ALC-Administrative Rules
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0:00
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Subcommittee will come to order. to Administrative Rules Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council.
Does the co-chair have any comments? Thank you,
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
3:06
Mr. Chair. I think we're all recovering from the hogs last night. Hope we can gather together to work for the people today as we recover in mourning today. Before we get
started, Representative Steele, I believe you wanted to make a comment. You're recognized. Hold on just a sec. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Representative Tracy Steele
Unverified
3:58
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. It was like we saw that game before, but thank you. So glad to see all of my committee members and I know you're here doing the people's work. I just want to just make an announcement and remind you that today is a federal holiday, a very special day in our country. It's Juneteenth Day. It's being celebrated all over the country. A lot of school districts are closed. I commend everybody for showing up to do the people's work this morning.
It's the day that we commemorate the freedom of slavery back in the night in the 1800s. So just wanted to make that announcement, and thank you for your indulgence, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Representative. Before we get started, I just want to remind all those that wish to comment on a rule to go ahead and sign in. and I believe the sign-in sheet should be outside the front doors to the committee room. Be sure to specify the rule on which you wish to comment, and we will be taking up those sign-up sheets momentarily.
We're going to move to the agenda. The first item we have are rules filed pursuant to Arkansas Code 103309, and we'll begin with the Department of Agriculture.
if you would you can go ahead and introduce yourself and provide comment on the proposed
Cory Seeds
Unverified
5:39
rule yes sir thank you my name is cory seeds i'm with the arkansas department of agriculture and we are present today with regards to a rule on liquid animal waste management systems act 824 of 2023 provided that the department of agriculture in consultation with the division of environmental quality has authority over all liquid animal waste management systems in the state including issuance of permits for those systems in accordance with the act the department drafted this rule it covers the permitting process which provides for department approval
of the design and construction of liquid animal waste management systems nutrient management plans and the required reporting and record keeping of those operating such systems the public comment period read from august the 3rd through september the 16th of 2024 and the department held a public hearing on the rule in august the 26th
2024 are there any questions from members
seeing no questions i believe there's no one no one has signed
up to speak on the rule then without objection this rule is reviewed and approved
thank you sir next item department of commerce state insurance department If you would introduce
yourself to the committee and then it looks like we have two rules.
Speaker 33
7:32
we'll take them up one at a time. Amanda Gibson,
Speaker 34
7:41
Arkansas Insurance Department for Rule 20. Sarah Farris, General Counsel, Arkansas
Speaker 35
7:46
Insurance Department for Rule 12. Jimmy Harris, Deputy Commissioner, Market Regulation for
Rule 12. All right, if you will proceed with
Speaker 32
7:57
the presentation of Rule 20. Good morning, members of the committee. The department is proposing Rule
Speaker 33
8:02
20, which is automatic and expedited licensure for military service members, veterans, and their spouses.
Arkansas Code 174101 at SEC requires occupational licensing entities to adopt rules requiring automatic licensure and expedited initial licensure for military service members, veterans, and spouses. The rule sets out two processes. One is for automatic licensure of those who are already licensed in another state. The other is for expedited initial licensure of those who are not already licensed, and I will be happy to answer any questions.
Speaker 39
8:41
Are there any questions from the members? Seeing
none. I get nobody has signed up to comment. Seeing no questions. Without objection, this rule is reviewed and approved. We'll move
Speaker 41
9:01
to Rule 12. Thank you. Rule 12 concerns credit life and credit disability insurance. We are repealing the requirement that industry submit affidavits on an annual basis.
The affidavits are no longer necessary and are overly burdensome to industry. Then we're doing just a little cleanup, so I'm happy to take
any questions. Any questions from the members? Seeing
none, no one has signed up to comment. then without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you thank you for being here today we'll move to item three department of corrections
board of corrections you recognize to introduce yourself and present the rule good morning tawny rowell chief legal
Speaker 49
9:57
counsel for the department of corrections what you have in front of you is the department of corrections rule on earned release credits this was required under the protect arkansas act and it's the permanent promulgation of the emergency rule that was adopted on March 7th. So we are trying to get this in a little bit under the wire. I think the important thing to note on this rule is that we are starting with the presumption that an offender is going
to start 100% of their sentence. So prior to the Protect Arkansas Act, an offender would be automatically eligible for release consideration after they'd served 33% to 70% of their sentence without earning a single day of good time or participating in a single program. The Protect Arkansas Act made it very clear that that was not an acceptable way to conduct business anymore. So what we were left to do was figure out exactly how to weight good behavior and participation
in rehabilitative activities. That's what this rule does. it's kind of hairy math in a couple of the places but what we do have at the very end is a requirement that the secretary publish a manual and then also that we break down for each inmate the ability to earn their way out in a one page document so that it's simple for them to understand and I can answer any questions. Any questions from the members?
Senator Love. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
11:42
just a little curious about you said you're gonna break out a one-pager for the inmate to better understand yes senator so
Speaker 49
11:53
just so that the inmate understands what their case plan looks like what programs and type programs they need to take to earn that rehabilitative activity credit and exactly how many days they'll earn for each of those one of the things we did just to make certain that the incentives were there was we weight the program credits based on
the number, the length of their sentence, the number of programs that they need based on their validated risk assessment, and, you know, the total number they need and how long that program is. A program that's a six-week program should get more credit than a program that's a two-week program, and, you know, similarly, they should earn more credit based on, you know, the number of programs they participate versus how many they need, so. Okay, all right, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. senator
Senator Justin Boyd
Unverified
12:46
boyd thank you mr just uh any insight as to how much more backup this is going to cause in
Speaker 49
12:52
county jails so with the projections that we did for the protect arkansas act i don't have those in front of me the sentencing commission did those in 2023 it looked like about 1400 beds once it reached full implementation in 10 years um you know those things are really difficult to project because what we first have to see is whether sentences are going to go down as a result of the inmate having to serve more of their sentence and we really haven't seen a lot of offenders sentenced under the new rule. Parole eligibility laws are based on the date the offense
is committed and we just haven't seen very many people get a sentence for an offense that was committed after 1-125 which is when this portion went into effect. The other thing is that we have to then get them where they would have already been released to start seeing that stacking effect um but i am hopeful that we will have capacity added before we start seeing any meaningful impact and it won't injure our county jails in any way so any other questions for members
seeing none there's no no one signed up for public comment without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you moving to
item five department of energy and environment division of environmental quality okay I skip four we'll
take up five and then we'll go back to four unless you are you number four are y'all
number four okay it's item five on
our agenda rule number six and then we'll go back to item four after we wrap this up
if you would introduce yourself and
Speaker 65
14:52
then you may present rule six Bailey Taylor chief
Speaker 66
14:56
administrator of Environment and DEQ director Michael McAllister attorney E&E basal hex attorney for Annie so this rule six rule for the state administration of the
national pollution discharge elimination system that's a federal permitting program under the Clean Water Act authority to implement that program was delegated to the state. Rule six is our state rule for implementation of that program. These revisions are to adopt some changes in the
Speaker 70
15:35
federal law regarding that program, as well as to
Speaker 66
15:39
incorporate statutory revisions made by the Arkansas General Assembly, including the move
discharge or waste management permits that were addressed earlier over to Department of Ag under what used to be Rule 5 and also to make
Speaker 70
15:56
some corrections and formatting updates throughout the rule. So I have
Speaker 66
16:02
Director Taylor here to answer detailed questions about the program and Mr. Hicks also who has been deeply involved in this if there's any questions. Any questions from the members?
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
16:22
Co-Chair is recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a quick clarification. This is federal law that's being implemented here in our state. Would you say that this is the same setup as other states? Is there any differences between Arkansas and some
of our neighboring states or how would you describe that if it's a federal law being implemented
Chair
Unverified
16:45
in our state certainly so the state has the we're required if we want to continue to use this delegation to be
as stringent as the federal states can choose to be more stringent in arkansas's case we do not make that in many cases in some cases this rule just provides more clarification on what we mean when we're going to implement certain federal requirements any other questions
seeing none no one has signed up to speak on the rule
without objection this rule is reviewed and approved
Speaker 66
17:23
we'll move to rule number two thank you rule number two is the state rule for water quality in the state of Arkansas. With this revision of Rule 2, we seek to codify the rule as part of the Code of Arkansas rules.
The Clean Water Act requires that this rule be reviewed every three years, so this is part of the standard triennial review. Where we look at the data, we continue to collect and make adjustments to water quality rules as that data indicates. This will also make some stylistic changes conformant to the Code of Arkansas rules. And, again, if you have detailed questions, the director and Mr. Hicks can help address those.
Thank you. Representative Ladyman, you're recognized for
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
18:36
a question. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm over here. Just a quick question, I think, but does this expand any coverage to new entities with this Clean Water Act, or does it just change us to
Chair
Unverified
18:54
current people that are covered? It would apply to any facility that would come online and seek application. so it would apply for future plants and then it applies to existing plants however they would not
be required to implement these changes until their permit renewal they may be offered a compliance schedule as well but it doesn't
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
19:17
go into other areas like agriculture no sir our purview
Chair
Unverified
19:21
remains the same but which would be wastewater discharge point source discharge that sort of things so if a new plant came online yes it would okay all right thank you senator Irvin
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
19:32
you're recognized for a question thank you mr. chair hi good
morning a couple of different questions as it relates to page 14 of what you've put into the explanation of this ad threatened and endangered species names to existing ecologically sensitive waterways waters specifically which what is being added these would be the list
Chair
Unverified
20:13
response to a game and fish comment and so if there were species identified in these water bodies that needed to be added to the rule it it's just including it into the rule we would still be required to be protective of those species had they been identified we're just going ahead and putting it in the rule here so um species native to that water body that game and fish had commented on
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
20:42
okay so so specifically okay because what concerns me is
I know that federally we had a list of endangered species that were certain plants and small fish that creates an incredible nightmare for, you know, if you had to replace a bridge. This happened up in northwest Arkansas, and it's a huge amount of money for remediation as it relates to these quote-unquote endangered species, which are grasses and things like that. So I really want to know specifically what the – and how they derived this list.
Was it a federal designation? Was it from data? And I want to know why we're adding that because on the backside, that could cause a lot of problems for development, economic development from cities, counties, businesses, things like that. Okay. i i think the
Speaker 69
21:38
addition here is mostly to give everybody notice that those are the species that have already been identified so that if they're looking at those waters and they're going to do an activity although usually that the corps of engineers and u.s fish and wildlife implement
that this gives them notice that they can find those in our rules when they're looking at it it's as far as our implementation we would look at the water quality standards and that would got our permitting it wouldn't be any different just because these species are listed necessarily okay and there are
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
22:16
no grasses okay well I mean I know the yellow cheek darter was one of them so I don't I mean but that was again a federal under the Obama administration so I just I just
wanted to know what that was was and then that one last question is it says remove exception of no fishable swimmable uses from three water bodies do you know what three water
Speaker 88
22:55
bodies are those that's Coffee Creek it's the water body just Coffee Creek yes is it
Is it multiple segments of Coffee Creek? And cross it? Yes.
Speaker 88
23:11
Yes. Okay. So that is kind of a relic of an historic method that they, for their treatment
Chair
Unverified
23:18
process. And so Coffee Creek is actually a creek, and it is swimmable and fishable. And so we're just putting that. So you're just removing that designation? Okay. Yes. All right. Thank you. Thank you.
any other questions seeing none don't believe we have any one signed up to comment therefore without
objection this rule is reviewed and approved members will go back to item 4
department of education division of elementary and secondary education Good
Speaker 97
24:19
morning, Courtney Salas-Ford, Department of Education.
Speaker 98
24:21
so we are asking approval of our special education rules particularly section 18 that governs residential placement and juvenile detention centers these rules were amended to incorporate changes from act 572 of 2023 they were put out for public comment in from december through january held a public comment hearing in january no public comments were received and so we are just asking for final approval any
questions for members seeing none no one
has signed up to speak without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you members we're going to move back now to item six on page two department of health state board of health may introduce yourself to the committee and then
begin with the presentation related to the list of controlled substances thank you mr. chair
Speaker 103
25:38
members of the committee i'm laura shu i'm chief legal counsel for
Speaker 104
25:43
the department of health shane david branch chief health systems licensing
Speaker 103
25:48
and certification for the department of health we're here today to present two rules the first being the list of controlled substances we have authority to publish the list annually we're on about a six month rotation at this point adding and deleting substances of concern we had a public hearing
on this list and we had one public comment which we believe is a point well taken. There is pending litigation regarding some of these substances so we're in the awkward position of trying to add substances that are of concern and we appreciate the public comment but there is pending litigation that affects the certain substances at issue and we're obviously looking at that at the next rendition of the list
of controlled substances. This rule has no financial impact and we're happy to take any
questions. Any questions from members? Senator Irvin, you're recognized for
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
26:51
a question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So as it relates to litigation, we're moving forward with placing this in the rule. Is that correct? The public
Speaker 103
27:01
comment was talking about particular substances that are at issue in the litigation,
and so we're in the awkward position of having to wait as certain substances are enjoined from enforcement at this point. Okay, so it's enjoined, so they're not included. Correct, but they're on our radar. We just wanted to make sure that the legislature understood that we're looking at Act 629 of 2023 and then obviously the new Act 934 of 2025, And we're we're always working towards the constant updates to make sure that these substances are added as soon as we can. Okay, thank you
Any other questions from members Seeing none no one is signed up without objection this rule is reviewed and approved you may present Six B rules for controlled substances.
Speaker 103
27:56
Thank you. Mr. Chair These are the rules that deal with controlled substances, primarily disposal processes. The amendments are updating some of the portions of the rules dealing with DEA registered facilities. We had a public comment period and received no public comments, and this has no financial impact.
And we're happy to take any questions. Any questions from members? Seeing none, no one has signed up. Without
objection, this rule is reviewed and approved. Moving to item seven, Department of Human Services, Division of Children and Family Services.
May introduce yourself and then present the rule.
Speaker 108
28:53
Good morning. I'm Amber Sartain. i'm an assistant director with the division of children and family services we have one rule and for review this morning the rule packet reflects current practice in dcfs as it relates to safety and risk management the rule also reflects language changes as a result of act 364 of the 94th general assembly such as replacing the terms protection plan with immediate safety plan there are some technical changes throughout the packet also to note operational changes within
the division removal of some internal procedures and some general formatting purposes are also included there is no fiscal impact we did not receive any public comments during the comment period and I'm happy to answer any questions
from members seeing none no one has signed up to speak without objection this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank
you. Item 8, Department of Human Services, Division of County
Speaker 113
29:57
Operations. May introduce yourself and present the rule. Good morning, I'm Mary Franklin, director of the division of county operations for dhs this rule is a supplemental nutrition assistance program rule to implement requirements in act 675 of 2023 to implement broad-based
categorical eligibility so that the asset limit for snap can be increased currently that increase is up to 5,500 over the 4,500 and 3,000 limits depending on the type of household and these figures are being listed in appendix so that each year as they may change we can make those updates and this rule is the follow-up rule to the emergency promulgation in April
and with that I'm happy to take any
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
31:09
questions. Co-chairs recognized for a question. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you for the readout there. Does anything related to the most recent waiver process is that affected at all with with the rule that we're trying to implement here? For example the increase is that that has nothing to do with what is eligible on purpose on for purchase. Can you expound on
Speaker 113
31:29
that that's correct the waiver that we received approval for to modify the list of
eligible foods to exclude candy and soft drinks unhealthy drinks
Speaker 117
31:36
this rule does not impact that at all great thank you any other
questions from members seeing none no one has signed up without objection this rule is reviewed and approved
now move to item 9 department of human services division of county operations and division of medical services you're recognized this rule is
Speaker 113
32:06
to implement policies and procedures around a new medicaid category for called presumptive eligibility for pregnant women in this category we are able to approve women who apply and indicate that they are pregnant based on the information they attest to and if they they will be approved in a temporary category that will cover outpatient services while we are if we need to pin to determine the full eligibility for the ongoing permanent coverage throughout the
pregnancy and postpartum period happy to take any questions any questions
from members seeing none no one has signed up to speak on
the rule without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you moving down to item 10 department of
human services division of medical services you would introduce yourself and present the rule good morning elizabeth pitman division
Speaker 122
33:21
of medical services the rule we have before you today is the obstetrical professional rate and unbundling rule this rule is being promulgated pursuant to acts 124 and 140 of 2025 collectively known as the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act. It is doing two things. First, it unbundles our current obstetrical rates, including prenatal care, postpartum care, and labor and delivery, so that they can all be billed separately. This will allow us to collect better information on
maternal health data, when women are receiving prenatal care, how many are receiving postpartum care. The second piece is that it actually increases those rates by 70%. We have not increased the rates in quite some time, and it is desperately needed. Because it is a rate increase, there is a fiscal impact. The funding is coming from the $13 million that was set aside by the governor and the legislature for maternal health, and it's a total of 11.7 SGR, with a total computable of $38 million. We did not receive any public comments on
the rule it is very well received by the medical community public health reviewed it and we are
happy to take any questions any questions from
members seeing none no one has signed up to speak on the rule without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you very much members we'll move to page three item c these are updates concerning rule making from the 2023 regular session we have representatives from each of the respective agencies here to answer
questions related to the status of these outstanding rules so those agencies listed under c if you have a question if you'll if anyone has a question for one of these agencies i'll give you an opportunity to take a look at that list if anyone has questions for an agency we'll
bring the agency to the table any questions Senator Irvin may I just have a comment
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
35:31
sure I apologize I just want to thank the Department of Human Services Division of Medical Services for their quick response on these rules particularly the obstetric professional rate increase and the unbundling thank y'all so much for not delaying I mean this is we're in June and and and y'all worked so fast and i i can't tell you i just spoke at a conference people are amazed at how fast arkansas is working in this area in this space and so we just passed the
legislation and here you are with the rule thank you so much uh i just i appreciate the intentionality and the uh and and just the administration just saying let's get it done as soon as possible so just wanted to say thank
you. Thank you. Anyone with
questions for an agency under item C? If not, we will then move to a supplemental agenda without objection. We'll move to the
supplemental agenda. We have one item on the supplemental agenda. Department
of Education, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. If the
department would come forward, you may introduce yourselves and then present the rule.
Speaker 98
37:09
Good morning. Courtney Solis-Ford, Department of
Speaker 126
37:13
Education. Good morning. Kevany Pryde, Department
Speaker 98
37:21
King, Program Advisor for Dyslexia. So these rules govern the provision of dyslexia services in schools. They were revised to incorporate provisions of Act 237, the LEARNS Act of 2023. This was a little bit longer process than usual because of the number of comments that we received and needed to respond to and then changes that were made necessitating a second public comment period.
But we are now asking for final approval of those and are happy
to answer any questions. Any questions, Senator Love, you're
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
37:58
recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So with the extended comment period and receiving so many responses, were you
able to address a lot of the concerns?
Speaker 98
38:10
Yes, our staff, Dr. Tiffany Pride and Vicki King, our dyslexia specialists, they went through their teams went through all the comments again we made
several substantive changes because of those comments and and did some corrections we provided responses to all of them and so yes we we feel like we addressed all of the concerns okay so you
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
38:29
provided responses for the so are there were there any concerns that you couldn't address and I mean it might be multiple but is there anything specifically that you
can point out that you just could not address can you think of anything no I can't
Speaker 126
38:45
think of anything we were able to address most of the comments all of them really some
may have been an adjustment may have not been the full ask based on what we are you know under our purview but we answered all those questions I think we've come to a good set of rules okay so there
Speaker 134
39:04
there may there may be some outstanding there aren't any outstanding we've answered them all okay all right Thank you.
Speaker 136
39:10
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any other questions from
members? Seeing none, no one has signed up to speak on this rule.
Without objection, this rule is reviewed and approved. I believe that concludes all of our business members. With regard to the Rules Subcommittee
in July, we will be taking a look at that. I guess part of it depends on Legislative Council and what the schedule is in July. but just be paying attention to your email for information if we need to have a July meeting. If not, co-chair, any further comments? All right, seeing none, we're adjourned.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Rules Filed Pursuant to Arkansas Code § 10-3-309
C. Agency Updates on the Status of Outstanding Rulemaking from the 2023 Regular Session Pursuant to Act 595 of 20211
SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA
A. Rules Filed Pursuant to Arkansas Code § 10-3-309 to Be Considered Pending Suspension of the Subcommittee Rules Due to Second Public Comment Period Expiring After the Deadline of May 15, 2025
B. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Speaker 1
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd Chair
Unverified
Senator Tyler Dees
Unverified
Representative Tracy Steele
Unverified
Cory Seeds
Unverified
Speaker 33
Speaker 34
Speaker 35
Speaker 32
Speaker 39
Speaker 41
Speaker 49
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Senator Justin Boyd
Unverified
Speaker 65
Speaker 66
Speaker 70
Chair
Unverified
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Speaker 88
Speaker 69
Speaker 97
Speaker 98
Speaker 103
Speaker 104
Speaker 108
Speaker 111
Speaker 113
Speaker 117
Speaker 122
Speaker 126
Speaker 127
Speaker 134
Speaker 136