Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC)

With that we'll go ahead and get started of. If you would of Senator Hammer. I recognize you for opening prayer yeah. Yes members if you would stand. Would you all join in water pressure. Father god as we conduct business today may we be a lawyer to your name and lord we we don't expect always agree but we do always expect to show love and kindness and everything we say the way in which we express our thoughts publicly that those who have sent us here to serve will realize that father we understand the value of statesmanship in just being now what they want to be when we're here we ask your blessing upon a country god we we know that behind it all that Satan has a great desire to destroy this country and we pray lord that to we would prevail under your leadership and your guidance and the lord all the principles and all the things that you teachers in your word would come forth that we might United a father in areas where would glorify you we just thank you for the day for freedom and for health to be your Bledsoe's of and I would be here because of their health and just preach watch over and bless our governor and bless all the leadership we asking your name amen. Thank you for. So with that I'd take a motion on the minutes. I have a motion the second all those in favor say aye. so we'll move on to the revenue report. Members to keep conversations down scope. Miss Ellie Senate you're recognized. Good morning. At least a net gear of Legislative Research. We're going to begin with the annual report this is the one in your pocket. You'll see on page one we have a comparison of gross collections by year. The twenty one fiscal year gross collections are passed to the fiscal year twenty by sixteen point six seven percent. On the lower half of the page we have income tax collections this is both personal and corporate income tax and it's grown by eighteen point six percent since last year. To the right of their we have sales and use tax collections that total two point nine billion in fiscal year twenty one. And to the right of that we have a value that shows you what one percentage point of sales taxes work. So in fiscal year twenty one one percentage point of sales tax brought in six hundred and forty nine million to general revenue. Pages two through four of this report showed the gross collections by line item for general revenue and special revenues. On the bottom of page four. You'll see gross revenues for general revenue totaled eight billion and special revenue is two point seven billion. Page five details the deductions from our gross revenue to get us to our net available for distribution for general revenue that was six point eight billion in for special revenue that's two point six billion. It is six through eight so the distribution of all of the revenue. Pages nine through eleven compares this distribution from fiscal year twenty one to fiscal year twenty two can see where any changes have taken place. And finally on page twelve we have the distribution of the educational excellence trust fund compared to the previous year. I'll take any questions on that. Any questions from members. See non thank you for the revenue port. So with that I'll go to my cochairman of rice for the report on the executive subcommittee. Thank you Mr chairman executive subcommittee met September fifteenth and sixteenth heard presentations from the Siegel group related to the ongoing health employee health benefit study at its meeting on Thursday the subcommittee reviewed and approved an emergency rule for DHS or direct care staffing requirements subcommittee also authorize bill are to move forward redesigning the area behind rooms a and B. here might willing to create additional member conference rooms and members that's worthy of phone bank is back there that's not utilized now in addition you're all notified on September tenth at Richmond Wardlaw not took action to approve rescue plan funding an appropriation request for the department of commerce related to ready broadband projects under the authority granted to us by a L. C. at the August meeting an email regarding this action was sent to all members of a LC the executive subcommittee will hold meetings next Wednesday and Thursday the twenty second twenty third to hear public comments related to recommendations presented by Siegel related to the employee health benefit plan study Mr chairman I move adoption of the report. That's proper motion any discussion from members. St under I have a second. A second all those in favor say aye. All opposed the eyes have it with that we'll move on to a ministry of rules center Senator Hammer you're recognized. Thank you Mr the ministry to rule subcommittee met on Tuesday September fourteenth at the agency's request one of the D. H. rules was pulled up from the consideration of prior to the meeting to rules by the department bag were held for consideration by the full A. L. C. this morning one of those was the repeal of the rule discussion the repeal of the disbursement of state funds for fairs and livestock shows and the other one was the supervision rule by the well water construction commission all of the rules were reviewed and approved in the subcommittee also received an agency update on delinquent rulemaking under act eighty five seventeen two thousand nineteen and filed written updates pursuant to act five ninety five of two thousand twenty one I make a motion to adopt a rule but not include the department of agricultural rule concerning fair funding which would be considered separate after the adoption of this report and also Mister chairs by understanding that the water will commission has agreed to pull its role down but chair may want to clarify that with them that's my understanding. Senator Hammer thank you Let's go ahead and take your motion to adopt a report outside of the two rules and then we'll go into discussion on the rules. I make a motion a second I got a second by Senator Chesterfield all those in favor say aye All opposed us have it so with that I would bring the department of ag to the table. Mr Hodge if you would go ahead and have your team introduced ourselves for committee and will open for for discussion. Thank you Mr Wade Hodge chief counsel for the department. That feels division director for lots to alter. Eunice's I keep fiscal officer. Committee area any further questions on the fair rule share from yes Sir go ahead thank you. Over here to your far left gentleman I just wanna make sure I understand based on the conversation the rule committee the other day a couple things number one. What you all need is for us to do away with the existing role so it would create a pathway forward for new rules to be made that work driven by a new piece of legislation that was passed is that a fair characterization what what you need or not you we do need this rule repealed because the statutory authority for this rule no longer exist however the new law that was passed creating the grant program did not award the department any rule making authority we are developing guidelines four of the applicants to follow and we feel like that'll be a better pass because sometimes if you get a hard and fast rule and somebody kind of misses the mark a little bit they may be stuck but with guidelines we can we can we feel like we can better work with the staff okay and in the gap between the time that we would do away with this role and the new rules get made are the fares going to be at any disadvantage or what what. Vulnerability would the fares be exposed by the fact that you have don't have the new rules of the new law created yet we've already made the disbursement to the fires this year and I believe in here earlier this week there was an additional funding approve that I thank you will discuss later today okay and that's the other thing is the thirty thousand there's you know thirty thousand dollars is what's being tossed around each fair was supposed to get is that the money you're talking about that thirty thousand was going out to each one fair but that wasn't the district fairs that was just the local affairs is at rider wrong. The counties and districts Sturch both both counties and districts will benefit from the thirty thousand dollars okay part thank you thank Mr. Senator hill you're recognized. Where would you put a little color on the district fairs because from my understanding the district fairs were not funded with this so I'm I'd like a local or not talk to west and he said you will provide a little color today on on how that the the district fairs will be funded in future and I won't be able more specific I will use the word pine bluff how Pamela District Fair will be funded in the future. Yes Sir ACT seven hundred was the of the bill that was passed that had our new bill that we were referring to that makes the rules that were asking for repeal to be not applicable of in the future the what will happen is the bill itself. Actually funded all the districts all the counties it's when the preparations come into view is when the districts were taken out so all we need to do is add those districts back into the procreation. Your your. Yeah the so so were we. Misled when the appropriations. Took place because it was a presented to us originally that we were combining two pots of money into one no changes whatsoever. It Senator was our understanding of the way the mechanism would work is we would send the money to the counties and then the counties would go ahead and send it on to the district fairs we have talked to a couple of districts I want to believe Patrick talked to to the south west and indicated that they had received money from for their counties and had been promised from the other stories that they would receive it other district we've talked to specifically pine bluff indicated that they had spoken to a few other counties in those County said they would get back with them so they haven't received their money yet but it doesn't mean that they will not so it was our understanding that the money would be dispersed to the county's and then the counties could go ahead and send that to the districts however there's no enforcement mechanism in place for that. So from now on yelp the organs in the money directly to the districts that Massena correctly no Sir to the county show still send it to the county that's that's all we were authorized to do in the appropriation act okay so it's up to the county that's coming. I don't know how this goes when you give someone money. That doesn't mean it is passed owned. So I that's where I was going with that so it's up to the to the county to fund the district fair what you're saying. Yes Sir the circumstance thank you. But to follow center here's hill's questioning there's no guarantee and there's nothing in the statute that requires the counties to push that money for right that's that's correct. Representative Ladyman you're recognized for a question thank you Mr chair well just the Senator Hill asked most of my questions but so you're saying it would take an action by the quorum court JP's to put this money into the district fair they have to vote that at the import level the district would would go to the county and request that money to the board so would be up to the fair County Board to to fund the districts not the cortical. You're saying the money goes to the county. We came in the county fair board the county for a county fair board yes yeah not the county quorum court correct okay thank you. Representative Cozart you're recognized thank you Mr as as we know not all fares or county fairs they are a Garland County fair where I'm at but that is not run by the county that is a board that runs on the board of the people so it would go directly to them the course work would have no authority over them so this procreation needs to be fixed as soon as we can fix it to read the district fairs in there and not not leave it like it is so that's something we've got to work on. That has nothing to do with the funding we're trying to get here's more of those will tell the less. Senator Hammer your next thank you just clarification is my phone's blowing up they want to know when they're gonna get the money. I would suggest they stay in contact with their local county fair board okay as far as it being actually being distributed out to them I know we approved earlier this week I mean checks going out the door today or next week I mean they're thinking of that mentality ones that money going to hit him or we. This is for the thirty thousand your refresher yes I believe once that is approved that would be we would receive the money and then that would later on be direct deposited into the account. Thirty days or less yes we can do that next week if. Between I think within a couple days no later than Monday for you to prove okay thank you thank Mr. Representative of love alone would recognise you thank you Mr. Over here I'm back I'm here by Senator Hammer. Okay. I just want to know what is this attendee to change and not funding district fairs directly. What what what what do we change this at that was a legislative decision. I'm not sure I have an answer for you okay thank you is there is there are answered by staff can someone tell me why we necessitate it what was the sense the of the change to not fund district fairs. I mean was this oversight of we just. Just one minute receiving it enter hi this would necessitate a change. Representive love that was Senator Sturch is bill and and we can't comment on on his intent on for doing that. Okay thank you. Thank you. Senator Hammer you're recognized thank one quick question I want to go back to what represent Cozart said a second ago the money that's going out it's going to go down to the. Just click the confusion is it going to go down to the county to be handled by the quorum court to be distributed out or these are going down to the actual boards of the fair. The end they're going to have that have the writer boards you. Okay thirty thousand will go directly to the county or district. Under the new law how's it going to how would it work. Well. Under this law of ACT seven hundred it still hasn't been there is just depending on the preparations once appropriation has been changed then we can that money will be good will go directly to the county and district if that's changed when you say County town council as a conveyor Board okay I think that's what we're hearing County and I'm thinking that's going to court has nothing judge or court but it we're it's all still going down to the board right yes correct each county has its fair had a board so nobody stem anything off the top between you and the board there Sir okay thanks. Members of hopefully we will get a grasp on as before anybody that does the thirty thousand dollars. This is for local and district fairs is one time money it is separate from. The rule we're talking about here that's correct Sir so just make sure everybody understands. Yeah what we're asking today is to repeal a law there is no longer applicables because of ACT seven hundred correct of center just for you you're recognized. motion of the property damage. Okay this this particular rule we've we will not. Require that is you will not require a motion will require a motion Is there anymore questions own this rule thank you if not without objection this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you Mr members. Okay just one minute German German. Okay on that and the water will. Is going to handle it okay. Vaught Mr Hodge. Yes White House legal counsel for the department. Okay if you would just give us confirmation what you're going to on the roulette what what is this morning were new to me okay yes thank you we're gonna pull this rule down we'll bring it back to you at a later date okay if they think that's sufficient to confirm that we will see in the future all right thank you thank you thank you for being here. All right we have a higher every port Senator English you prepared to give that. Thank you very much the AOC higher education subcommittee met Wednesday September fifteenth two thousand twenty one the committee heard testimony regarding the Arkansas future Arkansas workforce challenge and regional workforce grants I. I make a motion to approve this report. C. as proper motion is discussion on the motion. Senator I have a second I have a second all those in favor say aye. All opposed Is have it so with that we'll move on to the peer report recognized right representative gray. They register chair. The pair subcommittee met on Monday September thirteenth has noted in the report the subcommittee approved requests for various temporary appropriation restricted reserve transfers an American rescue plan appropriation after the meeting the FNA submitted a revised request for item B. five an American rescue plan request for national park college that was approved for five point eight million The New request which is attached to the report is revised down to one point six million two items were held by the subcommittee for consideration by the full council the first item is B. ten an American rescue plan requests for the department of health for nine million the item is the second attachment behind the report there will be discussion on this item after the motion to adopt the report the next item that was held is item the one a budget classification transfer for the ABSTRACTERS' board the department of labor licensing has requested to withdraw this request I move adoption of the report which includes replacing item B. five for national park college with the revised request for one point six million and approving this updated request. All right we have some members discussion. Senator English yes I would lie to have some discussion with the department of commerce in the the on the four million dollar grant I mean. Proposal for the Arkansas. You want department of commerce or secretary matters secretary Hearst sectors you would come to table. You guys would introduce yourself for the record and Senator English to be recognised ask questions. Stacey her secretary for the Arkansas department of parks heritage and tourism. I'm Leslie Fisk on with parks heritage and tourism. And I'm David bell with the department of commerce. Thank you very much so so this four million dollars is to pay for the consultant that we have all of us have looked out for a broadband plans so can you give us an idea of where you I think we were looking for a hold general big master plan where are we now where will be going how do we get all the players together C. can you give us a little update on where we are yes ma'am we have put the request for proposals sound we had three respondents and we are now working our way through the process we anticipate that will have a recommendation that will be considered by the chairs in the executive subcommittee next week. I. All right very good the. Thank you very much you're welcome. I have a second on the motion Senator Hammer do you have a question on this. Okay you're recognized. Thank you on the on the procurement process for the RP was it handled by the office of procurement was handled by your division or what was the process for the final selection of the final three. There were only three respondents it was managed by the office of state procurement at it's a collaborative effort between our department I am the lead on the working great that the governor established within the cabinet for broadband the department of commerce is involved and the department of finance and administration. And when you make the under I'm asking for educational purposes when you make a decision it is going to be you that will be making the decision or who who's going to be the final one making the decision among the three choices out we have we are having discussions were following the office of state procurement advice to work our way appropriately through the process and I can provide you are perhaps the office of state procurement should define that for you if necessary Senator Hammer we have worked closely with them and they are managing the process for us and when you make your final recommendation to the chairs because we relinquished authorities to the to the exact to the chairs to make that you know final pathway Ford are you going to present to them an analysis of why you made the decision you did on the basis of the content of the bed so you're gonna be at the low bid wins are you gonna do it on the basis of qualifications as well it is eight most advantageous proposal process and assn as noted there were three respondents to that and we will provide whatever documentation as required under that process and if if you'd like for the office of state procurement to come up and help explain that that probably would be a better response than what I feel comfortable providing. I don't know I take full Elsie's time this morning but when it gets to the chairs will be attending a meeting in maybe the chair's could ask for that to be delivered we can have that discussion then I'll defer to the chair how you want to handle it out of respect for time for everybody else. We'll have staffs in an email out to the full AOC Committee when executive committee is going to take that up that way everybody's informed to be present if questions need to be asked okay thank you thank you ma'am thank you thank you. Senate Goffey you're recognized. Thank you Mr actually the question for DHS about their A. R. P. appropriation if that's okay now there other questions for those at the table I can wait. President makes thank you Mr a question I have is Would give me the thought process for this going through the Department of Parks and heritage it seems kind of. Unusual since commerce's or the broadband offices that so. How or in what is your role is that the broadband and parks don't really necessarily seem like a good marriage so kind of explain that thought process to me. The governor in response to the opportunity that we have with the American rescue plan for federal funding form three working groups within the cabinet I was asked to leave the working group related to broadband so that is why I'm involved in this effort the contract with the consultant will actually be done with commerce. Okay. The governor given any and any indication of why he chose Parks Darden or or Joan I mean do you have any background in broadband or you know I'm not an expert in broadband no Sir I have had a quick education mmhm and we have made as a a working group we've had a a long meeting and we shared a lot of information gathered a lot of information and I decided through that great that in collaboration with the legislature and our understanding that that a master plan is needed decided to move for with that stat and again that the contract will actually be with commerce okay all right thank you. Any further questions on broadband before we move on Senator Irvin. Thank you thank you for coming to the table thank you for the effort because I mean you're not just parks your heritage and tourism and so because of those components all of this is incredibly impacted to the economic development and growth of our state the Department of heritage has lands all over the state of Arkansas particularly in rural Arkansas where there's zero broadband coverage so I'm not an expert but I know if you have service or not you know and so I just appreciate the efforts that you are putting forward on this I think my main question and the thing that I'm most most concerned about and just most insistent on is the fact that we need boots on the ground to collect this information it can't be done by telephone or email or you know we really have to have that boots on the ground meeting town hall meetings or whatever they are so whatever is that part of the R. S. P. to make sure that whoever selected has the capability is I've been a request that you will provide that level of engagement so that we actually can find out the best information we can to make sure that the data we're collecting is accurate and really collected at the grassroots level and that's a huge concern of mine and then our capability and I'll be in contact with you about that too of being able to receive that information and utilize that information I know for instance West Virginia has passed the legislation and I'm looking at that and working on that and I'll be in consultation with you about that because I think it's really important that those businesses have the ability to give us that information that we can collect that information into usable way and that whoever the consultant is is fully capable of doing that and that those businesses as internet providers have some level of maturity and protection for that information that they give to us I think that's really important and something that we really need to consider so that we can maximum. Is this concert this consultant to the best of our ability yeah I don't want to spend four million dollars not be able to get the information we need so I think that's really important for us to look through that lens so if if you can just kind of go through exactly what our expectations are for whoever selected through the R. P. process yes ma'am certainly that the scope of work was was written in a general way but we did have certain requirements in the RFP and that did include things like community outreach using the necessary tools to find the data and make sure the data can be verified so we were we were careful to cover those points that you mentioned specifically and that that the work that we've put into developing that scope of work that went into the R. F. P. was done in collaboration with key members of the legislature yes yeah and and I appreciate that a lot of it was based on some of the things that have been happening through the rule robin ID program that we learn from that was really insert helpful in guiding this process so because of the works already been done to those grants have been given on both art and a real ID so I think it's going to be a phenomenal effort I look forward to executive subcommittee thank you very much thank you. Senator Hickey. Is your question on the subject. You're recognized yesterday is just a more follow up to what these members said I will be a little more blunt you know a lot of members at a lot of members especially and I will probably speak to the house and the Senate on the Senate side or very weary about going ahead with this four million dollars in till they know that those boots on the ground that there's people out there that are able to contact back in all this all this meshes together and everything so I believe that that's going to go ahead and go forward here today but I just wanna make one percent sure that were of record that that is going to be done because that's why we've held this up is because they want to statewide plan they want to make sure that we get this right so are you going to guarantee that through the executive branch. Yes Sir it is it is implied as in the scope of the general scope of work but it is specifically as I mentioned written into the requirements that we expect that the data and the data collection and analysis of current broadband availability and we do not we understand what particularly C. R. I. T. experts on what is needed to collect reliable data so we've had we we've also put in there a proposed community outreach plan how will that be executed what does that look like so there are specific points written into the requirements that that I feel confident will cover what you are talking about at this point one more Mr. Senator hammer to ask you about that procurement process yes Sir and I understand that we've already got it we've got you know three out there that are going to so we understand that you all are in negotiations with that and I guess what I'm saying is is that during these negotiations that are ongoing we want to make sure that that the that those vendors specifically know that is what the desire of this legislature is today so thank you yes and there's there's a how to grieve confidentiality related to that so I'm I'm I'm a little hesitant to talk too much about it I can tell you we are moving through the process we understand because we have had a lot of conversations with legislators what is expected of the of this consultant thank you we look forward to it. Senator Hammer is it a really quick when. Okay. Time may. There's a lot of faith they can be built between legislative branch administrative branch on this issue right here alone and we've let money go out the door on the promise that this consulting contract is going to be awarded is there anything that you know of right now. That is standing in the way of you making a final determination and getting it to the chairs by the middle of next week. To the executive subcommittee thank you senator nothing that we know of at this time. Okay then this is second question. Sort read. It's a good chance to build some relationships thank you thank you. Thank you so with that you guys me it's used and I need the health department to come for. Right well we have some questions from other members. Never mind DHS. Okay never mind we don't need one. So with that I have a motion and a second no further discussion on the report all those in favor say aye All opposed. Highs have a motion passed Senator Irvin you're recognized for. You're recognized thank you and I want to thank my representative gray for working with me on this M. as chair of peer members I've asked staff to hand out something for you I think it's very very important this is the reason I held this particular item out of peer and it's not necessarily it's really your information this is about monoclonal antibody therapy and this item that we considered in peer is nine million about nine million dollars that are going to rule hospitals and it's for covid testing and mitigation purposes and I intend to it to make a motion to approve that but I wanted to take the opportunity for you to understand this treatment and how important it is for our citizens to receive this treatment if they do get tested positive for COVID because to me this is something that we're we're missing or missing the messaging on if you get covid and you test positive for it you have the ability to get treatments that will prevent you from hospitalization and prevent you from protectively dying and so I've asked him to produce a map of the state of Arkansas as to where these treatment the US sites are and I think this will be really helpful and I would just encourage you to read this information about this treatment and fusion therapy and how it saves lives and how it's kept people out of the hospital and I've provide I've asked him to write you a map and also to provide you a list of of places that are offering this treatment and their addresses for you to share with your constituents I think this is a game changer and I think we need to emphasize it more and then what we're doing now and so I can just tell you from personally. It's it saves my parents lives that are eighty five and eighty seven and and I'm just I approved I really appreciate all the facilities on here and places that are providing this treatment to our citizens if they're testing positive for covid and you don't need to wait as soon as you get a test positive for covid go and try to seek this treatment for yourself and there's good information about in history about it as well for you to educate yourself on it so. I just felt like it was really really important for us to discuss because this will keep us of our ICU beds open for heart attacks and everything else if people get treatments before they get too sick and have to be in the hospital so this is game changing and I think it's just really good important information I appreciate the Department of Health working with me on that to get this information to me for today's meeting M. I. they are here and they can answer any questions and at the proper time I have a motion to approve this item. Okay we have a few members are questions Senator Rapert you're first in line. Its first chairman is the Department health gonna be answering is Senator reinstated or not. I don't really have a they can come up I don't necessarily have a question for them I just that has helped us because they could didn't have this information for me up here but I think it's really important information for us all to have Senate there's here to ask if you ask a question I think it would if I could have a major one question I'd appreciate it Mr chairman. I don't I don't wanna have center and have to answer for them on this one they've played a lot of musical chairs at. Thank you Mr chairman. Would introduce yourself for the record and Senator Rapert you're recognized for a question yes indefinitely I agree with senator Irvin and very happy that this information is being put out because I'm still getting calls about people that say that they've asked for this and they're not getting it and so I will say uses Senator Irvin stated in my own family my mother was able to get the infusion it kept her out of the hospital which is fantastic my father didn't get it my father ended up thirty days on a ventilator and really got very very serious obviously but he's going to make it is just going to rehab but I just got a call literally last week from it's actually school board member in South Arkansas any tested positive and he asked for the monoclonal antibody and fusion and the doctor that was working with them at that facility said you don't qualify for sure. And so he ended up going on this search which I think many of our members are experiencing which constituents are calling us. Asking us for help to get to somebody or some facility so could you tell me how you are handling the messaging of this are you tearing or putting benchmarks out there for people before they can get it or like many of us would love to see that Hey if the doctor says that you need it you're you're going to be able to get access to it so we can keep people out of hospital so if you could address that and how you're handling it. Good morning ladies and gentlemen not been picked it up the state health officer and medical director for infectious diseases. A great ground apartment L.. Casey Corcoran department of health. I can answer the questions Senator up basically the guidelines are framed by S. the eighth man the one that long ninety bodies out of school I'm apologize to you Sir ACT you're going to speak in the mail yes I can't hear you I'm sorry the the guidelines of not frame by the Department of felt as to who gets the monoclonal antibodies but it is very very broad all the monoclonal antibodies that approved is for children to learn about and the the indications are so broad if you have a BMI I bought twenty five if you have any medical condition if you belong to certain minority populations the indication is sold so broad that almost anyone who test positive candidate there is you know hardly any reason for people not to get not to get the monoclonal antibodies but that that vaccinated or not they can still offer the monoclonal antibodies these are kind of technically preformed antibodies that you would do patients so we have making a wide range of efforts to educate the public educate the providers we have answer hundreds and thousands of calls provided education so I mean not a store wide but I'd be off on a partners for all of the state the number of infusion centers offering this number of counties that have these are a lot so we are making strides compared to nationally you know when this started almost a year ago you know the national update was twenty to twenty five percent Arkansas even last year had optical fifty sixty seventy percent each given week so we are very available the national average and and and giving the antibodies to our patients and citizens of the state there is no shortage of the antibodies the federal government actually just took or what the distribution and costs the state department of health to distribute the vaccine according to the needs in various parts of the state so be able. To start doing that from this week and will continue to educate providers are the health department has a monoclonal antibody squad that the of the in order to send people to respect you infusions that does and provide us what doing this service and we continued to address any questions or any issues that come up so that each and every citizen who is eligible for this therapy is able to get it we have in a broad sense that is the number of hospitalization and that's from this that'd be a little. All appreciate you for what you're doing on it there's been a dearth of focus on the treatment and as compared to last year we didn't have some of these available or there weren't widely known definitely appreciated Senator thank you for bringing it to our attention and I'm very hopeful that people will stop being turned away in some areas now that you're putting more information out about this thank you Mr chair if I can follow up quickly to the board's full O. okay well one thing that I just wanted to mention to you is that can you just talk about the difference between if you might need to be monitored for a time I know sometimes if you're an elderly person perhaps or if you have a different types of maybe heart conditions state public is it suggested is that suggested that you get that therapy at a hospital based setting where they can kind of monitor you as you're receiving it and then afterwards that was the case with my father we he went to the heart hospital said because he has heart conditions they wanted to monitor him a little more closely through the infusion treatment and then my mother was in patient and of course there's a big difference between that and maybe somebody's younger he could go perhaps to pharmacy could you just speak to that for more clarification. Sure thank you senator of an yes in all the this therapy is indicated for all patients are you know our of folks what old patient it's not for people who are admitted to the hospital with COVID the ones that admitted to the hospital with COVID it's too late but if our patients are admitted to the hospital for some other indications a heart attack or a stroke and the double up a COVID within the hospital we can give that because the patient did not get admitted to the hospital for covid at the same time R. this can be infused in the outpatient setting so we have about eighty pharmacies are giving this physicians offices are giving this hospital outpatient centers I'm giving this so this can be administered in about eighty off settings initially it was approved as IV infusion so basically if you Sir take forty five minutes to an odd we use this and then right now for the past few months you can give it subcutaneously you can give it in your belly and your thighs in different spots and it is much foster process so the only reason the monitor is fought adversity actions people can have adverse reactions so it's suggested that day be monitored for a not so they can get the fusion are the subcutaneous injection and they can be waiting in the waiting room monitored to make sure they do okay and and and then can be sent home just like the vaccines ready water ASA to stay for fifteen to thirty minutes to make sure that you don't out of any major side effect is the same kind of process so it can be done it doesn't have to be really aggressive monitoring but it can be done in various settings in the easy way. President Dalby you're recognized thank you Mr chairman I'm way over to your right. What is a very simple question why in Miller county Arkansas there are over forty three thousand people who live our Kansans who live in Miller county Arkansas and we have no place to go and less we travel somewhere and I know you're going to say we can go to Texas guess what Texas is giving Texans first choice so I want to know how come we don't have a place in Miller county Arkansas and if not can we get one thank you. Thank you ma'am you know we don't place any restriction on any provider you know if there are folks in Texarkana in the hospitals or clinics any entity that would like the monoclonal antibody we were definitely facilitate that we don't control that any provider in the institution of this lady who wants to become a. A provider can get this follow up please. Then at have you push that information out because once again we have over forty three thousand of our Kansans in a county you have no way of getting this unless they travel either out of state we are to another county and it seems to me that we are not providing a significant number of people this opportunity how are you getting that information out are you encouraging the providers in Miller county Arkansas. So from. We push the information out through our health alert network which are assigned to physicians to assign it with that so any position that is signed up across the state is gotten several different messages on this on how to apply for this process it's very simple all they have to do is call our office on the website there's a link to the person it takes about an hour to get him set up once you get the information to put in the system and then they can start getting Monocle's the next week so hospitals have been indicated we work with the Medical Society we work with many other instead dissociation for physicians both in private clinics and also a hospital setting so that information is gonna very broadly and if there are folks in in the county that really want to sign that we're more than happy to give them on the on the list to receive levels you do realize we don't have a hospital in Miller county Smith. We will be happy to provide education to any provided that in Texarkana I can provide the education one on one in the institutional provider who's willing to provide that service in Miller county and that will be more than happy to assist in that process thank you then be great because the positions are telling me they're heard nothing from you thank you. Representative Guffey you're recognized thank you just briefly maybe for eighty H. R. or maybe Senator Irvin knows this map is really helpful does this exist in a digital and interactive for yes ma'am it's our website thank thank you you will and we're we're adding yesterday we had at the site so it's pretty live and in for trying to give it is real time as possible. Representantes and you're recognized thank you Mr chair over here right So I heard you say that the categories of who is eligible to receive this is so broad that basically anyone can request and receive it why have categories at all if. Everyone's eligible eligible just say they're all eligible so are the categories are developed by F. B. amen they approve this medication again everyone's interpretation is brought a physician may be comfortable in and administrating back to a particular patient some may not so it all depends on that individual to provide that but what we have been saying aye in all if is anyone able to a. It is positive if they have you know the categories you know if they have any medical condition diabetes blood pressure heart disease in the lung disease in an autoimmune disease if they have a BMI above twenty five you know many of us have a BMI afford twenty five so it's so broad that you know it can be it's it depends on the in in on the interpretation by the provider if the provider feels comfortable and makes the decision itself so that I will be happy to educate providers on on on the vacations and that's what we've been doing and the success we have hired is because of the numerous calls and you'll notice you know meetings and educational seminars we've hired fought our providers toward the state you know for a small state like Arkansas with the rules of population to be the double the national average giving the monoclonal antibody is a big deal so we've been trying to push hard but ultimately depends on that individual provider and how comfortable he is in with the interpretation an indication of that I think a lot of the providers may like that guidance from the health department to say ages twelve and up. Are all eligible that way they don't have to go through seeing if they check the box check the box check the box and they might get slammed down for and not checking the box correctly if you say twelve and up are basically all eligible anyway just state that thank you thank you. Senator Elliot you're recognized. Thank you Mr chair Have you found or is there any data maybe even state or in a nationwide offer for people who will not take the vaccine and if they I tested positive. Of those same people been willing to to take. To take this this kind of treatment or not. Thank you senator elect yes we do have many people who have not had the vaccine date the monoclonal antibody in all of it you know we don't have exact numbers but we can pay to get that but yeah B. do top of several people who have not had the vaccine would like the monoclonal antibody you know we we tell them and again once they get the monoclonal antibody they would not be eligible for a vaccine for about ninety days because the antibodies these monoclonal antibody state employee for about sixty to ninety days so if you give a vaccine within that time period the vaccine may not be very effective so that's the one thing that we do tend to tell people that want to take the monoclonal antibodies you to help you immediately and protect you and maybe keep you from going into the hospital or die but you would not be eligible for the vaccination for ninety days but you did say we we have plenty of we we have plenty of the monoclonal treatment absolutely I mean I think the current location for this week was about three thousand plus plus we have a lot of various facilities in the state I have a stockpile of what it does and one of them activities and and lastly as I look at this map is specially looking up the right side of the map and. Per the questions from representative Dalby I know that the doctors can reach out but apparently they're not they don't know don't know so whatever you do perfect Miller County I would ask that you consider doing this and these other counties where there is a lot of space where people don't have any place to go because sometimes you just have to call up and go and say Hey look people in your area don't have anybody signed up for this and I would really ask that you do that all over the state because I think if they have not responded I think it's on the health department to make sure something happens here yes ma'am we do have a weekly calls with various providers one of the challenges is in in small areas if the doctor's office is the only place that can do that so the main problem at eyes is that you need to get deposit to patients to get this therapy into a small clinic and keep them for a couple of highlights so that is one of the major difference for providers because you have all these other people coming for you know for check the blood pressure or diabetes are wealthy they and then you have a positive patient within the clinic so it's the largest states that that is a bad idea for many of these providers in doing it because they'll be exposing the rest of their patients do that so but we have tried to work around that in in different ways so we definitely try and try to reach out to the county's I'd look with Mister brown and figure out the counties that don't have services and see if we can try to educate that provide us into accepting this therapy and it is it is a game changer thank you doctor Patel I appreciate that thank you thank you Mr chair. Representative Ladyman you're recognized. Thank you Mr chairman of well this is kind of the same questions been asked a couple of times if you look at this map there's a lot of counties that have no provider of so my question and if I look at this list there are number of pharmacies in here in northwest Arkansas that are providing these antibodies. But I look at northeast where I'm from. There's probably a hundred sixty or seventy thousand people in two counties there there's only three people providing this we have multiple pharmacies in Jonesborough but only the two hospitals are the only ones that show up as providing this so. Why aren't more pharmacies providing this and have you communicated through the pharmacies association that they can do this and how they do it and if so what's stopping them from doing that because we have pharmacies there that are very capable of doing it why aren't they doing it. Thank you a yes we have educated and had meetings with the Arkansas pharmacy association on this and we are seeing more and more involvement from pharmacies actually over the past few weeks so more and more pharmacies are opting for this you should lead was about who would order this previously a pharmacist current order of this right now they have amended the act so the pharmacies getting themselves or to this so if someone comes to testing the pharmacy and they got a test result that's positive the pharmacist themselves can order this they can be reimbursed also for this there's a good amount of reimbursement for giving this that it be the medications are provided free by the federal government so we are seeing uptick in the number of pharmacies that are opting for this now that they can prescribe this themselves they can get the medications also themselves we are working on that and Mr brown and his department is also trying to enroll as many providers providers not only physicians hospitals but also pharmacy pharmacies throughout the state and we'd be happy to I get offer the same service to any pharmacy in the northeast that is willing to do this we can provide them the education and resources Mr have fallen. A communication the talks about the TV radio support that money is allocated on here do you all know I mean how is that how to the radio stations TV stations and other parts of the state. How is that put out to them I don't see these in our part of the state. So how can they get that on their stations and on the TV stations where they need to do. So advertising at has been pushed out through our departments at communications at the department of health so there's add an ad campaigns that have been built in so those are pushed out to media outlets around the state and then of course then on time frames to Ryan also I just wanted to point out on the areas that. Being a large county with very few providers we do have a contract in place for transportation for any person that main office. Thank you the law. Senator you got a motion. I do thank you all it does not require a doctor's order to get this correct okay and then at the also I understand that there UAMS may be working to get some funding for a mobile unit and so just FYI watch out for that and with that Mister chair I move approval of the A. R. P. request of nine million forty three thousand one hundred sixty dollars for the health department for rural hospitals and primary care grants to rural hospitals that's proper motion to a second I have a second all those in favor say aye aye All opposed us have it. If that will move on to the review subcommittee Senator Flippo you're recognized. Senator Flippo you're recognized for your port. We're gonna need you to be in your chair and be ready. My apologies Mr chairman committee. Sure there review subcommittee met on Monday reviewed methods of finance discretionary grants and services contracts there were four items held from the health department those for hold for those items have been released and I move adoption report including the review of items held. As a proper motion drive second I have a second from representative Ladyman any discussion seeing none all those in favor say aye. Oppose ayes have it so with that we'll move on to the. Of go to senator Bledsoe. For the report on personnel. Thank you Mr chairman of the personnel committee met September the fifteenth at one thirty in room and any of the big mac building the Committee reviewed or approved the items listed as one through nine in the report I moved to adopt the report at this point at this time. As proper motion and second any discussion seeing none all those in favor say aye All opposed us habits with that we'll go the highway subcommittee representative McNair. The highway commission review and advisory subcommittee met Wednesday September fifteenth the subcommittee adopted an interim study report twenty twenty one dash zero one two by representative Wardlaw and the Arkansas department transportation reported on the progress of each highway construction project of ten million dollars or more I move for adoption of the report has proper motion drive second of second any discussion on this motion seeing none of representive Eads. Next report thank you all those in favor say aye All opposed us have it so with that will recognize your Senator Eads for the occupational license review. Thank you Mr chair the occupational licensing review subcommittee met Thursday September sixteenth to receive reports on occupational authorizations from the Arkansas ABSTRACTERS' board in the sea Division of the Arkansas state plant board in a move adoptions report as proper motion drive second. I have a second any discussion on the report. Seeing none all those in favor say aye. All opposed us have it. With that C. twenty nine The representative Springer do you have. Question. Good morning thank you Mr chair I'll I just have a question I apologize related to the revenue reports I have some constituency one of questions asked about the collections of revenue on taxes we will come back to that at the end of the agenda we have that on thank you I'm. So with that members will move on the H. on the agenda if you'll follow me to H. eight which is the University of Arkansas for medical sciences that I need a motion to approve these three broadband grants I have a motion I've second a motion by Senator English second by Senator Irvin all those in favor say aye. Oppose ayes have it motion passed. So before we go to the secretary's. Yes I want to handle the interim study for center Chesterfield it will go to of review subcommittee avail C. are there any objections to this move. See non so moved and then let's go back to the revenue report with mist and. It members we did not hear the August revenue report so if we would let her present the August revenue importance representative Springer you'll be recognized for a question. At least in it B. L. R. with the August revenue report this is a D. two in your packet. These numbers are cumulative for the fiscal year so we only have two months of data at this point but it's compared to the same two months in the last fiscal year. Gross general revenues decreased eleven percent. The net available for distribution has decreased ten point two percent. If you turn the page to you can see the graph this is the deviation from the forecast of our net available for distribution. So we currently have eighty six point three million dollars more in net revenues than what was forecast. On page three you see the gross receipts taxes are up nine point five percent over this period and total income dot taxes are down twenty five point three percent. I'll take your questions. A representative Springer you're recognized. Not related to the report of a another okay We will. not seeing any. Questions we thank you for that report. Thank you. Are you wanting D. F. and they represent Springer yes Sir okay somebody if a this may be a question for staff under this recognized it makes a the question is If a consumer goes to drug store XYZ and buys for example a hair dryer and they decide that they don't want the hair dryer and they return it to store XYZ what is there a law that allows the X. Y. Z. store not to pay them their sales to expect only to give them the value of the merchandise the hair dryer that was purchased representative Springer this is mark we can look into that that's a legal question I think as opposed to a numbers question so we'll look into that and get back to I would appreciate it because this this concern that I have from several constituents of so you're not exceed their sales tax back okay well thank you take a look at that. Thank you very much. Okay members we've got a report from a department secretaries For. Partminer corrections first. Mr graves you come up. Welcome we appreciate you being here and you give us a. Overview what you have thank you for being here at recognize yourself we'll the morning mist Mr chairman and members of the council wanted thank you for the opportunity to address all of you this morning and a supplemental document mall office of a provided to the bureau earlier this week I talked about the importance of this partnership in some of the challenges and successes that we have realized over the last year chief among those challenges are obviously the COVID nineteen pandemic and the impact that it's had on our operations but the success is that we have had within the Department touch all of our major divisions touch all of our boards and commissions and are attributed to not just the leadership team that ours are serving this department but the whole over four thousand five hundred men and women right right now that are coming to work in our correctional facilities and are prone probation offices in our administrative locations and in our classrooms across the department. Within the Division of corrects can we continue to face challenges as it pertains to us our staffing numbers and our of facility capacities of we need to have conversations long term about what both those issues look like and how we will address those issues at the state many of those same concerns are present within our division of community correction centers we ensure that we have a competitive compensation structure and we ensure that we have adequate capacity in both parole and probation and in our community correction centers one of the areas that I'm extremely proud of is how we are addressing the growing number of parole technical violators within this state and instead of continuing to place that burden on are county jails we have worked over the last year with the support of local leaders to acquire the vacant White River juvenile detention facility in Batesville and over the next year and a half or so will be renovating that facility and expanding our capacity to provide treatment to take nickel violators we're also modernizing our career technical education Senate strokes in within our school district aligning that with industry needs so we're pro of preparing our inmates and residents to be returned to the community with the abilities to be full fledged members of the twenty first century workforce we're also now able to provide remedial treatment of remedial instruction I'm sorry to those individuals from realizing that just because someone does have a high school diploma or a GED doesn't mean they can read or add on fortunately and those basic skills are essential to being able to way L. do H. back or any of the other career technical education. In skills within the department Mr chairman I understand the day is running low for the council members wanted to make some brief antidote to remarks and I'll be happy to take any questions from the Council also and joined today by our division directors if there are specific issues that I'm not the best person. Senator Hammer you're recognized for a question thank you Mr in your staffing levels that you're showing or those actual of individuals or is that include unfilled positions or would you expand on that please on your staffing numbers. Those numbers D. are you looking at the report for twenty twenty one which indicates forty six sixty yes Sir those that's going to be filled bodies I'm sorry field of fill positions not authorized. Okay so this is the actual total number of employees you have in the Division they're actually working right department Department wide on the date that OPM ran those numbers yes yes Sir do you know what your total number is. Of on fill positions to tell us how many it would be total right off as at the end of August we were right at within the division of correction right at fifteen hundred that is security and non security within the Division of correction we were about a hundred and forty or so both security and non security I'm sorry division of community correction what it right at a hundred and forty or so both security and non security our thank you. Subcommittee. This next person needs no introduction but he's the reason we have to listen to this report. His name is representative bear. And I'm just glad you're here this month to enter what you made all those council members and their thank you Mr chairman I appreciate the abuse and you know one of the primary reasons that we created ACT four thirteen was to be able to create dialogue between the cabinet secretaries in the legislature that we have not had in the past and be able to find out what their particular needs or anything that the legislature might be able to have with the each individual cabinet secretary but first of all I want to commend you secretary grades and your staff specially Sullivan graves with the For your efforts with the the pandemic and how well you all have done mitigating lot of the the challenges with the that Kobe nineteen issue and and our facility so thank you for for that thank you for your service. the question is are you still having a large draw your employees from outside of the state in order to fill vacancies in your in your of facilities. That's going to depend on the part of the state yes Sir and I'll say that I. sixty five corridor between Commons dar my in even up to palm looking very limited cases we are still pulling staff from miss miss Mississippi and we're continuing to recruit that area in the southwest part of the state we do of recruit into eastern part of Texas and in the northern part of the state we are recruiting in southern Missouri also in Eastern Arkansas we are recruiting into the in this area. Okay and my final question if I may Mister chairman is of your corrections officers you know we talked about community corrections bill is far as correctional officers hi how are you doing as far as manning in those positions. We're we're able to meet what we call all of our P. one post which are priority poles that we must maintain in order to have necessary C. QT levels within our facility we're meeting those but we're meeting those through overtime our our overtime numbers are the highest they've been at the in the history of the Department as as I indicated to Senate senator Hammer we have about fifteen hundred positions that are vacant within the Division of correction right now about eleven almost twelve hundred of those are entry level correctional officer positions. Thank you Mr dream thank you Mr chairman for your recognition. Senator Elliot you're recognized. Thank you Mister chair Mister graves how do we compare with other states in the way we handled technical violations so we're we're actually on par in terms of how we handle take nickel violations over the last decade the General Assembly in its various forms and the current and former administration tions have been a very aggressive in setting a standard that parole violators who do not commit new crimes should not as a default be returned to prison and that is the policy position that we're continuing to carry out we have a evidence based offender violates sin guide that uses a gradual graduated method of intermediate sanctions to interrupt those of behaviors we also have developed multiple levels of short term sanctions that instead of a six or twelve months for revocation back to the Division of correction we may hold that individuals with three days or seven days or forty five or ninety days to really interrupt that that behavior and we sit there thinking. And and that has led to diminishing some of the overcrowding hasn't our it has it in terms of technical violators coming back to the Division of correction yes ma'am in terms of what is driving our population growth are population growth is largely at this point in the Division of correction being driven by new felony commitments we're saying and that may be of parolees who do pick up new time wall wall on a community center supervision well we're seeing more and more that our population is being driven by the by individuals with an conviction from the court okay thank you thank you Mr. Senator Hammer you think of another question actually I got up I got a text or watching this. Right now got a text from a buddy of mine that's business owner said that he had a person that worked for him the got cars rated and through a kiosk that was either in the county jail or when the state facilities that individuals able following appointment on him plus he was able to get the stimulus checks from the federal government do you know anything about that are going on and in our department I don't know about the issue of filing an unemployment claim through through one of our kiosk all of the follow up on that one does the board some of of I've heard of her part about that but on the second piece yes Sir inmates it have received payments under the I guess now three forms of federal Daniel is that I've come out of the current and previous administration shin in DC this General Assembly passed legislation this session that directed the Division of correction to intercept those funds and to remit those funds to county and city Clerk for the payment of court ordered obligations of we are following that law to date we have returned almost seven hundred and forty thousand dollars to the counties and cities for payment of court ordered fines fees and restitution very good thank you. C. enough other questions thank you for your support with that we'll recognize Senator Johnny key for the education department of education report. Johnny key department education of in your packet you should have a copy of our ACT forty four thirteen report in that report provided you a brief overview of our strategic planning process that is working to align all the divisions in the work of those divisions into those three strategic focus areas which really establish a foundation for all our Kansans to to succeed in their education process away from pre K. into career as far as our divisions we continue to work to support the divisions of the department of combining and bringing shared service support that helps provided the opportunity for those divisions to focus more on their missions respectively of verses the administrative costs in the ministry functions that they had to want to do on their own I'll give you a one highlight of that and that's in higher education you know we're all familiar with the universal portal that's where students can go and apply for state scholarships we are in the process of rebuilding that portal and by bringing in the support from the eighty in I. T. team we were able to shorten the estimated time of completion of that project by one full year from the class of twenty twenty four to the class of twenty twenty three so that's a I think a good example of of how we are working to improve efficiency. A highlight one of our a few of our important projects arise initiative which has been in place since twenty seventeen we have now trained over eighteen thousand K. through six teachers have approved reading and dyslexia programs as established under the statute and dyslexia screening identifications are up four hundred and fifty percent since fifteen sixteen so I think that's a thank you senator Chesterfield In in a few examples under transformation examples of really I think alignment and of an equity in career an edge and technical course offerings giving example their in the past a students may have to take two separate science courses to fulfill the requirements that a C. T. E. class may not be considered the same as the the academic class but in working with their respective teams to align those standards I have made opportunities for those students not to have to double up if you will also if far as equity students who are interested in career technical offerings now have the opportunity to get waited credit for those some of those courses if they are connected to some type of a certification as opposed in the past when those students may have to pursue an A. P. track or some other honors track in the CTE courses would not be included in that. we have saved since twenty nineteen about four point the the report says four point six million it's out now actually up to about four point seven million and as you can see in our staffing reports we're doing this at a much lower level of staffing than what we have had traditionally in the past. And then also just a brief list of some each key legislative initiatives that you all all have been working with us on and with long with the governor's office teacher salaries of. May be extensive strides in improving teacher salaries in the state of Arkansas over the last two sessions of computer science we continue to lead in many areas most areas when it comes to computer science education and a number of other. Hi high level legislative projects that we've been working on again in partnership with you all but I know that to our time is short and Mister chair I will stop and take questions. Before I go to this long list of questions. I noticed you are sitting quietly in our meeting yesterday Any thoughts on PSE and. Changing the matrix to quote to categorical so that money goes the B. D.. The force for thoughts on that before next week's of. The one thought that I had and I think the the consolidation of those line items in the preparation of would would be a positive thing the one thought I do have is in twenty thirteen we made some statutory changes especially regarding the facilities programs where that facilities what was then facilities funding was Carved out and we need to make sure that those silly program language changes in twenty thirteen are impacted in any negative way by this I think some of the discussion with that yesterday was that we. Reassured that those funds are still funded through the same mechanisms but we combine them into one fund going forward and I think that's what I would have to say and is a good thing and otherwise I was here to answer any questions you might have a. Okay Representative makes you're recognized thank you Mr commissioner other question I had is on the the rise Arkansas in their all the reading initiatives we've had over the year has there been enough time passed to to know what if any fruit those programs are bearing. Especially given the code situation well and given and thank you for asking that given the covered situation if you look at statewide numbers of that on the statewide assessment no I think if you look at the the the data that schools are looking at the interim data the K. two assessment data some of those things that aren't part of accountability we are seeing strong impacts I visited the Lee County school district on Wednesday and I saw a The Bigley and the teaching of reading then the last time I've been there and that's because the dedication of those teachers and the principals getting in that training and then taken into those classrooms represent makes you we are going to see big changes big results from this we just need to stick with it we've been sticking with it for for four years we've had a two year interruption from COVID it hasn't it slowed us down but it hasn't stopped us now it's encouraging news thank you. Senator English you're recognized thank you so I guess I read in the newspaper the other day and I just been confirmed that we're not going to do the ACT aspire testing anymore they are out out of that business so can you just give me an idea of what it is I hate that because we if if every time you to remember trying having a new testing and I know that's not your fault our fault but really kind of hard to can you give us an idea of what that process is going to look like yes the ACT aspire they have let us know and they I think we've agreed they were a victim of covid many of their business models and just it could they could not proceed as well as one of their providers the platform that they were using has changed but we are in the process of getting teacher feedback we've had a number of a teacher groups that have been engaged in conversations we brought hope Alan back hope Allen was our system of director for number of years she'd gone to the Little Rock School District I think for two or three years but she's back now leading that effort and we are working we we will have the ACT aspire through the spring of twenty twenty two and it will be available through the spring of twenty twenty three if we need it but we are working on the feedback process now and soon will be outlining an R. F. P. to go out of and and identify new state assessment so we've learned a lot of lessons over time. The R. F. B. I. to reflect that but the thank you thank you. Representative Springer you're recognized. Thank you Mr are you US secretary key Williams and I would just like to come in and say that I'm happy to see that as one of your strategic focuses you have a bill Fund foundational the receive and down under that you have boost the percentage of students learning on grade level will reduce gaps between subgroups so happy to see that especially after the meetings that we had regarding the adequacy funding so I guess my question to you is can you be more specific because as I recall the reading levels across the state of Arkansas of people that look like me they were reading way below grade level in fact less than ten percent of the students that look like me we're reading on grade level so I guess my question now is what all of the initiatives that you have in place to the department that is going to address that situation thank you that's a great question and and the rise initiative is is really the the train that is going to carry all that freight to make it happen and as I mentioned visiting Lee County or or this week visiting Helena West Helena this week and seeing what's happening in those classrooms it really is transformational the teachers I have or are not only are they be required to increase their level of knowledge on the science of reading but there's also a measure of job embedded professional development we're it's not just the teachers that we're debating on the principles have to be engaged in this support and training for the two for the principles to know what they're looking at and make sure that all of this is happening across the state we are we have strengthened our work and our staffing in the coops partnering with third read regional co ops to make sure that if if you're in the delta of Great Rivers is going to be able to meet the needs of the teachers in that area if you're in the pine bluff. Area of that to the the co op there Arkansas River coop is is staffed and has the qualified people to be able to help lead and assist those teachers are also partnerships I think one of the big we have a thirty I think it's a thirty eight million dollar federal grant that's our sore grant it is we're we are working with partners like the Dolly Parton imagination library where we now have of that program in all seventy five counties. Which is you know we're we're working on building the participation rate but that will help get home libraries in the hands of the students the the children birth to five so that they can have more of a chance to be ready when they do get to school of working to make sure that our pre K. programs that I talked to the principal at to hello West Helena and I said you have waiting lists and she's a we always have a waiting list for our ABC program making sure that we we get those waiting lists addressed and the seats get to allocated properly working with DHS on that so a lot of partnerships going on to to make sure that those needs are met and those Of those children are are served like they need to be Mister chair I have a follow up yes and it's a compound question. So that I won't have to have we are we we still have quite a few members in the queue so just keep that in mind okay I would so my question is you identified a number of initiatives that you have in place so I guess can you just tell me about rise and and the other ones as to how long there have been no effect and whether or not you've collected data to determine the effectiveness of those programs that you just identified and what the results are well the the data is there's data on a teacher's right to quality data on teacher I will say certification is not certification but it's to to meet the requirements now the new test for the science of reading so that no showing that they have the capability so we have data there we have data but as I mentioned to representative makes we've had an interruption in that data because of covid we had a year we didn't have a statewide assessment we've had a year in which we saw The the the COVID year the impact of distance learning so that that the state assessment data is not showing us what I think it would show us if we had not had a code situation. But of its its data we're we're looking at that all the time on that and the schools are looking at their local data so they have assessment programs that are not part of accountability and they're looking at those programs and they're looking at the data as well to determine where they need to beef up their their programs on the local level. We we're happy to get you whatever date of the that you might want to look at on what would final would you share the data that you all are looking at so I can look at it too and see what the results are because I'm not sure what we shared with the committee so they get out of the membership. Representable you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chairman. Senator Hickey I'm hearing from. Superintendents around the state relative to a change in rules and regulations that apply to the COVID situation whenever the vaccination of of five euros two eleven which we anticipate maybe in October or are you are you looking at with the health department changing some of the rules relating to the distance six feet to three feet and also relative to wearing of masks and then also about the quarantines some kids are being sent home understand some kids are being sent home they're not sick and I never get sick but you have to have to stay out of school ten the use the would you could you elaborate on that briefly we are always reviewing that information with health department the quarantine the definition of a close contact which there by triggers a quarantine is not set by the department it is is the CDC and the health department is following the CDC guidelines in that regard so as I've mentioned the superintendents and and some other members the legislature I don't see an imminent change in that six foot requirement for quarantines but to as the understanding of this virus changes and as changes come from the CDC James comer health department we communicate those to the to the schools as soon as we can. Follow up very quickly we'll that's the suggestion. By the CDC correct. We don't have to hear that. I have a do you know I I'm I don't know how I would characterize what the CDC puts out but I know the health department has has established that that that's what we need to use it's not just in schools I mean that's that's the standard for all workplaces it's six feet for fifteen minutes cumulative in twenty four hours so as the rules will one all rules going to change whenever the vaccine is available for five euros through eleven mail and I would say that if you're vaccinated then then that's a person that does not have to be quarantine if you're fully vaccinated so that's why we've been encouraging we've gone partnered with health to have clinics at football games the first part of the season try to boost those numbers because the if you're vaccinated you don't have to quarantine unless you're symptomatic. Thank you thank you Mr secretary thank you Mr as far as the the whenever that we don't know when the younger ages will be approved but at that point time that we will follow the lead of the health department on whatever roll out at that point thank you yes I've always wondered who is keeping tight. Me you or them on the fifteen minutes in a four hour period you know that's that's a. Process at the school's work through in some schools do different have different processes some schools have video systems that they can use some schools just go by Talking to the classroom teacher so so in our school funding we're paying someone to set and watch a video all day and count the minutes that you and I could be contacted throughout the day I don't know that I've heard anybody's actually counting the minutes you know the school schedules go bye bye pretty set blocks of time in you know if you're in a classroom for fifty minutes and I forgot positive case in the classroom the teachers going to know what students were within six feet during that time up but actually a lot of this funding is from the federal funding so if districts that have hired or paying people extra to be appointed contact or working on contact tracing they're typically gonna be using some other ESR funds. Senator Hammer you're recognized. Thank you Mr so to take on representative wouldn't comments. What we have documentation says recommendations uses word suggestions uses work guidelines does not use the word mandate or does not use the word even necessarily rule. DO guidelines that you issue as the department to the schools carry the same weight as low. The guidelines that are built around rules which is a the rules concerning the Health permits rules concerning infectious diseases those rules are still in place and that the rules that have been discussed most recently on the authority of a district to quarantine is not the district's authority to quarantine it is the district acting in accordance with those rules of that they're responsible for excluding unaffected individual an affected individual could be an infected person or could be someone who has been exposed so those are the rules that establish the foundation of of the guidelines now there are many other things in the guidelines that we've issued besides Justin quarantines so the label on has that we put on that document for this year have been says guidelines but again in those guidelines there are rules that have that pre existed COVID and that there's an expectation of school leaders and districts the follows when it comes to the three to the six foot the CDC has been on record of saying that if you can maintain three to six foot and it seems to delegate to the local entity to make that determination but the guidelines that have been set out have established that six foot is the requirement even though CDC allies for three to six but we had that conversation in multiple committees within this branch why will you not allow it to be to the discretion of the school to determine if it's three to six foot because it's the quarantine number that is affecting our ability to educate our children and the number that are being sent home that if they had to three to six foot latitude established. In the guidelines then we could help address that issue. Senator it's three to six feet with proper masking. And that's the the part that often gets left out of that conversation it's not just three to six feet it's not just the distance issues also of the of the combination of as we've always stated multiple layers of protection in the masking is one of those layers three six feet in the CDC guidelines is really dependent on that proper masking being in place I will make a statement. I think that when it comes educational slide in our state that the the responsibility is going to be borne by your department and by the department of health for unrealistic ability to take it a look at the situation as it really exist and I do not think that I'm speaking for myself other legislators can weigh in or not I think it's going to be fully borne by your agency by the department agency because of the guidelines that you're expecting the schools to operate under which are totally unrealistic nor do I think that size could bear out thank you Mr. Senator Davis you're recognized thank you Mr chair I stepped out for a few minutes so if this questions been asked I apologize but walking in on that conversation about and standards and guidelines recommendations and a lot of school districts what I found out in the past week or two is that they are following the guidelines recommendations from the department of health and and a school district in particular right now has amassed mandate in place and yet they still quarantine almost entire grade even though the students were wearing masks and and what I found out from the department of health is that schools individually can go above and beyond any department of health or department of ed guidelines or recommendations and I just that creates huge inconsistency and there's a lot of confusion a lot of us as parents and have just come to the terms and that you know fact with the terms that our kids are gonna have for mass the school but what that means is that our kids don't have to quarantine if they're exposed in everyone's properly wearing masks so how can we and address this issue or why is it the case that and they can not determine three to six feet and that school districts can determine a quarantine schedule that it neither complies with the CDC or the Arkansas department of health and that they're allowed to go above and beyond in quarantine kids that should be quarantine because they've not met the standard of exposure for the state or an the CDC. Senator I'm not sure if I would characterize it is that you're being allowed to I think in their implementation there are some districts that we observe that are definitely more cautious or or in this case conservative in their approach than others of that is not something we've advocated we when we have those conversations we try to make sure that they're following and not going overboard not excluding too many students. It's conversations that have to keep going that's when we have someone invited former superintendent who's embedded at the health department who districts can call and she talks districts all the time about those types of things so really it's the communication and and developing a better understanding many of the points of contact that were in school districts last year are not there this year and so it's like you're starting over again with so so they really didn't have that experience trying to help them understand that to the that balance between too many students may it be too conservative versus making sure that we're we're you know keeping as many kids as we can in the classroom that's what that's what we want as well yes thank you I mean I think it's just confusing for parents and we're all trying to follow a set of rules and understand what those rules are as they consistently change and and we're talking about science all the time following the science honoring the science and and people are trying to do so and it's just it's challenging when the department of health says well we can't make a school district follow quarantine guidelines if there are quarantine guidelines and are above and beyond the Department of Health or the CDC and and that's hard for parents to understand that they're following the rules doing what we're told if our kids are massed we don't have to quarantine and kids are masking and then they're being sent home in droves and I just and I would appreciate if and on your and the communication that you guys are working towards and just helping school districts do that because we do have hundreds of kids that are at home and not because they met the standard of exposure and that because the superintendent said let's just sent home it doesn't matter if they met In and that's as inappropriate as saying we're we're going to ignore it all I mean the and if you have if you that the proper time want to share information with us about districts that need support in that area will be happy to to column and see if we can help work through those issues thank you all follow up thank you represent Ladyman you're recognized for a question thank you Mr chair sector key thank you for being here I want to change the subject a little bit here and I'm not on Education Committee and I apologize for the people know this but I'm making it up as someone ask questions. Of teachers you know we've had teacher shortage we had the pandemic we got worse so were were we as a state I mean are we getting better as far as having enough teachers in the classrooms that getting worse can you kind of give us a update on where that's at we're not getting better and I would say that the challenges are growing we're hearing from districts that in previous years northwest Arkansas for example if large districts that usually have no problem have multiple candidates for every opening and they can't find teachers for certain positions in their districts we are constantly looking at the date of one of the challenges we have two is just the number of people that are in the in the pipeline in those that prep programs those have declined we had started seeing some improvements and then when COVID came we you know it's a it's in all aspects of of higher education as well but it's really hitting the. The K. twelve teacher prep program especially hard we're using ESR funds to try to set up supports to increase the numbers to to expand our nontraditional programs so that we can get more maybe second or third career folks that want to come in education and get them on a pathway to that but it is definitely a challenge right now across the state. So we've done a few things legislature. Pay increases and some other things but I mean do you have any suggestions legislatively that we might look at in the future is or any any ideas well and there will be I mean we are working on any anything that I could say with specific size would be I really don't have the specifics on that but that's something that we are engaged in conversations we're collecting a doing a deeper dive in our data and we want to present that data to our leaders of our our system University systems are other standalone universities so that they know what we're facing and how one thing that will ask for and I'm not in the sponsor of this legislation has rude this sponsorship since that day it was me. And one of the things that we think are. Problematic is the teacher retirement participation a higher education does not have to participate in teacher retirement so try to get someone That is is qualified and has that classroom experience to go from of the K. twelve system into higher ed so that they can prepare the next generation of teachers it's it's a it's it's a barrier right now and yeah that's something that I I I I think we need to look at and again it sounded like a good idea at the time it was cost savings for the higher education entities because that's a pretty stiff Lawyer contribution that goes into teacher Tyerman but it is one that we're seeing is is more more of a barrier to creating the type of prep system that we think we need. Thank you for those answers. If I have any darts being shot at the back of my head from my higher ed friends back there Let me know. they're gone okay. We'll get back to my promise Senator still do you have a question. Would you email me the information about the it's I forget the name of the program is sort of like that the future teachers of America program that you guys have an absolutely would you email reminding you that because that's something I didn't and and represent Ladyman question we are working in and to build that up to build a pipeline or a pathways for teachers. Start in high school in high school we'll make sure we get that staff so you all can see that all right I appreciate it very much thank you thank you I to everyone recognized. Thank you Mr chair over here secretary of the size. What what is the punitive damage. The job are you punitive fines or consequences if a school districts. Alicea go outside your guidelines it's a lot less stringent and what's all required well it and and only press it by saying that this is a long path to get there but districts that and I'm gonna make in general not just COVID guidelines or anything else districts that fail to follow the standards for accreditation which includes following. State laws federal laws and rules of could be subject to probationary status. For the district. Good content continue on with that well I mean. Probationary status it won it if it's uncorrected which you know that that would be something the state board would have to determine if you're a put a district in probation and enters a corrective action opportunity and then if. You continue go in corrective action is not implemented then you lose that accreditation status as a school which has an impact on students moving forward if they're applying for a higher education that requires them to be a graduate of an accredited high school that that is an example of what could happen but again that I think that that's not going to happen when I don't play well I would never I never say never Senator Hill we don't want to happen and and that's why we've stress if more people get vaccinated while these conversations would go away so I wish we could spend as much time talking about how we get more people vaccinated so that don't have to quarantine and we don't have to worry about three feet six feet masks and all those other things that thank you Sir. Senator hammer this. We we need to move on to the next secretary and is this something you can talk to Secretary offline. I'd like it on record would you to that I'd like it on record is reason one ask it publicly. The guidelines that you're imposing upon the school district. When did they come before rulemaking process in order for you to have the authority that you've got to hold that kind of leverage over the schools the way you are. Guidelines are built around a pre existing rules that have been through the process guidelines or recommendations. Right. But as I explained before the guidelines that we issue to schools are built around in this case pre existing rules and rags that have been established in statute what preexisting rules and rags have you had uncle senator Hammer diss are weighed measured thank. With that we present you for your presentation secretary cook you're recognized. Jamie cook part of public safety. Mr chairman committee members thank you for having me here today I'll be brief of your ACT four date thirteen report has been distributed to you and I'll just call your attention to a few things and bedded in the report are links to every division's annual reports and they have a lot of there's a lot of great information on the great work of the divisions of the department of public safety there's also embedded a link to the DPS video with all is very important to put on our website of video that explained what the who the department public safety is and what our goals are as well as an in depth description of each of our divisions very quickly I'll just I would like to start off are recognized in our Arkansas state crime lab. They received for the third year in a row the twenty twenty one foresight maximus award which is only presented to fifteen participants a forensic laboratories internationally. It operated in ninety percent or better peak efficiency so Arkansas's crime lab is one of fifteen internationally to receive this award and that's due to director of channels very excellent leadership so congratulations to them we're automating a lot of our processes and all of our divisions were working diligently at Adam to upgrade are a win system and supporting the efforts of our non one one board to upgrade our nine one one system across the state all the while managing all the disasters of for example at the end of FY twenty one there were thirteen open federal disasters and eight open state disasters we're working on updating our sex offender registry system AC I see the commission on law enforcement is working to implement the task force's recommendation along with the excellent legislation passed last session to include things like racial profiling training duty to intervene we're also implementing the ACT seven eighty six public safety equipment grant after that legislation was passed of and the contribution of the Terry General's office on September first of five hundred thousand dollars we hope to launch that grant application process on October first. The state police has deployed four hundred automated external defibrillators to the highway patrol troopers and parallel that with the training is very important because our troopers of often times the first responder at the scene in the rural areas so it's very important to us to get that equipment to them one of the things that were most proud of is the department of public safety is that we launched our wellness unit our wellness unit is imperative to the DPS employees but also to the first responders across the state it's no secret unfortunately. That we lose more police officers in this country to suicide the line of duty deaths it's no secret in this state or in this country that recruitment and retention of police officers is at an all time low in recruitment and high on or low in retention so with these wellness efforts that we're due and hopefully we can talk to these up to our first responders and help them deal with some of the things that they need to be dealing with because let's face it they see things that we should not be saying we have trained over ninety peer support team members and we had a goal of training a hundred by the end of this calendar year we're on track to train two hundred so we're very very pleased with that one example of a partnership across our departments is our partnership with the Department of transformation and shared services to place the second data center at our troop L. location in Lowell this is a significant project that allows for the sharing of existing state resources. We had an excellent legislative session thanks to you and I'll close with this I just want to thank you all for your support of the department of public safety we are so very fortunate to live in a state where our legislators support and appreciate the good work of our public safety personnel Mr chairman with that I'm glad to take any questions presented makes recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chairman I have a question that if time allows follow up questions aren't first question I have is back during the session this would be towards the state police I had talked about the non emergency hotline that we have it we have a set up of the state the star five five that allows for motorists to call and report nonemergency situations debris on the road hazardous driving things like that and you all are going to explore Getting information out to the public a that that was available and maybe you know like I've traveled to Florida it's star funeral FSP Florida state police about trying to make that a uniform number across the state I'm just wonder if you have any updates on those efforts we do representative makes I'm gonna ask or brought to respond thank you. Bill Bryant director the Arkansas state police thank you for the question yes we did follow up and all of that you were at met with Laurie tutor the director are not we we've got designed some proto type signs the first was we looked at it will be Arkansas state police will have star ASP or start to seven seven of our department is also contacted the major carriers that would be sprint or T. mobile AT and T. and Verizon we have memorandums of understanding ready to to signed so we're getting ready released a project and we look at you are major interstates to have that out on the roadway so we think to be great for the citizens also are not as agreed to finance the signs so now we're gonna go the highway police commission to get the funding for that so we're moving forward on that project excellent so that's very good news that the other question I have in this this may be toward you do is the lieutenant governor came and spoke at a local event here a couple weeks ago and he told me that the number of tickets that have been issued across the state for excessive speeding speeding in excess of a hundred miles an hour. Grew from like a thousand tickets back in twenty nineteen or something over four thousand so far this year is like a quadrupling and so I'm wondering about your efforts eighty no the cause of that isn't and what our efforts that being done to try to to help with that issue I know you know if you've ever traveled on interstate forty between Conway in little rock the speed limit seventy five but if you're doing on the seems like anything less than eighty you're you're you're impeding the flow of traffic as people run over you so what are what are we doing to try to make sure our speed limits across the state are are being enforced I mean. I'll be honest whenever I come across the state line I see this as speed limit seventy five strictly enforced I almost giggle because I know that that speed limit is not really strictly enforced I mean I driving the Little Rock speed limit sixty well if you're doing. Less than seventy again you're impeding the flow of traffic because everyone's doing seventy five and eighty so can you tell us a little bit of a you know what's the. Why are saying such excessive speeding and what are you doing to try to enforce our speed limit loss of. Yes actually question originally testified before the Arkansas game and fish and state police committee here pretty cold it our tickets for one hundred plus miles an hour right at a thousand our second year was over two thousand and here we are the third year and unfortunately we're on a record pace again our our troopers beginning speeders at a hundred sixty miles an hour and and we're issued citations some of the steps that we're doing is I don't if you recently saw of the press release we did but we purchased twenty five tacos and their low profile vehicles have a S. P. star on it to use that to try to could curtail you know district distracted driving a look at our for talent is this morning reports we just had another one this morning and and city of Conway but we have four hundred forty fatalities this year alone traffic accidents in the world pace same as last year the year before we were hundred down I think when I talk to other kernels around the state around the nation you know everybody's we're call it aggravated driving and I I don't know if it's COVID or lawlessness or whatever we also deal what we call a lot of saturation will get true like say true judge G. intrude K. together and we'll do a saturation Aaron use line are we also still use aircraft to try to do the control some of this again our pursuits in the last five years statewide are fleeing is up ninety eight percent here in the in the Little Rock troop areas of a hundred and seventy eight percent of people refusing to stop and fleeing from law enforcement so those are the the the the challenges we have we're trying to address that the best way we can but those are some of the steps we take him at the cross the nation the other kernels you know nobody really has a reason this is a lawlessness is it covid but we receipt nationwide not just Arkansas and and and I wonder sometimes if you know there's a general perception in the the public that we allow taller. So if you know five seven ten miles an hour over the posted speed limit so that the defect speed limits that are being seventy five now becomes eighty five in in people's minds and now I'm wondering if you know we need to maybe cut back on some of that lenient a little bit or I mean do we need more troopers is is as you said I I and from what I've seen I think impatience and distraction or the two leading causes of of death on our roads and you know whatever we is a body need to do to partner with you to try to help get that under control then you know I think we would want to do that right I I think it's important that you know we've been watching a road rages to with shootings involving You know it's it's once a week we hear just hear in in the in Little Rock area I'll listen to the radio we have road rage for shots fired so that's just are you know those those type of cases are through the roof and that's where the guns were actually discharge is not just County displayed weapons so you know we have some tremendous challenges again as secretary cook said are our number one issue that we're dealing with the is recruitment retention of troopers you know usually says when I first came director we would get like five hundred contact sheets for troops school issue will get about two hundred or so and and the last thing I was briefed on we have a true school in January with us at about a hundred applications Hendren applicants to background you know we hope to hire forty two percent of putting our troops school but you know other states are doing things to where they're offering bonuses just to sign on now we don't have that authority I had a general conversation with us secretary Walter you know we need to do things to be able or more people to to be police work because right now is its nationwide that's the number one problem for criminal law enforcement all right anything we can do to help partner was the all with this please let us know thank you thank you Mr. The representative office you're recognized. Thank you Mr chair thank you so much Secretary cut I know that during the session we passed a bill that school resource officers would have to go through new an additional training for working with students and being in schools has that started is that something that's in place for the school year and if so how's it going. Thank you representative Godfrey I don't have that information because that was actually a responsibility assigned to the criminal justice institute which is not a part of the depart public safety but rather higher at I'm glad to reach out to the doctor may and ask her to get you a report that be great thank you. President Ladyman you're recognized thank you Mr secretary cook I was glad to hear you talk about the training of the peer support team and the ninety people I think that's really important because like you say are officer see things that they shouldn't see we should see and they need the support of is it too early to tell whether this program is benefiting the officers or are you do you plan on giving us some out comes I mean what is there any way you can track that so that we can allow the program's going. Yes are there it's not too early to tell the successes of the department and I know concurrent right can or the Division of wellness unit colonel Brian can speak to this as well because we get we're getting chiefs and sheriffs and officers out there saying thank you thank you for giving us our resource of where we can call to get some help I was talking to our captain that overseas that program because it's a program administered from the Arkansas state police the city's getting at least four out reaches a day around the state that's for United officers are public safety personnel that are calling and saying Hey I've got this going on can you guide me in a better direction and were responded to each and everyone of those our wellness team you know graciously is is on call twenty four seven to answer the needs of our public safety personnel I'm going to call it an overwhelming success and we'll just continue to grow that because they deserve it. It's a great program thank you. Senator Hammer you're recognized thank you I'd like to get a list of the efficiencies and opportunities to streamline processes that you identified under the lean six sigma I'd like to get a list of those please. Absolutely I'll get those two thank you would send that to staff so we get that out to the committee so with that members center for the business we stand adjourned.