Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC)
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Speaker 4
1:30
Good morning, members. Thank you for being here. We're going to go ahead and
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
1:53
get started calling Legislative Council to order.
Representative Wade Andrews, if you would kick us off with
Representative Wade Andrews
Unverified
2:07
a prayer. Let's pray. Dear Father in heaven, we're so grateful for everything that you give us, Lord. Thank you for being able to live in a free country and worship you freely and come together to do government in your name. Lord, I ask that you bless us all, bless us in this room, that we make good decisions, that your will be done, that we can help the people of Arkansas and do things that are beneficial for them.
Lord, we ask for forgiveness for our sins. Watch over all of us when we depart
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
2:44
here. In Christ's name, amen. Thank you, Representative Andrews. Members, we'll go ahead and entertain a motion to adopt
the September 26 minutes. I have a motion. I have a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Any
opposed? Ayes have it. Dr. Silva, if you would please come give the revenue report.
Speaker 16
3:14
If you would recognize yourself for the record and you may proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Carlos Silva,
Speaker 17
3:21
Bureau of Legislative Research, and today I'm here to present the September 2025 monthly revenue report. As we look into our gross collections, we have $2.02 billion collections. That's an increase of $13 million for the first quarter, or 0.6% above the last fiscal year to date. As we look down, we will see net available for distribution $1.76 billion.
That is an increase of $27.1 million for the first quarter of 2024. That is a 1.6% change in there. As you see on the
Speaker 18
3:54
last line of page number one. As we move to page number two, we see the cumulative deviation from the F&A net general revenue available for distribution. That's a slight decline there of $1.8 million.
Speaker 17
4:10
That's standard. Things are going to fluctuate, and we see that here on that month.
But we're still above $73.9 million for that first quarter of 2025. As we move from page number
Speaker 18
4:23
three and page number four, we have general revenue collections. Not many changes there. We still have some fluctuations for the first three months. As we move from page number five, we have those special revenues. I'll bring your attention to page number five on the state police. You have those questions of the driver search fees. You see that's a lot closer now.
We have some, those large percentage changes last month on the thousands. Because we have fluctuations, we will see some fluctuations as we move forward. But as you can see, things stabilize as we move on. For this month, we continue to monitor delinquencies. We still have seen increasing delinquencies for student loans. The rest is stable. As we move now to seasonal employment, we're going to start looking to the holidays employment
and see how spending is and how employment is. And that's going to be our focus moving in here to the end of 2025 because that's going to tell us a lot how things are going to move on for the last fiscal
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
5:34
year. And with that, I'll take any further questions. Well, don't everyone light up at once. We'll start with Representative Ladyman. Thank you, Dr. Silva, for that report. So Representative Ladyman, are you recognized? Thank you,
Mr. Chairman. I'm over here. Question on page five there under Highway and Transportation Department.
The natural gas severance is up quite a bit there. Can you kind of expand on that a little
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
6:01
bit? Yeah, yeah. So that one tends to fluctuate a lot, price changes. And because the way that it's set
Speaker 17
6:08
up, we have, when you're looking for an ear to ear, Even after the recent decline here, prices from year to year have increased for the natural gas. But the way that the tax is set up, you have some large fluctuations when we have those big price changes.
And that's why we see that here. It doesn't mean that's a big change within the state. It's just the way that you normally work with natural
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
6:40
gas. All right. Thank you. All right. Representative Wooten, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Two questions, Doctor. The first one is on, well, it's actually three. On page five, the very first item, aviation fuel. It's not a lot when you look at the total amount, but it is a 78% increase.
On page five, page six, I'm sorry, page six, the top, aviation fuel. went from $1 million in 24 to $5 million in 25. What's the reason for that? That one is not only fuel that we're talking about. It has a lot
of other items related to aviation in it, so it has some large changes. Aviation
Speaker 17
7:24
equipment tends to be kind of expensive. So we'll see that fluctuation. So if you look into the trend for the last few years,
even in general for this line item, we will see that fluctuation because we have large payments for one month. Is that a price thing? No, no, that's just because the time that things get purchased, that's all it is. It's just not only, we're not talking about aviation fuel here specifically, it has other things, people buying equipments for planes and things like that.
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
7:56
It's part of this aviation sales tax. Okay. Then on the first page, under corporate, is that corporate income that's minus 37.3%?
Speaker 17
8:11
Yes, sir. So corporate income tax and individual income tax, we would expect to see that as we have those tax cuts from last year, that a change would expect to happen, even though things may move at the same level, we'd expect to see that change. just because we have those cuts.
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
8:29
So that's nothing unusual here. One more, one more. And I've asked this the last two sessions. But now we're dealing with the tariffs. We're dealing with the shutdown. We're dealing with farmers.
We're dealing with housing markets, particularly used housing market being down. And then banking in the regional banks. Some of them are having some difficulty or possibly will have. And then the credit, the money that's out there, the big banks, the large banks are flush with money. But still, there's a factor out there of where are we economically? I mean, we collected less in September than we did in August and then compared to a year ago.
So where are we, economy-wise, for the future? Yes, sir? Dr. Silvers, should we
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
9:28
have Secretary Hudson come up and see if he can help address some of these questions? If you'll restate those questions, Representative, I think Secretary Hudson might be able to address that. I'm getting the big man now. All right.
Mr. Big Man, if you would, introduce yourself for
Speaker 40
9:53
the record. Is this some sort of comment about my girth? I'm not really sure. Jim Hudson, Secretary of
Speaker 42
9:59
DFA, good morning, Representative Wooten. I did hear the question. You don't have to restate it. You know, if you look at where we're
Speaker 43
10:07
at year to date, quarter to date, we have a full fiscal quarter in the books. We're actually a little ahead of plan, So about $74 million in excess of what we forecasted for the year.
So I think if you're looking for me to bottom line where we're at as a state economically, it's
Speaker 44
10:27
steady. I don't see us significantly accelerating nor decelerating. I
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
10:32
think we're in a good place right
now. And I appreciate that. But are we looking, I'm sure you are, but are you looking out farther than right now? what the report says, because I'm concerned, even though we're ending the war in Gaza and perhaps
Ukraine, but economically, are we going into a time of, I hate to use the word, not depression, but slow down? What do you think with the tariffs, particularly with the China issue?
so you know the my crystal ball which is
Speaker 42
11:11
an outsourced crystal ball from looking at our you know analysts that we subscribe to you know the actual
Speaker 43
11:19
consensus view is really a little more
positive right now particularly on tariffs I think you know maybe several months ago there was uncertainty and anytime there's uncertainty that can impact decision making I think the consensus view that I see right now is the potential inflationary impacts of tariffs are not going to be spiking inflation, all of a sudden the system is going to absorb them a little bit more over time. So I think any inflationary concerns are ebbing at this point. Economic activity is still forecast to be positive for the remainder of this fiscal year and looking into next
fiscal year as well on a national basis. Same is true for Arkansas. The one area we have to keep watching is our farmers and our farming economy, particularly our row crop farmers. The governor's been very clear she's concerned about that the president's expressed the same opinion he's looking at initiatives to you know help our row crop farmers and our row crop farmers are struggling not because of ordinary business cycles they are struggling because of predatory behavior by china right and china is seeking to harm our farmers and so i think because they're getting caught up in
you know the actions of an adverse foreign nation you know whatever we can do to help them would be very
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
12:39
very very very appropriate that's the one area i'd say we have to keep watching okay what about the shutdown what how what the highway department has already expressed their concern relative to how long it continues in the funding what what do you see or how much how much money do we anticipate uh losing or being uh not not coming forward for state agencies and really
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
13:02
Really quick, Representative, I'm going to ask that that be your last one. I'll let him answer it, but I'm going to
Speaker 46
13:10
ask that because I've got other people in the queue. Yeah. Secretary. I just don't want to speculate
Speaker 42
13:15
on what stuff the federal government is going to do or not going to do. I think this is a federal government issue. It
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
13:22
is for the federal government to solve, and
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
13:24
they need to solve it quickly. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
13:29
you, Representative. All right, Senator Love, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Dr. Steele, I want to go back to you said something in regards to the delinquency of student loans.
Because I'm looking at the report, but I don't see where that number would be. And then I want to talk about what is
that an indication of or indicator of? Yeah, so that's not part of the report. We
Speaker 56
13:54
have our collections for the state of Arkansas.
Speaker 17
13:57
But we also look into a lot of other things. in order to make sure the members are aware of what's going on out there and be prepared to help out the state of Arkansas. So what I'm talking about is at the national level, we have seen some of the weakness, I would say, with the student loans
and people have larger delinquencies as we move forward, and that is kind of what it is. I'm trying to make sure the members are aware of some of those national
Speaker 46
14:26
trends. Let me take not necessarily a contrary view on that, but
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
14:29
just explain a little bit more. You know, the federal government under
Speaker 43
14:34
the previous administration provided moratorium on student loan payments, and folks have to pay their bills again, and that's probably putting some folks, you know,
Speaker 42
14:43
in cash constraint. I don't think that reflects more broadly on the economy.
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
14:47
I don't think it's a bellwether for that. Okay. All right. So when you see the delinquency rate then, Mr. Hudson,
when you see the delinquency rate increase then, What do you think that's
Speaker 42
15:04
an indication of? It's probably an indication of people having to pay bills they haven't had to
Speaker 43
15:09
pay in several years, and they're just cash constrained. I don't think, though, that is some sort of bellwether for overall spending patterns for people in the economy.
I think consumer spending is still good. We're still seeing increases
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
15:24
in our sales tax collections year over year, so I'm not concerned about the student loan
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
15:30
sector. Okay. The number two thing in regards to delinquency, I know that we're talking about farmers and the tariffs, and we could have varying different views about what tariffs are doing and how they're performing to our farmers. But here's the thing, is that we see the foreclosures in farms going up. Do we see foreclosures in housing and different things like that?
Speaker 43
15:52
Are we seeing those increase as well? I'll let Dr. Silla speak to what he knows. I've seen no data to suggest that there's a broad increase in foreclosures in the residential housing market. I think there is distress in the ag sector, and you do see some liquidation of farming operations because of that. It's incredibly unfortunate. Those farmers are hurting. And, again, I think this is a trade issue that needs to get resolved at a national and international level.
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
16:23
Okay. Then the last thing is this, is that when we begin to talk about the revenue collections and I see that we're down 37.3% in the corporate and also 17.8% in the individual, and I know that you said that it shows steady. At what time should we, if you're not concerned, at what time should we begin to be concerned if we see the trends just continue like this?
Speaker 42
16:58
Well, Senator, I do not expect that we're going to have any trending of significant runoff in state revenues.
Speaker 43
17:04
I just don't see any data suggest that's coming. I think on the corporate side, we routinely see volatility in the corporate income tax collections. They're a relatively small component of our income tax collections. There's also two points of noise, I would say, in the system in terms of the data. One, we had tax cuts that went into effect last year. That's affecting it, certainly. We knew those were going to cost us something in terms of revenue.
And we also had a natural disaster declaration that pushed off due dates. So I think until we get toward the end of the calendar year and we get past the extended due date for filing some of those returns, we're really not going to know what that situation is in terms of individual income tax. But all that being said, what I would go back to, the most important data element for the members to pay attention to is where are we at year to date? Year to date, we are ahead of our forecast by about $74 million. And keep in mind that forecast was $185 million surplus.
So what does that mean? That means if all we did through the remainder of the fiscal year was hit the forecast, no better, no worse, then we'd have
Speaker 44
18:16
a $250 million surplus based on our overachievement year-to-date.
All right. Thank you, Senator. Representative Ladyman, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On page one, the
economic development incentive is down 40%. and I think I asked this question last month, I think it was down last month if I remember right.
Why is that down? And the reason I ask that question is, you know, maybe you can help me what that money is for, but if we're talking about incentive money that we would spend to bring new industry, new businesses, new income, new economic development to the state, why are we not spending the budgeted amount? And in my mind, we should be spending more than that. If you look at what's going on in New York, Illinois, California, Oregon, there should be people visiting those businesses and talking to them about moving to our state because we have lower taxes, we have a better business environment, we have a workforce.
Why aren't we doing that? Why aren't we spending the money? And I have been called last year and this year. The premier of Ontario, Canada has asked me, would our commercial group and the governor come and talk to him about trade and businesses? I've called the governor. I've called the secretary. I've emailed the governor. Nobody's called me back. Why aren't we talking to people like the premier of Canada, of Ontario?
Why aren't we doing that? we've got money here why don't we why
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
20:01
don't we spend that money well i can't speak to ontario i don't have nothing to do with that i'd suggest you just contact secretary um you know mcdonald
Speaker 70
20:09
over at the department of commerce that's why that's why i'm mentioning it here well i'm not him i can't i
Speaker 43
20:15
can't resolve that issue i'm sorry sir i can't speak to what the question is though about the money this is cash out the door once a company has achieved its uh its obligations under an economic incentive agreement.
And that's primarily for creation of jobs. That's create rebate incentive. So those are paid out based on actual performance. It's not a question of, is that money we're using to market to companies? That's actually an AEDC's budget. And based on what I see, they're incredibly active in terms of marketing the state. So we don't want to pay this out until the companies have done their job and actually created jobs for the state of Arkansas. Those projects are kind of lumpy.
Sometimes you have several of them coming in together, and there's a big spike, and you may go several months before you have another one kind of coming in. If you have questions about what's in the pipeline, generally, I'd say talk to AEDC, and they should be able to give you more information about that. All
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
21:14
right. Thank you for that clarification. All right, members, we are going to wrap this up at some point, but I've got two more people in the queue we're going to get through, and then we're going to move on to another
Speaker 76
21:25
agenda item. Senator Johnson, you're recognized. thank you chairman i
Chair
Unverified
21:28
just uh a lot of speculation a lot of comments on row crop farmers and i'm
going to tell you right now this is the first quarter of this physical year if the crap hits the fan in agriculture you can look for it in the third and fourth quarter because that's whenever the farms will not be picked up that will not be farmed that cannot be farmed because of equity in this system. Right now, it is a dire situation. It's a dire situation in mine and every other farmer in the United States, not just in Arkansas. I'm going to tell you, this was not reported on
TV whenever I was up there, but if there's a government shutdown, it's an economic government shutdown, but we're small in number. But whenever the whole United States agriculture sector shows up in dc we'll shut that place down and there's a handful that know what our situation is but whenever we shut that place down they'll all know but i'm going to tell you it happened it happened years ago and it could happen again because we're about to get a gut full of it appreciate it well
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
22:38
senator my grandfather um was one of those during jimmy carter's administration who went to dc to register his
Speaker 43
22:44
concerns, and so I do remember that. And I would say to, and you know this quite well, you know this better than anybody, I think, farmers don't have any better friend right now than the governor of the state of Arkansas. She understands the plight. She's concerned about it. She is talking regularly. The thing we have to recognize about Governor Sanders is her phone calls do get returned
when she calls somebody at the national level. And so she is making the case, along with Secretary Rollins for the Department of Agriculture at the federal level, that we need to give help to our farmers. Because, again, farmers are doing what the farmers need to do. They're not failing at their jobs. If they're struggling right now, it's because we have predatory behavior by a foreign nation who is seeking to harm our farmers. And so we need to
Chair
Unverified
23:36
do something to help them. I 100% agree. And it's both sides of the aisle that are playing games.
And we'll take care of the games whenever we show up. They've got to know we're not going to show up with little cabless tractors like they did back then. We're going to show up, and they're going to be 16-foot wide and 20-foot wide. And it ain't just going to be on the streets. It's going to be on them metro terminals. And they better get something done before the end of November. That's all I'm going to
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
24:08
say. needs to happen thank you senator representative rye you're the last one on this agenda item thank
Representative Johnny Rye
Unverified
24:14
you thank you mr chairman jim let me ask you this and let me throw this in on you i had a farmer the other day he told me he said john back in the 70s and 80s if we got a bale of cotton to an acre we made money this last year we did three and a half bales of cotton 1500 pounds an acre and we lost $125,000. Now, Jim, where does that figure in to this situation here?
Speaker 84
24:45
Again, I think it's just the market dynamics. Obviously, again, those of you who are farmers
Speaker 43
24:50
know way better than me. We have fixed at a national level the reference price issue. It doesn't really benefit anybody until a year from now. But now we're talking about a demand issue And the fact that we have, particularly for the soybean crop, you know, a significant amount of the demand just evaporate, again, because of predatory behavior by a foreign nation. And so we need for this to get fixed through national trade policy.
And I think the president certainly seems to be working on that. Thank
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
25:20
you, Jim. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. All right. Thank you. Representative Vaughn, is this a question on this item? because i already gave representative rye the the notice he was the last one but i will very quick please
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
25:37
thank you sir i just want to push back just a little bit um this is not just about other nations and what they're doing to our farmers on trades this is about not having good prices for the last three years at least not having a farm
bill for 10 plus years. I will 100% agree with him. This is going to affect the state of Arkansas in a very mighty way. We had a discussion. I told you this was a tsunami coming. One out of every three farms shutting down in the state of Arkansas is going to affect that budget that's sitting there in front of you. And if we don't start looking and forecasting out for that just in case the tsunami is coming, then we are failing the people of Arkansas. Thank you.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
26:23
Okay, thank you. And Reverend Hudson, or
Senator, good grief. Secretary Hudson, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Silva, thank you. All right. Going down
to F1. No, excuse me, going to E, my co-chair. You're recognized. Okay. one, administrative rules.
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
26:50
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Administrative rules subcommittee met on October
16th. The subcommittee approved agency requests for exclusion from the reporting requirements for 2025 rulemaking with one request held until the subcommittee's next meeting. The subcommittee received agency updates on outstanding rulemaking from the 2023 regular session and filed agency's monthly written updates on rulemaking from the 2025 regular session. One rule was pulled from consideration prior to the meeting at the agency's request, and all other rules were reviewed and approved as noted in the report. Mr. Chair, I move for adoption of this report. All right. Thank you,
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
27:27
Senator Dees. I have a motion. I have a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye.
Any opposed? Ayes have it. All right. Moving down to item four, Senator Irvin. uh senator ervin's not in her chair uh it's representative tosh here all
right actually let's we'll come back to senator ervin i believe all right well all right representative tosh you're recognized
Representative Dwight Tosh
Unverified
27:57
thank you mr chair the uh the game and fish state police subcommittee met uh tuesday october the 7th at 3 p.m. at the Arkansas Game and Fish headquarters in Little Rock. The subcommittee heard testimony regarding the waterways in Arkansas and technology used to monitor water levels and geographic information systems mapping of rivers and streams and communities in affected areas. This report is respectively submitted by Representative Taj, and I'd ask
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
28:30
for uh approval all right thank you for the motion i
have a motion i have a second any discussion see none all in favor say aye any
opposed ayes have it all right moving down to item seven senator english
Senator Jane English
Unverified
28:52
you're recognized thank you the hospital
medicaid and developmental Disability Study Subcommittee met on Monday to hear an update from DHS concerning the
Division of County Operations and Reimbursement Rates under the Living Choices Assisted Living Waiver. The subcommittee approved a motion to adopt the preliminary report concerning the comprehensive review of DHS as required by Act 1004 of 2025, Section 13. The subcommittee met again on Thursday to hear testimony on benefit cliffs and asset-limited income constrained employed. I move adoption of the report. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
29:31
I have a motion. Do I have a second? I have
a second. Any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. Senator Hill, you're
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
29:45
recognized for item 8. The Lottery Oversight Subcommittee met Wednesday and reviewed the Intralot and Scientific Games contract. The subcommittee heard testimony on the Arkansas Lottery Director's Report and reports from the Arkansas Division of Higher Education. I move for adoption of the report.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
30:03
All right, thank you. I have a motion. I have a
second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. Really quick, members, we're going to go
back to Senator Irvin. I think she has some additional information on her report. Senator
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
30:22
Irvin, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Also, I just wanted to add, in the director's report, we had an extensive discussion regarding the recent bear attacks that happened in Newton County and Franklin County.
We want to just commend the law enforcement officers in Franklin County and the Newton County Sheriff, Glenn Wheeler, and his team, along with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commissioner officers, in their response in taking those bears, and just appreciate the discussion. Also, I just wanted to read this. Early this morning, the director of the Game and Fish sent me a message that the commission met last night and had an emergency. There was an emergency order.
And if that's okay, Mr. Chair, I'd like to read that. You're recognized. Okay, thank you. The commission has implemented a temporary 120-day emergency order effective immediately to reduce daily trout possession limits in the state's four major cold water fisheries due to a significant loss of trout production. This reduction is a direct result of millions of trout lost from poor water quality at the federal Norfolk National Fish Hatchery and major damage from an April flood at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's Jim
Hinkle State Fish Hatchery. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's Trout Hatchery is currently operating at only 50 capacity and is not expected to fully recover until at least april the emergency order calls for catch and release for all trout on the white river tailwater below bull shoals dam to the norfolk confluence the white river below the confluence has a reduced daily limit from five fish to two fish per day while the current length limits will still apply only one trout over
14 inches catch and release for all trout on the entirety of the norfolk dam tailwater the greersbury and beaver tailwaters will also have a two trout daily limit but anglers may not harvest any fish 14 inches or longer so this is pretty important to the folks in my area of the world so i just wanted to make sure you may get phone calls from anglers or from stakeholders about this and I'll make sure that the legislature gets a memo, gets this information sent to them.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
32:43
Thank you. Thank you, Senator, if you would send that to Director Garrity or staff and
disseminate that. Thank you for the report. All right, moving on to number nine. I think that's Representative Hawk. You're recognized, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Medical
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
32:59
Marijuana Oversight Subcommittee met on Monday in Little Rock. the subcommittee heard discussion regarding the implementation of two the the two remaining medical marijuana licenses i move for adoption of this report all right i have a motion to adopt
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
33:15
do i have a second i have a second any discussion all right looks like we have some discussion going first to senator
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
33:22
bryant thank you mr chair yeah i i was uh in another meeting during that time i was wondering if i could have anybody up to discuss that um the topic of that those two additional licenses it looks like the man that
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
33:43
i've called by every title in the book today is
Speaker 94
33:46
coming back secretary hudson if you would introduce yourself
Speaker 40
33:54
again for the record you're recognized uh frequent flyer
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
33:56
today uh jim hudson uh secretary dfa good morning senator good morning I think from the feedback that I'm getting as I've worked through some of the medical marijuana legislative items in the past is we were, we've issued 39 licenses, of which one has been peeled back through to issues with the license holders. So there's two remaining. We had originally had those selected.
However, because the industry is somewhat litigious in their nature, those have been held. We've gotten through some of those issues, and now there's two remaining licensing where those applicants have jumped through all the hoops, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, to get to the point where we could have those licenses issued. Rules were promulgated, not abided by, not went through the system appropriately, and now we're going to wait and do a lottery for a new batch of licensees, even though we've got two that are in the queue ready to go.
Is that an accurate depiction? No, it's not. Okay. Could you explain how we got
Speaker 43
34:54
to where we are? Sure. So we have two licenses that can be issued. We have, in addition to those two, we have one other license that is currently revoked because bad behavior on part of the licensee. That's currently a sub-litigation, so it can't be awarded to somebody else at this point. The Arkansas State Constitution requires that we issue 20 licenses. We're required to issue 20.
We can issue no more than 40. So, in truth, the Medical Marijuana Commission is not obligated legally to issue any more licenses at all. They have considered issuing two additional licenses, and they've gone through a discussion about proposed rules. Those proposed rules have not been promulgated. The statement that you've been told that they're not following the rules is incorrect. In order for us to issue licenses, we now have to promulgate rules.
The applicants you're referring to, their applications expired as a matter of law after two years. So in order for them to be considered and awarded a license, the Medical Marijuana Commission would have to adopt a rule saying that those two entities, and only those two entities, would be eligible to apply for a license. I have concerns about that. So what I've asked my team to do at ABC, working with our attorney general, is assess the state of the rules and come up with a fair set of rules that will ensure that people have the ability to compete for those licenses, that we select somebody who's appropriate, and that our Kansans are kept safe.
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
36:34
So on the original number of 40, how is the number of 40 determined? In the Constitution. It's in the amendment. But as far as you only have to accept 20, but you were going to, we were going to accept
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
36:49
40 and we just held short of that 40. Can't speak to who made those decisions. That would have been in previous administrations and previous medical marijuana commissions. But again, to be clear to everybody, at this point, the medical marijuana commission has fulfilled its legal obligations to issue at least 20 licenses.
Anything in excess of that is strictly up to its discretion.
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
37:11
Okay, so the two that were held in abeyance out of the 40 that were originally selected
after they went through all the government hoops, were they held because we went into litigation over other issues, and that's why their window expired, or did it expire because the state did not act on those two additional licenses? They expired because of litigation, I think. And so because of litigation, we are held to the 24-month standard, even though it was of no cause by the applicant?
Speaker 43
37:39
That's what the rules say. After 24 months, those applications expired. And to my knowledge, I believe they had their application fees refunded to
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
37:49
them fully. Okay. What are the chances the state gets sued over whatever decision we
make? 100%. So if I'm just speaking as a taxpayer and as a citizen, I would rather have those on the right side that did what they knew was right at the time to do it And given those license rather than pull them back, throw them in the trash, say, thanks for playing, but no thanks.
And and go back to the ground zero, because it just it's I guess that's part part of what makes this job frustrating is when state government just doesn't honor their obligations. And I know I know what you think we did, but it was no fault of their own. Well, 24 months expired because of litigation of others. And so I would just ask that you consider that in the rulemaking process as you go through with the commission to view those that put in the work up front.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
38:45
I would say that my experience with this body is that y'all look for fairness and
Speaker 43
38:51
even happiness as we talk to people who are looking to get a license. And I, for one, would not want to come in here and defend a decision that said only these two get to compete for this license, but there are others out there who may be interested. I think that would be a hard thing for me to defend. I think the other thing I would say is you and I are in heated agreement that I'm not going to make decisions based on fear of litigation. I'm going to make a decision based on what's the right thing for taxpayers of Arkansas.
And, you know, it may be that, you know, we come up with something where these two entities are satisfied, but before we go down this road, I want the lawyers to craft the best rule that we can To ensure that we have a fair process. That's a safe process that benefits our Kansans Will that be a
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
39:36
process that's different than the original process? Yeah, it could be so then okay. Thank you senator. I appreciate it. Thank you All
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
39:44
right, Senator Wallace you're recognized and members. Let's keep our questions concise and our answers even more concise
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
39:51
You're right. Thank you. Mr. Chair Mr. Chair the occupational license review set me wait.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
39:56
I'm sorry senator. I thought it was a question on on this item sorry all right if you would get back in the queue all right uh senator hammer you recognized thank you mr chair hey
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
40:09
what uh where were those two facilities going to be located do you know right off uh they're in zones i can't
remember the zone numbers but it would have been you know garland county and then also around texer canna okay and then the second thing just
from my personal information refresh my memory the the phrase keeping the public safe who is it that is regulating the doctors that are giving out the scripts for them to be able to go get the medical marijuana anyway. So it's
a divided set of responsibilities. Department of Health is in charge of
Speaker 43
40:42
issuing the medical marijuana cards. My department's in charge of actually regulating the cultivators and the dispensaries. Thank you. All
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
40:51
right. Any more questions on this
item. Seeing none. We're going to vote on it. All in favor say aye of adopting
the report. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. Now, Senator Wallace, we're coming
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
41:08
to you for your report. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Occupational and Licensing Review Subcommittee made on Thursday to discuss and approve the final report for the occupational entries in Group 6. I move adoption of this
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
41:21
report. Thank you, Senator. I have a motion to adopt. I have a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in
favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes. Have it.
Moving down to item 11, Senator Disman, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The peer subcommittee
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
41:37
met Tuesday, October 14th. The subcommittee received reports, reviewed requests, and approved the following, various temporary appropriation, American Rescue Plan Act Appropriation, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Appropriation. I move for adoption of the report. All right, I have a motion. I
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
41:54
have a second. Any discussion on the report? Seeing none, all in favor say
aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. Moving down to review item 12,
Representative Kavanaugh, you're recognized. Thank you,
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
42:10
Mr. Chair. The review subcommittee met on Tuesday and approved methods of finance, discretionary grants, one RFQ approval request, and service contracts, which were all reviewed by the subcommittee. The subcommittee also approved one member disclosure. I move for adoption of this report.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
42:27
Thank you, Representative. I have a motion. I have a
second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none,
all in favor say aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. All right, members, on the next page under review of communications,
we're going to take up item H1. if there's any no questions on that I'll take a motion to file
as reviewed I have motion to have a second I have a second any discussion seeing none all in favor say aye any opposed ayes have it all right under item 2 there I'll take a motion to file as reviewed have a motion have a second any discussion seeing none all in favor say aye any opposed ayes have it item 3 I'll take a motion to
The file is reviewed. I have a motion. I have a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing
none, all in favor say aye. Ayes have it. Any opposed? Ayes have it. All right. Under item four, we have a series of reports there. If you see a report you'd like to hear or any questions on those, please look through. If not, then we're going to go to item 9B, Division of State Parks.
I need a motion to approve. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Any opposed? All right, ayes have it. All right, members, moving on to we have a supplemental agenda that we need to take up. So I need a motion to, and this, just so you know, this is supplemental to adopt interim resolutions. So I have a motion to suspend the rules to take up a supplemental agenda from Senator Hill.
I have a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. All right. First item under A on the supplemental. Excuse me. Representative Vaught and Senator Tucker to adopt an interim resolution. Representative, would you like to present that? Please come to the table.
All right, and y'all are recognized once you introduce yourself for the record. to present your resolution. And then members item two and three will be interim study proposals. But you're recognized,
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
45:14
Representative Vought. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Deanne Vought, District 87. Clark
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
45:19
Tucker, Senate District 14. So
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
45:22
we had a meeting in Stuttgart a few weeks back where we allowed the farmers to come and talk to us about their needs
in the state of Arkansas. And one of
the things that they asked for was a resolution to be sent to D.C. on the behalf of all of the legislature in the state of Arkansas asking for us for help for our farmers. So that's what we have here today. Whereas agriculture is the backbone of Arkansas's economy, but also an essential pillar of America's food security, and Arkansas producers are now facing severe challenges that have resulted in rising rates of bankruptcies
and closures of farms across the entire state. And whereas these challenges that are resulting in farm bankruptcies and closures include high interest rates, unpredictable weather, volatile markets, and disruptions of global trade, which are occurring alongside dramatic declines in commodity prices and record high input costs of seed, fertilizer, fuel, and agriculture equipment. And whereas if producers are forced out of business, the consequences will ripple far beyond the farm gate, impacting rural banks, equipment dealers, and local communities across the entire state of Arkansas.
And whereas President Donald J. Trump and congressional leaders in both parties have made efforts in past years on behalf of the Arkansas agriculture producers, the rural communities to secure emergency assistance and disaster relief that have been instrumental in helping Arkansas farmers withstand unprecedented challenges. and whereas Arkansas's agriculture producers and rural communities are in need of strong leadership from President Donald J. Trump
and both parties in Congress to take action now, as farmers must soon make planting and financial decisions that will determine whether they continue their agriculture operations and productions at all. And without additional support, many may not have these options. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Legislative Council of the 95th General Assembly of the state of Arkansas that the Legislative Council respectfully urged President Donald J. Trump
and the leadership of both parties in Congress to work with the United States Congress to develop and implement a targeted relief package for producers for the 2025 crop year. All right. Senator Tucker, anything to
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
48:01
add? Just quickly, Mr. Chair, this is an issue I don't
care what part of the state you're from, what party you're in. Every single member of both chambers has constituents in the agriculture industry, people that we love, family members, friends, or we're in it ourselves.
And so this is just something that if a third of our farms aren't able to continue operating within the next six to eight months, it's going to be a cataclysmic event for the state that it'll be almost impossible to recover from. So this is something that I think we all need to pull together on and support our farmers and ask for the folks in D.D.C. to get their jobs done and make sure that our people here at home are supported. Mr. Chair, can
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
48:41
I add something? I do have, if everybody would, if you want to be added, I do have a sheet here with
me today that you can get your name added as well.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
48:51
Thank you, Representative, and I appreciate this and the recognition that we're bringing to this issue,
and hopefully the shutdown will end soon and our farmers can get that relief. So all in favor of adopting the resolution, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. Thank you both. All right, item two on the supplemental, it is an interim study proposal. i'll just entertain a motion to refer that to insurance and commerce committee i have a motion i have a second any discussion seeing none all in favor say aye any opposed eyes have it item three
uh interim study proposal to senate education committee i'll entertain a motion i have a second all right any discussion seeing none all in favor say aye any opposed eyes have
it all right members seeing no other business. Thank you for your time and attention. We are adjourned.
Agenda
A. Call to Order.
B. Roll Call.
C. Approval of the Minutes of the Last Meeting, September 26, 2025.
D. Presentation of the September 2025 Revenue Report – Dr. Carlos Silva, Legislative Economist
E. Report of the Executive Subcommittee — Sen. Ben Gilmore, Rep. Les D. Eaves, Co-Chairs.
F. Reports of Standing Subcommittees:
G. Reports of Interim or Special Committees: (none)
H. Review of Communications:
I. New Business: (none)
J. New Interim Study Proposals and Interim Resolutions: (none)
K. Business Carried Over: (none)
L. SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA
M. Adjournment.
Documents
Speakers
Speaker 1
Speaker 4
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
Representative Wade Andrews
Unverified
Speaker 16
Speaker 17
Speaker 18
Representative Jack Ladyman Chair
Unverified
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
Speaker 40
Speaker 42
Speaker 43
Speaker 44
Speaker 46
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Speaker 56
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
Speaker 70
Speaker 76
Chair
Unverified
Representative Johnny Rye
Unverified
Speaker 84
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
Representative Dwight Tosh
Unverified
Senator Jane English
Unverified
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Representative RJ Hawk
Unverified
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
Speaker 94
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified