Legislative Joint Auditing-State Agencies
Video
Transcript
1 document
Machine transcript
May contain errors. Verify important quotations against the official video.
About transcript accuracy
- Source
- SliQ live captions
- Model
- SliQ live ASR
- Processing date
- October 2, 2026
Senator Matt McKee
Unverified
0:10
motion by Representative Brown seconded by Representative Brown in discussion all those in favor of the motion say aye pose same sign thank you very much. now we need a motion to adopt the minutes we need a motion to adopt the minutes Senatorcaldwell, Representative Brown all those in favor of the motion say aye opposed same sign motion is adopted. OK Mrs Sanders is going to give us a readout of some reports
Speaker 3
0:43
thank you Mr Chair. Today we are presenting two reports with findings. how we also have6 reports
Speaker 5
0:48
without findings and these are listed on page one of the audit summarycluded in these is the ruralervices block grant disbursement report for fiscal year 25 that was provided by the Department of Commerce in accordance with special language in their appropriation act. if there's no discussion on those reports we'll consider them reviewed
Senator Matt McKee
Unverified
1:13
hearing none we'll move on to the
Speaker 5
1:21
reports with findings the first report with findings is the department of inspector general the fiscal year 24 report which contains one finding DFA'sinancial manage guide states that agencies may not employ contract labor for a period longer than6 consecutive weeks or 240 hours per calendar quarter If help is needed more often, the agency must request additional positions and employ full-time or extra help
personnel to be paid in accordance with Arkansas code. we determined the tax appeals commission, a division of the department of inspector General used contract labor from March 23 to October 23 to assist in processing income tax appeals all payments to the vendor were made in fiscal year 2024. ALA I identified two individuals who exceeded the maximum hours for the quarter ending June30,23.
and two individuals who exceeded the maximum hours for the quarter ending June30,23 or September3023. total payments of almost $19,000 were made for 851 hours over the maximum allowed per quarter This concludes the finding in agency representatives are here. are there any questions from
Senator Matt McKee
Unverified
2:35
the committee for the agency representatives seeing none the the staffing
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
2:47
correct OK can we get some members from the agency staff may can answer this just to be so I just want to make sure I'm I understand this this totally so whenever we say are we talking about like total for the agency that they can't exceed 240 or they just can't exceed 240 per employee per employee yes it's per employee so they could have actually our our per contract labor I guess so they could have actually the way the law was written
could have taken on additional people and then not been in that have been in compliance in other words OK, fair enough OK, well it and the thing is is I just I guess I'm doing this maybe for for legislation in the future if it's that way you know it may be I don't know but then it also looks like a cordon on page two that they could ask DF andA for special permission to use those hours
the only thing I would say there and again maybe for the next legislative session I don't know if we need to look at that. I don't know if that'd be a conflict of interest or whatever too because most of the appeals that are going to go through those commission are going to be something that DFfa's done. so I don't know if that's just something that we need to look at for the next session. I know that you all sometimes bring legislation or have in the in the past years that might be something that we could look at just to make sure that we don't need to shine
that up on both sides of that maybe the the total number and then also again I don't know ifdFNA's the right person to request permission for on to use stuff like that or not since more than likely they're going to be on the other side of the case like
that so just to more of a comment Mr chairir's thanks sir OK. if there's no
Senator Matt McKee
Unverified
4:44
other discussion on that report, no objection to that report will be reviewed
Speaker 7
4:53
the last report with findings is the military department's fiscal year 24 report which contains one finding the military department reported
Speaker 5
5:03
to us that during calendar year 2024, the department discovered that payroll disbursements for soldiers on state active duty were deposited into the wrong accounts which resulted in overpayments and underpayments for May and June missions. Further review revealed that a spreadsheet detailing soldiers' time which was submitted by the department to the Arkansas Department of Transformation and
sharered Services officefice ofersonnel Management for entry into AIS was not electron ically locked for editing and was inadvertently changed as a result, payroll deposits were made to the wrong accounts and correcting the error resulted in about 22,000 in overpayments the department has recovered almost 8000 through repayment options and about 13,000 was sent for tax set off of which soldiers were notified in December of 24. The remaining
little less than $1000 could not be recovered through tax set off due to the soldier living in another state.ccording to the department officials, this amount will not be recovered. This concludes the finding agency representatives are here Representative Brown, you have a question for
Senator Matt McKee
Unverified
6:08
the agency or for staff? you're recognized what is set off it's where their tax returns that that
Speaker 5
6:21
like if they were to get a refund of a certain amount then it'll be said the tax
refund will be reduced by the amount that they owe for the overpayment any
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
6:33
other questions Senator hickey? maybe just one so and and again I I appreciate them you know trying to correct it and everything but on the 927 is that is that soldier not still active he's living
Senator Matt McKee
Unverified
6:47
in another state you guys want to come on up and if you'd identify yourself for the record and then senator hickey can direct
his questions towards you right and I don't I don't want to make
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
7:01
a make a big deal out of this this is not but they live in another state or whatever but he he's active and receiving Arkansas dollars through us through the state
Speaker 33
7:15
of Arkansas no sir. OK. So Brad Cox chief of staff for the
Speaker 36
7:20
department of the military and then brigadierbrigadier general Jeff Wood, the deputy
Speaker 33
7:24
agent general. so the when soldiers are in training they're paid through
DfaT not through the state of Arkansas so the only way we can direct recoup is to bring them on state active duty again where they will accrue state income which we could then take right away from I I assume you're kind of referencing Uncle Sam always gets theirs on this particular one I guess there will be a
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
7:49
node or something denoted in the file or on the screen somewhere that there may have been some money lost on this particular one. I
Speaker 39
7:59
think the wording on it senators is is is probably a little bit needs a little bit more explanation that just means we can't do a tax setoff on him. his leadership is going to bring him in. he's already been counseled to pay it and so we're gonna engage it from a chain of command perspective to direct the the soldier every time he comes in for drill he's gonna get a reminder that he owes that money until we get it. I love the way y'all operate. thank you
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
8:19
sir. OK any other question uhpresentative Brown thank you'm just curious if they're paid through deepass how
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
8:31
it's how it'sad impacting us or the state of Arkansas so when
Speaker 33
8:34
we bring soldiers on state active duty in response to a call from the governor the state of Arkansas pays them for that duty not the federal government but the only time the state of Arkansas pays our soldiers is when we're in an emergency
Speaker 43
8:50
response but I'm confused if Dfa paid them how how is that impacting our state No,
Speaker 44
8:56
DA won't collect the state debt so they get paid for drills
and annual training through DFfaed federal funds but the federal government Dfa will not collect a state debt OK I'm still confused and I don't want to belabor the point but
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
9:13
it's deepass is paying them how does that affect the state of Arkansas because Arkansas is not paying them when they're brought on to stay active
Speaker 39
9:22
duty representative they're they're basically state employees they get an AIS number they get ae's number so they are state employee they're paid just like
any other state employee so they were they were paid through the the state of Arkansas so that's where the that's where the debt is and that's why we can't collect it through their drill checks they're gonna have to pay us direct ly . does that make sense? they're state employees win their on active duty on state active
Senator Matt McKee
Unverified
9:48
duty yes when they're responding to an emergency their employees of the state of Arkansas the rest of the time they're paid by defense does that make sense ? Well I hear that but it's not it's not adding up but I'll talk
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
10:01
to you later about it it's just makes I mean it my husband was active duty. he got paid through defense these people are guard so how's their paycheck coming through DA? I mean I guess I guess they were active so they were like that
section 10 or whatever they were on active duty so they weren on
Speaker 50
10:25
a state status think. He'll explain it to me thank you thank you
Senator Matt McKee
Unverified
10:32
thank you are there any other questions from committee
Speaker 52
10:37
semantics it's magic magic all right seeing no
Senator Matt McKee
Unverified
10:41
other questions if there's no objection we will consider that report reviewed thank you gentlemen our next business our next meeting will be held October 9 . Is there any other business before the committee seeing none we are adjourned
Agenda
A. Call to order by Chairman.
B. Adoption of minutes of the July 10, 2025 meeting.
C. Review of reports. (Refer to the Summary)
D. New Business. The next meeting will be held October 9, 2025
E. Adjournment.
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — LEGISLATIVE JOINT AUDITING - STATE AGENCIES, Sep 11, 2025 | Agenda | 2 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Senator Matt McKee
Unverified
Speaker 3
Speaker 5
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
Speaker 7
Speaker 33
Speaker 36
Speaker 39
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
Speaker 43
Speaker 44
Speaker 50
Speaker 52