Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee - Senate

For the record and also the lady coming with you. And you're recognized. Thank you so much hi. In the lives of this mess did you do you have the the. Do you have the microphone on this a little thinks it's green can go hoping it pushing it are pulling four would thank you hi. And the inspector general secretary for the department of inspector general and I have with me Jamie Harrelson who is our chief counsel. And we wanted to come to you to let you know about the Department tell you that the agencies within the department the divisions within the Department and the potential legislation that might be of interest that we are. Particularly involved in thank you so much to go on and be sure to. St I know several beyond because I think this is my sixth section in one form or another so I look forward to working with you this year. All right thank you please continue thank you for that. And the Department of inspector general we have the Medicaid inspector general's office. We have the. Fair housing commission which was an independent entity as well as Medicaid inspector general independent and the internal audit division within the department of finance and administration it now falls within our. Department and we are located in the tower building on the twelfth floor and we are all located together our whole department offices in the same place so it's nice for us to be able to all be together. Mmhm we are. Looking at a couple of pieces of legislation one time in particular has to do with the internal audit division. and there and I think this would probably not come to the. Public health committees but of course that. Have no way of knowing where they will get assigned. It will relate to the Authority of the internal audit division and the duties of the internal audit division which were previously they are currently laid out through an executive order and so what what we're doing is presenting legislation to codify to call all of that so there wouldn't be any questions going forward. And then the other piece of legislation as related to the. Particularly it was within the Medicaid inspector general's office and met in the Medicaid inspector general's Tion related to The enterprise fraud detection management system the lovingly called that the emphatic it was a system that has we have not purchased that are going out on and actually a purchase with we did open a bit a few years ago all or a request for proposals but due to the. And the new Medicaid system that came into play we needed to wait wait and hold on. Now that we are Department and we have additional entities within that we've also found the It will be beneficial for the state to see if we can expand. The enterprise fraud detection system outside of only Medicaid but to allow other pieces of information to come into the system so we would like to change the legislation change the statute that is on the books now that would potentially allow for that sharing across this state For data purposes. Anything else. Have any questions all right any questions from the committee. All right Cena thank you so very much for coming we so appreciated thank you I appreciate it look forward to working with the. All right ladies and gentleman look at your agenda and Of this is B. eighty five we're going to pass that over for some amendments later on probably back a week from today. then all right the Senator Wallace will go on turn it over the. That's his B. twenty one inch he has a against and the that is the Kaylee Clinton. And the it is from Nucor steel. And please identify. You're set for the record. Mr Clinton. Manager Dave Wallace. Kallikrein nine you're recognized. Mature members this bill is designed to. The professionals right what is the name slag a byproduct it's it's a product that we have used and still bills it's the left over after you make still it's what's left behind. It's been in use since the middle of the nineteenth century. In Mississippi County in Poinsett County all this is used for the foundation of our gravel roads. Because it's so expensive for us to get. Raval we can use this and it's a relatively inexpensive. I think the city county would sink into the reserve room wouldn't have our roads. With the. Cover with flag. In the knowledge of all this bill does is. We are officially calling slag a byproduct that's what we call it now we just want to codified will bring this bill because. In recent history there's at least one state. New York I believe they called swag a waste product. But they were dealing not with carbon sleigh but with another top of slag and how it Cali talk about that. we've had at least two other state of Alabama and Georgia have done the same thing if slaying was classified as a waste product it would cost over fifty million dollars a year The New court just to get it to the. our our county dump. It would remove a source that we all use I actually took this leg. For my parking lots where I keep my heavy equipment I have used it for many many years it's been around forever with those Mississippi County. At this time I like to give um I guess to Shenstone talk about it as well all right you're recognized thank you madam chair members of the committee as I said before my name is Kelly client on the environmental manager Nucor Yamato steel company in Blytheville Arkansas on behalf of our nearly two thousand Arkansas teammates would like to thank senator WALLACCE for introducing SB twenty one and I appreciate the opportunity to testify in support. Nucor corporation is the largest oil producer in Arkansas and the United States with more than twenty two billion in annual sales and more than twenty seven thousand teammates nationwide. We have three facilities in northeast Arkansas including a baby mail where I work the gore model still article still Arkansas sheet steel mill and skyline steel thank you for your model still is the largest structural steel mill on the western hemisphere the last couple years we've invested more than half a billion dollars and Nucor steel Arkansas to build a new cold mill and she galvanizing line in order to produce high strength steel products for our customers Nucor's presence as the primary reason why Mississippi County Arkansas is the number two still producing county in the United States. In addition of course also the largest recycler in Arkansas and North America. Only is still the strongest and most reliable building material available today is also the most sustainable today seventy one percent of steel a new car produces is made from recycled scrap. Melted in electric arc furnaces compared to other steel mills around the globe are males emit half of the CO two emissions in the energy intensity of our steelmaking process is about one quarter of the global average. Many of the steel products like re bar that we make for building America's infrastructure contain almost one hundred percent result recycled content and are one hundred percent recyclable at the end of their useful life. For example the brains we produce at Nucor Yamato steel are approximately ninety two percent recycled content. Still is not the only missed material we recycle Arkansas teammates also recycle swag and mill scale both of which are the focus of this pending legislation. Still like it's like it's been used commercially for more than one hundred fifty years is currently used in all industrialized countries wherever steel is produced beginning in the twentieth century many new uses for steel making slag were developed in a variety of industries and a slack as a wide variety of applications. The core steel mills produce steel by using electric arc furnace which heats and melts scrap metal line is injected as a flexing agent and the line combined with silicon oxides and ferrites deformed steel furnace like commonly called steel slag. Like formations important step in the process of producing in maintaining liquid spill chemistry and still quality slackers import from the pharmacy and in a multi state and after cooling it is further processed and ready for use as a product such as we see here. Millfield parties during the rolling process of sheet steel this compositions primarily iron and possess a simpler beneficial you straight to slack. Local meals in Arkansas produced almost one million tons of slag mail scale annually in addition to the new court a maid service job or supported by selecting mail scale production we also have about a hundred and fifty contractor teammates who are employed of and supported But the further processing and distribution of select. Right recycle products have been used for thirty years as aggregate regional road construction projects Bills commonly as a sub base for roadways the Federal Highway Administration and multiple state departments of transportation encourages encourages use an infrastructure projects because its flag has been found to provide excellent adhesion an asphalt and concrete. And the shape improve skid resistance and roll materials flag is highly stable when wet prevents the formation of life does not have problematic surface irregularities it's easily compacted. Not only is flag extremely versatile product it is also the environmentally responsible materials choice because lack of renewable mineral resources it reduces the consumption of natural resources by the construction industry. Recycling select also avoids disposal. Currently in Arkansas regulators considers like a beneficial use byproduct this legislation would simply codify that classification of slack and mail skill. And in light of beneficial uses for flagging Millfield it's long history as a beneficial used by product we believe this proposed legislation is appropriate it would bring certainty to our business while also removing unnecessary and burdensome administrative requirements and make constraints marketability. We're not previously requested this amendment to the solid waste definition because the longstanding treatment of slack mills kills the beneficial use by product. Your policies for slack or by the state of Arkansas are appropriate but they are also considered guidance. The course experience in other states is that guidance can and sometimes does change without notice. Our request is part of an industry effort to establish the status of slack and mail scale is beneficial products. Many state regulatory systems have substantial experience in the production and use of flags I've already recognize the value of steel slag other states have adopted similar legislation Senator Wallace said concluding Alabama Nebraska. The simple change will code of thirty years of beneficial uses slack and bill scale here in Arkansas providing our meals confidence that they can continue operating in the same manner for many years to come. Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support this bill I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. Right we've heard the testimony do have something else you wanna add senator. Just remind you again that this is a national. Material it degrades over time. We've used it in Arkansas for many many decades what we're asking is just to qualify. What we already have in writing. And that will prevent some agency or for some outside entity for coming in for five years now and try to claw that a waste product which is not M. and with that. Manager I'm closed all right any questions from the committee. All right single and what's the pleasure of skews me would anyone like to speak against the bill. When any one like to speak for the bill. And you said you would close for your bill so what's the pleasure of the Committee. Motion to pass second all those in favor say aye all those opposed congratulations you passed your bill thank you.