perry County and the the one in Perry County is close to the big Moel and then you know the others are located along tributaries to tolake Moel. OK. and so it's it's almost the northwest corner of
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
45:16
Pulaski County and then part of Perry County. is this owned by private landholders at this time yes sir
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
45:28
and it it's under heavy threat for development. it's it's very, you know,
Speaker 210
45:32
lucra I mean very good land and development familiar with that
Speaker 206
45:36
so ok I just want to know where it is because it's again that's a sensitive area
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
45:43
and I wanted to be aware but it is there is theres other watersheds on the north side of that mountain that don't necessarily flow into this but this is in the designated lake Momel watershed which is already
protected area all right thank you sir thank you Mr
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
46:07
Chair. Senator Irvin you're recognized for a question thank you I want to go back to central Arkansas water because they have come before our legislature before and have basically told us that we had no business directing them or telling them what they could or could not do. and I'm recalling that this occurred um, because there were some questionable donations that
were made to various organizations so I'm a little uncomfortable with them this request today because of that history that we have with those answers that they gave to this body is there anybody here from central Arkansas water? no ma'am ok and then my second question I guess since there's nobody again, I'm going to vote against this
because of that. um, but my my second question is is there going to be any type of is there any assurances that these private property owners are going to sell this property to them or are you going to be utilizing imminent domain or any kind of thing like that with this grant request. Uh, eminent domain
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
47:25
will not be used that's part of one of the stipulations of this program and this grant that eminent eminent domain
cannot be used and in fact we inform people the value of the property you know the appraised value of the property before we purchase it to make sure that everybody's aware of of the value and right now a lot of the tracks are owned by potlatch Deltic and so they're potlatch deltic is divesting in certain areas and and so we're trying to take advantage of that OK well I would appreciate if
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
48:04
you could reach out to somebody at central Arkansas waterter to explain their previous history and answers to our questions when we question them and they push back on that but then your answer today that they're quasi state agency you know, wanting us to approve this request so if you could get that information back to me I would appreciate it. Yes ma'am So Senator Irvin it's my understanding you want to object
to reviewing this item right members we're
gonna vote on itemh17 Representative Cavanaugh you're recognized for a question. Thank you.
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
48:58
we've been talking about the7 million dollars but the crest also asked for 2.33333 for
matching funds. what is that for? so the one of the requirements for the grant is that it be matched by at least 25% of the grant and so the of the total amount of the the purchase so central Arkansas water has funds that they're going to use to match that grant and they're gonna pay that 25% it just has to be nonfeal funds for that match so they're going to put in 2.3 million
so the full purchase price is $9.3 million yes ma'am and as for clarification, how come it's not listed in here that central the water district is going to be purchasing this. there's nothing in here that really tells us that we're having to get that
if I me unless I'm missing it through asking you questions. it it wasn't in intended to
be you know left out as far as I mean we just didn't think that information was was needed it was asked that I would be brief on on my description and well I think who's going to be the
ultimate owner of the property is pretty pertinent information. I mean it's you're not owning it you're a passthrough it's going to somebody else so nowhere in there unless we ask questions are we getting to the real root of who's going to be owning this property and you're saying that
you're using7 million of it for the purchase but you're really not the purchase price is 9.3 mil. well that's the grant
amount is7 million yes ma'am ok thank you Senator Johnson, you're
recognized for a question. Thank you Mr Chairman
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
51:06
Mr. Chairman, I remember the issue that Senator Irvin brought up and I agree with her that there
was some things that were troubling that were done administratively at central Arkansas waterter but again they had nothing to do with delivery of water to people in central Arkansas which I believe it's the largest single far as numbers of people served water authority regional water authority in the state and this is specifically about protecting the watershed if I understand that right Mr Jolly sir and this is you know this is a whole lot of
people that that are depending on this they're Little rockck is not the only beneficiary this includes north of rockckalmell Sherwood and I'm not sure how many other municipalities and in incorporated areas in in the region and I believe they're statutory authority was crew and they were creating goes all the way down to tolake degrey so you know while I I shared the concerns that sent Irvis brought up it that was there was some stuff that were really concerning but it had to do with purchases some items for
their offices and had nothing to do with their their mission so I encourage the committee to consider that that this is a money that's available to protect the watershed and the the department of agriculture and CAW are doing exactly that so thank you Mr
Speaker 224
52:29
Chair. Speaker Evans you're recognized for a question you
Speaker 227
52:37
Mr Chair Mr Chairman, I'd like to motion to just hold this till Friday I've got several questions about what a quasit
Chair
Unverified
52:46
state agency is and I mean when I look at this when I studied on this and I looked at at this item number this looked like to me the department the state department of agriculture was purchasing this land by Mr. Jolly's testimony that's really not what we're doing here I see this more as a private entity senatorlarkansas waterter I'd like some explanation between now and Friday on what a quasit state agency is and then it also just gives me a little little concern maybe it was just not meant the way it was said but Mr. Jolly said I was, I was told to make the
I was I was told to make the presentation very brief that that seems to give me a little concern as well so I just like to hold this till Friday try to get some questions answered we're gonna hold
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
53:34
it till Friday but Senator Irvin you're recognized for another
question. Thank you and just as you're gathering that information, I want to know what property taxes have been paid on this these pieces of property to which counties. I know
that's a continuing to be and is there any mitigation for those counties in the loss of any property taxes because of the sale of this property. when government starts to purchase property we lose revenue and I represent Cersei County, when the Buffalo River was designated. there was a huge loss of personal property taxes to go to fund those counties and so pulaski County may not feel the effects of that but Perry County
absolutely will. So I'd like to know if there's what how much property taxes is being paid currently on these specific pieces of property and how much money that is and to what entity they're going to. and if there's any mitigation planned for the government purchasing this property. thank all right members H17's gonna be held
till Friday. 16 h 16 is going to be held till Friday.
so without objectionh1 through 15 andh17 stands reviewed thank you moving on to Members are are there any questions senator you dismay it's
a related to it bedhS and any anyone associated with Snap program
helpfuldHS Someone from DHS could come up please introduce yourself for the record. Good morning. I'm Mary Franklin director of the
Speaker 158
55:48
division of county operations for department of humanman Services. perfect thank you and first of all I wanna say I appreciate how we handled
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
55:54
the government shutdown and what we did with the grants I mean I was in
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
56:00
communication with some of our counterparts in other states and it was an absolute nightmare I think
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
56:05
there was this a very calm approach that reassured people that there was going to be a backstop I mean you had other states contemplating special sessions and some move through with those and so again I appreciate how we handled that on the snap program itself I have started to getting some concerns from retailers in relation to how we're going to implement the nutrition side of the program my understanding
is initially DHS has proposed using some type of nonskew in lieu of using skews that it was not going to maintain a list and on and on and on and on and I also understand that we have awarded the administration or we're in the process ofwarding the administration contract for the snap program but we did not contemplate in that request for proposals you know the new nutrition requirements and so my question is going to be what how do we plan on tackling that
do y'all have concerns and how much correspondence have y'all been having with our retailers because I know that's something that y'all typically don't do as far as interfacing just give me a background on where we are and where you plan to head especially with this idea that we're going to award a contract to administer without probably one of the biggest pieces being absent from that contract Yes sir I I think you are
Speaker 158
57:32
when you're speaking about the nutrition component of snap. I
think you're referring to the recently approved waiver that FNS gave Arkansas to exclude sodas, candy, unhealthy drinks and ok so we were approved for that waiver in the in what we were approved for it was to use the GS one framework to define those ineligible foods and and that is what we have done and as we work towards implementation which our plan to
date is not until July of 2026. we have given retailers options there not all the retailers get the GS one framework product codes a very few get that framework
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
58:22
but go ahead and we and we understand
Speaker 158
58:26
that the the framework is just intended to help define the ineligible foods so we have given retailers3 options you know and
the GS one framework can be used there's information available and technical assistance available to help get that information at the retailer supplier level if they're not getting it now we have also there if they choose to use a third party to help take that GS one framework and apply it to their own individual product array that they sell that's an option as well and then the third option is take the broad definitions
that we are providing through the GS one framework and apply it in good faith to their own product array without you know contracting or expenses we've been meeting with retailers. one of your questions was what kind of interface are we having with retailers we've been meeting monthly with them for several months and discussing this this process we have also been meeting with FNS and getting technical assistance from F ands on the process and we still have some pieces of of it to
work out including you know what is FNS going to require from their side of the compliance and monit or ing piece but we are working with them to get that and we'll definitely share all that with retailers as soon as it's available you asked about a contract we're getting ready to award and I think you're referring to our EBT contract that's our electronic benefit transfer contract and that is how we deliver the snap benefits
to our recipients. it it an EBT card is similar to a debit card it's not exact it's not the exactly a debit card but it works and very similarly to a debit card and it can be used to purchase foods. there is no need to include any any anything in that contract related to the snap excluded foods waiver that will not be done by the EBT vendor probably would be the most expensive way to try and implement this type of waiver
and is not something that FNS has recommended so I I do not believe that we have a problem with that upcoming award with that contract which is to deliver the snap and summer EBT benefits we also deliver the transitional employments assistance cash benefits through that EBT contract onto those cards. OK what I would tell you is and I and I
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:01:03
believe this to be correct. Your three
options are not workable options for retailers that may be the easiest thing for DHS to do but it is not feasible for
every grocer or retailer in the state to maintain their own list and then be subject to the risk of a secret shopper proving that they're not able to follow whatever it may be there are hundreds of new products created and offered daily and what we're asking our retailers to do is bear the burden and we talked about the most cost effective way to do something shifting that cost to a retailer may be cost effective todhS but
it is not for a small retailers in the state. What I am scared you're going to do is create a scenario where in entities probably in areas that they need it the most are not going to be able to offer snap because of the risk associated with not appropriately you know I guess categorizing a item DFfa can speak from experience. this is a very difficult task that you're asking people to do to make a decision of what's a candy soft drink snack whatever it may be they have to do it because the
sales tax purposes and they can talk to you about now and this will be a just an analogy and it's gonna be poorly done but a Snickers with almonds may qualify as a nutritious food and a snickers with peanuts may not. or a snickers that is frozen qualifies as a nutritious food but one that is not frozen does not. and so we're gonna be asking our retailers to make those judgment calls at their own peril if they do it incorrectly I I would implore you
to look at establishing your own list that retailers can use with confidence so that they don't you know you're not placing that burden on them I think it's improper for us to do that and if we want to pass state laws which we did because we think that snap should be used for nutritious programs then we should create the tools that make that usable and friendly for our retailers in the state to have a a achievable response to what we've asked them to do so your first three options are not workable
and and especially your third option we're just gonna let them decide what's nutrition it's not it I was afraid that was going to be your response I hope that we visited about this more I know we've got members in this committee maybe public health chair sitting in front of me I hope that we will take this on because if this is the path you plan to go on it will be a failure and so I hope we're able to intervene so that we may be able to redirect this ship before we have a a bigger issue thank you. thank you senator dismaying we will definitely take this feedback appreciate your
Speaker 237
1:03:54
feedback and have some additional discussions internally and see what what we can develop from this feedback
Speaker 158
1:04:01
and I will also state it it is not our intention at all to cause retailers to not be able to participate as an authorized retailer in the snap program we want to keep all the retailers,
Speaker 242
1:04:14
you know, as possible but you do understand when you're
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:04:18
placing that type of risk on a retailer that at some point it's just
best not to say we're not going we're not going to engage and I will guarantee you it will be in the communities that will be impacted the most where our big chains may not be able to exist where a mamin's pop has been the one to stand up and hold a grocery store in an area with a low population and low income so again I I implore you to do everything you can to make a manageable program because I am everything I've heard so far this is not going to be successful and I promise when
when you come back because you've decided that you want to be for you know not forward thinking about you know the the possible outcome you know six months from now or whenever an implication happens this will be a much less fun committee meeting. understood thank you sir right members
any other questions on any of the reports Representative Stetson you
recognize which report J4 Someone from DFA come
to the table please well I figured
Speaker 245
1:05:39
you you'll ask the ones that they're not out of on this please introduce yourself for the record
we can the same Jim Hutson SecretarydFfa
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
1:05:56
Allan McVeigh DFfa morning Secretary. just had a quick question throughout this report there's7 different items that are not calculated correct and I mean some of them are pretty big margins. Can you explain that for me so like on page two the last item4 million plus300,000 is I don't think 8 million and then on page three
the second to last one the only item that shows is 121,000 but the total is 16,100 there's seven of them if I counted correctly throughout the report is there there's no good explanationpresentative you have my apologies committee has my apologies
Speaker 185
1:06:42
we're a department that's in charge of math we ought to be able to do it and we'll get it corrected and we'll submit a new report to you. you do have my sincere apologies. OK no, I just, I just wanted to make sure thank you thank you Mr
you thank you for bringing it to my attention. I was not aware of the error was in there.
Speaker 52
1:07:07
Senatorpresentative Kavanaugh here's your question for thank you and Secretaryhudson while you're
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
1:07:11
doing that on your secondary report on the office the state clearing house it has no totals on
it It has numbers and has a line item for total and there are no totals at all on that report. you're talking about a grand total for the for all of it if
you'll look at each if you look on page one Arkansas department of finance. it has5.1 well that's not a bad example. The second the Arkansas forestry, it has like two items federal inki and has a light on them for total and there's no total on any of them yes ma'am so I guess you know we were very comprehensive in our errors but
Speaker 251
1:07:48
anyway just so thank you we we will we will
Speaker 185
1:07:54
get it all fixed and and I will personally review it before it comes back to you
and again my sincere apologies this should not have happened any other questions seeing no other business we're adjourned
Agenda
A. Call to Order
Items for Approval
B. Various Temporary Appropriation Request
C. American Rescue Plan Act Appropriation Requests
D. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Appropriation Requests
E. Restricted Reserve Fund Transfer Request
Items for Review
F. Appropriation and/or Fund Transfer Request
G. Cash Fund Appropriation Request
H. Miscellaneous Federal Grant Appropriation Requests
Reports
I. Emergency Actions
J. Quarterly Reports
K. Monthly Reports
L. Other Business
M. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Representative Jon S. Eubanks Chair
Unverified
William Parrish
Unverified
Speaker 27
Speaker 28
Speaker 30
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
Speaker 34
Speaker 44
Speaker 45
Speaker 47
Speaker 38
Speaker 32
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
Speaker 42
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
Speaker 103
Speaker 115
Speaker 119
Speaker 122
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 131
Senator Steve Crowell
Unverified
Speaker 149
Speaker 155
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
Speaker 158
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
Speaker 175
Speaker 178
Speaker 180
Speaker 185
Speaker 187
Speaker 194
Speaker 197
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
Speaker 210
Speaker 206
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Speaker 224
Speaker 227
Speaker 237
Speaker 242
Speaker 245
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
Speaker 52
Speaker 251