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- October 6, 2026
Unknown speaker
0:00
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Speaker 6
2:30
And don't forget to gavel in the gavel app. I'm going to ask everyone to take
their seats first. If everyone would take your seats, we're going to get started here in just a minute.
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
3:30
this meeting is called to order chair sees
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
3:38
a quorum good to have everyone with us today does my coach here have
anything to say okay all right we'll get right into it mr. Robinson if you would please move forward with our agenda thank you mr. chairman we're
Speaker 23
4:00
start with item B. Item B is a request from the Office of
Speaker 24
4:04
Personnel Management for various changes. The requests require approval by the committee. The first thing that's happening on page one is creation of new titles. These are new titles that will be added to the class and compact for use by agencies in the corresponding job family that's in the last column. The adjustment of on the second page the adjustment of the social services programs job family to include child abuse titles. This is all on page two. They're also requesting to add an election coordinator title to the program
operations and elections job family and the accreditation specialist to the safety and security accreditation job family. On pages three through five, OPM is recommending the agency requests for swap pool positions. Swap pools are used to surrender existing positions with titles the agencies doesn't need or use for positions and titles that they do need. Please note that opm has listed the estimated costs and funding sources for the estimated cost for each request in the last two columns the first one you'll see are three swap pools at teacher retirement with
an estimated cost of 292 000 a one swap pool at judicial discipline with an estimated cost of 120 000 a swap pool for public service commission with an estimated cost of nine thousand dollars one swap pool for the department of education with no estimated cost due to the incumbents incumbent employees current salary four swap pool positions at DFA with an estimated cost of $12,000 due to incumbent salaries and then two swap pool positions at Commerce for insurance and aeronautics with an estimated cost
of $43,000 due to current incumbent salaries mr. chairman that's all I have for item B do
any of the members have questions if not I will entertain a a
motion for approval? Motion is second. All right. Any discussion? All those in
favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Same sign. Motion is approved.
Speaker 23
6:04
Mr. Chairman, moving on to item C. This is a
Speaker 24
6:09
request from Transformation and Shared Services. They're requesting three new state personnel specialist growth pool positions to help accomplish goals with the Arkansas Forward initiative there is an estimated cost of forty five thousand dollars for three for these three positions due to the transfer of three employees from commerce the letter states that the department of commerce will freeze their three positions that the employees are coming out of the request is necessary because there is no mechanism for commerce to transfer positions to tss outside of legislative
session. Thank you Tony. Any questions? I will entertain a motion to
review. Got a motion and a second? All right. Any discussion? All those in favor say
Speaker 25
7:00
aye. Any opposed? Same sign. Motion to review
Speaker 24
7:05
is approved. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Items D1 and D2 These are requests from the Department of Human Services and Veterans Affairs for approval of their special compensation award and recruitment incentive plans. The request for both departments include compensation awards for direct care and nursing positions.
The Veterans Affairs request also includes two maintenance supervisor titles, a maintenance supervisor expert and a maintenance technician. The estimated cost for DHS nursing awards is $66,000, while the estimated cost for VA is about $99,000. This request requires approval. okay do we
have any questions from committee members okay without objection i'll
entertain one motion to approve both d1 and d2 all right have a motion all right motion and a second
any discussion all those in favor say aye any opposed motion to approve is uh approved all right
Speaker 24
8:07
carry on mr chairman we're on item e this is a request from the office personnel management to provide compensation differentials at various at the various listed agencies these compensation differentials will be provided for employees who fill positions and utilize second language on call hard to fill hard to fill or retain opm differentials and certification
differentials the overall estimated cost for all the differentials listed is 3.2 million Differentials are considered additional add-on amounts to an employee's base salary. Okay, do we have any
questions? All right. If not, I will entertain a motion to review. All right. Motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Any opposed? All right. Motion to review as approved.
Speaker 24
8:57
Mr. Chairman, we're on item F. This is a request from the Department of Public Safety for the Arkansas State Police to create a step plan within their ASP trooper ranks for troopers, corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels. The step plan will provide a fixed base salary increase of 2.5% for troopers each year and 2% increases for all other ranks each year. The plan will also provide a fixed 5% increase for promotions from trooper to corporal and 7.5% increases for promotion to each of the subsequent ranks.
The implementation of this plan includes an immediate 0.25% increase for all employees in all the trooper ranks for each year of their completed service. The estimated cost of the implementation of this step plan is $3.5 million. This request requires approval by the committee. Okay, do we have any questions from
any of the members? all right no questions uh we'll entertain a motion for approval all right we have
a motion and a second any discussion all those in favor say aye
Speaker 24
10:07
any opposed motion is approved mr chairman uh items g h and i these are all grant requests item g is a excuse me an american rescue plan request while h and i are infrastructure investment and jobs act requests the peer subcommittee is responsible for the review of the appropriation tied to these grants as well as the addition of the positions personnel is tasked with reviewing the titles that are attached to the positions just as a reminder because these are grant requests
any employee hired into one of these positions must sign a document that says they understand if and when the money runs out for the grants, their job may be eliminated. Item G is from the Department of Health and includes two positions that have been previously approved. The titles and grades are being adjusted based on the implementation of the new pay plan. They're requesting a lab supervisor expert and a biologist two for the epidemiology and lab capacity for emerging infectious diseases. Item H is from AEDC Broadband Office for Broadband Equity Access
deployment they're requesting an it infrastructure analyst and then the last item item i is from dps arkansas state police for highway safety they're requesting a data research analyst and a public safety coordinator okay do we have any questions
from the committee okay no questions i will entertain a motion to review items g h and i all right got a motion
and a second any discussion all those in favor say aye any opposed motion carries mr
Speaker 24
11:46
chairman item j is a request from
the department of higher ed for north arkansas college they're requesting to surrender two positions in return for one public safety officer and one chief workforce development officer projected cost of this request is sixty four thousand dollars okay any questions from
the Members? Okay. I will entertain
a motion to review. Motion. All right. And a second. Any discussion? All those in favor
say aye. Any opposed? Motion is approved.
Speaker 24
12:19
Mr. Chairman, item K is a request from ASU Jonesboro to swap 20 nine-month faculty positions in return for 20 12-month positions. The 12-month positions are needed in lieu of the already budgeted nine-month faculty positions due to accreditation regulations for the College of Veterinary Medicine. Okay, any questions from the members? All right, I have a
Speaker 28
12:39
motion and a second. Any discussion? all
those in favor say aye any opposed motion is approved moving on to item l this is a request
Speaker 24
12:56
from the asu system office for four project program administrator positions from the higher ed central growth pool the positions will be used to enhance shared services of all institutions across the asu system the anticipated cost according to the system office is roughly 430 thousand dollars all right any questions from the
members if not i will entertain a motion to review all right i have a motion and a second any discussion
all those in favor say aye any opposed motion is approved
Speaker 23
13:34
all right mr chairman we're moving on to continuations these are items that have been previously approved by
Speaker 24
13:39
this committee at alc in the previous year item m is a request from opposite personnel management requesting continuation of three previously approved growth pool positions at the department of commerce's economic development commission the three existing positions have been adjusted had their titles adjusted to the new pay plan okay any questions from
the members all right if not i'll entertain a motion to review all
right motion second uh any discussion all those in favor say aye
Speaker 24
14:11
any opposed motion is approved mr chairman items n o p q and r are continuations of previously reviewed american rescue plan infrastructure and investment jobs act and miscellaneous federal grant positions as with the others that we heard earlier peer handles the appropriation and approval of the positions but personnel reviews the titles associated with the positions each of the titles for these eight positions have been adjusted to fit the new class and compact and pay plan
all right do i have any questions from the members yes sir okay i will entertain a motion to review items n o p q and r all right i've got a motion
and a second any discussion all those in favor say aye any opposed
Speaker 23
15:06
motion is approved mr chairman we are moving on to items referred to personnel item s was sent to the personnel committee
Speaker 24
15:12
by alc during their last meeting the request is for a
new contract between aptus financial and ebd to help state employees navigate public service loan forgiveness programs kay barnhill with opm and staff from aptus financial and ebd are here to present the presentation that is attached to your packet there's also another document on your desk uh for the for this presentation um the action required on this item is a recommendation by the committee to alc regarding review of the contract okay
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
15:45
kay if you would recognize yourself yes
Speaker 40
15:49
sir kay barnhill office of personnel management all
Speaker 43
16:00
employee benefits division you are recognized to make your presentation yes if i'll we'll follow along in your packet i think it'll make a lot of sense what we're talking about here is public service student loan forgiveness program this is uh this company is aptus which has we're trying to get a contract with them to help our state employees gain public student i mean public service loan forgiveness um something about this plan you
might want to know, this was established by George Bush in 2007. It only applies to working full-time employees. Any employee that participates in this plan will have to make at least 120 payments or 10 years of student loan payments and to be eligible to get their loans forgiven. as to who qualifies it hits any
Speaker 45
16:52
basic jobs within state government
it's going to be troopers, it's going to be family service workers, it's going to be people in the military, particularly nurses we have an interest in and anybody that works in the state government sector becomes eligible for this type of program and you may ask why do we need this in the state of Arkansas. We think of this as a long-term retention strategy for employees who have made 10-plus years of payments,
and we think it's a recruiting advantage to us as well because, as we've found in the past, if we can get an employee to come to work for the state and public service loan forgiveness is very enticing to many state employees, if we can get them to come and they stay the full 10 years, generally we have them. I hate to say it. I don't want to act like we've captured them. But generally, they'll stay for us for the remaining years because of the retirement programs that we have. And so the criteria here is very important, though, that they must make their 120 payments.
And you may ask, why is this necessary? Well, the federal government student loan program is very difficult to navigate. It's extremely complex, has all kind of possibilities. And what we found, if people who are experts in this area can help employees, it makes a huge difference in how they go through this program. So we've got some actual examples for you here that we'll just go about. When APTIS presented this contract to us and we initially started looking at it, they agreed to take four state employees as test cases just to see.
And these employees represent from high-paid employees to low-paid employees. So this is just something we wanted to show you. The first employee, we're going to call Brenda, and Brenda had worked for the state for years, 20-plus years, and had student loans for herself and for her children. Knew about the public student loan forgiveness program, did not know that parents were eligible with PLUS loans. So that's something very important to consider. This person was paying about $1,250 a month in student loan payments.
After this program, and after working with Aptis, she had over $84,000 in debt retirement, and then the feds sent her a check for $21,000 because she had overpaid on her student loans. So that was a very important case for us. Another employee was Gary. He has a series of loans. He did not understand the financial advantages of loan consolidation. So Aptis got with Gary. They reduced his monthly loan payment, which saved him about $8,300.
And he has not worked long enough yet to qualify for debt relief, but he's on the path that he
Speaker 51
19:58
will qualify very soon. Our other employee was Emma. She's worked for the state for about nine years. She did not understand the
Speaker 45
20:06
various steps. And we're talking about intelligent employees here. We're talking about people from attorneys to family service workers. It's just the complexity
Speaker 43
20:13
of this particular program drives so many people into needing this assistance.
This, with Emma, they switched her to a different repayment option. She avoided over $16,620 in overpayments while making a similar monthly payment to what she was already making. And the final employee was a low-level employee. Well, I don't want to say low-level employee. but a modest employee, an employee with a modest salary who had considerable student loans at the time. They were preparing
Speaker 51
20:44
to consolidate their student loans. What APTIS did for them, they identified a special type of loan consolidation for them,
Speaker 43
20:52
and this new loan that they did made this employee avoid $46,000 in additional payments. So we have, from experience,
Speaker 45
20:58
from our test cases, we have felt that this program would help our employees. We feel like it will benefit the state
Speaker 43
21:06
as a whole as far as a recruiting and a retention option. Mr. Wallace is here with me. He can add a lot of other issues to this. So as you look
Speaker 42
21:18
at it, not only from a morale, a retention and recruitment, but there's also an economic advantage to this.
Speaker 58
21:24
The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville actually did a study and estimated that there's 166% multiplier effect for every loan dollar that's saved. So that's money that we're able to, as an employee, reinvest in the local economy, in ourselves as far as retirement savings, or in any kind of aspect that we do in our daily life. but this is also one of the largest amounts of debt that an employee will carry you know
prior to covid student loans were the number one debt it has now shifted to credit card but this is a substantial burden to our employees and we have seen study after study show that when we can bring some assistance to helping navigate the stresses of life we're getting a more productive employee and a more loyal employee. And in this day and age, when we are in heavy recruitment battles for these positions of nurses, for caseworkers, for our frontline workers
at DHS, we need every tool in our arsenal to really be able to go after and retain these employees in state government. I do want to emphasize two strong aspects of this. These are people who are paying on their loans they have made 120 consecutive payments and they have worked in the government space for 10 years so this is not some some kind of other plan like they are making they are being responsible we are just helping them navigate the ending aspect of this
public loan public service loan program that the federal government affords non-profit and sector employees. Be glad to answer any questions. Okay.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
23:34
recognized you sure not really I'm
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
23:40
learning the system thank you mr. chairman
mr. Wallace miss Barnhill the first
question I've got and is of the 23,000 state employees
or roughly that we have I'm assuming that teachers and public schools are not eligible for this and I'm assuming the university faculty that state
employees is not eligible for this is that correct they are eligible but
Speaker 42
24:13
we weren't taking this program because we wanted
to test this program and to get the efficacy and make sure that the ROI was there we did not expand it to the public school side at this point we got to make sure we know how to make this work and that it actually works for our employees we believe it will but i think the prudent thing to do is to test it get some time under our belt and make sure that we can prove not only to ourselves but to you all as the legislature that this is an an effective investment all right we got the
Speaker 73
24:46
public school what about the university teachers that that's kind of out of our I guess no
Speaker 75
24:55
they are not included so our numbers won't be up in the 40,000 we're coming down around 23,000
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
25:04
yes all right of those 23,000 how many went to college half I think we
Speaker 43
25:16
college. But another point that I want to point out to you is this also includes
parents. Even those people that didn't go to college, if they have loans for their children, they can access this program as well. Now explain that
Speaker 79
25:33
to me. Okay. Loans for their children. Yes.
Speaker 51
25:35
I never got in that program. Explain that to me. Okay. So if a state employee has loans for
Speaker 43
25:41
their children, they're called plus loans. And previously, years ago, they were not eligible for any kind of public student loan forgiveness but it was it during George W. Bush's amendments to
this program have come on so if they've taken out student loans for their children to go to college they can also qualify for
Speaker 51
26:04
this program even if they didn't go to college no the children have to go
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
26:12
to college all right but if they didn't if they didn't graduate doesn't matter right doesn't matter okay so we're thinking 11 12,000 state employees under the what I call our our realm are eligible for this correct yes how many of those 11 12
thousand college graduates have paid
120 months consecutive payments for student loans we really don't have that information representative gene because the
Speaker 45
26:39
student loan payments are usually in between the employee and their loan provider only time the state actually is has that information that's if somebody has defaulted on their loans when will we know this information we will know it
over the next year as we go through this test case we will find out
Speaker 87
27:04
exactly okay Okay, are legislators that have
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
27:11
been here, are they eligible for this? Yes, sir. Constitutional officers are eligible for this? Yes, sir. Supreme Court justices? Yes, sir. Okay. Secretaries? Secretaries.
Speaker 43
27:26
Anybody who serves in a nonprofit government job.
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
27:31
Okay. and the contract is for three years right
Speaker 42
27:36
that was the initial this went through the regular rfp process so the initial term is for three years it still has the standard contractual termination language
Speaker 58
27:46
so that at any point in time we are not satisfied with the service we can cancel it but it is for an initial three-year period and
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
27:57
could go up to seven is correct right so this could be potentially a 2.1 million dollar contract over the seven years yes
all right on the work that they do is there a charge up and above this 2.1 million dollars for work they do and how much will that cost no this that's all encompassing so that that is the turnkey job price yes sir three hundred thousand dollars a year for three years and then is it our choice to renew it or up to the seven or can we cancel at any time or what right we can cancel at any time i mean
Speaker 56
28:34
there is kind of at that end of the third year there's that mutual kind of conversation
Speaker 42
28:44
uh the standard language that the state always has in these uh we can cancel at any time is in this
Speaker 92
28:53
this company is willing to do this not knowing how many
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
28:58
people we have that are qualified because we don't know that number
Speaker 42
29:04
yet? We're estimating 30%. We're using standard kind of statistics that are nationwide that about 30%. Has any other state done this?
Speaker 58
29:13
No. We have saw one example of Pennsylvania, their higher education division. and forgive me I don't know the exact title of it they had a program similar to this but we would be the first state
Speaker 42
29:27
and I think that's something we can pat ourselves on the back you know we have a governor
Speaker 58
29:32
who has challenged us to be innovative to be on the forefront finding ways to recruit and retain high talent and this was one
Speaker 72
29:41
of those instances where we did that so if we're we're
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
29:46
projecting 30 percent of the 10 or 11,000 we're thinking we're that we've got over 3,000 people we work for the state that have paid a student loan for 120 consecutive months or in the process of paying
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
30:04
okay that'd be in their fourth year they've still got six years to go right right okay
well I think it's a good idea but I really like to know more about how many folks we're talking about and and i want to be somewhat consistent because when
the biden administration went out with this uh the republicans were strong about not doing something like this wait a minute let me finish and then and then you know i i think this may send a wrong message to the taxpayers of arkansas but i'll i'll listen to more and you can respond
Speaker 42
30:40
and i'm sorry for interrupting sir but thank you for bringing up the biden because i want to make a clear very clear distinction this is absolutely no way related to any initiative that president
biden did during his tenure in office this is something that was done prior to him in office and was a program that was passed through congress that was intended to incentivize employees to go into the public sector work. We all know that we have challenges in recruiting. We all know that even at the time in 2007, there was a shortage of employees going into the public sector space, and that's why this program existed. This is in no way related to President Biden or
the Democrats' initiative to try to eradicate and eliminate student loan
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
31:29
debt. And I appreciate And I will respond to the recruiting part because our big key hadn't kicked in, and it will kick in July 1. Absolutely. We just passed a $139 million pay increase for state employees, and that was the reason we did it was retention and keeping good people. So, you know, I think we've done quite a bit in that area trying to retain good employees, and I'm not against retaining good employees, obviously.
But I just believe that I'm very concerned about not having all the answers to how many. And, you know, one other question. Would UAMS doctors be eligible for this? Yes. Okay, but they're
under a university. Right, but it's similar. How have you
Speaker 42
32:18
distinguished that? And it is similar to, like, Baptist Health. Baptist Health has this program, and it's the nonprofit status. And I do know that President Trump is kind of evaluating that particular sector of this program, but currently, as
Speaker 58
32:34
a nonprofit institution, doctors and nurses are eligible via that mechanism.
Speaker 107
32:40
Okay. Thank you for your answers. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. Senator Hammer, you are recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
32:49
And this it's covered on the handout, but would you just drill down? I don't think it's been covered Maybe has I forgive forgive me if it has but as far as the return on investment I know y'all did four case studies for four you picked out and they they showed the benefit to that Is there anything other than the identified? 166% multiplier effect on the retained funds as far as the you know the
The the spin-off or the spin back if you would for how this is going to benefit the economy if these are forgiven, because that money then would be able to be turned into the economy instead
Speaker 42
33:26
of being paid back on student loans. Can you drill down on that? I think it's an excellent question. I think the challenge becomes it turns into an individual case-by-case situation. I have heard examples of individuals being able to get through this process and then go and purchase a home
and now take that investment and turn it into property taxes and all of those things. You have the instance where somebody may, Brenda that had the $21,000, may take that and now reinvest that money into their retirement and elongate their ability to be able to have a retirement, a comfortable retirement. But at the same time, they could take it and invest in a car that they may need, have been deferring.
I think when you look at kind of on the moderate to lower end, these are people who really, this is going to be life-changing. And they are going to be able to now not have to worry about bill paying or that next paycheck covering food on the table. they can now go in and develop a rainy day fund and systemically change their way of life to be able to enjoy some luxuries of a vacation or something along those lines but to answer your
specific question I think is challenging because we really it's going to come down to that individual all right follow up
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
35:02
monsieur you're recognized thank you so is there a way if this goes through would there be a way to track the information as far as the dollars returned so that there could be a case study maybe in a year where you could come back and say okay we've you know we've forgiven 20 million this now
back in the hands of the taxpayers and based on the things that budget does do a spin to say for every dollar it would return this much in you know this much in taxes or spending there are
Speaker 42
35:33
and thank you for bringing that up because it is important to emphasize that there are specific reporting requirements built into this contract to give us that type of information that yes we could then correlate and work with our friends over at DFA and budget to really be able to
Speaker 58
35:49
kind of bring something back uh that you're asking for
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
35:51
because it's a if it's 300,000 the question is what's the return on investment of 300,000 that we're going to realize something from. And if you've got four examples and you've got projections, the ability to come back in a year or two and say, here's the reality of what we were able to do based on those that actually qualified, because it's not free money, what they qualified for, I think that would be beneficial to sustain into the future. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Senator Justin Boyd
Unverified
36:23
Senator Boyd, you're recognized? Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Wallace, or Ms. Barnell, I think you've said this, but I'm getting some questions from
people who've just tuned in, so I just want to ask to make sure I understand. So this is a federal program that uses guidelines or qualifications set by the federal government. What we're talking about is hiring a navigator here in the state of Arkansas to help state employees get through the bureaucracy so that they can be helped,
so that we can help state employees, so that we can compete for jobs or compete to keep state employees here rather than going
to the private sector. Yes, sir. Thank you. Representative Wooten, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ms. Barnhill,
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
37:15
and Mr. Wallace. Thank you for bringing this retention effort before us. But I have a couple, three questions along the line of Senator Hammer and Representative Gene.
Why the consideration given to non-graduates? I mean, what was the decision those who graduated? To me, it's an incentive for anyone to better themselves, whether it's technical or college. But why the differentiation between non-graduate and graduate? And that's just how the federal program is
Speaker 42
37:57
set up. It's more focused on the debt, the student loan debt, not necessarily graduation or non-graduation.
That is just how the federal program is set up.
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
38:12
Okay. One more question, if I may, Mr. Chairman. You can. The UAMS doctors being permitted to participate in this, do you see that as a morale problem both in those and other positions at UAMS?
Speaker 42
38:27
And I do want to draw a distinction. UAMS would not be participating in this contract, this plan. They are eligible via the nonprofit status of UAMS.
So that's a whole different mechanism similar to Baptist Health. Baptist Health has a program similar, and they get it because they're a non-profit institution. Okay. So that's how you, and it's not that they're a state institution and participating through the state program. That is separate because they
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
39:01
are a non-profit institution. On the other hand, what about the requirement that is consecutive payments? I mean, they have to make 10 years of payments consecutively each month.
Speaker 45
39:14
It's a total of 120 payments. Payments. And I did want to add a little bit. UAMS doctors wouldn't be in this program, but crime lab doctors could be if we had crime
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
39:26
lab physicians and people along. Is this a contract that will endure through perhaps cuts by the federal government? Thank you for asking
Speaker 42
39:36
that. Because if this program were to go away, and I know there's a lot of national discussion around this, and if the administration and Congress does away with this, this contract ends because the program is not in existence at that point.
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
39:51
Should they do away with this specific program, then it will come to an end. Right. And we will be able to extract ourselves from the contract with the navigators. Yes. and those people who signed up to benefit from it will be they won't be able to will they have to
Speaker 129
40:09
go back and pick up well if the program doesn't exist on the federal level there would be nothing for them to participate in well i
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
40:18
know that but what i mean will will they will
their payment schedule go back to what it was before or do
Speaker 129
40:24
we know we would it would depend on the unraveling and how that goes no sir thank you mr chairman thank you mr wallace
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
40:32
mr barnhill senator hammer you're back thank you uh
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
40:40
grant where's the money coming from to cover this this is our cash fund how healthy is your cash fund right now it's it's very healthy we're okay how do you get money in the cash fund
Speaker 42
40:51
that is derived from the premiums that our employees
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
40:54
pay as well as the state match have you gotten a pushback from any of the employees that are paying money into the account out of which this is going to be taken because if the money originated from the state employees am I correct on that mm-hmm if the money has originated from the state employees have you gotten any pushback from any employees or the Association
Speaker 42
41:17
or anybody about this actually it's the exact opposite we've gotten nothing but excitement there have been multiple phone calls directly to aptus after the news broke about this contract wanting to
state employees wanting to participate so there we are sensing a very uh energized and
Speaker 45
41:34
uh state employees association supports this program okay so just so just
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
41:39
to follow the money not to oversimplify it
the money that's in the cash fund is being paid by the premiums that are being paid by the employees, matched by the state. I mean, right? Some of that matched, so there's that to put in there. But that money is in there because of what the employee are paying on the premiums,
and this is a program that would directly benefit about 3,000 state employees estimated. You'll know when you get in there and get in the nitty-gritty. So really, they're bringing it on themselves if they're excited and wanting to do it or they're asking for it. Or the indication is that this is something they want. Is that fair? That is fair. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Gene, you're recognized. Well, there you go.
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
42:25
You need to learn how to work that thing over there. I'm getting better.
All right. Does this contract have a base limit of how many clients they could be helping a year? I mean, the first year may not be very many. $300,000 seems a lot. If we're not doing anything the first year, do we have a base limit of how many people they're supposed to be helping, any kind of slide scale, you know, on any of this contract, or is it just straight 300,000 where they do 500 or 10 people? Right.
Speaker 42
42:59
It is a flat rate. There's not a sliding scale. But I think the ultimate incentive is if you don't have the uptick, if it's only five individuals, as you mentioned, then we would not renew it. I mean, that's that's just not wise business. And we understand that. But so they do have the incentive and there is built into this them to go out to the agencies, have direct conversations with any eligible employee and to do that one on one service. So they are incentivized to continue and grow the utilization of it.
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
43:33
And I have another question that was brought up on the UAMS. They are already doing this. UAMS is that what you
Speaker 74
43:43
said? that would be that would be my understanding because they are eligible and
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
43:47
some well with this contract help uh navigate any of those uams doctors no sir so we would be out of that what they're doing in baptist is separate from what we're doing here is that correct yes i
Speaker 72
44:00
was just comparing that they have something similar where they're helping their nurses okay thank you
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm not seeing any other questions. An individual can't approach Aptus, can they? I mean,
Speaker 42
44:18
yes, they could. I think the scale of doing that service is probably more expensive than if a group were to come to them. Okay. Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you,
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
44:33
Mr. Chair. So just to sort of summarize what we're hearing today, this is a federal program, the Student Loan Forgiveness.
It's a federal program that the feds have been paying for since 2007 for a very long time. It's extremely hard to navigate. Our state employees are eligible for it no matter what. And there is an 80% initial denial rate. So they're unable to hardly navigate it on their own. I mean, there's huge denial rates. our employees have to have been with us for 10 years they can't just pop in and be a state employee for a year or two try to get their loans forgiven and you know pop out into another job another system they've got to be have been with us for 10 years and if i recall those of us who
have been sitting on personal personnel for quite some time for years for years we have talked about finding ways to add value to our state employees when we can't always increase salary now we were able to do that just recently with our labor market rate plan and adjust salaries for a lot of employees across the state. But we have been looking for years to consistently find ways to add value to our state employees where we're not able to always maybe pay exactly like the private sector. But we want to incentivize good people to come work for us, be with us, stay with us. And
this is just one more way that we can add value to the state employees that work for us and diligently serve Arkansans. Is that an accurate summary of what this program is? Yes ma'am I think that's
Speaker 43
46:02
a very accurate summary and I will add that most of our turnover begins in the first to the eight year through eight years so if they have this tenure program staring them in the face they're more likely to stay with us for the entire time.
Representative Gene, you're recognized. We'd like you this time. I
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
46:29
want to clear up. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to clear up one thing. They don't have to be a state employee and pay on this for 120 consecutive months. They've had to be paying on it for 120 months, and three or four years ago or a year ago, they could have become a state employee, and they
would be eligible. Is that correct? No, sir. They have to have had government or
Speaker 42
46:50
nonprofit work for 10 years. but in addition to not all with the state of arkansas right they could have gone from a city
Speaker 73
47:00
government to the state but not state employees for 10 years right okay they could have a mix okay thank
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
47:13
you representative beaty you're recognized thank you mr chairman uh just a question um based on the discussion and some of the case studies uh beyond just the debt forgiveness aptis would also maybe We do a financial review of our employees that have student loans, make certain that the payment terms and the plans they have are the optimal plans for that employee.
So they would be giving some financial advice and some guidance on what's the best path forward to take care of their student loans and their debt in addition to the benefits of the forgiveness after 10 years of employment and 120 months of payment. Is that correct? That is correct.
Speaker 117
47:58
All right. Thank you. Senator Hammer, you're
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
48:00
recognized again. Thank you. Quick question. So is this 10 years consecutive?
I didn't quite get any answer. Is that 10 years consecutive? Or if somebody's been in five years, went somewhere else, came back, served five years, is it a total of 10 or has
it got to be 10 consecutive? So there's a total of 10 years of payment and then a total of 10 years of government nonprofit
work. Okay. And so I'm thinking about retention or bringing people back into the workforce. This could actually be something that might draw somebody back into the workforce if they were state employees left.
Speaker 42
48:37
It would draw them back if they had nonprofit or government work. So you have to be making those payments while you're doing
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
48:47
that work. Right. So somebody worked for DFA for five years, left, went to work for Junior Auxiliary of Arkansas for three years, and then came back and worked two more years for the state. As long as Junior Auxiliary was a qualifying nonprofit, that scenario would work for them. Yes, sir.
Right, which is very difficult for the individual to do, whereas if we had a company like this that could manage through all that, they'd be able to piecemeal what a person's work history is in order to see if they could qualify so it might benefit somebody that was once a private employee but now as a state employee as far as it's not just going to help state employees but it could help those that work privately but came back to be state employees yes sir all right mr. chairman I
don't know if you need a motion on this proper time but I'll make a motion if you need it
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
49:45
Okay, we have another question first. Thank you Senator Gilmore you
recognized well, I was going to pull Linda Chesterfield and make the motion at the proper time It sounds like the good senator beat me to it.
So I'll second whatever that motion is he's about to make Okay, do we have any other questions before I entertain a motion? Okay Since it was Senator hammer, I believe Okay, sir hammer you're recognized
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
50:16
However, you need to have it where I make a motion that we accept this contract reviewed or whatever you need to say I'm
all for it. Let's go Okay, so a motion to accept the recommendation Is that correct? to ALC Make
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
50:35
a motion to accept it refer to ALC for approval
All right, I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? No.
Speaker 34
50:48
All right, Mr. Chairman, we're moving along to item T. Item T
Speaker 24
51:02
is a request from DHS for a reallocation of resources as recommended by the peer subcommittee in light of provisions under the new pay plan the following reallocation of resources items will be subject to review by the personnel subcommittee after being uh reviewed by first by
the peer subcommittee there are no specific position changes before you in this request but under the reallocation of resources agencies may move appropriation and or monies for various costs including personnel the request for movement of this is a request for for movement of appropriation only and transfers 35.3 million dollars in appropriation from in the division of medical services from their hospital and medical services appropriation to their private nursing home care appropriation to realign with increased expenses. The division of youth services
is also asking to transfer 4.1 million dollars in appropriation from community services to residential and federal child youth services grants for increased residential costs and the increase in the juvenile population. This request does require approval. Do we have any questions from
the committee? Okay, if not, I will entertain a motion to approve. Got a
motion in a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.
Speaker 34
52:28
mr chairman we're moving on now to reports which are items u through cc these reports do not require action they
Speaker 24
52:39
are informational in nature these reports include the act 7 796 report showing the number of positions have been vacant for two years or more a reduction in force report from both the department of health and the department of parks heritage and tourism a quarterly employment report detailing the number of employees and positions at state
agencies and institutions of higher education vacancy reports from the Department of Education and correction for correctional for excuse me for parole officers employee and relative disclosure report a provisional position report from the Department of Higher Education and special compensation and recruitment incentives as well as personal actions based on previously approved grids and special entry rates those are the reports any questions from the
members okay if you'll continue all right
Speaker 23
53:32
mr chairman the last two items are
supplemental agenda items the committee will need to make a motion to suspend the rules to
Speaker 35
53:40
take these two items up all right do I have
a motion to suspend the rules to take up these two items
all right I have a motion in a second all those in favor
Speaker 34
54:01
say aye any opposed motion carries please continue mr. chairman we are now on items dd and ee item dd
Speaker 24
54:08
is a request from the department of correction for hazardous duty differentials at
maximum security facilities for correctional officers the estimated cost of these differentials is five million dollars and as you will remember these are add-ons to base salaries Okay,
do I have any questions on item
DD? Okay, I will entertain a motion to approve. Got a motion and a
second. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
Speaker 23
54:42
Motion carries. All right, and Mr. Chairman, the last item, item EE, on your desk, there is a new packet with a list of names. that was handed out earlier this is different than the one in your
Speaker 24
54:56
actual packet what this is this is a request from opm to allow employees receiving merit increases to exceed the maximum of their current grade this is the current grade not the new pay plan grade based on the increase or the merit increase that they receive this request does require
Speaker 27
55:14
approval because employees are exceeding the max with this request okay we have a
Speaker 30
55:23
question representative richardson you're recognized thank you
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
55:26
that's the the max in the in the current pay plan but not in the new one so when the new
one where would if they exceed that where would they fall in the new one seems like there'd be some confusion in that
um miss barnhill if you would i'll let you
Speaker 43
55:45
explain yes thanks for that question this has
about 658 employees this will be for one week only because this will be for the week from june 22nd when merit is implemented to june 29th once the new pay plan is implemented we only have 20 plus employees that are over the maximum at that point in time so we're going to move them for a week well they are eligible to receive one week's pay with their merit
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
56:12
increase we're not which is in excess of where they
Speaker 43
56:15
are now for a week yes for one all employees are getting merit
for one week before the pay plan goes in these people just require
Speaker 48
56:26
special approval and what's the total dollar amount of that i
Speaker 43
56:33
do not have the total we don't have a total dollar amount i knew it's about 658 employees but we will like i said only have 20 this is just the normal three and one percent that's being rewarded to all state it's just that these people happen to be that amount will take them over the maximum and anytime
Speaker 40
56:49
employee goes over the maximum we have to
bring it to you for approval okay thank you all right any other questions all right i
will entertain a motion to approve All right, I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Any other business to come before the committee? If not, we are adjourned.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
Regular Business Items:
B. Request for new titles and pool positions for various agencies from the pools established by Ark. Code Ann. §21-5-225.
C. Request from Department of Transformation and Shared Services for three (3) positions from the OPM Growth Pool established by Arkansas Code Annotated $21-5-225(b). (Secretary, Leslie Fisken)
D. Request from Office of Personnel Management for department plans to administer recruitment incentives effective FY26.
E. Request for the establishment of compensation differentials for FY26.
F. Step plan proposal for the Department of Public Safety- Arkansas State Police. (Secretary, Mike Hagar)
G. American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 Request from Department of Health. (Secretary, Renee Mallory)
H. Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act of 2021 Request from Arkansas Department of Commerce- Arkansas Economic Development Commission- State Broadband Office. (Secretary, Hugh McDonald)
I. Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act of 2021 Request from Department of Public Safety, Arkansas State Police. (Secretary, Mike Hagar)
J. Request from North Arkansas College to obtain two (2) positions from the Higher Education Surrender Pool authorized by Act 778 of 2023, ACA §6-63-319(C)(1). (Commissioner, Ken Warden)
K. Request from Arkansas State University Jonesboro to obtain twenty (20) positions from the Higher Education Surrender Pool established by Act 778 of 2023, ACA §6-63-319(C)(1). (Commissioner, Ken Warden)
L. Request from Arkansas State University System for the establishment for four (4) positions from the Higher Education Central Pool authorized by Act 778 of 2023, ACA §6-63-319. (Commissioner, Ken Warden)
Continuations:
M. Request from Office of Personnel Management for the continuation of previously approved pool positions for FY26.
N. Request for the continuation of previously approved American Rescue Plan State Positions from Arkansas Department of Commerce- Arkansas Economic Development Commission- State Broadband Office. (Secretary, Hugh McDonald)
O. Request for continuation of previously approved American Rescue Plan State Position from Arkansas Department of
Commerce- Arkansas Economic Development Commission-Rural Connect. (Secretary, Hugh McDonald)
P. Request for the continuation of previously approved Infrastructure Investments & Jobs Act of 2021 from Department of Public Safety- Arkansas Division of Emergency Management. (Secretary, Mike Hagar)
Q. Request for the continuation of previously approved Miscellaneous Federal Grant from Department of Public Safety. (Secretary, Mike Hagar)
R. Request for the continuation of previously approved Miscellaneous Federal Grant from Department of Public Safety- State Crime Lab. (Secretary, Mike Hagar)
Items Referred to Personnel:
S. Department of Transformation and Shared Services Contract Request with APTUS Financial referred by Arkansas Legislative Council. (Secretary, Leslie Fisken)
T. Department of Human Services Reallocation of Resources for FY2025 recommended from ALC-PEER. (Secretary, Kristi Putnam)
Reports:
U. Act 796 Letter and Two-Year Vacancy Report.
V. Reduction in Force Report.
W. Quarterly Employment Report- Third Quarter FY25 State Agencies and Institutions of Higher Education.
X. Arkansas Department of Education Quarterly Position Vacancy Report.
Y. Department of Corrections- Division of Community Correction’s Vacancy/Caseload Report.
Z. Employee/Relative Disclosure Quarterly Report.
AA. June New Provisional Report (88) new positions are approved for (8) Four-Year Institutions of Higher Education and (6) new positions for (4) Two-Year Institutions of Higher Education. (Department of Education, Division of Higher Education. Dr. Ken Warden)
BB. Special Compensation and Recruitment Incentive Award Report.
CC. Personnel Actions Report- Office of Personnel Management-Department of Transformation and Shared Services. (Leslie Fisken, Secretary)
Supplemental Agenda Items:
DD. Department of Corrections Differential Request (Secretary Lindsay Wallace)
EE. Employees Over Max
FF. Other business
GG. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Speaker 3
Speaker 6
Representative Les Warren Chair
Unverified
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
Speaker 23
Speaker 24
Speaker 25
Speaker 28
Speaker 40
Speaker 42
Speaker 43
Speaker 45
Speaker 51
Speaker 58
Speaker 59
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
Speaker 73
Speaker 50
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Speaker 56
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Speaker 72
Speaker 107
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
Senator Justin Boyd
Unverified
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
Speaker 129
Speaker 74
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
Speaker 117
Speaker 34
Speaker 35
Speaker 27
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Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
Speaker 48