ALC-Administrative Rules
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0:00
Thank you.
Thank you.
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Thank you.
members i see 10 o'clock i see a quorum we'll call this meeting to order thank you for being here i want to remind the public to make sure if you wish to comment any rules that you make your way to the comment section to sign up be specific on the rule in which you wish to comment and we'll be taking up that sheet momentarily so please make your way there to sign up as needed but to start off, if we could stand up, I'd love to recognize Representative Torres to open us up in prayer.
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
2:38
Honored to you. Thank you. Well, Heavenly Father, we're so grateful that your word says that the government will rest on your shoulders. And we're just grateful that each of us can do the same. And so, Lord, we thank you for this day and for this committee and for the members of this committee. And, Lord, we thank you that the rules and all the things that are necessary to help this government run effectively and efficiently for your glory and for our good will happen today. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you, Representative Torres. And thank you, members, for being here today and doing the work of the people. And to all the parents and families on the first few days of school, I hope it's going well. hope it's going well and uh wish you graces in that front as well so we'll begin we've called the meeting to order moving to item b on the agenda this is a report from the 2025 regular session and miss rebecca and our staff will be reading out on that report and we'll we'll ask
Speaker 11
3:40
questions on that so miss rebecca thank you mr chair rebecca miller rice with the bureau i'm just going to do a brief overview of the report but there is an introduction that has a little bit more information. In accord with Arkansas law this report was prepared and it identifies rulemaking that was specifically required by newly enacted laws from the 25th session. There's two categories of acts identified in the report. One are those clearly specifying required rulemaking and two those that reference rulemaking using what could be considered discretionary language
but also establishing a date certain for rulemaking, which could be construed to specifically require it. Each act has been further categorized by agency, and the sponsor has been identified. As you know, when a law does not provide a specific date for rulemaking, the final version of the rule from that session shall be filed with the Secretary of State on or before June 1st of the year following session, or June 1st, 2026. for any acts that did have a specific date established in the law that date has also
been indicated in the report thank you rebecca members any questions on the 2025 report seeing none i do need a motion to adopt um this rule or this report here a motion i need a second we've got a second as well all in favor say aye like likewise opposed no motion has passed all right members we are moving to c on the agenda this is a report from the executive committee concerning emergency rule
uh mr becca would you do we have details that's in the packet correct okay members that information is in your packet um and without objection that will be filed c and no objection that is filed members moving to d reports on the administrative directives um let's see here so members this is this is the department stand ready to answer any questions um if needed but really frankly this is
a report saying there's nothing to report um and so i'm not seeing any questions from members on on d then without objection these reports will be be filed all right members moving to e all right this is our rules and so we'll have each agency come up and present their rules so let's go down the list let's see first i'm seeing department transportation you're welcome to the table as you're making your
way up please hit your button so your
microphone is turned on and introduce yourselves for the record and you make begin. My name is Steve
Steve Knapper
Unverified
6:41
Knapper and I'm attorney for the State Aid Street Committee. My name is Steve
Speaker 19
6:47
Morgan I'm the Assistant State Aid Engineer with RDOT.
Steve Morgan
Unverified
6:49
Thank you. You're recognized please to present your role. The committee has
Speaker 19
7:03
voted to increase the funding for overlay projects the Street Committee from two hundred and three three hundred thousand dollars to four hundred thousand dollars and as well as our design projects increase that to five hundred thousand dollars per project we've had quite a bit of inflation the last couple of years and that's it okay thank
you members any questions all right
you got off easy seeing none without objection the report is uh filed all right thank
you the rule is reviewed and approved okay uh moving to number two on your agenda department of Commerce. You're welcome to this table. All right. Welcome to this table. You can hit your microphones and please
go down and introduce yourself and you can
Speaker 28
8:15
proceed. Good morning. Jennifer Emerson, Deputy Director, AEDC.
Jay Robertson
Unverified
8:18
Jake Windley, Director of Legislative Affairs, Department of
Speaker 31
8:22
Commerce. Becca Caldwell, Rural Services, AEDC. Clint
Jay Robertson
Unverified
8:25
O'Neill, Executive Director, AEDC. Welcome. Please present your rule. Thank you. Good morning, members. This rule amends the Community Assistance Grant Program in two ways. First, the maximum grant award has been increased from $50,000 to $1.5 million. Second, the list of eligible organizations has been expanded to include nonprofits in good standing with the Secretary of State.
the proposed rule is the permanent promulgation of an emergency rule that was in effect from April 5th to August 3rd that period was necessary for AEDC to set up its own internal review procedures intake processes and to begin receiving applications that we could process them in a timely manner public comment period for this rule ran from April 15th to May 15th and no comments were received from the public however based on the number of applications we have received I think it's safe to say the changes have received universal support have to take any
questions thank you for the presentation members any questions all right
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
9:20
I see representative ladyman thank you mr. chairman I'm over here actually I got a couple questions that's a pretty good increase from 50 to 1.5 million were there projects that you could not fund because of that limitation of fifty thousand dollars and how many and how long that been a problem good
Speaker 36
9:50
morning it was more for that grant program that we
didn't have the ability to fund nonprofit grant programs and we were limited with the amount that we had so we increased the cap to 1.5 because that 50,000 fit five yeah $50,000 was not nearly enough to cover some of the need that we saw with the initial output of
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
10:11
that grant program okay so one more question uh when you talk about non-profits uh can you give us an idea what the guidelines are there are a lot of non-profits out there so what what's the criteria for these non-profits to
be uh eligible for this funding they
Speaker 41
10:29
have to be in good standing with the secretary of state's office and um when they apply for this round the application asks for how they're going to use the money it's allowed to be used for programming and for any type of infrastructure needs and so we're we have a committee that is looking at those and making sure that they are the type of nonprofit that could actually undertake these projects as well as you know looking at the legitimacy of those
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
10:59
nonprofits so I mean are these limited to Arkansas nonprofits yes sir are there any other limitations other than arkansas folks there's there's not
Speaker 45
11:09
a limitation to apply no sir okay all right thank
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
11:21
you all right i'm seeing senator rice recognized thank you
mr chair uh can you give me some kind of background on what your uh program is that will spread this across the state hopefully sometimes
we see things that get a little bottled up around larger areas and realize that's where population is. Can you give me some assurance it's going to be spread across the state?
Speaker 41
11:46
That is our intention to make sure there is a good geographical spread for the distribution of any awards for this program. The application period just ended at the beginning of this month, and so we're still going through those applications to make sure that we have you know enough applications from
certain areas of the state to be able to do so but I
Speaker 50
12:10
am I'm fairly certain that that's not going to be an issue with this
Speaker 23
12:16
amount of applications we've received thank you thank you mr. chair senator Blake
Chair
Unverified
12:21
Johnson recognized so was the appropriation increased or just the amount we received an appropriation
Speaker 41
12:28
um what was it april i believe april or june i'm sorry i can't remember off the top of my head but
um we didn't have an appropriation to begin with for this program and so we received 15 million dollars this time
Speaker 54
12:45
okay is that one-time money or reoccurring we know it
all right thank you i think i have a question uh similar train of thought in one of reports or one of the conversations it was said that there would not be a fiscal impact with this program
i guess that's a that's saying that the total amount isn't potentially could
increase per grants but it's the draw of money the the bucket of money is not changing and that's where probably where the fiscal impact comes from can you talk to that a little bit
Jay Robertson
Unverified
13:22
yes um the total maximum amount that could be dispersed under this program hasn't changed we've just raised the cap on each individual award and that's to meet that some of the needs we were seeing and also to combat the effects of inflation increased cost of construction etc that we've been seeing thank you for that
clarity and then will you give a little bit of commentary on the way
the grants are reviewed and the process for applicants how that's decided upon absolutely We have
Speaker 62
13:51
an online application, so any applicant could go in and see how to apply
Speaker 41
13:57
and all of the rules and the necessary backup documentation they would apply online, and then they would receive a link that is specific to them where they can upload the backup documentation, like proof of being in good standing with the Secretary of State, any type of lease or deed or that type of documentation needed, proof of their matching dollars and all of
those type of backup documentation and then we have an internal committee that will review each one make sure that they've provided all of the necessary information and then we will gather for recommendation committee discussion and then send that to our executive director and secretary of
commerce for review thank you miss emerson members any other questions let's see representative
Representative Cindy Crawford
Unverified
14:46
crawford cindy crawford here thank you thank you mr chair so on this what is the um cutoff date
Speaker 62
14:54
for applying the deadline was august 1st this past august 1st
Speaker 41
15:00
it was open may 19th i believe or may 20th and um until august 1st so what
Representative Cindy Crawford
Unverified
15:05
you're doing is because so many have applied it to be able to help most you've asked for this increase then
Speaker 41
15:15
rule so we had the emergency rule in place prior to opening the application period and this is for to make the rule permanent for the change in the um 1.5 applicant yeah the 1.5 and the type of applicants
yes okay all right thanks all right thank you members seeing no further questions uh without objection the rule is reviewed and approved thank you for
being here today thank you all right next members we're going to e3 which is Department of Education you're welcome to join the
table all right please turn your microphone on and recognize and identify yourself for the record
Speaker 76
16:08
good morning courtney solace for department of education we have three rules on the
Speaker 79
16:14
agenda this morning the first one is our first connections program under part c of the individual individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This looks like a new rule, but is actually not. It was a rule formerly promulgated by DHS when the program was under them. Under Act 237, the LEARNS Act, early childhood was moved under the Department of Education. So they repealed the rule, and we are just
re-promulgating the rule under the Department of Education. And I'm happy to answer any questions on the specifics. Nothing in particular has changed, other again the the overall governance of the program thank you
members any questions on a miss sauls ford
the only question i have is uh staffing with this moving from department to department is ever what you feel
confident in the staffing and the team ready for that transition
Speaker 79
17:10
um yes so that actually happened in 23 i don't know the exact number i could get that for you But we did take a large number of staff from DHS that was transferred to us. And so they were familiar with the program and are continuing. But of course, we always continue to evaluate our needs and make adjustments
and changes as necessary. Wonderful. All right. I see representative in it recognized.
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
17:35
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hi, Ms. Ford. Good morning. I have a question about this program. How does this program track developmental progress for enrolled children?
Speaker 83
17:45
For rural children? Enrolled. Enrolled children. So Part C of IDEA governs students from children
Speaker 79
17:51
from birth to age three and so as students are taken to a daycare facility or a child care facility they will reach out to their local Part C providers and do the necessary evaluations you know provide them the therapies and supports that are needed through their child care facility center or sometimes at home they keep up with that information so that once the child turns three if they then go to
again a different provider or one of our educational co-ops then that support and therapy transitions to the new provider so it all that information is tracked and by moving it under the department that has enabled us to have a lot more continuity and a seamless transition when that child turns from age two to three thank you you're welcome all right members I'm
not seeing any other questions without objection this rule is reviewed and approved move to B thank you the
Speaker 79
18:53
public school rating system on annual school performance reports and the school recognition program otherwise more commonly known as our school letter grades so this is the rule that sets forth how we assign an a to f letter grade to our public schools there were changes required because of act 474 of 2025 regarding the indicators that we measure schools on this sets forth those changes how letter grades are calculated and then addresses
how performance dollars are awarded to schools based on their performance in achievement on assessments growth and career readiness and i'm happy to answer any questions thank
you i'm seeing And Majority Leader Blake Johnson, you recognized?
Chair
Unverified
19:39
Whenever I was reading through it, you know, those indicators, it said without limitation. Can you guys change that wheel, or will those come before us if you go beyond that list?
Speaker 76
19:54
So we do have some flexibility to make changes without changing the rule. If we wanted
Speaker 79
20:00
to add something entirely new and different, we would have to bring it back to you. We have, um, business rules that are published on our website and go into even further detail, um, for school districts to say, you know, there's a part in here that talks about, um, an automatic increase. Um, and so the numbers, this very specifics are in the business rule that is not promulgated before the legislature. Um, we would of course make school districts
aware of that and we make that public long before we implement it um
Chair
Unverified
20:39
some flexibility in the rule so if it's okay chair can i please um it says you know as hopefully these all the indicators increase and the scores go up that you can change them all the way up to So the 90 is actually 90 and 90 to 100, but I didn't see where it starts.
Is that going to be evaluated whenever you begin this program? Or, you know, whenever I was in school, 90 was a 90 and 100 was a 100. Yeah. And now then we got whatever this thing is that's less than. with the
Speaker 76
21:21
chair's permission can i ask our assistant commissioner hope worship to join me and she oversees our accountability system and knows all of the details and can certainly answer
that i think much better than i could on
the specifics absolutely you can come to the table and please
Chair
Unverified
21:44
identify yourself for the record as a matter of fact i never tried to make a 90 but i it was always available to me
that is aspiration good morning hope worship assistant commissioner public school accountability for the department of ed um so what we did we have been looking at the data so far to determine how many out of every school has the opportunity to earn up to 900 points
in our new system and when we looked across the board there were not any schools that were earning 90 of those points which is not uncommon um we we look at where are our students scoring now where do we aspirate aspirationally want them to score so that's why we put the part in there about an automatic increase that as we start seeing more schools earn more points we would prefer for a school getting a nine a letter grade to earn 90 percent of those 900 points it's just right now we're not not at that place with where our data
Speaker 54
22:38
is can you tell me where how close we are um
Chair
Unverified
22:42
Right now, to earn an A, you have to earn approximately 60% to 70% of the points. And what we looked at is where are our schools scoring? And the top 10% to 15% of schools are earning somewhere between 60% to 70% of the points right
Chair
Unverified
23:04
think that is the confusion, right, for people that a letter grade, because the law requires us to give a letter grade and there's a preconceived understanding
of a letter grade in school is earning a certain percentage of points that's why we went through we went through a very technical process with a national group to help us look at where is the data following where are the appropriate places to set cuts but I do think that is a disconnect that we have our committee when we worked with them express that like we need to be very clear to the public that earning a C letter grade means you are performing about at the other about where other schools in the state are performing which currently means you're earning
not 70 percent of the total 90 points at 900 points and yes that is a disconnect boy
Speaker 54
23:51
I could have made I've been a good student now thank you
Chair
Unverified
23:58
all right i see representative kavanaugh you recognized thank you
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
24:02
um does the diversity of the school's population weigh in on any of this is there any um weight on that in the scoring if there's
Chair
Unverified
24:12
no weight on that one of the major indicators in our formula is a growth model
and we are very careful to ensure that our growth model does not highly correlate with any particular demographic or socioeconomic so um that is one of the main reasons we have included that measure is so that it helps to balance out where we know we have high poverty high minority they are still able to show growth and show achievement um equally okay thank you all right members any other questions all right representative richardson you're recognized uh thank you mr chair and with a
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
24:53
little latitude i'd like to change the subject just mildly um i got a constituent call this morning on act 565 related to the 2025 session not to go into too many details but apparently a child was removed from the classroom based on that law and the parent had a lot of concerns around how that was implemented and i'm just wondering when the rules for 565 are going to be
Speaker 115
25:15
promulgated and provided to the school so they know how they're going to be handling that so that'll
be a 2025 law and feel free to to speak to that if you'd like to this morning
Speaker 76
25:28
can you remind me with what acts 565 is is that your law on the student and teacher
Speaker 116
25:33
protection mine 135 folks but yes that's you sponsored yes yes yes ma'am that is the one uh that uh is the teacher and student protection okay yeah we are working on
Speaker 76
25:44
um on guidance for that we actually don't have rulemaking authority um but we are working on guidance and and hope to have that out very soon for school districts because yes we've received a lot of questions um and we are
Speaker 79
25:59
trying to answer those but hope to have something in written form for
Speaker 33
26:03
districts very soon wonderful thank you very much
thank you members any other questions see none item b will be without objection the rules are reviewed and approved all right you
Speaker 79
26:18
can move to your last rule all right and finally we have the rules governing child sexual abuse and human trafficking prevention this was a section of act 237 of 23 the learns act that requires public school districts and charter schools to have human trafficking and child sexual abuse prevention
program that meets our academic standards for health and safety this is typically incorporated into many of our health classes in secondary or other just safety types of training. Sometimes it's incorporated into like a physical education course. It's up to the district how to incorporate that in there as long as they are meeting the standards. There's also a section in here that prohibits addressing sexually explicit materials including sexual reproduction, intercourse,
gender identity or sexual orientation before grade five and so we have put that in the rules and I'm happy to answer any questions thank you members you've heard the description
of the rule any questions seeing none without objection the rules reviewed and approved thank you for your help today thank you our members we're
moving to rule number four this is the Department of Military National Guard
thank you for being here today if you'll turn your microphones on and identify yourself for
Speaker 121
27:50
the record I'm Brigadier General retired Brad Cox I'm Chief of Staff for the Arkansas State Military Department I'm Brian Christian
Speaker 124
28:00
the Chief Legal Counsel for the Arkansas Department of the military major brian sherman i'm the current arkansas national guard education incentive
branch chief thank you gentlemen you are recognized
Speaker 123
28:13
to begin to present your role so we're here today to present an amendment to uh rule 6 car 530 which governs the arkansas national guard tuition waiver program this amendment is uh submitted directly in response to Acts 14 and Act 826 of 2025, recently enacted by the Arkansas General Assembly. The National Guard tuition waiver program provides a tuition waiver for eligible members
of the Arkansas Army and Air National Guard to attend state-supported and certain private institutions of higher education in Arkansas, as well as trade schools that offer post-secondary credentials and certificate programs tuition-free. This rule amendment reflects a significant expansion in both the types of educational programs that are covered and the scope of eligible institutions designed to increase recruiting, retention, and the professional development of our soldiers and airmen.
The public comments for the rule were open on June the 8th and lasted until July the 8th, and a public hearing was on June 17th, and I'm happy to answer
any questions. Thank you for the presentation of the rule. I want to start out and say thank you. This is a great rule. I love the opportunity to provide this benefit to the men and women who serve this great country and this great state. So I hope this is going to be well utilized and
give more opportunities for private school and career tech training.
So thank you for bringing this today. Members, any questions on this rule? Seeing none, thank you for the presentation. And without objection, the rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you. All right, members, we are moving now to item F. All right, this is updates concerning rulemaking from the 2023 regular session. A representative from each agency is here and stands ready to answer any questions that you may have concerning the status of outstanding rules.
those agencies are listed under item F of your agenda and along with each update provided to staff as of August 1st but does anybody have any questions concerning those we can call the agencies up if needed anybody have any questions all right seeing none we do thank the agencies for being here standing ready to present those out but I do want to mention that the agencies should begin turning in monthly written reports and updates on rulemaking from the 2025 session
by the first of each month by sending those to bureau staff with the first update due on October 1st and we'll have those for members starting in our October packet meeting packet so staff will be sending out additional information on on this to the agencies that's due October 1st from our agencies. All right, members, without any further business, I'm not seeing any light up. No questions, no concerns. Thank you for being here. Hope your kids are having a great first week of school. We are adjourned.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Report on the Acts of the 2025 Regular Session Specifically Requiring New Rulemaking
C. Report from the Executive Subcommittee Concerning an Emergency Rule
D. Reports on Administrative Directives Pursuant to Act 1258 of 2015, for Quarter Ending June 30, 2025 (Tawnie Rowell)
E. Rules Filed Pursuant to Arkansas Code § 10-3-309
F. Agency Updates on the Status of Outstanding Rulemaking from the 2023 Regular Session Pursuant to Act 595 of 20211
G. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Senator Tyler Dees Chair
Unverified
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
Speaker 11
Steve Knapper
Unverified
Speaker 19
Steve Morgan
Unverified
Speaker 28
Jay Robertson
Unverified
Speaker 31
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
Speaker 36
Speaker 41
Speaker 45
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
Speaker 50
Speaker 23
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 54
Speaker 62
Representative Cindy Crawford
Unverified
Speaker 68
Speaker 76
Speaker 79
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
Speaker 83
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
Speaker 115
Speaker 116
Speaker 33
Speaker 121
Speaker 124
Speaker 123