Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee - Senate and House

Thank you. Thank you.

okay if everybody can take their seats good afternoon everyone

if everybody will take their seats i will go

ahead and call the meeting to order welcome everyone to the senate and house committee on public health welfare and labor uh glad to have you all i know it's July. It's very hot outside, but we have business to do, and we're here to get started on that business for the interim. As we get started, we have some guests in the audience. We want to welcome you to the committee meeting. We have with us some law clerks, clerks with Mitchell Williams Law Firm, if you'll please stand. Thank you all for being here. We appreciate it. You can all stand thank you um some guests and then i think we have a few kiddos with us representative ray do you have a special guest oh wait she's going to she's

going to church camp this afternoon and she's just here with us until

that we have to leave for that

welcome charlotte all right anybody any other representative oh okay all right well thank you we're glad to have you charlotte hope you have a wonderful church camp and welcome to our guest um before we get started uh as i just want to call some attention obviously over the um weekend there was a horrible tragedy and um i know it hit all of us uh very hard we all have sent children to camp and we're doing so today so if you'll Please stand and join me in prayer. Representative Bentley, will you

lead us in prayer? Father, thank you for this

day and for this opportunity to come together. Thank you for our state and justice that we have now. We just want to take a moment and ask that your hands be around the times that lost the children, those that lost those only for the kids.

You wrap your arms around them as only you can, Father, We pray that you bring hope to the hopeless Father. Let them feel your love in this time. Lord, give us wisdom as we deal with things that are so important in the state of Arkansas.

We'd love you and we'd thank you for this day. Amen. Amen. Thank you. All right. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes from the previous two meetings? So moved. Second. All those in favor, say aye. And opposed. Ayes have it. The meeting minutes will be approved. All right. we will start with item c we do have interim study proposals um you see those on your list i'm going to invite anyone that wants to come and discuss their isp to come to the front and do so it's not completely necessary but what we plan to do for these isps i've spoken with representative wardlaw who cannot be here today because of an entry um so keep him in your prayers he's okay but um so but we'll we will assign these uh isps to subcommittees um some of these isps as you look through here um there's probably going to be some work that's going to be done through the interim on several of these issues you know some of these are i would say hold over issues that we didn't didn't get to a resolution on from the session and so you know I hope that these subcommittees will really meet and take their time and discuss these interim study proposals and try to get us you know moving down the road on any of these issues so we will send those out Ms. Steele will send those out to you if you're on that subcommittee and then if you're the ISP author, then you can schedule with that chair of that subcommittee as to when you want to have your meetings, if that's the way you want to proceed with it. So, and then the last note that I would say before we get started and while everybody is still here, we are having a meeting Wednesday at the Arkansas State Hospital. It'll be a tour, but you will have information that will be emailed to you if you're a member of public health it'll also be on the website as to where to meet and we will gavel in and then we will take the tour of the state hospital there's some work being done there Lori McDonald is here but I think her and Ms. Steele are going to get together and finalize that agenda so it'll be Wednesday at 2 p.m. all right so let's go ahead and move down item c number one Senator Boyd is anyone here on behalf of Senator Boyd okay Senator Payton has the next let's see two three um all right and then number seven Representative Gramlott is he here no okay um Representative Ladyman there you are hold on just one moment let me recognize okay whoops all right you're recognized thank you madam chairman well real

quick uh this isp uh this is a bill that i filed during the session and we didn't get around to running that it has to do with screening for type 1 diabetes for young children uh had a constituent who was found that they had this problem in an older age and it was much more difficult to treat so it's something that I think it needs a lot of study, what's the cost, what age group, and so forth. So that's why I

want to put an interim study. Okay. I'm not sure if that's listed. I would add primary care physicians as well, as well as pediatricians, just FII. Any questions from any members? All right. Seeing none, without objection, this ISP will be adopted. um number nine representative torres you're recognized yes ma'am thank you madam chair and members of the committee

um today i bring you a

proposal to conduct an interim study on a matter that impacts every community in arkansas the mental health and wellness of our first responders when when we hear the word public health and safety the first that should come to mind are our first responders and this is what this is about. I ran this bill late in session and wasn't able to get it off its tires and going so I'm going to present this as an interim study but it's the James McClaren Act is designed to build a framework of support, leadership and resiliency for those who run towards crisis when the rest of us are running away. Why is this study needed? First responders, law enforcement, firefighters, EMTs, 9-11 dispatchers, correctional officers face trauma daily. The toll is real and growing. We witnessed that this weekend in Kerrville, Texas. Rates of PTSD, burnout, depression, and even suicide are significantly higher among first responders compared to the general population. National research supports what we're seeing locally. 47% of U.S. officers screened positive for PTSD, 10 times the national average. 19% are in severe burnout, showing signs of emotional detachment and depersonalization. This leads to declining performance, increased mistakes, and growing threats to public safety. So let's see this as it really is. I mean, really, trauma is the job for these folks. And according to cops, the average American faces six to ten major traumas in a lifetime. The average police officer will experience 600 to 1,000 over a career. That is incomprehensible load of emotional injury. Left untreated, that trauma doesn't just go away. It accumulates and it breaks people. Yet many departments, especially in rural areas, lack access to trained mental health professionals or peer support resources. This study will examine current gaps in mental health and wellness support across the state, county, and local agencies. It will assess best practices from other states and evaluate the feasibility of statewide peer-to-peer support networks, standard resiliency training, mental health certification programs to the Department of Public Safety. We'll also identify barriers such as stigma funding and staffing and how to overcome them. So the long-term goal is to create a sustainable statewide system that offers leadership and resilient training, certified peer support specialists, mental wellness, education and resources, and regional access to trauma-informed services. So I ask for your support to move this forward with this interim study. Let's do the work now, gather the data, hear from those in the field, and be ready to pass informed, effective legislation in

the next regular session. okay thank you are there questions representative

richmond richardson thank you and uh representative torres i applaud what you're trying to do my question is we passed a bill very similar to this a couple of sessions ago uh that was for uh members or individuals that were impacted through a traumatic event that they had to go through this peer counseling and all of that it sounds like that's the same thing that you're trying to do now just opens it

up to more people other than just police officers and firefighters is that correct it it does yes sir representative the the thing the difference is is the counseling that we offered in the past legislation was post-traumatic right this is to prepare our people before during and after across the state of arkansas okay thank

you back okay any other questions from members of the committee seeing none okay well without objection we will adopt this ISP and both these ISPs will go to the health services subcommittees representative Bart Schultz is the chair on the house side and on the Senate side I can't remember whose health services Peyton is yeah health services okay all right is anybody else here for any of the other ISPs my the way I really like to handle these ISPs is I'd like to have the the member here to explain them and then if there's any controversial or whatever if members want to stop an ISP they have the ability to do that obviously you know these two I didn't hear any questions or objection so without objection we adopted these two so we'll just carry over these other ISPs to the next agenda meeting item not Wednesday but the next regular and then give those members opportunities to come and discuss and and ask for adoption any questions from members of the committee anybody okay all right any other so is there anybody have any want to present any of these others right now okay is there any other business to come before the committee no okay well then we are adjourned and we will see everybody on Wednesday hopefully thank you

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