Joint Budget Committee

Members you feared back let's get your seats will start in one minute. If he's here we're going to run it if he's not we're skipping. I don't see. You ready. Our committee chair sees a quorum. We'll call the Joint Budget meeting together before we get started of we're going to ask for a moment of silence of. Senator Alan Clark law lost his dad yesterday and also former colleague in the House of Dan Greenberg lost his dad of all Greenberg so let's have a moment of silence to remember those two families. Thank you. All right members of we're going to start with that I'm seeing reports Senator Sturch. Because I don't think I see you senator mark Johnson here yet. Transaction. Thank you Mr chairman so we are on items C. two this is an amendment. By Senator Sturch the Senate bill one sixty four department of agriculture and as a new appropriation payable from a new fund the agro fair fund. Thank you Mr thank you cards you identify yourself in the Secretary feel identify himself in the you could continue James Sturch state senator district nineteen. West for from the Arkansas department will. Thank you Mr thank you colleagues what we're trying to do it with this is actually consolidate existing funds together for our county fairs you might recall that the enabling legislation Senate bill six thirteen is setting up a new fair funding program to streamline this which this one pot of money that are county fairs will be applying from and stiff construction funds in this spot premium funds in this spot we're not asking for any additional general revenue this is actually the same amount of appropriation they've had in the past it's just restructuring the existing one and with that US secretary water I will take any questions. Any questions answers Senator Sturch or take a ward. We know we have a motion on the amendment. I have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor say aye. Any opposed regulation senator documents thank you Committee senator Johnson if you walked in the room anywhere. If not members we're going to governor's letter number seventeen you will kind of give a detail of it transaction why Mister Rogers or Mr please come up to speak to the governor's letter thank you Mr chairman governor's letter number seventeen is amendment to Senate bill one fifty eight part of Education Public School Fund. It also has special language on the second page Mr chairman. Right. Before you all get to the table representative Frank did you have a question on the governor's letter something else. Good morning thank you Mr chair on the governor's letter I will in some way too many your read but I don't hear you. Which. There you go try again. Good morning good morning thank you I just wanted some information about the this particular letter with okay then get into it if they don't answer it will go back to you thank you. Roger fielding FIC sales. Greg Rogers for medication. Casey rainy DFA office of budget. You continue. What we doing here on Bills letter. Okay so I had you just going to go over just to summarize what we're all right okay so the different line items that were asking to change in section one the Department corrections Raskin increase that due to the transfer of the riverside lautech to the park recreation school Department questions presented bill already into part and Education Committee that is passed through to combine those two schools. That appropriation as is already in a their own appropriation act that is not only part of department schools the. Charter school funding aid increase in charter schools ATM over the past couple years the amount that we get to them per ATM is falling below five hundred dollars for eighty M. and this appropriation will allow us to keep that at five hundred dollars for eighty in charter schools for their facilities don't have the ability to go raise millage or in any kind of income for their their facilities so This allows them to keep their facilities up to code. The next line item public school employee insurance that increases just going out due to the specialized we have this as we paid for the benefits for the correction school and a as we just talked about early with riverside going to the Department corrections we need that appropriation to pay those benefits as well. The written retirement those time matches sorry. We'll and the Public School insurance or both of those are based off to dude riverside. The teacher the teacher salary causation that twenty five million is based off the the average teacher salary we're trying to increase average teacher salary so we're taking the fifteen million dollars that was adopted by the education advocacy committee for teacher salaries and combine that with another ten million dollars to and help districts raise the teachers averages out of state. And that's the the first part of it coming on go ahead to the additional public school employee health insurance on the second page twenty million so that self middle twenty million dollars is for FY twenty one there's over meetings with AB board over the last year we as the governor and did ya approved an increase over the base level of twenty million dollars starting in FY twenty two four this twenty million dollars however the deficit that is looking at that it EVD borders had to deal with for the employee's insurance program is pretty significant so due to the restoration of the funding from last fiscal year to carry forward and public school funding Lau's as to make one more one time contribution twenty million dollars for FY twenty one to help EVD try to close that deficit they have with the facility insurance for Teague public school teachers. All right any questions for Mister Rogers. Represented Spranger you're recognized. Thank you Mr I'm I just need to a better for you to expand a little bit more on this teacher salary equalisation I don't quite understand what you said earlier so could you kind of tell me how that came about and and you give me a little bit more information of what actually you're trying to do. So that that is a plan that's gone through that it can't I'm I'm sorry I can't hear it. The the department members if you've got a conversation going on gets members having a hard time hearing. Go ahead so the teachers are equalization plan that's the find it was a Mister Rogers Pusha Michael close from maybe I'll help to. Closer Zach get real close to it. So on the the clothes hang out some real okay. The take legalization salary plan that's the plan that was adopted by the Education Committee to try to raise the average teacher salaries throughout the state that if the. School districts average teacher salaries is below fifty one eight twenty two then this will establish a categorical to give those districts under eighty five dollars times are ATM in order to be used exclusively for teacher salaries to increase to teacher salaries for that school districts that will become a categorical that those issues will have to use for salaries to for teacher salaries for the. The rest of the time that it this bill does appropriation is there. Thank you for that explanation I think that's necessary for the teachers in the state so that they can understand what's taking place so thank you very much for your explanation. Senator Blake Johnson you're recognized. The Public school health insurance and. What to do they have a plan for making that stable. A committee we're we were putting money in it but. Are they putting additional funds in. So currently the ABC board is meeting to discuss different solution different plans there the for the loss of revenue that we have in there they haven't made a decision yet on what all the changes will be done for the plan but we are looking at any everything that is all the levers that they can pull from increasing then decreasing benefits increase in premiums to requesting additional funds from the General Assembly all those that are looking at right now but there hasn't been anything that's been voted on a doctor to get. Thank you. Representative Ruben you're recognized thank you Mr chairman on the twenty million. On the. Insurance plan it is a going beer commerce bonding increase on the teachers contribution. And and that's what I don't know right there was. You you mean you're you don't know whether the teachers are going to have to pay more. So the EVD Board is going through those scenarios right now and seeing if the teachers are going to have to have an increase in their premiums the I would say that probably will have to be an increase in the premiums just to the deficit that has to be made up but I don't know what that is right now because the board has adopted those those others is twenty million happened additional twenty million dollars is actuarially mis read the actuary not come through with the appropriate information did you have your claims out stripped it. Six I mean this is. This is fifty million dollars this year. Thirty million in one fund and twenty million here that we have to make adjustments Jake can you explain I can do my best I can't promise that I'll be able to explain everything the eighty twenty million is actually in addition to ninety million which is already in our budget which would bring the total amount coming out of the public school fund or the eighty budget for teacher insurance two hundred ten million dollars a year and that's increase. That is certainly a huge amount of money. However the amount that it costs to provide insurance for teachers continues to go up this twenty million dollars was part of a wide series of solutions and fixes that we put into place last year at this time we're looking at this issue and it's something that frankly my expectation is we're going to have to keep looking at. Are we gonna can we can continually. Come up and make twenty and thirty million dollar decisions you know what was the original request in this in this info that it was so in the during the budget hearings that we came at the exact regulations a twenty million dollar increase to the eight ninety million that were already get putting in there which would take the total request two hundred ten million dollars starting in FY twenty two the based on the current actuarial. Showing projections for FY before the end of County you're twenty two the deficit is actually gotten bigger than what they were sole and at other last year so due to the release of the D. funding from the last fiscal year in public school fund we have this twenty million that we can go ahead and make that payment to the EBT to try to help with that deficit that the DVD in the eighty four going to have to deal with it's still gonna be a deficit there still won't be have to be some some additional changes and it could it probably will be in the third of premiums for the dispensing the planned but right now with that the EVD board not have adopted anything I can't answer that exclusively what it will be if if I can add one thing from a management standpoint one of the things that we're trying to do and and one of the reasons that we're looking at these big increases in the past we have not had increases built into the budget annually and we've kept it flat what that does is really you healthcare costs grow five or seven percent every year so when you keep that revenue going in flat you're really just kicking the can down the road and hoping that your one time funds can can bridge the difference what that re leads to is increases like the one you're asking about big jobs what would like to do is flatten it out and try to increase some management over there or do some things to really year to the year avoid those sorts of big jobs by Monday. Does this go along with what we've been discussing about the B. D. both on the state employees in the school so we need to we need to deal with it this is this is the home school this is the public school side of the coin well we've mostly talked about but it's really the same issue with the insurance costs and and how do we how do we manage his plans and how do we pay for. So we're all in agreement that we've got to do something. We will because we're going to be good faith employers as it relates to our teachers and our state employees and we're going to offer this benefit we don't need them to have to be out there worrying about ever session the or ever for the school budget or session that they're gonna get a bump in their in their premiums I mean it's hard enough to to have it now is is that makes sense I mean as absolutely and a lot of the members as well as the governor worked very hard to increase minimum teacher salaries and increase that we would hate to raise those games through insurance increases but we are also in a very difficult place of the plans we've got some tough decisions to make. Thank you thank you both of you thank you thank you all right thank you Mr chairman. Thank you Richard Wilson. Of Senator Blake Johnson backed you. Is there anything that limits school districts whatever they're passing a millage or something like that dedicating towards teachers benefits a portion of that. No other other than being in a band pass by the local voters know. So they could cover that rather than their teachers. If if they chose to do that under under that the special election and and that they could raise the millage state and if they if they have enough foundation funding not if they don't have enough foundation funding that they feel to cover that then a millage is always and they could go ask the their local district to the passage of a operating millage to cover some of these costs yes thank you. All members any other questions Mister Rogers. Members we're going to take these two first items that of Mister Rogers covered and adopt the letter there's also and the section thirteen special language we're going to send that to a special language subcommittee so I need a motion to to adopt the first two atoms of the governor's letter number seventeen have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor say aye any opposed. Letter stands adopted members we're going to the House packet transaction you're recognized thank you Mr chairman in House packet H. in the upper right hand corner house bill ten seventy one. Department of transformation and Cher's Services Division of information systems is ready Mr two seventy one part translation have a motion and a motion and a second any discussion all in favor say aye opposed. As chairman on page six. On page six house bill ten eighty one health department. Eleven eighty one thank you the health department we have a motion we have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor say aye opposed. Transaction from thank you Mr chairman that takes us to page ten Senate bill two twenty Warner on the Senate package yes Sir. Senate up right hand corner on page ten. Senate bill two twenty one university of Arkansas Fayetteville this is the division of agriculture you have a division of Act of budget do I have a motion I have a motion and a second any discussion. All in favor say aye opposed. But if. Members of. We we still got some appropriations to get out. If members want to get out of here by around the twenty first. We're going to really motion stuff the next week if not. We may just be here to may. Of. Most folks don't but we gotta start Pushin I gave you that all right appreciate a good work we will be back in here Tuesday morning at eight thirty or adjourn.