Insurance & Commerce- House

Representative you have a any witnesses yes please bring to them to the table and. Have them introduce themselves. Thank you Mr chair. I do have to witnesses here from Adam. AJ Geary the director and. A. J. Ingle. The CJ sorry seems. the nine eleven administrator so they'll be here to help answer questions about this bill okay you are recognized to present House Bill Levin fifty six. Okay House Bill Levin fifty six is the purpose of this bills relate to enhance the nine eleven system in Arkansas. When the nine eleven rule enhancement fund. was created there was not a single point of focus for the nine eleven Arkansas. Therefore the rule and has been fun I'm sorry the rule has to fund was created and placed under the Arkansas division of emergency management the recent creation of the nine eleven board I think this back in twenty nineteen which is currently working on the new generation of nine eleven. And the overall enhancement of the nine eleven system here in Arkansas Provides that single point of focus. So it's going to be more efficient. To place. Of. This rule has been fun under the the nine eleven board. And this would help ensure that there are no gaps and no duplication of the mission or it would be segregated into different groups for the nine eleven improvements so that's basically what this bill does it improves the efficiency of the nine eleven system by review rearranging some things. So I'd be happy to take any questions. Do your witnesses want to give any additional information before we start questions if you wanna make a summary okay please identify yourself for the record. Hi good morning AJ Gary the Director of the Arkansas division of emergency management and as as Representative said you know this is just moving back when this was created back quite a few years ago it was placed under the Arkansas division of emergency management to manage this fund and work on those the Smart nine one one pieces couple years ago with the passage of legislation that created the nine one one board that is looking at nine one one across the state of Arkansas we just think it would be be a patient that now that that nine one board is created to go ahead and move this fund over to that board so that they're looking at all of nine one one and all of the funding for the state of Arkansas this legislation doesn't change the distribution of those funds doesn't change how those funds are used it just moves it from Adam. Over to the nine one one board FOR management and oversight. Okay thank you chairman let me add one thing I did get one call about this bill from a local fire department rule bonder fire department and the they were concerned about their fees being increase and that's not gonna happen so there's no fee no fee changes on anything here. Okay right. Your other witness have anything to to add. Okay we'll let me start questioning it is there anything in this bill and of this is really just administrative but is there anything in here that deals with the concern that many of had that there seems to be an exorbitant fee on prepaid cell phones to to fund this the nine one one. No Sir no Sir this is this is although the finding that three million comes from the high cost fund over to the rule enhancement fund it is it is not part of any of the nine one phone fees are that was passed in the last legislative session this one's totally different okay does it do anything to also and I know your time at rural nine one one mostly correct and and I know. Maumelle as the last place that could be described as world but my mayor has been concerned about some of the and I and I don't remember the exact information that certain communities have been labeled as central call centers or. Something like that and that that Maumelle had been cut out of that do you do you know what I'm referring to hi I think it sounds like it's related to some of the discussions with consolidation of public service answering point nine right one centers around the state now this this has nothing to do with with that he said all this was three million dollars that was that comes from I could high cost fund two million of that is distributed out to the counties to help them pay for some nine one one centers part of it about six seven eight hundred twenty five thousand is used for the statewide Smart nine one one SmartPrepare system that's in all of the dispatch centers around the state and then the hundred and seventy five he really is for administrative costs and things of that nature to distribute that other funding so this bill is just moving that he's from Adam over to the nine one one board okay thank you Mr chairman Jonesborough is a nine one one center covers a huge area so you may be close to another nine one one center that may be the reason by mail that have right and I I think that that is what is happening Maumelle oh so close to North Little Rock in Little Rock that sprite being consolidated in their service C. jingle with executive director of the now on board as want to clarify that concern is if more than likely has to do with the consolidation efforts in the study that we're going through as the board to try to be more efficient with the centers that we do have an and potentially cut down to the number that were that were you know legislation has listed but just to clarify that there has not been any re classifications of centers whether they if they say no one calls are considered a public safety answering point there is not a. Lower level I mean we've got peace absolute got dispatch center center taking on one calls Maumelle still does they're still considered of a peace sap apart we just realistically what happened is I think in some the confusion is we've tried to get rid of well I there was a primary P. seven a secondary piece up secondary just don't answer calls directly from the consumer or the the constituent they get a transferred call we try to get rid of that language so maybe that has some to but you know there's no yes the the peak the peace sap references a ring rings with me that that was one of the concerns that the mayor had we have questions from several members represent of Evans you're recognized. Thank you Mr. Did you ever wants to answer the question how it how is the Arkansas nine one one board how's that established and it was through the at the. Active the twenty nineteen but how are currently the members of the board appointed and and who appoints those. Yes Sir so with ACT six sixty there are several different methods of appointments the governor makes for I believe appointments to the board the association of chiefs chiefs of police make the appointment of a police chief the president pro temp of the Senate makes a appointment of nine one one Speaker of the house makes an appointment Arkansas municipal league has a mayor appointee Arkansas association of counties makes a county judge appointee and then there are three positions such as director Gary's that are specifically and the access sixty that are appointed within the act. Thank you a Representative fielding you're recognized. Thank you Mr chairman add on this additional ministration of calls or they're gonna be additional employees that you will need to amend a service and if so where that money come from but this will come out of the three million. Yes Sir just just to clarify we're not changing how that money is is is distributed or or how the money is used so in the current legislation those administrative costs are for. Personnel that are a person that helped to administer that fund so all that because that this is currently there will be transferred just for madam to the nine one board so it's not changing any of those amounts it's not changing any additional personnel or anything of that nature so you all right I already have that person out and play yes weaker we currently have someone in that position now. In a position now without the three million without administration change already have someone in and now so this will be additional. No no Sir again work we're not changing that in the current legislation that's been in place since I believe two thousand twelve somewhere back be on there there has been a person in that. In that position for doing the administration of that he per roll in hand Smith Vaught so this is what we're doing doesn't change that it just moves that from one spot over to another the thank you Mr chairman thank you. Representative would not believe you have a question. Who who's in charge and are you all in charge Mr Kerry or are on the board who's who's calling the shots I think it's good good and it's been one of the problems division of authority and who's running the show. So so so currently the waves and and speaking just specifically on this legislation which I think is your your question on the role enhancement fund that person works for the Arkansas division of emergency management so works works under me when if if this is passed it just moves that over to the nine one one board and that position with the and you don't answer your to the board that specific position. Was what is the board do. So so the board is working and hello the C. J. time into the the board working a lot of a lot of different things one they distribute the money out to the public safety answering points animal CJ probably has some amounts there of of what they administer but it's I. You know it's in the millions of dollars but they administer that so there's they're sending that money out to the public safety answering points to the cities and counties that have the centers to help fund those are to fund those centers They also work on different training your requirements recommendations and so forth four nine one nine one one centers are are locally controlled locally managed helpers one in the city or county day manage that the board is just looking at how to what to distribute those funds as part of it and then they're looking at the entire on how do we get the entire state to the next Gen nine one one level so that wherever you're at in the State of Arkansas QB if you dial nine one one you're going to get a good level of service so that's what they are working on and that's what they've been tasked for under the previous legislation that was passed under the twenty nineteen yes Sir okay and again this is separate from that. So would you have any. Input control or. Say so in the operation as far as a nine one one four yes Sir under that legislation that was passed in two thousand nineteen one of the positions was the chairman of the nine one one board and in legislation the Director of the Arkansas division of emergency management is listed as the chair of the board so me personally because of my position I chair the board. thank you Mr chairman. Thank you very much. I do not see any more questions so represent Ladyman you are recognized to close for your bill. Okay of members any discussion. If not the I will recognize a motion see a motion of do pass from represented board. we have a motion to pass before the body all of those in favor of the do pass on this bill Giving give me the bill number eleven. Okay. Sorry gotta put my put my balls in here. As set fifty eight. House Bill Levin fifty six sorry for the delay all those in favor of the do pass recommendation on the old house bill eleven fifty six signify by saying aye. Any posts a known gene animus vote your bill is passed thank you Mr all right thank you. Representative Mayberry I believe is here to present her bill. And this is house bill twelve oh one and I see that you have several witnesses so when it comes time for them to to present their information if they would Let us know identify who they are for the record but represented Mayberry you are recognized now to present twelve oh one. Thank you well first of all members I I hopefully communicated to all of you if you have concerns about the bill let me know ahead of time and actually some of the response I got back is I just don't understand what it's doing and I get it it's may not be you know with easy to understand so let me first start out by saying what the telecommunications access program is first of all if you are deaf or hearing impaired or if you have some other type of disability you might have trouble communicating through the phone system that we have so we have a relay system and to give you an example my father in law is completely deaf and in his kitchen he has a phone or a device that's hooked up to his phone that allows him to make phone calls. And even though he has a cell phone that he can text to communicate to me or my husband making phone calls to the doctor's office or insurance companies or city government or whatever those are a little bit more difficult to make so he can speak even though is that he can speak he speaks into the phone and on the screen in front of him it says what the person is saying back it is typed out closed captioning if you will there are other services provided through the telecommunications access program as well that's just one example I wanted to explain to you what that is This bill does not affect anybody who is currently using the telecommunications access program what they've been using and how they've been using it stays exactly the same so there is no change to the services next question might be does this you know how is it funded well it's funded on our on our bills we we pay for the public through our our phone services that we have there is already a fee that's on there does this change that fee not at all it does not change the way the amount of money or anything it does not affects taxpayers in any way what this bill does do is behind the scenes government we want to make sure that we are being as efficient as possible and this eliminates some paper work and some frustrations that Arkansas rehab services has in administering the program and that's where I'm gonna let the fine details come forward and let these two great gentleman explain who they are and what this bill is going to do. Should he or. Okay let me see I'm I have to cancel out. Some folks okay members me just remind you that the system does feedback if we have more open Mike so as soon as you finish finished asking your question or speaking if you would turn your Mike off I've been told I have an override function here and I may have to you don't want me to have to use that I'm sure so you are recognized Warren there was a committee Joe Baxter on the Commissioner for rehab services and Charles life in our general counsel and have them just go over the changes to the to the ability of. Thank you more to members of the committee thank you Representative Mayberry Miller Mr also live freedom general counsel for Arkansas rehab Services which operates a number of programs for people with disabilities one of them is the telecommunications access program as represented Mayberry said so this bill makes three administrative changes and I'll go through those and turned the first is just a an update to the the language that refers to people one of the the disabilities that would make you eligible for this program is being deaf or hard of hearing so we we change that language from hearing impaired to death for or hard of hearing so that's just a simple language update the second thing the bill does is import the definition from a current Arkansas Code it's section twelve ten three oh three four prepaid wireless telecommunication services that significant to this program because the the prepaid cell phone carriers are exempt from the surcharge that funds the program sit so the bill here simply moves the language from another section of the code to to this section which is twenty three seventeen one nineteen to make it more clear for the for the reader. And then the third thing the the Bill does and are the proposed section D. one is clarify for agency staff is that they represent a Mayberry said when we need to approach the public service commission to pause collection of this surcharge the the companies that pay the surcharge or wireless carriers as well as landline carriers with the exemption for prepaid wireless and under the the current law it's a bit ambiguous as to when our staff need to recognize that too much income from those surcharges built up before then petitioning the the PSE to pause that surcharge which it as you would imagine is of an administrative process that involves some paperwork of course notice has to go out to the to the payers of the the surcharge for any objections and then once a certain amount of that revenue spent down we have to then go back to the PSE to turn the surcharge back on so this bill makes that process a lot simpler it explains that the the balancing act we would do is determine the prior years revenues for the program from the surcharge determine the expenses in that year and if we're ever spending one third or less of those revenues the the Bill talks about three times expenses three times revenues are more if if that expense level ever dips below where it should be at that point we would go to the PSC and ask them to turn off the surcharge into we had spent down half of that amount so that the the the process is the same largely in current of law but but the language in this bill is is more clear for agency staff as we make that calculation so with that thank you for your consideration and we can take any questions you might have. First question would be from represent of Murdock. Thank you sure good morning represent me better of so a couple questions just clarity really tries to understand the bill so in number two you're saying the pre what we will go over the prepay again what number two is that yes Sir and thank you for the question the the prepaid currently in the and the law says prepaid wireless telephone service in another section of the Arkansas Code twelve dash ten dash three oh three that phrase has been updated to say prepaid wireless telecommunications service and then as described in the way that's underlined under a two here so we're simply moving that definition so you don't have to look to places in the code into this section of the law so that public ability of the prepaid. users is that they all will okay right now says pre prepay would not pay that surcharge because they prepay that's correct so now by moving it to this section do they be. Is that still has me talk to me about. Yes the the effect of that exemption is exactly the same we were simply using the updated definition from that other section of the code and this section but prepaid is still exempt from the surcharge yes okay now and follows a chair at the so the surcharge goes to who. Well it's it is a surcharge that's paid by the the landline carriers and certain so carriers not prepaid to the FNA which is then bundled up and then paid as special revenue into our program so it goes to death and I two Arkansas rehab. But ultimately S. as the commission said from the the carriers to death in a and then a special revenue to our agency. Okay. The last thing on Shepherd is so that third parties there is a appointed you reach what you're going to P. S. C. about us stopping a surcharge so the address that so if the if the the program revenue from the prior fiscal year is one third or less of our expenses over not spending enough money in order to provide the services to the public by way of equipment purchases and things like that then we we would have in excess of program income and so at that point we we would go to the PS the to put a pause on the surcharge into we'd spent down half of what we have in the bank accounts of the state okay thank you. Thank you represent flowers you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chair thank you just answered it when I'm upon reading the language change it looks like that was already a part of the law and then it stricken and there's some different language using a petition so can you elaborate on that just a little bit. Good. The yes ma'am so the the current code talks about a three year average and and that has been unclear from time to time to our staff and so what we want to do is just set it out step by step as clearly as possible rather than relying on averages and as you can see that there are few ways you calculate that we we just want to know revenue from the prior year expenses from the prior year and the month by those expenses by three and those are out of balance then we go to the public service commission that makes sense thank you so much okay. Thank you. Members any other questions. Seeing none represent a Mayberry. You are of welcome to close for your bill. Your closed okay. I see Hans but does that mean discussion or motion okay is there are there any members that would like to discuss this bill. Okay C. represent of flowers make motion of do pass that correct we have a motion of do pass a before is on each bill H. B. twelve a one. All those in favor of H. B. twelve a one signify by saying aye. Any opposed say no. And there are no knows your bill is passed. Congratulations thank you very much for being here. Members as as I said earlier Representative or maybe I did not. In my head as set it I don't think I said it out loud Representative Vence bill has been placed on deferred she is currently working with the stake holders are working with the realtors to see if there can be some compromise language so anticipate I know you've got a lot of uh a number of emails on that I'm glad someone else's bills generate emails as well. I I know it's not close it's not close it's not even a close second I know that the. so so we have but no further Bills I will tell you that I have filed a number of bills for the insurance department most of those are non controversial bills it typically of their omnibus bills I'm not going to play its place among consent agenda they would just be regular agenda but our business is going to start picking up but at this point I still feel like that we can at least for next week just meet on Wednesday and then we'll take a look at the referred list to see how many bills we have to take up and we may the week after next have to add in the Monday meeting so we be meeting Mondays and Wednesdays Representative Alan. Figure out when the when are we going to take the pictures okay I'm going to work with staff to see if we can get that scheduled for next Wednesday. And I will get notice out to you of where we would be meeting for that and whether it would be Previous to nine thirty or whether we would just meet at nine thirty I and I know some of you are usually coming from joint budget so that delays you a bit so we probably won't do it early I don't think our agenda is going to the beach be a problem with us delaying so we will meet in the. Wherever the location is nine thirty but that's that is the plan is to have pictures done next Wednesday. Any other questions or announcements.