Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee- House
Video
Transcript
1 document
Bills discussed (56)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1131
Act 959
· 8 mentions in chapter, agenda, transcript
Matched: “HB1131 Pilkington TO AUTHORIZE AN ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NUR…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE AN ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSE TO DELEGATE CERTAIN TASKS TO MEDICAL ASSISTANTS AND … | Pilkington | Notification that HB1131 is now Act 959 |
|
SB603
· 8 mentions in transcript, agenda, chapter
Matched: “stay right there. You've got Senate Bill 603 from Senator Tucker as well. The air ambulance unit has an”
|
TO CREATE EMMA'S LAW; AND TO REQUIRE AN AIR AMBULANCE TO CONTACT THE ARKANSAS TRAUMA … | C. Tucker | Died in House at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB444
Act 970
· 5 mentions in chapter, transcript, agenda
Matched: “SB444 K. Hammer TO AMEND THE MEDICAL ETHICS AND DIVERSITY ACT.”
|
TO AMEND THE MEDICAL ETHICS AND DIVERSITY ACT. | K. Hammer | Notification that SB444 is now Act 970 |
|
SB554
Act 1022
· 5 mentions in chapter, transcript, agenda
Matched: “SB554 C. Tucker TO CREATE THE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH LOAN FORGIVENESS…”
|
TO CREATE THE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM. | C. Tucker | Notification that SB554 is now Act 1022 |
|
SB120
· 4 mentions in transcript, agenda, chapter
Matched: “Brings us to Senate Bill 120. It's Senator Penzo still in the room?”
|
TO REQUIRE LICENSURE FOR ALL PRIVATE CARE AGENCIES IN THIS STATE; AND TO ENSURE CONSUMER … | C. Penzo | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1963
Act 963
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript, agenda
Matched: “HB1963 Gonzales TO CLARIFY THAT AN ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NU…”
|
TO CLARIFY THAT AN ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSE WHO PRESCRIBES A STIMULANT MAY SUBSTITUTE A … | Gonzales | Notification that HB1963 is now Act 963 |
|
SB601
Act 971
· 3 mentions in transcript, agenda, chapter
Matched: “Senate Bill 601. 601. You're recognized. Members, as you know, we have a se…”
|
TO CREATE A PATHWAY FOR A GRADUATE OF A FOREIGN MEDICAL SCHOOL TO BE LICENSED … | Hester | Notification that SB601 is now Act 971 |
|
HB1008
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1008 A. Collins TO REQUIRE MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR POSTPARTUM MOTH…”
|
TO REQUIRE MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR POSTPARTUM MOTHERS FOR ONE YEAR AFTER GIVING BIRTH. | A. Collins | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1010
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1010 A. Collins TO SET THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE IN THE ARKANSAS ME…”
|
TO SET THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM FOR MATERNAL HEALTH SERVICES. | A. Collins | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1011
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1011 A. Collins TO CREATE THE RESTORE ROE ACT; AND TO RESTORE A…”
|
TO CREATE THE RESTORE ROE ACT; AND TO RESTORE A WOMAN'S ACCESS TO ABORTION SERVICES. | A. Collins | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1012
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…RESTORE A WOMAN'S ACCESS TO ABORTION SERVICES. Page 2 of 4 HB1012 A. Collins TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO EXTE…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO EXTEND ELIGIBILITY TO CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS FOR FAMILY PLANNING … | A. Collins | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1013
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1013 Hudson TO PROTECT FERTILITY TREATMENT RIGHTS IN THIS STATE.”
|
TO PROTECT FERTILITY TREATMENT RIGHTS IN THIS STATE. | Hudson | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1029
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1029 D. Garner TO SET THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE IN THE ARKANSAS MED…”
|
TO SET THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND … | D. Garner | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1032
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1032 A. Collins TO BAN CONVERSION THERAPY.”
|
TO BAN CONVERSION THERAPY. | A. Collins | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1132
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1132 Pilkington TO INCREASE ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE SERVICES PROVID…”
|
TO INCREASE ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE SERVICES PROVIDED BY ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSES; AND TO AMEND … | Pilkington | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1186
Act 960
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…EMS (ARRIVES) FUND FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES AGENCIES. HB1186 Vaught TO CREATE THE PAIN RELIEF PARITY ACT; AND TO REQUIRE…”
|
TO CREATE THE PAIN RELIEF PARITY ACT; AND TO REQUIRE PAIN RELIEF PARITY IN THE … | Vaught | Notification that HB1186 is now Act 960 |
|
HB1224
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…RIPTIVE AUTHORITY OF AN ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSE. HB1224 Nazarenko TO AMEND THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR…”
|
TO AMEND THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT; AND TO APPLY THE AUTOMATIC … | Nazarenko | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1244
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1244 K. Brown TO AMEND THE REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAIN A CERTIFICATE…”
|
TO AMEND THE REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAIN A CERTIFICATE OF FULL INDEPENDENT PRACTICE AUTHORITY BY A … | K. Brown | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1270
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…CERTIFIED NURSE PRACTITIONER OR CLINICAL NURSE SPECIALIST. HB1270 Pilkington TO ESTABLISH A PRESCRIBED PEDIATRIC EXTENDED CAR…”
|
TO ESTABLISH A PRESCRIBED PEDIATRIC EXTENDED CARE PILOT PROGRAM THROUGH A SECTION 1115 MEDICAID DEMONSTRATION … | Pilkington | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1401
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…MEDICAID DEMONSTRATION WAIVER; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. HB1401 Pilkington TO INCLUDE ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY SERVICES WIT…”
|
TO INCLUDE ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY SERVICES WITHIN THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT. | Pilkington | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1566
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1566 McClure TO REQUIRE ADOPTION OF A STATEWIDE PRACTICAL NURSIN…”
|
TO REQUIRE ADOPTION OF A STATEWIDE PRACTICAL NURSING PROGRAM CORE CURRICULUM TO INCREASE CONSISTENCY IN … | McClure | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1588
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1588 McAlindon TO REQUIRE APPROVAL OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEFOR…”
|
TO REQUIRE APPROVAL OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES SEEKS OR … | McAlindon | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1592
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…LUM TO INCREASE CONSISTENCY IN PRACTICAL NURSING EDUCATION. HB1592 J. Mayberry TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS ALZHEIMER'S AND DEMENTIA…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS ALZHEIMER'S AND DEMENTIA PUBLIC HEALTH ACT. | J. Mayberry | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1723
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…EVACUATION IN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES LICENSED IN THIS STATE. HB1723 Pilkington TO AMEND INITIATED ACT 1 OF 2000, ALSO KNOWN AS…”
|
TO AMEND INITIATED ACT 1 OF 2000, ALSO KNOWN AS THE TOBACCO SETTLEMENT PROCEEDS ACT; … | Pilkington | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1762
Act 1009
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1762 Hall TO REQUIRE REVOCATION OF A PERMIT FOR THE DISPOSAL OF…”
|
TO REQUIRE REVOCATION OF A PERMIT FOR THE DISPOSAL OF INDUSTRIAL WASTE IN AN AGRICULTURAL … | Hall | Notification that HB1762 is now Act 1009 |
|
HB1776
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…AN EXPANSION OF COVERAGE FOR THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM. HB1776 Lundstrum TO AMEND THE CERTIFICATE OF NEED REQUIRED TO OBTA…”
|
TO AMEND THE CERTIFICATE OF NEED REQUIRED TO OBTAIN A SOLID WASTE LANDFILL OR TRANSFER … | Lundstrum | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1781
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1781 Crawford TO AUTHORIZE THE LICENSURE OF CLINICS, HEALTH CENT…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE THE LICENSURE OF CLINICS, HEALTH CENTERS, OR OTHER FACILITIES IN WHICH A PREGNANCY … | Crawford | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1791
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…TION TO A PERSON WHO IS YOUNGER THAN EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE. HB1791 C. Cooper TO CLARIFY THAT THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION AND…”
|
TO CLARIFY THAT THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION AND THE UNITED NATIONS DO NOT HAVE JURISDICTION … | C. Cooper | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1795
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1795 A. Brown TO CREATE THE FERTILITY CLINIC LICENSURE ACT.”
|
TO CREATE THE FERTILITY CLINIC LICENSURE ACT. | A. Brown | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1801
Act 961
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1801 K. Moore TO AUTHORIZE AN OUTSOURCING FACILITY OF LEGEND DRU…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE AN OUTSOURCING FACILITY OF LEGEND DRUGS AND CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES THAT COMPOUNDS A PRODUCT … | K. Moore | Notification that HB1801 is now Act 961 |
|
HB1841
Act 1021
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…AIN TASKS TO MEDICAL ASSISTANTS AND OTHER UNLICENSED STAFF. HB1841 L. Johnson TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS REVENUE INVESTMENT IN VIT…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS REVENUE INVESTMENT IN VITAL EMS SYSTEMS (ARRIVES) ACT; AND TO CREATE … | L. Johnson | Notification that HB1841 is now Act 1021 |
|
HB1880
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…VE AUTHORITY TO ENFORCE OR IMPLEMENT ACTIONS IN THIS STATE. HB1880 Hudson TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS HUMAN LIFE PROTECTION ACT AND…”
|
TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS HUMAN LIFE PROTECTION ACT AND THE ARKANSAS UNBORN CHILD PROTECTION ACT … | Hudson | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1888
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT. Page 3 of 4 HB1888 Steele TO AMEND THE DIVISION OF WORKFORCE SERVICES LAW; AND…”
|
TO AMEND THE DIVISION OF WORKFORCE SERVICES LAW; AND TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT RECORDS … | Steele | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1890
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ND TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT RECORDS FOR INDIVIDUALS. HB1890 J. Mayberry TO ALLOW SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO BILL FOR HEALTHCAR…”
|
TO ALLOW SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO BILL FOR HEALTHCARE SERVICES; AND TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID … | J. Mayberry | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1906
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1906 Lundstrum TO REQUIRE WRITTEN CONSENT OF A PARENT OR LEGAL G…”
|
TO REQUIRE WRITTEN CONSENT OF A PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN WHEN PRESCRIBING LONG-ACTING REVERSIBLE CONTRACEPTION … | Lundstrum | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1908
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1908 Long TO CREATE THE PROOF OF RESIDENCY FOR PUBLIC ASSISTANCE…”
|
TO CREATE THE PROOF OF RESIDENCY FOR PUBLIC ASSISTANCE ACT; TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING … | Long | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1909
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1909 Long TO CREATE THE PUBLIC SERVICES ONLY FOR CITIZENS ACT; A…”
|
TO CREATE THE PUBLIC SERVICES ONLY FOR CITIZENS ACT; AND TO REQUIRE VERIFICATION OF CITIZENSHIP … | Long | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1998
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “AGENDA (Revised 4/15/2025 @ 7:00 AM) Removed HB1998 House Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Tuesda…”
|
TO CREATE THE JAMES MCFERRON MENTAL HEALTH, WELLNESS, AND RESILIENCY ACT; AND TO IMPROVE ACCESS … | Torres | Recommended for study in the Interim by the … |
|
SB117
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB117 C. Penzo TO CREATE THE NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIAN PRACTICE ACT;…”
|
TO CREATE THE NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIAN PRACTICE ACT; TO PROVIDE FOR LICENSURE OF NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIANS IN … | C. Penzo | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB121
Act 968
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB121 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR…”
|
TO AMEND THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT; TO APPLY THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL … | C. Penzo | Notification that SB121 is now Act 968 |
|
SB122
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…URE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT TO PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS. SB122 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR…”
|
TO AMEND THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT; TO APPLY THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL … | C. Penzo | Died on House Calendar at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB187
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB187 Irvin TO AMEND THE COMPOSITION OF THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID DRU…”
|
TO AMEND THE COMPOSITION OF THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID DRUG UTILIZATION REVIEW BOARD TO INCLUDE PHYSICIAN … | Irvin | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB2
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…-TIME EMPLOYMENT AS A PHYSICIAN FROM A HEALTHCARE PROVIDER. SB2 C. Penzo TO REPEAL THE STATEWIDE FLUORIDATION PROGRAM; AND…”
|
TO REPEAL THE STATEWIDE FLUORIDATION PROGRAM; AND TO REMOVE THE MANDATE FOR WATER SYSTEMS TO … | C. Penzo | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB217
Act 969
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…NAL LICENSURE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT TO PHYSICIANS. SB217 C. Penzo TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO REQ…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO REQUEST A WAIVER TO EXCLUDE CANDY AND … | C. Penzo | Notification that SB217 is now Act 969 |
|
SB238
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…UMBER OF VIOLATIONS. REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle SB238 J. Payton TO AMEND THE USED TIRE RECYCLING AND ACCOUNTABILI…”
|
TO AMEND THE USED TIRE RECYCLING AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT. | J. Payton | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB255
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB255 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "DRUG" WITHIN THE FOOD,…”
|
TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "DRUG" WITHIN THE FOOD, DRUG, AND COSMETIC ACT; AND TO … | C. Penzo | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB262
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB262 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE CORPORATE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE DOCTRI…”
|
TO AMEND THE CORPORATE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE DOCTRINE; AND TO AUTHORIZE A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL … | C. Penzo | Died on House Calendar at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB347
Act 1025
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…TO ENSURE CONSUMER PROTECTION FOR VULNERABLE AGING ADULTS. SB347 C. Penzo TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO INCREA…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO INCREASE REIMBURSEMENT RATES FOR CERTAIN DENTAL SERVICES AND … | C. Penzo | Notification that SB347 is now Act 1025 |
|
SB507
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB507 G. Leding TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO COVER…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO COVER APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS SERVICES FOR CERTAIN BENEFICIARIES. | G. Leding | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB585
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…OR DIRECTION ON THE BEST DESTINATION TO TRANSPORT A PERSON. SB585 G. Leding TO REQUIRE CERTAIN RECORDS BE PROVIDED TO AN EMPL…”
|
TO REQUIRE CERTAIN RECORDS BE PROVIDED TO AN EMPLOYEE WHO IS A MINOR. | G. Leding | Died on House Calendar at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB591
Act 973
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB591 C. Penzo TO PROHIBIT RACE-SELECTION ABORTION IN THIS STATE;…”
|
TO PROHIBIT RACE-SELECTION ABORTION IN THIS STATE; AND TO CREATE THE RACE DISCRIMINATION BY ABORTION … | C. Penzo | Notification that SB591 is now Act 973 |
|
HB1463
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1463 Hudson TO PROHIBIT DISCLOSURE OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL OR PSYC…”
|
TO PROHIBIT DISCLOSURE OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST MATERIALS OR TEST DATA. | Hudson | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1718
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1718 Gramlich TO ESTABLISH STANDARDS FOR SURGICAL SMOKE EVACUATI…”
|
TO ESTABLISH STANDARDS FOR SURGICAL SMOKE EVACUATION IN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES LICENSED IN THIS STATE. | Gramlich | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1882
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1882 Pilkington TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF ENROLLABLE MEDICAID B…”
|
TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF ENROLLABLE MEDICAID BENEFICIARY POPULATION AND ALLOW THE GOVERNOR TO DESIGNATE … | Pilkington | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB473
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB473 Stone TO AMEND THE DUTIES OF THE ARKANSAS FIRE PROTECTION S…”
|
TO AMEND THE DUTIES OF THE ARKANSAS FIRE PROTECTION SERVICES BOARD; AND TO PROVIDE FOR … | Stone | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB576
Act 623
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB576 B. Davis TO AMEND THE COVERAGE OF CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITO…”
|
TO AMEND THE COVERAGE OF CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITORS WITHIN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM. | B. Davis | Notification that SB576 is now Act 623 |
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members will grab your seat, chair seize the corum. We'll go ahead and get started. a. We'll run all the concurrences first as they listed on the agenda first, Representative Pilkington. It has to. Representative Johnson,
you recognize, go to the table and run a concurrence of 1841.
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
1:02
Representative Lee Johnson, District 47. We had to clean up some language. There was an accidental reference to a premium tax in this bill that we need to take out on the Senate end. That's
all we were doing. Happy to take any questions. Seeing the questions anyone in
the audience speak for or against the concurrence. CN 90, what's the pleasure of the committee? a motion to
concur. Any discussion? All those in favor, say ah. All opposed. I have it. Congratulations, Representative Vault.
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:35
1186. Um, 1186. Um, that's yourself for a committee in your district. Clint
Penzo, Senate District 31, um, DHS had requested a small amendment on that bill, so we're just concurring in that amendment. Any questions on the concurrence? Anyone speak for or against?
Pleasure committee, a motion to concur from Representative Bentley. In discussion All those in favor, say ah. I post. I have it. Congratulations. Thank you, Representative Moore. 1801. I'll get you a. Just, I just stay in.
Speaker 29
2:38
You recognize. Kendra Moore, House District 23. So the amendment on 1801 is just a simple amendment that allows the Board of Pharmacy to create rules for This bill. Any questions for committee? See
no anyone in the audience speak for or against the concurrence. Pleasure to the committee. And a motion from representative, uh. The
Speaker 31
3:12
My mind's gone blank, uh, McGee, all those in favor, say ah. I'll
post. It's what happens when you make me mad early in the morning. All right, you're uh. Congratulations for bill passed. Thank you. Representative Gonzalez. House Bill
Speaker 34
3:37
1963 concurrence. Thank Mr. Chair, committee, Representative Gonzalez House District 89. This is the amendment that I
said I would do if Representative Johnson made me do it, and he made me do it, so here we are.
Speaker 35
3:54
Any questions? Please people. Let's wake up. Um, anyone in the audience speak for or against.
It's a pleasure committee. And a motion to concur from Representative Allen. Any discussion, seeing none, all those in favor, say ah. All posed. Let's have it.
Representative Brad Hall
Unverified
4:13
Congratulations. Thank you, Mr. Representative Hall. Brad Hall representative, uh, District 24. Chad representative 25. Uh, we're here in an amendment put on the Senate. It was the definition of what surface application is. My understanding of this will
will basically penalize them for overification and a reign or a prediction of rain for a surface only, correct? Yes, sir. Any other questions from the committee?
A motion to concur. Anyone in the audience speak for or against. 8DQ this is your chance. I got a motion for Representative Woolridge to concur any discussion on a motion. All those in favor say aye. I post, congratulations, your bill is passed. Thank you, Minn.
Representative Woolridge, recognize you for House Bill 1131. Yeah And it has 2 of them,
correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair, Jeremy Wooldridge, State Representative
District one. Amendment number 1, House Bill 1131 just outlines the task of a nursing that's delegated and then the second line is an individual who a task is delegated to, doesn't have the ability to delegate that
task. With that, I make a motion to concur. A proper explanation. Any questions? Anyone in the audience speak for or
against the concurrence. I got a motion to concur in Amendment one on Amendment 1. All those in favor, say ah. All posed. I have it and you're recognized for do Amendment 2. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Jeremy Wooldridge, State Representative District 1, Amendment number 2 to House Bill 1131. A Senator
Penzo as a co-sponsor that I'll make a motion
to concur. In Amendment 2. Any questions? Any one of the audience speak for or against? It's a pleasure to the committee, and he's made a motion to concur in discussion. All those in favor say aye. All opposed? No. I have it. Bill your concurrence has passed. All right, members, a little housekeeping before we get started on regular bills,
we're not gonna hear any bills that have previously failed in
the committee until we have heard all bills that have not been heard yet in committee. So as we go down through the agenda, we're going to skip over bills that have failed in committee previously until we have heard all bills the first time. That way, all members and all bills get a chance to be heard in the committee before
session ends. So we have Senator Stone.
Speaker 61
7:24
said that Bill 473, 1st call. Sender hammer, Center Bill
Speaker 64
7:44
444. more You better wake up, buddy. Thank you. Representative Lee Johnson, Representative Lee
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
7:50
Johnson, state representative District 47. If you give me just a
moment, I'm gonna pull that bill up in front of me here. Members, a couple of sessions ago we passed a bill, um, around medical ethics and what, uh, health care providers could and could not opt out of, um, we're bringing this bill to you today
to clarify, uh, a few things and broaden that definition of medical provider also to make sure that, you know, if there are particular procedures that are onerous to a particular healthcare provider that they're allowed to opt out of those particular procedures. Um, we also are clarifying some issues. She's around the whistleblower law. This was all negotiated through the Hospital Association. I don't think there's any opposition to this bill. It came through the Senate without any problems, and I do have someone here in the room who can answer more questions if anybody has any.
Speaker 69
8:57
Any questions for committee? Representative ladyman. This bill
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
9:02
looks familiar. Didn't we? vote down a house bill like this. This session Yeah, I don't think so.
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
9:09
To my knowledge, I haven't seen a house come through like this. Any other questions?
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
9:21
Representative Rose. It's simply just protecting those who are in health care from having to do something that
Speaker 77
9:29
violates any type of moral or ethical or religious beliefs, correct,
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
9:32
and that's that bill's already on statute. We're just clarifying some things around that bill. Thank you. Thank
you, Mr. Chair. 44. Any other questions? And one in the audience speak for or against Senate Bill 444.
All right, members, uh, you close for your bill will make a motion to pass. That's a proper motion. Any
discussion on motion. Seeing none, all those in favor, say ah. All post. Let's have it. Congratulations. Hey, stay,
stay right there. You've got Senate Bill 603 from Senator Tucker as well. The air ambulance unit has an
amendment, correct? Yes, I have an amendment. OK. Can we get some. 603. All right, we'll give staff a
Unknown speaker
10:33
second to get the amendment passed out.
Can you sign this Sorry. I much
Speaker 96
12:43
Investigate the whole story. Yeah. You recognize members, this amendment changes some
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
12:50
language entitles the law in this law, um. It also changes some words and negotiations with the Department of Health and the trauma System to clarify. And make sure we adopt the amendment. It's proper
Chair
Unverified
13:00
motion all those favor. Say ah. Opposed I
have it, you recognize I present your bill. members
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
13:07
Periodically an issue comes up and it came up with Emma where a person's hurt and they might be
in a border state or they might be in our state and the ambulance lifts off from the scene to take them to a hospital in cases of severe trauma, we don't have every specialist at every hospital in Arkansas. The trauma systems in place to ensure that people get to the right destination in a timely fashion. We had an incident with this, uh, young lady who she was flown to what was thought to be the Hospital, which was in Oklahoma, um, and that hospital turns out didn't have the specialty care
that she needed and she had to be transferred back to Little Rock in a time sensitive situation that lost time that could have been critical for her life, and so we're trying to correct that issue that we do have some rules around this and trauma. This is just codifying those rules, and I'd be happy to answer any questions on the bill. Questions for committee
Anyone in the audience speak for or against the bill? You recognize speak for or against. Again, all right.
Speaker 101
14:17
That wasn't the extra touch that breaks it. Good morning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman Committee. My name is Jeff Taber. I'm here to speak against, uh,
Speaker 103
14:25
Senate Bill 603. Uh, for, for everyone's, uh, overview, there are two different types of air ambulances in the state, rotor wings or helicopters if you will, and fixed wings or airplanes, both performed two different types of services and so all our ambulances are not the same, nor do they provide the same service. The the requirement for rotor wing air ambulances to coordinate major and moderate
trauma systems from scene flights to the closest, most appropriate destination. With the Arkansas trauma communication Center is already set forth by rules of the Arkansas Department of Health for emergency medical services and trauma systems, fixed wing aircrafts do not coordinate any destinations for any patient transported as these are all in facility transfers. Arkansas utilizes the American College of Surgeons and national guideline for the field triage
of injured patients to classify trauma patients which guide such recommendations given by the Arkansas Trauma Communications Center in conjunctions with the statuses of hospitals as represented on the Arkansas trauma dashboard. In 2024, Trumacom or ATCC coordinated 10,431 EMS scene calls, 9,878 trauma transfers of these EMS seen cases, 539 were seen flights from major and
moderate trauma patients. 13 of those did require subsequent transfer to a 2nd hospital, if you will. year to date there has been one. All but two of these, uh, uh, scene flights went
Speaker 101
16:04
to levels 1 or 2 trauma centers, the highest possible, the highest designation in our system.
Speaker 104
16:11
In 2024, there are 25 transfers of patients that arrived by by rotor wing
Speaker 103
16:16
which we're not coordinated by Triumcom. 16 of
these went to level ones or two trauma centers as well. Year to date, there have been 2. Many cases like these are reviewed at the regional trauma councils, uh, which is protected under process improvement, and it's also important to realize that it is ultimately responsible for the EMS agency's medical director who holds the agencies and staff responsible for any deviations from protocols or rules. Overall, you should be very proud of your Arkansas trauma system. We are considered the golden standard of the nation
for our trauma system. It's my personal and professional opinion that Senate Bill 603 is unnecessary and will actually degrade the efficiency and services of our trauma system. Thank you. Tell me how it degrade it, uh, unnecessary volume coming into our coordination center uh for, for every scene flight, um, there, there's a, there's a myriad of, of reasons people are flown from that the ground EMTs and paramedics choose the trauma
system as far as patient coordination focuses on the major and moderates. Any questions committee from the witness?
Seeing no thank you for your testimony. Members, it'll be a long time before you
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
17:32
see Jeff Tabor and I up here speaking on opposite sides as an issue. He's, he's he. He's a, he's a good friend and and does a great job at the trauma system and um I understand what he's saying. He's not wanting to overload the system, but at the same time, um, you know, seen flights for air ambulances, it's rare that those are going to show up on
anything but major or moderate traumas. They're not going to be showing up for your mono traumas from seeing. We definitely had an issue come up with this, and it wouldn't have been brought forward if there hadn't been an issue that needed to be addressed, and it's not uncommon for us to have things both in statute and in rule, and so with all of that said, I'd appreciate a good vote and I'm from a bill. Make a motion to pass as amended. I sure hope there wasn't anybody else that wanted to speak
for or against it. I guess we can check. I'm sorry. Any discussion on the motion as amended. Seeing none, all those in favor,
say ah. I opposed, I have it. Do you have any other bills? Stay there. Let's knock them out while you're there. Senate Bill
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
18:37
60601. You're recognized. Members, as you know, we have a uh a serious healthcare workforce issue in the state. One of the things that has been done in other states to try to address that issue is try to remove some of the uh barriers to bringing foreign medical graduates or international medical graduates, they're known
both ways, entire state to practice into states to practice medicine. One of the, we have a very um Good system, I would say right now in the status quo, but I think it could be improved in one area. One of the things physicians do is once you're done with the medical school, you do a residency training program, uh, the residency training program is the way we do an apprenticeship to learn how to be a physician, um, as it stands in Arkansas, if you're an international medical graduate and you've done a residency program in another country, you still have to come back and do
more postgraduate training in Arkansas before you're allowed to have a license. What we're doing with this bill is we're Providing a pathway for people who have done a residency in another country to come to our state and get a medical license without having to do extra postgraduate training. They do have to pass all of the same tests that any medical student in Arkansas would have to pass. They have to get a certificate from the educational commission on Foreign Medical graduates. This is a commission that reviews not just their training postgraduate in their other country, but how that training
compares to Arkansas to get that certificate, they also have to pass the same step exams that You have to pass here in Arkansas. They have to pass a clinical skills exam, and they also have to pass an English proficiency exam. We worked on this language with the medical board and also the with the medical society and felt like this was a good, agreeable pathway to bring other additional physicians into the into the state to work here and to address some of the workforce issues, and I'll be happy to answer any questions on the
bill. Representative Richardson, you recognize us. Thank you,
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
20:29
Mr. Chair. Hey, uh, Representative Johnson, does this exclude Any countries, you know, this, this. session we've seen a lot of focus on other countries, so I'm curious, are any excluded in this? It doesn't exclude any countries, but
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
20:42
what it does is there there has to be, there's a process by which they compare the training that they might have received in that country to what they would have received in the United States. And if that training is not thought to be
comparable to the training we received here, that might be an exclusionary factor, but that's not listed to any particular country. It's based on the training that they would have received in that area of expertise. Any other questions for committee? See a
nun or anyone in the audience speak for or against the bill. OK, Representative Johnson, we have confirmed there's no one to speak for against the bill. You can close now. I'm not ready to close from my bill, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. And I make a motion to pass.
Seeing no, all those in favor say aye. I opposed I have a congratulations bill passed. Do you have
another one? I'm looking We, we got all the time in
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
21:42
the world for you. I do not have any more. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and
committee, you recognized. You would give us a bill number at the table. 554.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Jeremy Wooldridge State Representative District 1, Senate Bill 554. You recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you committee. Senate Bill 554 is a bill brought to us by Senator
Clark Tucker. It's a great bill. I actually had a bill, uh, like this drafted in the house, and we decided to work together on this bill. In essence, what this does is it creates the framework for a loan forgiveness program for behavioral health workers. There's 0 state dollars going into this fund, so there's no
ask for state funding. There's not going to be any state funding uh in this program, this just creates the framework, it allows it to be administered by VHS, which allows for uh public-private partnership, basically. So if there's money that can be raised in any way to put into this program, um, or if DHS finds some additional funding that they would like to put into the program. This just creates an avenue for them. In essence, what we're trying to do is we're trying to find a way to incentivize like we've done in the nursing field and other
fields, uh, ways for people to work with the most severe Arkansans with mental health and behavioral. Health issues. So, like any other industry, um, we have a shortage of workers in the behavioral health field. I'm an LCSW. Uh, we have a shortage of workers in the field. What we're seeing or what we have found and when we walked back the moratorium on behavioral health agencies and everyone could hang their shingle, everyone did. They went out into the community. They hung their shingle. They are choosing to work with anxiety disorders or,
you know, mild depressive disorders, things like that that are a little bit less cumbersome, less burdensome to work with, and it's leaving a void for people that are willing to treat schizophrenia or bipolar or some of the most severe symptoms of behavioral health and mental health in Arkansas. Uh, what this is designed to do is incentivize or encourage someone through a loan forgiveness program. Again, that's not funded by the state, uh, to go and work in those fields with the most severe patients in Arkansas for a set period of
time to get that loan forgiven and then when they fulfill that. ob li g ation they would be eligible to go and work in the community as they see fit. My hope would be that they would um develop a passion for working with that population and want to continue that work, but this is a great start in the right direction. It puts more workers in the field and it meets a need that is currently exists in Arkansas. With that, Mr. Chairman, I'll take any questions. Any questions from committee. Seeing no
one in the audience speak for or against.
Seeing on your close. I'm closed to make a motion pass probably from motioning discussion, seeing none, all those in favor say aye. I opposed. Let's have it. We could have a little bit more exciting in our votes. Um Members that brings us to
Speaker 53
24:56
Brings us to Senate Bill 120. It's Senator Penzo still in the room?
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
25:23
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to ask David Cook to come to the table as well. Sure. Clint
Speaker 131
25:38
Penzo Senate District 31. David Cook, director of government affairs
David Cook
Unverified
25:44
for the Alzheimer's Association. Uh, Mr. Chair, members, thank you for the opportunity to present Senate Bill 120. Um, this legislation just simply establishes licensure requirements for all private
care agencies, um, who operate in our state. Uh, it puts in place critical consumer protection safeguards for some of our most vulnerable residents are aging adults. We know that personal care service providers play a vital role in our health care system, helping manage chronic conditions, uh, help individuals recovery from injury or illness, or simply choosing to empower families to age in place. Uh, these providers offer an essential hands-on day to day support. But right now we recognize there's a serious gap
in state law in 2023, we filed legislation that establishes dementia training requirements for all private care agencies. Um, when those were promulgated what we realized is that only agencies in our state to participate in the state Medicaid program will required to have licensure. So let's be 2, 120 attempts to solve that gap by extending those same um licensure requirements, uh, that are in place for the Medicaid providers uh to our private pay sector. Uh, this legislation was not crafted in a vacuum. Um, we shared this legislation early with the Arkansas Health
Department, we sought input from providers across the state, including Medicaid providers who are currently playing by those rules and tried to address all those concerns to the amendment process, um, and we wanted to make sure that we uh had a bill that was not over regulation but struck a balance between providing some oversights and regulation for these private pay providers and also putting critical um consumer protection in place so that when families choose a care provider to come in and provide care, uh, they have confidence in that, um, in
that selection. I know for individuals with uh with Alzheimer's and other form of dementia. They're extremely vulnerable, so it's very important this population is protected, and again this only requires private pay, uh, providers to play by the same rules that our current Medicaid providers, um, play by. I'm happy to take any questions, but certainly would appreciate your support. So, full disclosure, I worked in this industry for a while.
And I find your testimony very interesting because go to page 5 in the bill. I believe it's lines 2 through 10. And you're removing The ability or the requirement for these agencies to be located within 100 miles of their clients. So if we're doing this
to help provide good care. Why are we establishing a reason to not have a nurse within 100 miles of a client.
Speaker 133
28:42
You refer a lot against uh Chairman, sorry.
from memory. It's line 5 on page 5 maintains a primary location in Arkansas in a significant number of regional offices to adequately service the administer and the board shall not require. A branch office of a private care agency to be within 100 miles of a
patient's home. Right now, they do require that. So you're removing that requirement so that an agency could should only have to have one office in the whole state and they could be servicing
someone in a different corner of the state. For the life of me, I can't see how that's safe or good for the
David Cook
Unverified
29:22
clients. This was carried over from the existing statute. My understanding a line in there
Speaker 139
29:26
that's new right. OK. Play that game somewhere else. Even know what he's talking about. Yeah
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
30:04
I think that is similar language to another section of statute that was pulled over by the health department come to the table, please. What you guys
are already signed to speak against the bill, but I want you to answer this question. I saw Matt Gilmore Department of Health.
Chuck Thompson, Attorney Department of Health. If you could answer that question, what's the current statute on
Speaker 149
30:48
where regional offices must be located. Um Thank you for the question, Chairman Wardlaw. I'm looking actually looking at that. There was some recent, there were some recent legislation 2019, 2021, and I believe 2023. I believe you have to have I believe you have to have an office within 100 miles of another office and you can do it
across the street that I remember the manually. This language would remove that language. Is that
Speaker 149
31:17
not correct? Just reading the plain language of that, it looks like that may provide a problem with that that prior language you
would say that's incorrect testimony to testify this bill strengthens the ability to have good care and adequate care when it removes the language of having an office every 100 miles, correct?
Speaker 149
31:32
I'm an attorney, not a clinician, sir. I understand. Committee, any other questions?
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
31:39
Representative Perry Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm looking at some of the Requirements. I know a background check under page 3 is required. Those are relatively easy to obtain. Also on line 32 page 3, a criminal if they haven't resided in the state in the last 5 years of federal criminal background check. What's the cost for a federal criminal background check and how long will that take?
David Cook
Unverified
32:10
Um, that is consistent with the current Medicaid, um, rules and regulations, this uh this section of code we amended down just to make sure it was his uniform. My understanding from providers is $37 originally we had put in the bill that we wanted just for all employees, but we, we decided to mend it back down to the current Medicaid rules and regulations. So that's something that Medicaid providers currently do, uh, representative Perry. All
Speaker 153
32:36
right. Thank you, Representative Perry. Any other questions?
Seeing on anyone in the audience speak for or
against, um. Mr. Gilmore, you and your attorney can speak
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
32:53
now? Matt Gilmore, Department of Health, um. As we signed in to speak against this bill, and I've spoke to Mr. Cook and Representative Barry, and I think I texted Senator Penzo, but Just from a um standpoint of um Smaller government, less regulation. This is going to require initial licensure for the ones that are not currently
licensed. We're estimating about 260 new uh entities that will be licensed in Arkansas under this and those are folks that are not currently licensed. It'll be a new process for them, new, um, new, uh, uh, uh. Regulations or licensure process for them, so, uh, from that standpoint we are not supportive of the bill and oppose it. I get more, you, are you aware of any complaints
from many consumers on any of those agencies that are unlicensed today. I'm not aware of any, sir. Thank you.
Any other questions? Thank you for your testimony. Anyone else in the audience speak for or against the bill? Senator Penzo, you recognize clothes for
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
34:01
bill. I would just like to Point out I've had, I've had you asked about complaints I have had a lot of people, constituents complain about um
Having things taken just ran into a lady in my building here in Little Rock the other day and
she had private care for her husband. And she was talking about how her checkbook ended up missing. Um, these are the things we're we're trying to correct. I mean, uh, want to draw attention to the, the radius, uh, you know, uh, I've had a lot of experience with these in-home car companies myself, my, my sister being disabled, um, we've had, uh, issues with, uh, different companies along the way, different providers along the way, uh, the people that work
for them, um, they should have background checks. Um, we We need to protect our, our elderly, our disabled, um, this bill does strengthen protections for um the our constituents, um, the, the radius, uh, is a, is a weak argument in my opinion, because, um, I, I know that we moved from a home care company for my sister that was located within a 10 mile radius of my house, moved to one at the far extreme and, and, uh, I think it
was in Mountain Home that took care of. for better than the company close to us because they had more nurses in Northwest Arkansas than the company in Northwest Arkansas, so to, to equate a radius to care, it's where the nurses live, uh, not, not how far they are from the home base. So, uh, um, I would, I would just appreciate a good vote on this. This is to protect our constituents and make it uh uniform across the, the, the different providers that are out there, so I'd appreciate a good vote. It
It's pleasure committee. And a motion to pass. In discussion on the motion.
Members I just tell you. It's really hard
for me to understand why we're protecting people. From training of of of Alzheimer's and all these things, but yet at the very end of the bill, We're removing The safeguard of having an office within 100 miles of these clients' homes. I could tell you it's gonna be very hard for a nurse to go see a client. If she's located
halfway across the state from these clients. And anytime they have a change in conditions, anytime they need a change in their care plan. The nurse has to go do that. The nurse is the only one, the registered nurse, the only one that can do any assessments on these clients,
even though they're nonmedical care. So I just find that very difficult to understand why we're selling this bill. It's something that's going to increase
care when we're moving the number one care item in here and that's the registered nurse from being within 100 miles of those clients.
So with that, and any other discussion? Seeing all a favor, say I. All post. I'm gonna rule the nose of it. Your bill has failed.
With that, we'll go to Senate Bill 347, Senor Penzo. Clint Penzo,
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
37:16
Senate District 31, I'll trade you chairs. up.
So this bill has a fiscal impact, so it's going to be handed out by
staff. So members, this bill was brought to my attention yesterday. I did not meet the 18 hour rule. To be heard in committee. So therefore I will need to see 14 hands to be able to suspend the rules
to hear this bill today. So with that, um, I need to see 14 hands. 234
hurt your hand up or down. What 14. All right, I have 14. So with that, you're
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
38:11
recognized to present your bill. We'll start with introductions. State
Speaker 167
38:18
Representative Julie Mayberry. Clint Penzo, Senate District 31. I'm Doctor Terry Fiddler, uh,
Speaker 169
38:23
the member of the Arkansas State Dental Association, their senior advisor. I'm also the executive director of Arkansas Mission of
Mercy retired dentist of 45 years.
Speaker 170
38:34
And I'm Billy Tarpley, executive director of the Arkansas State Dental Association. Members,
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
38:40
thank you so much for the effort for this bill to be heard today. I really appreciate that opportunity. I know that Dennis in the state of Arkansas are in desperate need, and this bill is hopefully going to Address some of it, um, as you know, it was sent to the Senate yesterday for an amendment, an
amendment that we actually were planning on putting on here on Thursday if the bill was going to be heard on Thursday, unfortunately it was not heard. Um, the fiscal impact on the original bill was going to be a lot more, and we were trying to narrow it down. We have narrowed this bill down as much as we can. It does not affect all Medicaid patients. We are talking about children who need to see a dentist who are going to struggle to find a dentist in their area.
Without this bill. They're already struggling. We're talking about adults with special needs who also, as you know, you've heard the other bill many times how how difficult it is to find the care for the adult with special needs, dental care. Um, I do want to point out there is a $6.9 million fiscal impact on that, on this bill now. What this does is it takes the average rate across the across
the country. And brings our dental care, our, our rates up to 60%. We're not even at the average. We're talking 60% of the average, and our dentists are actually really excited about that. That tells you what their rates are right now. They've not had a rate increase in 8 years. And they didn't want to have to come to us and ask us for help. But they keep
Advocating through the normal routes. And they keep getting the same results. I want to point out that there was a study that was just released about a week ago. This is April of 2025 from DHS. And in its own study, the results say DHS recommends further evaluation of the dental rates. That's what the study shows. And next year it's going to say we recommend further evaluation
of the dental rates. We have to step up and have to say we are going to do something to help provide this dental care. Also, in their report. It showed that in 2021, we had 768 dental providers. And then in 2023. 655. And I know these gentlemen are going to tell you there's probably even more that have dropped in the last year and
Speaker 169
41:41
currently are dropping. We need this bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh
Speaker 176
42:00
Everything in life is about relationships. And the 40 something years I've been in dentistry. I do have a lot of relationships in this state. With those who have practices uh specialties.
Oral surgery ortho, and general dentist. The last 15 years since I've been the executive director. I have fought the battle to convince All of these individuals. To keep taking Medicaid. That line has been drawn
Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
Unverified
42:35
to where they say we can no longer do this. Friday morning,
Speaker 176
42:44
At 2 o'clock in the morning. At our Mission of mercy. We had 52 people standing in line outside in the cold. Of those there were 18 families with children anywhere from 3 years. to 11 years. Standing there at 2 o'clock.
We must do this. If we lose our oral surgeons. And it looks like 80 to 85% of them will drop out. If we lose our pitadotist, Our children's dentist. As we say in Arkansas, they ain't coming back. So This financial impact to the state.
Be that whatever it is. Maybe be enough if this is passed to keep our folks. I will argue the point. To keep our folks. This cannot be the last time, but this has to be the first time. I received text all night long that I'm through. I'm through. If we don't get this, thank you very
Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
Unverified
44:19
much. And I'm open to questions later if that, if you have that
Speaker 170
44:25
decision. Mr. Chair OK Um Again, I'm Billy Tarpley with the Arkansas State Dental Association. I have a few brief remarks here I'd like to, uh, to share, uh, but we're so glad to have Dr. Fiddler with us. He has been a tireless worker to try to make sure children have the care that they need and that special adults in this case will have dental need, dental needs met, which we all know, and you've
heard that testimony before how critical that need is. Well, you have a handout in front of you today that provides some basic. information. Now please understand I'm not a dentist. I'm just a plain old guy, uh, but if you allow me a few brief comments I'd like to make some uh, as representative Mayberry said it's been 18 years since dentists have had a fee increase, uh, and, uh, meantime, during that time, supply costs have increased. Many supplies
have not gone back to the pre-pandemic level, but the, but the cost to treat a Medicaid patient is. id ent ical to the cost to treat a private pay patient. There is no difference. The supply costs are all there. Inflation has grown. Denis have continued to serve and treat the Medicaid population by supplementing DHS. They're losing money, but they're continuing to do it and they're supplementing. Medicaid and many as Dr. Fiddler said, cannot do it anymore, but
please understand this is an entirely different issue than House Bill 1241 that you approved a few weeks ago. That was for anesthesia services for high complexity adults which serves a narrow segment of the population. This bill will impact the entire children's program, special needs adults and provide critical oral and maxillofacial services. The original bill that we introduced before the amendment. was attached, used a graduated scale to implement the increase
over 3 years using published fees from the National Dental Advisory Comprehensive fee report, but the cost, the fiscal impact of that original bill was so high. To prove how, how woefully behind we are, this amendment became necessary to bring it within the scope of reality. The consent decree that many of you have heard about that dates back to 1994, uh, was handed down from US District Court, and it established a legally binding
agreement that DHS keep payment rates at a level necessary to maintain a sufficient number of providers. You heard the statistic that representative Mayberry just share. we've gone from 763 roughly down to about 650. That number will continue to drop because that was in 2023. So since 2014 DHS has utilized those kind of rate reviews to deny requests for fee adjustments made by the dental
association. The advent of managed care 8 years ago didn't help us any with trying to adjust the fees and now we're back in the world of fee for service. So dentists and the dental community have gone through flip flops a fee for service to managed care. Now back to fee for service again. So here we are requesting another fee increase, but to the core of the dental association's concern is a survey that we conducted in 2022, they indicated 84% of the
dentists who responded and this was the n equals 209, so 209 responses is a pretty good uh it makes it statistically. significant. 84% of the dentists indicated that they may have to stop treating Medicaid patients if rates remain unchanged, but 80% said they will stop in 3 years. We're in the 3rd year now if fees are not adjusted and when we ask the question or are fees adequate? 3% of the respondents said yes, fees are
adequate. That's not enough to maintain a sustainable program. The handout that you have includes a table showing. of the most utilized procedure codes in Medicaid Dental. It further demonstrates how inadequate the current rates are compared with the published fee report that's based on market rates. So thank you again for the opportunity to present today, Mr. Chair, we appreciate the time. Any questions or committee? Representative Ferguson, you
Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
Unverified
49:02
recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. In one down at the table can answer this question for me. I heard the testimony related to how many dentists we have lost. How does that compare and part of my district is rural. So how does that compare to rural Arkansas as opposed to your populated area in terms of loss, uh, uh, dentists participating in Medicaid.
Rural Arkansas will be the most affected because, as I said about relationships earlier. They have stayed longer to do Medicaid because they know these people personally. The business model says no longer can we do this, and we have the fear. I have the fear talking people in South Arkansas, El Dorado to the Delta to Pine Bluff. All of those areas, it looks like we will have people driving 100 miles to get pediatric
treatment if this goes because most of our pediatricians and general dentists that see children in these rural communities just can't do it
anymore. Let me ask one follow up, Mr. Chair. I just want to be clear now. So We had 700 plus. And now we're down to 600. 50 or something like that, correct? Can you give me an idea, as most
of them been in populated area or in rural area. That's what I'm getting at. I'm trying to see which part of
Speaker 170
50:48
the state has been hurt the most currently. The, the, the, the answer to that would be obviously statistically the majority of those will be populated areas, but specifically to your question about rural impact in testimony in Senate public health, Dr. Mark Bailey, who's from Waldron testified that he's the only dentist in his entire
county, but as he said, he, he's at the age to retire. He wants to sell his practice. He's at a point that he continues to see. Medicaid patients because that's his obligation to his community, but he said, I'm also at a point in my practice that I can. Here's the challenge as people in that age group continued to uh to leave the practice. They're either retiring in cases, in some cases that are dying, going out, the younger dentists that should come in and replace them are carrying debt
loads of 350,000 and $400,000. They cannot afford to lose money doing Medicaid, but That's where we're headed. That's the trend that's moving forward. rural Arkansas will be extremely impact because we're having trouble attracting, uh, dentists into those rural areas to replace the dentists who are retiring. Thank you, thank you, Mr. Chair. Any other questions? See
no anyone in the audience speak for or against the bill. We do have some folks on the
Carol Egan
Unverified
52:13
sign-up sheet. We have a Carol Egan. To speak for the
Speaker 191
52:33
bill. Hi, my name is uh Carol Egan. I am speaking just for myself as a citizen, but also as somebody who has many years working for
dental insurance and dental cost management and um it is, I had fun if an insurance person looking at statistics is fun, yes, um, looking at the statistics of the state of dental health in Arkansas. I also had the privilege of volunteering at our mom, um, that Doctor Fiddler, um, referenced uh this last weekend, uh, we had treated 1600 people,
I understand people who waited all night, one woman that I escorted was celebrating her 50th birthday, getting her teeth extracted, um, which is not You know, how you want to
Speaker 192
53:27
spend your 50th birthday. At least I didn't want to spend mine that way. Uh, so, It's
Speaker 191
53:35
really, uh, For me, having this background in dental insurance, I can tell you that the formula for good dental health is not
complicated. It requires Dental education, right? People knowing how to take care of their teeth on a daily basis, and I actually was impressed by some of the efforts I see, um, with DHS and their oral health services department and what they're doing in the schools. They're doing some good work there teaching kids about oral health, but it's not enough. That's one step of the process. You have to teach them. They have to actually do it. It has to be reinforced at home and
then they have to have access to dental care, right? Um, to have the, the, um, kind of Pain that comes with dental, poor dental health is really incredible. I once had an abscess myself and ended up going to the emergency room because I was traveling and this is what people in line were
dealing with for at our mom for for days and weeks waiting for this free dental clinic to come in. Um, we need to solve this problem and, and honestly, you guys have the tools that you can do it, um. Poor dental health leads to inability to go to work, inability to manage your relationships and ability to be a good parent. Poor dental health leads to physical health
problems. This is something any health insurance company will tell you, they'll tell you that by having good dental health, the health is the entrance into the body, the mouth is the entrance into the body, so bad dental health can lead to bad physical health, inability to process your food properly. Um, it's a really important thing to focus on and to get right, um. So We, we have a dental dentist
access problem, right? And the in Arkansas there's only 41 dentists to every Um, 1,100,000 people. That's Compares to 60. In per 100,000 in the United States and um and that's an average where where world popular populist areas like Chicago will have 100 or more. We only have 41, and that gets even worse when you look at
dentists who accept Medicaid, right? We have a high Medicaid population. And only um well, nationally, only 1/3 of dentists take Medicaid, but here it sounds like it's more like 1 in 5. Based on the statistics just shared. Uh, so, This, the, the lever that you're being presented with today is the one thing that you can do to help
Dennis stay accepting Medicaid, help them, help your constituents have access to dental care, which is a critical part of maintaining dental health. An interesting statistic provided by the American Dental Association is that The that um 2 million visits nationally per year to the ER for dental care. At ER visit for dental care
costs 3 times what it would cost to um go to the dentist. So you take this and this is legitimate math, 2 million visits, Arkansas's roughly 10% of the population, that's 200,000 visits to the ER, roughly $750 a visit. That is $150 million. Now, a lot of that's gonna be adult Medicaid and this bill doesn't cover it, but you should keep that number in mind because hopefully they're gonna come
back and ask you to increase the fees across all patients because Again, dental health is really important for the happiness and the ability to live their lives productively, and it's, it's really sad that we have thousands of people
Speaker 192
58:09
waiting in line for free dental every year. So please, please do vote for this bill, do,
I believe Medicaid wants to speak against the bill. Ms. Pittman, if you would
Speaker 197
58:36
introduce yourself for the record and you reckon I speak. Thank you. Thought I'd come to the mic that was already on, so I don't break it. Elizabeth Pittman with Division of Medical Services. Uh, thank you for giving us the opportunity to
Speaker 199
58:47
oppose this bill and We are opposing it, but we are not opposing continuing to work with the dentist to do targeted rate increases and policy changes
Speaker 197
58:53
that are needed in the program to ensure access. The
reasons for imposing this are the overall fiscal impact as well as just taking it out of our normal process, and I'll give you a little bit of information on that. I'd also like to provide some clarification around the statistics that have been provided. Um, first off, the fiscal impact, which has been testified to as a $6.9 million state share. The actual impact to the Medicaid budget is over $22 million. That's a considerable amount of money to a budget that is staying flat across both federal and state and in fact going down with the loss of federal match. Again, we don't believe we can
apply this just to the children under the principles of payment parity, which both CMS and this legislative body have endorsed. We cannot pay different rates for the same service based solely on the age of the client. So the rate increases would apply to the adult and children's population equally. Um, additionally, we believe these rights are being set off a commercial source. Mr. Tarpley even testified in Senate Public Health that the publication being used does not include Medicaid rates or Medicare. We,
Speaker 201
59:53
we are a public payer. We compare ourselves to other
public payers, Medicare, which does not cover dental and other Medicaid states. In this rate review that you see here, we compared ourselves to 7 other Medicaid states, including some that the Arkansas Dental Association provided us. We are on average 6%. lower, but if you look at those seven states, 4 of those states actually pay lower rates than we do today. Uh, so we are actually squarely in the middle of the seven states that we looked at. That report is only the first step in an overall process. The next step is to take it to
financial advisors and work with them to determine the targeted rate increases. We also don't believe that this, I mean, we believe this would set a bad precedent for all rate reviews going forward to look at commercial payers, which would again not be appropriate given that our standard is generally the Medicare rates. Um, DHS began working with the dental community back in, I think October of last year prior to the move to Fee for Service Dental. We understand the issues that Dr. Fiddler and Mr. Tarpley have presented today and want to work with them to find solutions that are sustainable for the
Speaker 197
1:00:59
Medicaid program overall, including addressing some of the policy issues that they have discussed in committee. We just don't believe this substantial rate increase is the answer. And again, if you look at
Speaker 201
1:01:10
the statistics that have been provided, the statistics provided on page 11 quoted by Representative. Mayberry that we had 768 dentists in
Speaker 197
1:01:18
2021. That is dentist billing Medicaid. We had 680 in 2022. Billing, Medicaid, that is not enrolled with Medicaid, that is billing. And if
Speaker 201
1:01:25
you'll remember that was during COVID when many dental
Speaker 197
1:01:30
offices shut down or saw decreases in utilization. So I just wanted to point that out. Additionally, if you look at page 12, it shows how many dentists provide Medicaid services in Arkansas. 75 counties in Arkansas have at least one dentist, that is 98.7% of counties. 71 counties have 2,
Speaker 203
1:01:47
that's 96% of counties. That's rural and urban counties. And last, if you look at the total
Speaker 201
1:01:54
number of dentists in Arkansas, yes, there are fewer total dentists in Arkansas, the
National. That's all dentists, private and commercial. More dentists serve in Medicaid than they do on the national average. we have close to 60% of dentists serving Medicaid in Arkansas, and I think the national average is closer to 40. So we're not seeing that the numbers declining the way that they're saying yes. Now maybe they will, I don't know. We do believe we need to continue to improve the program to bring it in line with we are. We know that it was managed care for 7 years. Uh, where they were negotiating rates with those managed care entities and not directly with
Medicaid. We have done rate reviews in that process and in that time frame, and none of those rate reviews has shown, shown us to be significantly below other Medicaid states. So what we're asking this body to do today is not to say we don't need to look at the dental program or improve it, but rather to say let DHS finish the process that we do with all providers across all different rates, do a complete rate review and overview of the policy and find ways to improve the program. that are sustainable for Medicaid overall, and I'm happy to take any questions.
Speaker 41
1:03:03
The first question I got is, how does this affect the
current RSA that's on the tables because RSA on tables already establishes the Medicaid spending for the year. So who or what do you take the $6 million from to be able to pay it to the dentist.
Speaker 197
1:03:20
budget, obviously, so, you know, we would look to what what money we have available, if there are any, and if not, we'd have to determine what efficiencies we can
Speaker 202
1:03:30
to find that or an additional and Janet Man makes
those decisions, so she may have a better
Speaker 207
1:03:36
answer. She just joined you. Good morning, Janet Mann, DHS. It is not currently planned for in our in the RSA.
So I've heard members say over the last 48 hours and you just pull it from the trust fund. Trust fund
Speaker 211
1:03:51
has plenty of money in it. Can you answer that rumor? That the current Medicaid trust fund is used annually for our budget and if
Speaker 212
1:03:58
we pull if if that were done, then that would be, um, less money to spend in either
future years or in in the next current year. I, I mean, it's a a forecasting model that we are beginning for the next 2 years and beyond, and the Medicaid Trust fund will be used. It's used in everyday budgeting today. Representative Pilkington, you reckon for a question? My turn. OK. Representative Rose.
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
1:04:27
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, the first question is from Ms. Pittman. You mentioned the uh inability to pay different
rates to adults and children. Um, It wasn't
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
1:04:39
something I had heard before, just. Not being aware, is that something that's like a state statute,
Speaker 6
1:04:44
a federal rule, an agency rule. Could you speak more to that? Yes, sir, that is
Speaker 204
1:04:48
an overall policy that this body has asked us to to do as well. I mean, I know there was a bill that was on the table around behavioral health rates being paid based on a
Speaker 201
1:04:58
diagnosis in different settings at a different rate, and that was not appropriate. We feel this is a similar situation where the only difference is not the service
Speaker 199
1:05:06
being provided, but the age and therefore it it creates parity and access issues across that.
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
1:05:11
I think you helped me narrow my, my focus on my question. You said it's an overall policy that we have asked you to follow the leg so is that, is that something that's in law or is it something that you guys have implemented kind of like as your
Speaker 219
1:05:25
own guidelines. It is also something the federal government will not really do. They've they've really changed how
Speaker 199
1:05:30
they look at rates recently with their access rule and the rate transparency, and they're not going to, they, they make us
Speaker 203
1:05:36
publish all of these rights and they're not going to, they're not going to allow. They have parity principles as well. Um And, and I appreciate
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
1:05:42
cause I know I'm asking you something pretty specific, um, You said it was an overall policy we've asked you to follow. Can you tell me what that is? Payment parity that we pay the same rate for
Speaker 197
1:05:54
the same service. And is that a policy or is that
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
1:05:56
law? I don't know that there's a state law on it, is there?
Speaker 197
1:05:59
I don't believe so. There's not a state law on it, no, sir. So it's, it's you guys are, are.
Guiding that yourselves with direction from you and
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
1:06:12
the federal government. Yes, sir. Yeah, OK, and so when you said the federal government, you said they will not really do that. Is that again, is that, is that like a directive? Is that law or is that,
Speaker 225
1:06:22
hey, we really would prefer you don't do this.
Speaker 207
1:06:25
Can, can you specify what that is? So the first time we encountered this was
Speaker 212
1:06:29
several years ago with differences between our kids and our kids B and the CMS came back and asked us to do payment parity, specifically for some
mental health services in the Our Kid B. And ever since that time. period when we have filed state plan amendments, we get asked about the payment principles. So that is really been our first. Working with that was about 4 to 5 years ago, I would have to go back and look at these specifics on the state plan. And I will say every
Speaker 197
1:06:59
time we we submit a dental state plan or anything that it has dental on the page, CMS again undergoes an adult dental benefits sufficiency analysis, they have some concerns over the limits that we currently have in place
around dental as attempting to change the rates to make them lower than children's, I think would just escalate
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
1:07:16
those concerns with CMS. Could you, and thank you for the latitude, Mr. Chair. I'll wrap up. Could you reference
Speaker 204
1:07:22
again you said adult benefits there it's called a sufficiency analysis that CMS does. we right now have a hard limit of $500 on adult dental
Speaker 197
1:07:30
benefits. Every time that comes in front of CMS, they make us redo a sufficiency analysis. So
Speaker 77
1:07:37
it specifically states adult dental benefits analysis that is
Speaker 199
1:07:40
differentiate between adults and non-adults. They, they have. We are not allowed to put hard limits on children, period. We have a hard limit on adults. They have serious concerns over us having a hard limit on adults as distinguished from children, and they question that every time. So I actually think their concern is that we are distinct.
Speaker 232
1:08:00
So we do already do that. Yes, sir, uh, with the limit because we cannot have limits on children, but
Speaker 203
1:08:04
your testimony was that we can't, we cannot have rate parity differences, not, not limit parity difference let
Chair
Unverified
1:08:11
somebody else jump in. I appreciate it. Thank
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
1:08:14
you. Representative Allen, you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Did I hear you say that it
Speaker 235
1:08:20
was gonna cost $6 million 6.9 million state general revenue 6.9.
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
1:08:23
Now the that include Arkansas share is that part of the federal money too. That is just Arkansas's share. The
Speaker 222
1:08:30
the total computable is over 22 million. OK, thank you. Yes, sir. Representative Woolrich.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and thank you both for coming to the table to talk about this. So I guess my question would be, and you talked earlier, and I'd just like for you to kind of expand on this. You said let, let DHS go through its natural process. So I guess my question for you is for some of us that are newer to the legislature, what is that natural process and why has it not taken place for an increase in 18 years. Yes, sir. We've actually been through this process
Speaker 197
1:09:03
at least twice since I've been with Medicaid in 2019 and I believe at least once before that, although I wasn't here, so I can.
Speaker 199
1:09:11
I can't say for sure. Um, so it's not that we haven't done it, it's just that in doing so, this is the first time that we've even shown that we're we're lower than the states that we've compared to. Um, so what we would do now, this is the first step of I think about a 5-step process. We now, because we want to look at it further, we would take it to our either our actuaries or to an accountant or other financial advisor to take a look at how
Speaker 197
1:09:33
we should go about doing some targeted increases with the overall budget would be. We also have worked with a dentist to try to improve their policy, we would look for
Speaker 199
1:09:42
some efficiencies in policy to make it easier for them to build as well as to make sure that we are, you know, not causing over or underutilization, just standard policy review. We package all of that, we'd work with a dentist on all of that and continue to meet with them, and then we'd bring it back to the body for approval, CMS approval, and we we'd go about doing whatever increases we we decided to
do. Well, and I appreciate that explanation, and I'm sympathetic to your position and, and as a person who's provided services, I think that you could copy and paste this to every provider in the state of
Arkansas dentist are not alone in needing rate reviews, needing increases. I mean, they're one of many that I would think that this would apply to, but I do have, I, I guess my question would be, and I didn't understand it from your testimony. I couldn't hear you. How, how frequently are you doing this rate review and when did the last rate
review show that we were behind. Yes, sir.
Speaker 212
1:10:34
So there is a rate review schedule for um all of our providers that is on our website. We, I think we are doing 2 to 3 rate reviews every quarter. We
started with the dentist since they had just come out of managed care and going back to fee for service. So I think I believe in April 1, we started two additional rate reviews or or 3. Anyway, it's published on our website, we try to go through all of the provider types that do not have either cost-based reimbursement or scheduled, um, annual changes to make to make sure that they are heard. I think it takes us approximately 3 years. to get through all 30. So the rate review takes 3 years.
To do all the categories. There's approximately 30 categories, and we also added the, um, the past non um fee for service categories to the rate review process this time. So we go through that process. We work with the actuaries or the budgeting, we go through approvals, then, then we seek what happens with the budget and then we go through the approval process with this body to implement. So, so I want to make sure I understand. So
it's 3 years to complete a rate review through
Speaker 242
1:11:47
all of the steps or no? 3 years to complete all of the rights
Speaker 199
1:11:52
in the state that is the goal, yes, sir. It takes about. 6 months to complete one rate review from because we put out a survey to providers. We get responses to that survey. We run all of this data, draft this report, put that back out for comment to the providers. So the providers now have the opportunity to comment on this report, and then we'll go to step 2. No, I understand. Yeah, it's
a slow process for sure. So my last question and the one I, I, you may have answered, but I missed it. When did you determine that there was a
Speaker 199
1:12:18
deficiency in the rate. The first report or rate review that indicated a deficiency is the one we just did. Uh, in 2024, 2025, the one in 2020 did not show that. Thank you. Any other
Speaker 69
1:12:28
questions for committee, uh, Representative Bentley. Yeah. Thank you, Chairman. Just real quick, so
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:12:39
you're saying this amendment that was passed last night, really you won't be able to do, we'll have to go back to the full population to do the adults. Can you remind us what that, uh, amount was and what
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:12:49
that will be the effect will be to our Medicaid
Speaker 199
1:12:52
budget ma'am. Now that we can, we can limit it to just the year one impact, which is what we've limited it to here in our numbers that we're giving you today, uh, which is the 22.9
Speaker 197
1:13:02
million total computable for the entire Medicaid budget, um, almost 16 million of that is federal and then almost 7 million of. out of state. Thank you Representative
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:13:16
Richardson. So earlier you mentioned that in the process you have a targeted
rate increase is what you guys would do. Would you tell me, give me more about what that is and how do you identify Who's the targeted group that receives
Speaker 199
1:13:30
it. Yes, sir. So what we mean by targeted is not based on group, it's based on service. If you look at the the fiscal that has been provided to you on the original bill, you'll see the utilization numbers vary greatly across different codes, uh, the rates comparisons also vary greatly across different codes. So we would look at which uh codes really aren't comparable to other payers, and
Speaker 258
1:13:51
then also which ones would have the biggest impact on the program.
OK, so it's by code. OK, thank you. Representative Woolrich. Thank you, Mr. Chair, uh, Representative Richardson's question made me think about something else I wanted to verify. So you said you've already started or complete. Study for dental, 2425. Yes, we have
Speaker 201
1:14:08
completed the rate report process, which is probably the longest piece of this because of all of the surveys
Speaker 199
1:14:13
we have to do. We are now moving into working with financial financial advisors and the providers to get the actual numbers. OK, so the rate report does not give
you a projected deficit of how behind we
Speaker 255
1:14:25
are. It does. It says if you look at the front of it, it gives the summary of where we are. We're
Speaker 201
1:14:31
over all of the seven states we compared to, and it lists those states there 6% below. If you look at individual states, 3 or higher than us 4 or lower.
So what is the, what would the dollar amount 6% dollar amount be to your budget? Is it in what I'm trying to find out is it in line with what this bill's fiscal impact is? No, it
Speaker 263
1:14:49
would be smaller than this. OK, thank you.
Any other questions for the witness? See you no. Uh, Representative Ferguson. Uh, how small?
Speaker 199
1:15:03
I don't know. We haven't run that that math yet because we're not saying for sure we need a 6% increase. That's one factor that we look at, and again, if you look at each of the seven states, 4 of them are actually lower than us. So, you know, we're not saying based on this report that we need a 6% increase. We're saying if you average all of those states' rates were 6% lower. Um, so what we would now do is go to
Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
Unverified
1:15:26
the next step to determine that actual percent and what that dollar amount would be. So there's a possibility that it would
Speaker 199
1:15:36
be recommended an increase but not this one. Correct. It's possible that it would be. We don't know
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:15:40
that yet. That's what we have to figure out. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Richardson. So based on that, and, and history, it's probably easy to say that there wouldn't be an increase, that there would not be would not be based on the 18 years that we haven't seen an increase in it, would you not agree that
based on historical performance that That there's a possibility there wouldn't be an increase, even though you said, because you said there might be a 6% also there may not be an increase. So, I understand your question, and that's
Speaker 262
1:16:09
a very fair question. I I understand where it's coming from. No, that would not be our position at this
Speaker 199
1:16:14
point in time. I understand the history makes it seem like that. It is an 18 year pro it's been 18 years. There was actually a consent decree which we can get all into that, but it said it based off of a, the premium Delta dental plan rates, which were very, very high compared to other
Medicaid programs. So it's just taken quite a long time for us to level set and even get to where we're behind other states, to be honest, and that's part of what's going on here and I've I've had discussions with Mr. Tarpley about that. Uh, himself. So I, I know they understand that concept, um. But we would not contend that that we would necessarily come in with no increase. I don't believe again, Miss Main can override me on that. She does hold our purse strings, but I
Speaker 197
1:16:51
have The analysis So. Any other questions from committee?
Seeing uh Representative Henley. I'm gonna quit saying that. Thank
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
1:17:05
you Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, ladies, which, what are the seven states that you refer to. Is that, are those states that that's uh just our neighboring states or is that something that the federal government compares
Speaker 255
1:17:18
us to. Uh, they're both, so it's um New Mexico,
Speaker 199
1:17:22
Kansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri, and I am glad, I'm happy to send this to uh the The committee so that you can
see that. And that is surrounding states. It's uh Region 6 states, which is the region that we're in with CMS and then weirdly, I always say Nevada is a is an interesting state for us to compare to because they are a primarily fee for service state similar to us. They're also very, very rural
Speaker 197
1:17:47
and have a few pockets of, of urbanization, such as Las Vegas, obviously, but, but for the most part are a very rural state. So in doing research of comparable states for other programs, we discovered that they were very similar, so we pulled them in a lot as well. But um 3 of the
state to believe were actually recommended by the dental association, and those are listed in this, um, report. I just, I can't find it right now, but they're listed
Speaker 262
1:18:11
in here, which 3 they recommended. And I know Missouri was one of those. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony.
Anyone else in the audience speak for or against the bill?
See you 9 Sen Penzo, Representative Mayberry, you recognize to close
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:18:43
for your bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Medicaid is designed to protect the vulnerable populations, children. elderly, the disabled. Um I'll approach this in closing from a fiscal perspective since the fiscal impact was brought up. Um, this fiscal impacts
changed multiple times. It started at 2.4, um, I'm assuming the parity issue is what brought it up, but they jumped it to 24 million from 2.4 million. Uh, that's why we cut out the 2nd and 3rd year stair step on it just to keep it down to the 6.9. I think everybody in the Senate realized we need to do something. It's just the 24 million was a little much, uh, 6.9, uh, is. There's still a healthy ask, but if you look at all the, the Medicaid increases we've passed this year, a lot of them didn't even have fiscal impacts. It came through, and I know some of
those were in the twenties of, you know, 24 million. I remember, uh, verifying one of them. So, um, This is to address Children and their oral health care that leads into other issues. Um, there were 81,000 visits in 2011. I'm sure it's significantly higher now, that's just the statistic I had. So, so people are going to the emergency room to treat their dental issues, and that treatment involves Narcotics usually. Here's some
pain pills, uh, you'll see your dentist. Well, they don't go see the dentist, temporarily temporarily fix it. They may give him antibiotics, narcotics, things to ease the issue at the time at the ER. It cost triple what it would have cost to fix the issue. So the burden on our healthcare system, the Medicaid system, I think is significantly higher than what this ask is. I think it will reduce the burden on the emergency room visits, uh, because these, these patients are not going to dentists right now because the dentists have quit seeing Medicaid. patients because they're not getting reimbursed. So, um, I, I
think this will fix a lot of the issues we have. I'll I'll keep it short and let,
let Julie move on to whatever she wants to close with. No witnesses are allowed to
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
1:20:51
testify in closure. It's members only. OK, I'm sorry. Um,
I just wanted to point out you were asking where does this money come from? There is a $100 million sitting in a Medicaid set aside for our budget, so. There is money there, um, and It's $6.9 million. I know that's
a lot of money, but you know what, I don't like spending $50 to $70 to to change the oil in my car, but if I don't change the oil in my car. My engine's going to go bad and I'm going to end up spending more, and that's what this is about. I'd appreciate a good vote.
Speaker 276
1:21:29
Pleasure committee. I got a motion do pass
Representative Perry in discussion on the motion. Seeing none. All those in favor say aye. All opposed.
Speaker 277
1:21:43
I have a congratulations Bill thank you committee. So with that, we'll
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:22:01
move on to Senate Bill 2. Clin Penzo, Senate District 31, SB 2 is to remove the fluoride mandate, uh, in Arkansas. Currently, um, we have a mandate that water water districts have
to put fluoride into the water system. Um, before we get started on this, before I talk about fluoride, I want to point out that this is We just passed legislation. To allow Oral fluoride
treatments. For, for children, um. If you put fluoride in the water supply. 99.5% of that water, literally goes down the drain.
It's used to water your grass, water your livestock. Take a shower, do laundry, do dishes, only 0.5% of that. Actually crosses the teeth and that's the important part where it crosses the teeth. Once it goes into your system. It goes into your bones, your tissues, maybe your teeth, if it gets to that point through the, the limited vascular supply that your teeth actually have, topical treatment is the best way to deliver, and we just passed a bill that will increase
funding for topical treatments for children in Arkansas. Fluoride is a drug. It's classified as a drug. You cannot regulate the administration of fluoride and water. You can't control how much you control the dose that's in the water, but you can't control how much a person drinks. Some people may not drink water. Some people drink a lot more water than others. People in the South drink more water than people in the North. So to actually put it in the
water supply, uh, doesn't make sense. It's not a good form of delivery. There there's been new studies coming out showing that it causes IQ decreases in children and in places that administer uh fluoride, uh, Hawaii has some of the best oral health, uh, in the country, and they do not supply. Fluoride. It's actually prohibited in a lot of places. Arkansas, we have a mandate and have had a mandate for a while, and we have some of the worst
oral health outcomes in the country, and I think that's due to the Medicaid reimbursements that we just addressed. Um Fluoride is in the, the With the halogens bromine, chlorine, those are toxic chemicals. Fluoride islands are probably some of the most, well, they are the most, uh, uh, corrosive. Probably one of the most corrosive elements on the periodic table. It's very dangerous. The, the people that administer it have to wear
hazmat suits, um, it's got a skull and crossbones on the bag, um, you, you, it's, it's like I said, it's, it's a very dangerous product and it needs to, if, if somebody wants their child to have fluoride, it needs to be administrated topically for the best absorption. Uh, it never needs to go into the system. If you look on toothpaste, it, it actually says if you swallow more than a pea size piece of toothpaste that's, you know, fluoride that has fluoride in it, call your poison control
center center. So it can be very dangerous. Um, there's a lot of states moving forward with getting fluoride out of the water supply, um, and I think, uh, I think we need to join them and and protect our, our citizens. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Representative Pilkington.
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
1:25:47
Representative Benzo, can you list some of the countries that do not fluoride their water, put
fluoride in their water. I mean, what to help us understand this. we clearly do it, but my understanding is, I mean, what do other developed nations
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:26:03
do. Most of the developed countries do not put fluoride in their water. I'd I'd say it's a shorter list of countries that do, uh, European Union, um, Uh, pretty much. Most countries don't. Um They've removed it from their water. Um, the, the origins of
uh of, of fluoride or, or from uh fertilizer production. Um, and it's, it's not legal to dump. This, this fluoride waste that comes off, there's naturally occurring fluoride, which is sodium fluoride that you find, but this, what we use in our water supply in the United States is from it's an agricultural waste product that can't be dumped into rivers, so they found a way to make a profit on it and uh dilute it,
you know, it's old adage uh this solution to pollution is dilution. Best way to dilute it's in our public water supply, and I think it's amazing that, uh, you know, it's kind of like all the, all the food additives that are made from, uh, um, You know Waste products from ah The oil industry. Most of your food dyes are made from. petroleum products. So I mean it's, it's, uh, we found a way to you put turn the waste into something that's supposed to
protect children's teeth and most countries have eliminated it. There's been federal lawsuits in the United States, um, and the movement is towards getting it out of our water supply. Any
other questions? Represent in it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
1:27:46
Um, was, um, the Department of Health's stance on this bill. If we could have somebody. Come up. If we had
some other members with questions, but I will bring
them to the table if there are other questions or health problem, we'll do it
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
1:28:05
sooner. Representative uh Long, you us? Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Penzo, if I understood correctly, just in the last few weeks, Utah signed into law a I guess to remove the mandate for Uh, for fluorization of their water. Are you familiar with any other states that have done it recently. Um, I,
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:28:23
I know other states have legislation in the works right
now, and I know other states have, but I don't know specifically other than Utah, uh, who has, I know the, the federal government is currently looking into, uh, Asing they've asked that the CDC not recommend it, but there hasn't been a move yet to uh restrict it. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Representative Bentley, you recognize. Thank you, Chairman. Senator Penzo,
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:28:51
as I look at the current statute that we have in place, I see nowhere
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:28:55
in here where this fluid has to come from America.
It could come from China. There's, I mean, do we have any, do you even
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:29:04
know where the source of this fluoride is coming from
and we're dump it in our water right now. My understanding, the majority of it does come from China, um, in which there's, there's no regulations, uh, uh, most of the fluoride that comes out of China does have arsenic and uh cadmium contamination. That's why some people are refusing to
put it in the water supply. It's not. is only adding the fluoride, but there's also could be potential arsenic and cadmium contamination. Thank you. Thank you.
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
1:29:29
Representative Ladyman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, Senator Pinzel, thank you for bringing this bill. I ran it twice and was not able to get it through. I did get it over to the Senate the second time, and they, you know, Senate committees were good House bills go to die, and that one died. So, but I do appreciate you bringing this and I appreciate your knowledge and, in chemistry. So This may be the you agree question, but the reason I ran
the bill, I looked at it and, and I've run water treatment plants. I'm a certified water treatment operator and in rural areas, especially, uh, chemists don't run our water plants. They're not chemists. They're, you know, they're guys that work for the city. And uh, as you say, this is a poison. So a little is good for you, but a lot will kill you. And, you know, these, these pumps that you use to feed these things like acid and cassic and
fluoride and that sort of thing. They're very touchy. They really need somebody to operate these things and know exactly what they're doing because if they don't adjust those things, it can be very detrimental to your health and you can get more fluoride than than is required. So Would you agree with me that it's very hard to dispense this fluoride at the required rate in rural areas where we have really
Speaker 279
1:31:01
people that are not qualified to dispense poisons. Would you agree? I would agree.
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:31:06
I'd say it's hard to regulate it anywhere, but especially uh probably some of these r, uh, facilities that have a lower flow than the the big cities, uh, you know, the, the, there's actually one of the complaints from a lot of the water districts that they have to, it cuts the life expectancy out of their pumps. cuts it in half. Because, you know, um, flooring is an electric electron thief. It'll, it'll bond to
anything and strip an electron off of it. So it it's very corrosive and it eats the pipes, it eats the pumps, um, it, it's, it's a toxin that should not be in our water supply. I mean, it's proven to cause neurological defects in children, um. More, more so than adults and everybody wants to give their children fluoride, so, um, you know, I, I'd say that the neurological damage way offsets the benefits of of anything it could do for the teeth, um, you know, in, in a world that we
live in now where you can go buy fluoride toothpaste, um, I don't see any point put in the water supply, but I, but I agree with you. It's, it's very hard to regulate, I'm sure if you, if you studied the, the, the flow coming out of the plan, it would highly fluctuate. And there's been a lot of people get burns at water treatment plants because they've been exposed to this lung damage, um, it's, it's a very dangerous material. Representative Woolrich. Thank you, Mr. Chair and thank
you, Senator for bringing this bill. I don't, I don't claim to be a water expert for sure, water treatment expert, um, but I do think that allowing folks at the local level who are to make this decision is probably a good idea. My question for you, uh, and you may not have this information, but I'd be curious to know. So before we had water systems, you know, people drink out of wells, um, spring fed, all of the things that that happened. Do we know, has there been a decline in oral health. Over the years, because of this,
I mean, I, I'm not saying you're suggesting that from your testimony, but I guess my question for you would be, you're saying that you've really, you don't think that this has done the job to improve or even maintain oral health. There's not been a great
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:33:18
benefit there. I mean, uh, if you look at the, the statistic of the states that don't Mandate Flora
in the states that do, um, being that we mandate it and we have one of the worst oral health outcomes in the country. I don't think it's doing the job. I think we just, like I said, address that job uh
previously. There there's one water district I spoke to, and they actually had installed Equipment to remove the fluoride from the water supply and then the state comes in and says you need to add fluoride, so they've actually bought equipment to decrease the fluoride in their water supply because they, their source is higher than, than it should be. And then here we tell them we have to add it. So, um, you know, this is a local control bill. This doesn't say you can't put fluoride in your water. There's some water
districts that will still do it. But there are other ones where their constituents are adamant that they want flo. out of their water supply, and we should give our constituents the right to have fluoride taken out of the water if they want. I mean, here we are mandating a drug. That we cannot feasibly regulate. I mean, if you, you give someone else a, a pill, it's got a dosage, how many times a day, how many milligrams. This is How much you can put in the water, you can't control how much somebody drinks. I appreciate that, and that leads
into my follow-up question. So with the repeal of this, and again, I'm for allowing experts at the local level to to help be part of making this decision. There's funding associated because of the mandate, correct, for those that do implement fluoride and if this is repealed for those communities or water districts that want to continue to use fluoride, will there be an
impact to them via state funding, uh, if, if they're currently getting state
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:35:03
funding, I don't know why this would eliminate any of that. I can't
really address it. I just know that we spend over $10 million a year. On, on adding fluoride to Arkansas's water supplies, and we had issues with actually treating children with 6.9 million, and this is a $10 million reduction to ratepayers in Arkansas. Um, that's what I do know. And they may not be, that may be a question
for the Department of Health. I'm just trying to think through all of the angles and scenarios by repealing, but I appreciate you bringing the bill. Thank you, Senator. Thank you. Any other questions?
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:35:41
Representative Richardson, Senator Penzo, 2 questions for you, um, Well, actually just one. So the, the stats that you provided about some of the issues with fluoride and what it causes to human beings, children.
Speaker 112
1:35:53
Are those stats that are based inside of the state of Arkansas. I don't
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:35:59
believe any of these studies have been done inside the state of Arkansas. I mean, these are studies that are done at universities, um, you know, I, I mean, I, I don't think any studies have actually been done here, other countries, other,
other states within the United States, but um I don't think any of the cognitive studies have been done in Arkansas. OK,
Speaker 302
1:36:24
then I'm good. Thank you. Do fluoridate water. Representative Allen. Uh,
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
1:36:28
thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a follow-up to Representative Richardson question. Is it fair that we base some of the things that happen in other states. And compared to what could possibly happen in the state of Arkansas without actually having the data.
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:36:46
Well, I mean, uh, the, the, the effect of a of a of Fluoride on
a child doesn't, doesn't matter what state they're in or what country, uh, it's a, it's a study on the effects of fluoride on a child. I mean, I don't, I don't think it matters. Um What would state that occurs in. I mean, science is science. It doesn't matter if you do the experiment in Arkansas or Missouri, uh, unless it has to
do with, uh, you know, geomagnetism or something, you know, that has to do with location, but I mean when it has to do with just chemistry, I don't think it really matters. OK, thank you. Seeing no other questions, anyone in the
audience speak for or against the bill? You recognize speak. Against the bill? Or for the bill.
Speaker 191
1:37:55
I struggled a little bit with 4 or against because I just want to Give you a little bit of additional information, which I think has been lacking in this presentation. Um, it's too bad. Oh, I'm sorry, Carol Egan, speaking as a citizen. Um, I just wanted to make sure that you were aware that and it's too bad that Arkansas Dental Association is no longer here. Um, there have been studies uh proving the efficacy of fluoride
in water and over the years, um, dental insurance plans have noticed a significant decrease. In Cay's uh uh cavities, um, with children since we implemented the introduction of fluoride in the water. Also, um, it's important to know that this also affects older adults because as we get older and we start taking medication for statins or um uh high blood
pressure, those, uh, medications lead to dry mouth and one of the things that we do as adults. With dry mouth as we, we suck on candy, we chew gum, we do things that are that actually lead to cavities again, so we see an increase. In cavities. With the Medicare population. So, I can't speak to local control. I do know we do not have fluoride and water throughout all the state of Arkansas, um,
but I do want you to know that fluoride. does improve dental health. I'm not familiar with studies that show that it leads to, um, neurological, uh, problems with children, but I would really caution you to look at those studies because there are a lot of studies out there that are just an initial study that
Speaker 192
1:39:53
have not been confirmed, um, with, with further further
science. So, um, I would just, you know, Encourage you to get all the facts before you make a decision on this. Thank you. Any questions for the witness?
Representative Bentley. Thank you, Chairman. Just a quick question. So if
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:40:12
we look at the data here in Arkansas or our oral health has declined drastically with the children in this state, and we've mandated Florida and the water for quite
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:40:19
some time. I really don't understand how you can come here and say to us that adding fluoride to the water improves oral health, and we've seen a great decline in oral health across our state. Can you
Speaker 191
1:40:32
Answer that question for me. So I can only speak to um what we Observed With insured Uh, patients, um, and, uh, and that is definitely significantly, statistically significantly a decline across the country. In carries with children. There are many attributes that I could go into why oral health is so
bad with children in this state. One of them would be food deserts, not um good diet, um, food insecurity, bad eating habits are are really huge cause of bad dental health. So I would not connect. There's correlation versus causation, right? There may be a correlation between adding fluoride to the water and the dental health of our children, but I wouldn't say
that there's a causation there. I don't think you would find
Speaker 192
1:41:37
the science, and you could talk to many actuaries, um, across the country, uh, regarding that. Any other questions?
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
1:41:47
Representative Pilkington, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, appreciate your testimony today, um, you know, I, I think
to me what's per piqued my interest on this, and I always considered anti-fluoride people to be kind of uh Little out there, uh.
But in the Associated Press in last August, uh, report came from the National Toxicology Program, which is under HHS, which this was under the Biden administration, so this wasn't RFK but showed that there was a decrease in IQ rates for over, over, overexposure to fluoride. I mean, that seems like a pretty, I mean, those are all reputable groups. That's reputable reporting. I mean, can you kind of talk to that study, you said you, you know, some of these studies you suspect are, you know, I think you are.
Suspicious of, but this is a group I think that you could, you could say pretty well I think they're. A valid group making valid research. Could you talk about that report that showed this IQ level decrease. I
Speaker 191
1:42:46
am not familiar with that report, um, I've been retired for 2 years and obviously haven't kept up with things that well, but sorry no, you're good. Any other questions from committee?
See you, thank you for your testimony. We do have one other with their arm raised. You're speaking for
or against, against, you reckon? If you would introduce yourself for
Kristen Stewart
Unverified
1:43:18
the record, and you're recognized to present. There it goes. Hi,
um, my name is Kristen Stewart. I'm here um to speak against it. We just heard Senator Penzo speak about the serious disparities in dental access in rural Arkansas, and that is a real issue, and I think that's exactly why community water fluoridation is so important, um, for many
families across the state getting regular dental care isn't possible. There may not be a provider, they may not be able to afford it. They might not be able to take off work, um, getting kids, um, during school hours, um, can be a major burden, um, and water fluoridation helps ease that burden. It's a simple, effective, equitable way, um, to prevent tooth decay, um, regardless of income level or zip code.
Um, so I'm not a dentist, not a dental expert, um, but I do know that um the optimal levels used in our water supply are based on decades of research and are endorsed by every major medical and dental organization in the country, including the CDC, the American Dental Association, and the World Health Organization. I think removing fluoride would be a step backwards, especially for communities that are already struggling the most, um, public health should be guided by
science and not misinformation or fear, um, just really allowing all Arkansans to have access to this. I know as a mom of two kids, getting to the dentist twice a year, um, can be hard. I'm lucky that I'm able to do that for my kids, um, but so many parents are not. in that position in our state. So I would urge you to vote no. Thank you. Any questions for the witness? said
Speaker 21
1:45:08
no, thank you for your testimony. Anyone else in the
audience speak for or against the bill? Senator Pennzo, you recognize the
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:45:25
clothes for your bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, Insurance companies were brought up. Um, special interest groups like, you know, I know Delta Dental as opposed to this. Um Special interest groups are out.
To protect the business they protect, OK? I, I'm here to protect my constituents. And, and give them the choice they're asking for. Science is brought up and no tests, you know, these tests prove this, that it increases. I'm not even going to argue whether or not fluoride helps teeth. I do know that adding fluoride in quantities that are over the recommended amount causes what's called tooth fluorosis.
It can also cause bone fluorosis, which actually weakens the teeth, causes white spots on them. It weakens the enamel, so too much fluoride can actually increase rates of cavities. So if you can't regulate the supply, um, I, I mean, curious how many of these studies were done in Arkansas that, uh, you know, prove that it increases the rate when Arkansas oral health rates are the worst.
we have a mandate. So, uh, I, you know, like I said, science can be done anywhere, um, science shows there might be signs out there that shows that fluoride. Um, it's good for teeth in the right amounts. OK, we just Increased The amount of topical, uh, fluoride treatments could be administered to children in the state. That's the best way I've talked to several dentists that have said thank you for running this bill.
They've quit doing topical fluoride treatments in their clinic because they think it causes damage. So not every dentist is on board. A lot of dentists keep their mouth shut because they don't want to go against their association. They're, they're scared of retribution. That's where it's our job to come down and push for those voices. I would just ask that we give local control back to the communities. They shouldn't really about
whether fluoride's good or bad. I think it's bad. There's science out there that shows cognitive. Defects in children. They get too much fluoride at the wrong ages. But they've got good teeth. Is that the argument we're going to make? You've got lower IQ, but your boy, look at that smile. I mean, let's, let's think about this. Are we gonna put oral health over the mental health of of our constituents. And ultimately
This is a mandate. Let's give the choice back to the people, and I'd
ask for a good vote. I have a motion to pass Representative Ladyman any discussion on the motion.
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
1:48:39
Represent a lady. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, You know, members, this is right now it is a mandate, but if this bill passes, it allows, you know, local systems to make their own decisions. And it was brought up about the
cost, and I can tell you in systems like, like say Fayetteville, Jonesboro, Little Rock, big cities where they're, if they're putting fluoride in, they can still choose to do that, you know, in Jonesboro, our system wants to do it. They can put it in there. This allows people to make that decision, but one thing it would save a lot of money. To a system like what we have in Jonesboro or what Fayetteville has, it would save a lot of money. You're talking about high-tech pumps that are very expensive, very hard to
maintain. This is a a corrosive product, uh, so, you know, we, we talked about spending money. This would save a lot of money and the science is You know, mixed on this. So I, I think we ought to
give the local people option on this, and I'll be voting for it. Any other discussion, Representative Long.
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
1:49:47
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look at this as a medical freedom issue because uh with water being
necessary for life, basically I'm forced to drink water that's fluorinated whether I like it or not, um, I think if we do remove the mandate, at least people will have a choice, people that want to use fluoride, of course they can do it with their fluorinate or fluoride toothpaste. It has a lot more contact time than the momentary contact that you get when you swallow a glass of water, um, for that reason.
I'll be voting for this bill. Thank you. Any other discussion. Representative Bentley. Just real quick, there's a
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:50:26
reason everybody's drinking a bottled water, right? We're all gone drinking bottled water at home we're filtering our water to get the fluoride out of there because we want uh water that's good for
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:50:34
us and healthy for us. I can tell you if I, I take care of plants in my home all the time. If I put city water onto my plants, they're going to die. They'll just die. But if I go outside and get rainwater, I'm blessed to have a pond in my front yard and water those plants. They flourish. Everybody comes to my house and say, What do you do to your point, because I use natural water that doesn't have a fluoride and chlorine and all those things dumped in there. This is all about local control. giving people the right back,
but they want in their water. I live in rural Arkansas and Perry County. I love my guys out there in the in the water department, but I guarantee you they've never studied anything about how much chemistry, how much amount needs to be in there. There's no control. We're getting things dumped from China into our water. It's about the people in Arkansas having medical freedom and have a healthy water and I don't really support this bill I
appreciate a good vote. Any other discussion. Seeing on all those paper, say ah. All opposed. Bill fails. With that
That's the proper number of hands, so Miss Davis, you
Speaker 328
1:51:41
would call a roll? Representative Hanley, Representative Henley, no. Representative Barnes. Representative Barnes. Representative Gramley, Representative Gramley.
Representative Rose. Yes. Representative roles, yes. Representative Moore representative of more no. Representative Schultz. Represent our shorts? No. Representative Long Representative Long, yes. Representative in it. Representative in it, no.
Representative Richardson. Representative Richardson? No. Representative Cooper. Representative Cooper, yes. Representative Johnson, Representative Johnson, no. Representative Perry. Representative Perry? No. Representative Pilkington. Yes.
Representer Pilkington, yes. Representative Allen representative Allen? No, Representative Ferguson. Representative Ferguson. Representative Bentley Representative Bentley, yes. Representative Ladyman. was in a layman, yes. Representative McGee.
No. of Maggie. No. Representative Wooldridge? Yes.
Speaker 342
1:53:43
Representative Warri, yes. you Billfe from lack of 11
votes. Some members will go to Senate Bill 121. Clint Penzo's
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:54:00
Senate District 31, uh, Senate Bill 121, um,
we've had several compacts come through this
committee, I'm sure positions, compact physician assistant compact. I just cleared the dietitian compact off the floor, uh, there was a House bill yesterday, um, what this does, it gives another avenue for physicians to come work in Arkansas that may not, that may be in a state that does not have a compact, uh, or. is not part of the physician compact, um, and I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Any questions from committee? See you now
that you want the audience speak for or against the bill.
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:54:52
Do you recognize clothes for rebuild? Well, there's not any
questions like I said, we just have a healthcare shortage in Arkansas, um, I don't remember if the medical society on this was neutral or supportive. They're neutral, um, uh, like I said, it just gives another avenue for, for physicians to come to Arkansas, uh, and fill the gaps that we have.
It's a pleasure committee. Have a motion to
pass, any discussion on the motion. All those favor, say ah. All those favor, say a pose. I have it, congratulations,
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:55:32
your bill was passed. 1 to 22. 122 is the, the same exact
thing, uh. yourself again. Clint Penzo, Senate District 31, Senate Bill 122, uh, does the same thing as Senate Bill 121, uh, just, uh, allows another
pathway for physician assistants to come to Arkansas if they work in a state that's not part of our physician assistant compact. Any
questions? You want to speak for or against the bill. Do you want to speak for or
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
1:56:06
against the bill? No, motion at the proper time. We're not
there yet. OK. Are you close for your bill? I'm closed. Now we're there. I make a motion to
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
1:56:15
pass. That's the proper time and proper motion. Any discussion on the motion?
See none all those in favor, say
Speaker 277
1:56:24
a post. I have it, Senate Bill 217. It's The
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:56:48
Representative Bentley. District 54 Senate Bill 217
Cenzo District 31, colleagues, I can't tell you how excited I am to sit here and present this bill with Senator Pence. I want to thank him for his lead in the Senate working to get the definitions of where they need to be in this bill. Um. Now, the food stamp program was started back in 1939 during the Great Depression by President Johnson to help surplus from farmers get to hungrier Americans. The program's purpose was to strengthen the agricultural economy by providing improved levels of nutrition among the low income households in our nation. SB 217 will help us get back to the original tent of this program.
Surveys for the past decade have shown that soft drinks were the number one item purchased with EBT cards. Soft drinks contain zero nutritional value. Many of these contain increased sugar content, high calories, and carbonation, which would lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, tooth decay, remember that one, tooth decay, GI programs, an increase for dementia. As a member of this committee, I'm sure you're aware of that Arkansas ranks 48th in the nation for overall health and has retained that position for a decade. We have some of the highest rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood
pressure, and because of this, our Medicaid rates have continued to rise every year with no slowdown in sight. I've sat in this committee for years so frustrated what I was seeing, frustrated the Arkansas taxpayers were paying for food stamp programs that in its present form is contributing to our health problems, including tooth decay and paying for soft drinks and candy that have no. And then have them at the same time increase Medicaid rates because the poor health, this nutrition is causing, I think we're going to see this in the committee today. We're asking our Kansans to pay for the very food that's causing Tutuque and then having them come back
around and pay for increased Medicaid rates to pay for that tooth repair. Let's remind you of the original purpose of the food stamp program was to strengthen the Arkansas or the agricultural economy providing improved levels of nutrition among low income households, allowing food stamps to be used for soft drinks and candy does not accomplish this at all. This bill simply asks the governor to request a waiver from CMS that will exclude candy and soft drinks from the eligible food item list, and I remind you guys that we passed a bill to give uh
our veterans income free, uh, get rid of the income tax on their returns. Here in the state and part of that was separating soft drinks and candy from the tax rate, so they are not listed as a food item when it comes to sales tax on the local level, so we're already uh stores will have to separating uh soft drinks and candy because they have a higher tax rate, so it's not going to be a burden on those folks. I think we'll let Senator Penzo visit one he's done on that, so, and I will say the governor's office fully supports this bill
and we'll take any questions from the committee. Any questions?
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:59:39
Representative Richardson, you're recognized. Uh Representative Bentley, the uh, Excluding candy, what's the definition of candy?
That, that'll be in the CMS where we have the definitions already there. Remember, I just talked to you about what we did with the, uh, For the veterans that we paid for the veterans getting their
income tax taken off of their uh benefits that we give to them by defining what candy and soft drinks are, so there's a full definition already in statute. This uses the statute that we already have in place to require a higher tax level of
those items, so I just Googled it and I, I'm just wondering to see it, it says a sweet food made of sugar, sweeteners typically formed in small pieces flavored with chocolate, fruit or nuts. So that could also be a protein bar. This is going to be based on
the law again that we already passed the current definition that was worked with behind the scenes to make sure the definition of
where it needs to be. So there's a definition the grocery stores already have in law with that tax increased tax on those items. is that what you understand it
Speaker 355
2:00:36
to be? I'm, I'm just asking it's based on what we have in law in the current statute.
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
2:00:41
I'm not going to base so much on Google. Represent award. Thank you,
Mr. Chair and thank you, Representative. I appreciate you bringing this forward, and I don't disagree with you that it may be a step in the right direction. My question, it's similar to Representative Richardson's question. I want to make sure
that we're creating a fair environment for our retailers. So are they going to be forced to try to police these distinctions? How does that work? Is there going to be clear, specific instruction that's given to them, how do they distinguish between what can and what can't be purchased as we
move forward. I'm sure they will be in the waiver that the governor puts forth says all we're asking is for
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
2:01:19
the governor to put a waiver for us, so that'll be all in the process if we deal with the rules as we move forward with the waiver. So at this point, um, they'll they'll all be, again, the receptionist all we worked out as we worked through
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:01:31
the waiver with the governor's office. So we had, we had definitions initially
the grocers had asked that they be pulled out to allow uh the governor's office to put the language in the, the waiver, uh, so that was one of the requested amendment. was to take the specific definition out. um, what, what, what uh, what we're looking to do is have a uniform definition across the country, um, that's
defined, you know, working with the federal government, all the states on on coming up with what that exact definition is. So like, like I said, the grocers had asked us to to pull the specific definition out that we had in this bill originally, so, um, that, that's one of the amendments that we made. OK, and maybe it's proper time we can
get DHS to come to the table just to explain the waiver process and how that works with outlining
rules. Again, I'm supportive of what you're trying to do. I think to your point, it may be better that it would that it were done at the federal
level and pushed across all states, uh, so it would be consistent and the same, uh, but I, again, I applaud what you're trying to do. I just want to make sure we don't put our retailers in a position that they've got to then try to police every purchase that comes in with the use of this benefit to try to distinguish what is and what is not an acceptable purchase. So thank you, Mr. Chair. We'll, we'll
get to DHS in a second, uh. Representative Moore, do you
Speaker 29
2:03:03
have a question for the sponsor? You recognize? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Bentley, I know you do a great job of putting together educational materials for many of your bills. Just curious if this might be something you could work with the department on as they promulgate rules, you know, I believe a lot of times snap benefits are used on these types of food because they're cheap and highly caloric and fill you up quickly and, you know, it would just be a great benefit to
our citizens if there were some educational material. on if you can't. purchase or consume this, what would be a healthier choice that could To benefit our citizens. We have, you know, extension agents across the nation and across Arkansas across the
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
2:03:46
nation across our state to a phenomenal job. They do snap education. They do uh, Uh, we have workshops even in my county
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
2:03:53
where they come, they'll teach people how to cook foods and all that, so we'll do a great job. I'm really excited how we all work together across our state, uh, hand to glove
with the health departments and with our extension agents to make sure people are getting an education that they need and will continue to do that. So I think again this is on the federal level that just applying for a waiver, so there'll be a long time of us getting it through, and we'll definitely make sure that we get the education we need to make sure our constituents know what they can get, so thank you for that question. Representative Allen.
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
2:04:23
You're already asked for a question. Thank, thank you, Mr. Chairman, can you tell me what category of ice cream and soft drinks would fall in. Excuse me again.
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
2:04:34
Ice cream and soft drinks. We're, you know, this will say that we're going to apply for a CMS waiver to remove candy and soft drinks. It has nothing to do with ice cream. Well, the ice cream have sugar in it, but it's not on the list. We're talking about candy and soft drinks. OK, thank you. Ice cream also has milk, eggs, some great there is some nutritional value in there soft drink says 00 nutritional value, toxics, if you even do a dietary, uh, soft drinks, they're very toxic to your body, very unhealthy. There's a massive amount of research out there to show it.
Ice cream has nutrients in there milk, eggs, other things that will help the body. Soft
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
2:05:12
drinks have zero. Well, you also would have to agree
there are also some nutritional bars out there that have sugar, eggs, and what have you. in them also. That's true, but they have
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
2:05:22
nutrition in there. We're talking about things that have
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
2:05:24
zero nutritional value, and it will lead to obesity, hypertension, uh, all those cancer a multitude of things that they lead to high, high sugar content does and candy and
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
2:05:32
soft drinks is what we're referring to. OK, thank you.
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
2:05:37
Representative Perry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So I'm, I'm looking at this and If, if we remove this. Then you wouldn't be able to buy candy and soft drinks and the snapp recipients will pay sales tax on those candy and soft drinks. So if we take that out, what kind of tax revenue would that make an impact too? I think 0. I mean, I don't, I don't see
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:06:08
um how it would have a fiscal impact if they spend the money on
healthy foods versus junk food, you're still spending the money on food. So therefore, I mean, I know we just eliminated some of the grocery tax, but uh I mean, if the money spent, the money spent doesn't matter if it's junk food or. Or wholesome food. Well, you're
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
2:06:28
eliminating choices, so it doesn't necessarily mean they'll spend it on healthy foods. So I don't think there's any family out there
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
2:06:35
that's not going to spend every amount of dollar they get with SNAP benefits.
They continue to spend the amount of money they'll just spend on things that won't actually have nutritional value. They can still spend their own money that they have in their pocket on those things, but this is not going to decrease the amount of money that we're getting. There's no fiscal impact at all. I disagree. OK. I guess I would ask Representative Perry, are you saying that those people aren't going to use the EBT card for food, they only use it for
Cokes and candy from presenting end of the table, you're not allowed to ask a question. Sorry. Anyone else have a question for the presenters.
See you know anyone in the audience speak for or against the bill?
Uh, Dennis Farmer recognized speak against the bill. If you guys would evacuate the end of the table so the members of the public have someone to sit. Thank you,
Speaker 371
2:07:35
Chair, Dennis Farmer with the Arkansas Beverage Association. We are the trade organization for all the soft drink distributors in the state
and um so it is a very complicated issue. Uh, we like healthy Arkansans as well, people who are healthy, active, and self-sufficient are absolutely some of our best customers. Um, the biggest problem with Bill like this is, is kind of putting a scarlet letter on your product and while it has not been used today, a lot of times when these bills are. and these types of waivers discussed, the word unhealthy is used a lot, which then puts more bearing on what the general public views about your product, and there are so many other
products that we have that everyone can agree are healthy that actually can't get swept up. Representative Richardson to question you were bringing up earlier about the differences on how the taxation is going to work. I totally understand the simplicity of what was in the original language of the bill because we already. do have that definition of candy, especially we solved all that when we did the bill in 2017. So that is not a problem for the retailers to figure out,
and the issue that's gonna happen with the soft drink tax portion of this is and should also mention that Governor Sanders just hit her press conference a moment ago was announced that she's already sending in this waiver request. So it's gonna happen in Arkansas one way or the other, um, but I do know within what Governor Sanders is looking at. There are certain things that would include sport drinks and flavored water that would still be available to Snap recipients. And now that's going to be a challenge for the retailers
because we are part of the streamlined sales tax pact and all those definitions of soft drinks and candy and the bill that we passed in 2017, used the streamlined sales tax definitions. So that will be some issue for the grocers to work out. I do know Governor Sanders is allowing for a 30 day public comment period on her waivers, so I'm sure some of these issues will get talked about as we go through there, uh, to kind of clarify where I think um Representative Perry was going
with his questions about the sales tax is that that's part of the challenge of trying to affect health outcomes through this type of mechanism, because you're going to be saying that you cannot use your SNAP benefits to purchase soft drinks or candy. There's nothing in this bill that will prevent any person from purchasing a soft drink or a candy. So just making the band is not necessarily make changes in behavior and so those who are used to purchase seen soft drinks with their snap. They may have to cut back
someplace else. They'll spend their dollars on other things that everybody can agree upon, and I get that, um, but there will be a difference in revenue to the state because you're not changing the behavior, so those products will be consumed by people who have not been paying tax in the past. They will pay tax now and it's a very brief personal story as we look at this, everybody sees the bad actors that take advantage. take advantage of the situation and are on the benefits longer
than maybe was intended, but there are a lot of people who are exactly like myself that when I left teaching and I was trying to find my way through the business world. I hit a rough patch, accepted a position, and it did not provide the financial rewards I thought I was going to get. And so I did actually have to get on food stamps. This is back in the late 80s. I was on food stamps and I received a 4 month benefit. That actually stretched out for 6 months. Nobody had to tell me not to
waste that precious resource on anything other than the essentials for my family. There are numerous stories like that. People in this building that you don't hear about that went exactly the same thing. So it's hard not to lump in, um, just because we are limiting what can be purchased does not change how much revenue is coming into the program as representative Bentley said. So finding cost savings is not going to be. part of this. Average SNAP benefit recipient is on the program for a year.
Changing what they can purchase with their benefits for a year is very slim chance it'll actually change any outcomes. Like I said, we prefer healthy, active, self-sufficient people. Those are great customers for us. Um, we just don't like having this scarlet letter put on us without any type of real positive benefit happening for the state. With that, my comments are over. I'll be happy to
Speaker 297
2:12:15
take any questions. Representative Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
2:12:26
As, as we talk about healthy foods and candy not being healthy, soft drinks not being healthy. If it's bad for kids that's on Snap. It's also not good for kids that are that are not on staff. Would
Speaker 371
2:12:41
you agree? I would agree so far as our products are concerned, any of our products that include calories should be drank, uh, should be consumed in moderation, but I also would like to share with the committee
that 60% of our product portfolio is calorie free. There are drinks that are appropriate for kids that get swept up in the definition of soft drinks in different parts of codes, so
Speaker 297
2:13:06
who knows what the benefit would be there. Thank you. Any other questions? Representative
Speaker 82
2:13:14
Pilkington, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, well,
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
2:13:17
I'm, I'm glad you mentioned the, the zero calorie product
you have because that's one of the things I guess I'm, I'm, I'm not tracking on I mean my understanding is 0 calorie.
Represent Pilton, your mic went off. You have to be careful with that thing on it. I just, uh, uh, the, the zero calorie products you mentioned, uh,
you know, my understanding is some would still be available though with SNAP benefits despite this waiver, so I mean you still have products from your members that are still going to be able to use and use Snap or. It's just not these high calorie, high sugary ones that I would say to your point even said that should only be
drank in moderation, not as a part of their daily diet. Is
that, is that correct? Yes, sir, potentially. See no further questions. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you. Anyone else in the audience speak for or against Ma'am, you're recognized to introduce yourself for the committee. You're speaking for or against. Good morning,
Speaker 379
2:14:25
Kristen Harper, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. I'm speaking against SB 217, and we
Speaker 381
2:14:32
understand the goal of SVT 17 is to encourage SNAP recipients to make healthier choices, and then in turn have overall better long term health outcomes. By requesting the waiver to exclude candy and soft drinks from the Snap program. And while we appreciate the positive intent, the bill would be an example of unnecessary government intervention and people's daily choices, and it kind of misses the mark when it comes to ensuring better health, better health outcomes for low income families. Previous attempts to restrict snap purchasing ability at the
national level in other states have often been rejected due to the administrative complexity and ineffectiveness of addressing food insecurity to update retailers. Checkout systems to comply with the waiver if approved would be costly and confusing. Um, as has already been discussed, the definitions were removed from the bill, and so that question, the questions that have already arisen in terms of does this include Coke Zero? A lot of candy bars have chocolate nuts, but as has been mentioned, so do a lot of granola bars. Um, and so this potentially introduces a slippery slope in terms of
debating what foods are healthy or not good or bad, and puts an additional stigma on those receiving SNAP benefits. Even if the definitions are going to be addressed in the forthcoming waiver and perhaps what's more important is that research shows that incentive-based
Speaker 383
2:15:49
approaches do a better job of promoting healthier outcomes, healthier eating choices, and without restricting people's autonomy in their grocery shopping, and those would include programs like your Double Up Food books, which provides incentives to purchase produce that local
farmers' markets and other grocery stores and nutrition education programs that encourage healthier food choices. Instead of instead of restricting food choices, the focus should be on addressing root causes of poor health outcomes, like poverty, unstable housing, access to transportation so people can get to grocery stores instead of convenience stores can get to routine preventative medical care. Um, I'd also mention that research shows that grocery shopping habits of SNAP recipients are statistically similar to everyone else. In
other words, Snap participants do not purchase junk food at higher rates. I know Representative Bentley mentioned a study. If that's the ethanS study, there have been several issues with that study pointed out in terms of the methodology that was used and 11 example being that your flavored seltzer waters were included in that study as soft drinks. Um, so I wanted to mention that. So all of that to say, excluding soft drinks and candy from Snap is not going to make a large difference for overall healthcomes of Arkansas, especially when you consider that as a rough average only
Speaker 381
2:17:08
about 10 to 12% of people in Arkansas are on SNAP benefits. If we're going to talk about healthier eating, let's talk about healthier eating for everyone and not
Speaker 383
2:17:17
just those on Snap. Again, we know the intent of the bill is good, but we don't think restricting choices is going to achieve the intended goal. The focus should be on expanding resources and promoting access to healthier food rather than restricting families' choices. Please vote no on SB 217. Thank you. Any questions from committee, Representative Pilkerton.
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
2:17:39
Can you buy beer with Snap? Man, I guess my choices
Speaker 386
2:17:42
are restricted. May I respond, sir? Yeah. Great. Um, so it is a food
Speaker 381
2:17:48
security program, and I understand that people might draw parallels between alcohol and soda. And certainly um alcohol, caffeine, sugar, they're all going to have their respective impact on the brain, on body chemistry in general, right? I do think it is fair to say that there's a difference in terms of the impact that
Speaker 383
2:18:03
alcohol has has on the body in terms of that impairment of judgment,
Speaker 379
2:18:10
etc. So I understand your point, but I would say that it is a little bit
Speaker 388
2:18:18
different in my opinion. So thank you for
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
2:18:24
letting me respond. Of course. Any other questions for the witness. Thank you. So you talk about food deserts too, um, one thing I think is interesting though, obviously there's certain products that are not getting shipped into the Do Dollar General stores and things like that, because the shelf space is getting replaced with sodas and candies that are higher profit margins that, but
are not higher nutritional value. And when you have some of these rural areas with a high Medicaid population, a high SNAP benefit population who are using those stores, it wouldn't it be better if the shelves were actually full of things that were nutritious for. and things that were for a higher profit margin that they could use those SNAP dollars for. And so by eliminating one, you actually free up shelving space so that healthier products can be put into those stores. And so I just wonder if you could opine on that for me. Thank you. Sure. Right, so I think that's one of the things
Speaker 381
2:19:12
I'm talking about. Instead of restricting people's access, let's look at other ways to promote healthier eating. So that
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
2:19:18
may be one. the restriction causes that because we're incentive based like you said, but we're incentivized by. profit. In these stores.
Speaker 383
2:19:25
I think that is certainly from the store perspective that that is an incentive. And I think I would also
Speaker 381
2:19:32
just add, um, while certainly the intent of the program, we want people focusing on produce, grains, dairy, etc. Also don't forget that um one, feeding sparingly, some of the
candy and things like that can be part of a healthy overall healthy and balanced diet. And I think also just remembering that sometimes um allowing these choices is going to take the form of a mom being able to buy a bag of Skittles, so they're child can pass out candy at the Valentine's party so that they
Speaker 383
2:19:56
can put the chocolate bunny in the Easter basket, so they can get that Dr. Pepper and make it to that 2nd shift and help the kid with the homework and do that load of laundry and sometimes, yes, just because you want a Snickers, um, but again, it gets back to you. I'm not advocating that we use Snap for candy and soda solely. I'm just
advocating for preserving people's personal choices. Got you. Final question. Did my children pay
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
2:20:17
you to say that candy could be part of that. Because I would, I think they would agree
Speaker 392
2:20:21
with that statement, so. Any additional questions by the committee? See no, thank you for your testimony. Is there anyone else that would like to speak
for or against the bill? Before, before you go back to close for your bill, I would like for DHS to come to the table. We had talked about
bringing them to the table at the appropriate time. That would be now. Yes, sir. Janet Man, DHS. Thank you. I would
like to, to have a follow up on the question that I'd asked the bill sponsors earlier, so we're talking about um outlining the definition to make sure our retailers are not put in a position to police this at every individual location. So the waiver as requested, will it outline and give specific guidance to retailers on what is
Speaker 212
2:21:17
and is not allowable with the benefit. I believe it will, and we have been in communications with the retailers and taking some. of their feedback as we have been working on this in preparation,
OK, and I do have one additional question for you. I think it was mentioned that the governor has already applied for this waiver.
Speaker 207
2:21:35
Is that accurate? the governor did announce our intent to apply
Speaker 212
2:21:37
for a waiver. We have um drafted something um to go to FNS. Yes, sir. Can that be done without a piece of legislation?
I believe so. Thank you, ma'am. Any other questions for the witness? See Nan, thank you for
coming and answering those. Representative Penzo, Representative Bentley, you recognize
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:22:07
Clore Bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to point out a few things. This aligns food stamps uh with other,
uh, with the healthy goals of other, uh,
Programs like WIC, uh, this is called the supplemental nutrition assistance program. It's to add nutritional foods to people. I mean, that was the intent of, of, uh, what this program was established for, um, This is taxpayer funded program. I know my constituents would like, they don't mind people that need a hand. They just want it to be healthy food. They don't want it to be, uh, junk food, um, somebody. had testified here, I get, I get
the soda lobby coming, uh, the, the other speaker was a little perplexing, but, uh, you know, it's uh. Coke is like, I mean, we're talking about oral health care and Soda is just like running battery acid across your teeth every day. I mean, it's probably one of the worst things you could consume for oral health in this state. Um, Bill helps to protect our most vulnerable citizens, uh, by realigning SNA with its intended purpose and guiding people struggling with nutrition to
healthy food options, um. Similar waivers will be followed by Idaho, West Virginia, Utah, Nebraska, and similar legislation is making its way through the legislative process and about a dozen other states, um, like was just brought up, I guess the governor announced that she was going to move forward with this, um, and like, uh, farmer stated it's, it's going forward one way or the other. The reason we took, uh, the definitions out had to do with a request to do that. The governor is actually adding, uh,
things to it is my understanding based on What's just been coming out like rotisserie chicken and things that aren't currently available, um, uh, so. This is a taxpayer funded program if if our constituents choose to use their own money to buy candy and soda pop. That's their choice, but I think that um taxpayer money should be used for the intent of the program, and that's to provide nutrition, like just like Wick.
To improve nutrition of of uh People in Arkansas, I'll let Mary close. Thank you again. Again, uh, colleagues, just remind
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
2:24:31
this is about taxpayer money. We just got done increasing money, Medicaid funding to help dental care across our state. I think it's very Uh, wrong of us for say our taxpayers. I want you to increase the funding that you're paying for dentists to kids, but I want you to also pay for the coat to destroy their teeth, and that's what we're asking to be removed. The governor's moving forward. I think it's great for our legislature to be behind what the governor's doing and
moving forward with this, you know, on the national level, it's great impetus to make this happen as well, you know, in my, my, we'll do a personal story as well. My parents got divorced when I was 10 years old. My mom hadn't worked in a while for a little bit. We were on food stamps and what we got every week was a box, you know, a box full of peanut butter. cheese, canned meat, and those are the things that we got were nutritional value to make our family make it through some hard times. We're asking us to get back to the original intent of this bill was help the agricultural economy and to get good healthy food to Arkansans,
and I think our taxpayers deserve us to head in that right direction and with that um
I'll make a motion to pass. That's motioning discussion on the motion? See none. All those in favor say aye. Opposed. I'm
gonna rule the eyes have it. All the row. Yeah
Speaker 326
2:25:58
Representative Hanley. Representative Hanley, yes. Representative Barnes. Representative Barnes.
Speaker 328
2:26:10
Representative Gramley Representative of Gramley, yes. Representative Rose. Yes. Representative Rose, yes, Representative Moore, Representative Moore, yes. Represent our Shultz, Representative Schultz, yes. Representative Long.
Representative Long, yes, representative in it Representative Anne, no. Representative Richardson, Representative Richardson, no Representative Cooper of Cooper, yes. Representative Lee Johnson, I'm sorry. Where, where
Speaker 11
2:26:46
representative Johnson, yes. Representative
Speaker 328
2:26:49
Perry. Representative Perry? No. Representative Pilkington.
Rosin of Pilkington, yes. Rosen of Allen representative Allen, no. Representative Ferguson. Represent a Ferguson. Bentley. Rosanna Bentley, yes. Representative Ladyman Rosen a ladyman? Yes. Resentative McGee. Representative McGee, no.
Speaker 342
2:27:35
I was in a hori? Yes. What was in her age, yes.
Congratulations, your bill's passed. I members, we'll move on to Senate Bill 255. Oh
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:28:15
Cenzo, Senate District 31. So this has an amendment. Uh, yes, chair, it does, um, there's not a pathway since we didn't hear it Thursday to amend it, uh, figured I'd just do a quick, uh, discussion on it, um. And, uh, explain the bill and uh See see where it goes from there. More than likely going to pull it down, just want to quick minute to explain what
happened. All right, I'll make it snappy. Senate Bill 255, and I, I don't mean that has to do with uh What's
going on with um The produce industry right now, um, with all the developments in MRNA vaccines, they're coming up with ways to get virus-like particles into our food products. So the technology is there to, whether it's through bathing, uh, uh, plants before
they produce in a certain uh There's, they, they put the genetic material into a certain type of bacteria. They, they bathe the plants in it, the genetic material gets into the plant. It's just kind of like the MRNA vaccines with us, but they use bacteria as a carrier or they can genetically modify the, the produce to carry uh make these virus-like proteins in the fruit. So you might have a tomato with virus-like proteins in it. Um So this bill would have prevented uh those products from being sold without the
disclosure to the people of That it's intended as a vaccine, not just a food product, um, apparently some of the seed companies are saying that this would affect seeds that are sold to farmers in Arkansas. Um, I, I disagree with that. Um, so I wouldn't want, uh, any of our farmers to be impacted by this. There's not time to address that issue, um, at this point in session, uh, one of the amendment was to address the Poultry Federation's concern
that eggs might be considered to have uh vaccine material within the eggs. Um, so that was the request that I didn't know about the uh the other issue till Thursday, um, so either one things happen that's not an accurate statement, or they're already producing seeds to grow virus-like pro uh proteins in our food supply. So that's something that we do need to look at addressing in the near future if that's already taken place. My understanding was it wasn't taking place. So either it's misinformation.
from the seed companies or potentially uh they're already putting these changes into our food supply to immunize us against certain diseases, which is more concerning than it was before I started running this bill. Um, so with that, I'm gonna probably pull it down because uh it's more controversial than than it was. I wish we could have got to it earlier in the session, um, but this is something we do need to address in a future legislative session. People need to know.
If we're putting virus-like particles in their food supply, uh, they need to be informed if we're trying to inoculate. Our constituents without their knowledge. So with that, I'll pull this down. Uh, there's, because there's no time to amend it and get it through, uh, session. So do you want to present 262? Yes,
Speaker 124
2:31:42
and I have someone here would like to
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:31:46
present with me if she would like to come up.
So this one has an amendment as well. have an amendment on this one. Yeah, we don't have an amendment on this. I don't believe, OK. OK. And I'll just let you. That's fine. Clip Penzo Senate District 31. Introduce yourself, please.
We're going to need you to turn that microphone on plus first, sir, and
Speaker 417
2:32:40
please repeat. Thank you, Ted Shills, excuse me. Mr. Chairman and members of the
Ted Chills
Unverified
2:32:44
committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss SB 262 with you today. My name is Ted Chills, and I've been licensed to practice medicine in Arkansas since 2002. I have owned a medical corporation in the state since 2004 and currently work as the medical director for the Jonesboro inventory Surgery Center at the pain treatment
Centers of America in Jonesboro. I'm board certified in family medicine, preventive medicine and wound management and surgery, SB 262 adds a clause to the existing corporate practice of management or practice of medicine to allow physicians with an active medical license and good standing can continue ownership management and control of their medical corporation after retiring, whether by choice or because of disability.
This amendment offers physicians greater flexibility in their long-term business and estate planning. It allows physicians to transition from a clinical role to an administrative role without the need to maintain their active medical license while overseeing the business aspects of their practice. For physicians who choose to retire, this amendment promotes their continued involvement in their practice in community and encourages them to invest in the practice and remains active in
the health care sector. This ultimately helps ensure continued availability of critical healthcare services in rural Arkansas communities and allows physicians to remain involved in their organizations and provide leadership after retirement. Additionally, this amendment can help physicians avoid the closure or. li qui d ation of their medical practices that unfavorable or unprofitable terms cells opportunities often take time and are not readily available in rural areas. This amendment
provides physicians with the opportunity to sell their practices after retirement or disability. The safeguards implemented in the original legislation remains in place. The Arkansas Medical Board will continue to regulate the medical corporation, but the retiring physicians won't be obliged. to maintain an active medical license or submit annual continuing medical education requirements. However, the physician must possess a valid medical license in good standing
free from disciplinary actions, suspension or revocation by the medical board. Furthermore, any physician providing patient care at the organization must have an active medical license that continues to adhere to the standard requirements. This modification aims to enable physician owners to continue investing and expanding their organizations. They have dedicated their lives to building. I am more than willing to address any concerns or that the committee may have. Thank you.
Speaker 421
2:35:50
Representative McGee. I retire and I still on my medical practice.
Representative Richard McGrew
Unverified
2:35:57
OK? I'm director of it, let's say. That position, I'm retired. I gave up my medical license. Now
I'm a retired physician and I have maintained my medical license and all I have to do to maintain my medical license is get 20 hours of seeing me every year and pay the whatever the money is. I can't remember $500 every 2 years. And I have no desire to to to give up my medical license. I worked very hard to get it for a number of years, and I also want to do things voluntarily, uh, as long as I don't charge for my services, my malpractice
insurance still covers me, but if you retire and you give up your medical license, who does that person answer to? There's no one, there's no one that that has any control over what that physician is doing and he's directing a medical practice and there's no one above him, the state medical board no longer has any say in what that doctor does. They have say in what the doctors that work for him do. But I have a lot of problems with this. So
that's what I want to know. I know, or I was told that The group that offered this offered an amendment that said they would ask the medical board to rescind the CME. And let the person maintain an active medical license. That's all we have to do to keep a medical license when we retire to do our CME. If I don't do my CME, the medical board will come in and tell me you can't, you can't do anything. You're you're completely retired and you've
given up your medical license. I was told that, and maybe it was hearsay, but I was told that there was an amendment offered that would have allowed the medical board to allow a physician to maintain an active license, thus he would still be under the medical board's supervision, but that amendment was not taken up by whatever group it is that's putting they disagreed with
Speaker 423
2:38:05
it. What do you have any comments about that? My name is Kitty Cohen. I'm the
Speaker 426
2:38:15
chief legal officer for pain treatment Centers of America. I can answer your question, um, we had originally there was an amendment considered but not ultimately was not put forth, um, the medical board continues to regulate the corporation itself as well as all of the actively practicing physicians within the organization. All that this bill does is add one clause to the existing corporate practice of medicine statute essentially allowing physicians who retire to retain management. Control of the organization, but
it allows them to step into a management. And basically an oversight role instead of active clinical practice. It's not simply just keeping up with your CEs or paying a fee to the board. It's maintaining your board certification
Speaker 427
2:38:59
and all of the, uh, Requirements that go along with that. But I
Speaker 421
2:39:06
still don't understand that doctor that's retired and no longer has a medical license, he's directing a medical
Representative Richard McGrew
Unverified
2:39:11
practice, and there's no one that's going that he answers to no one.
And he's telling these doctors out there how to run that practice. He's not telling them how to practice medicine. He's telling them how to run the practice and I can't understand why you wouldn't have that requirement that he maintains an active medical license. Well, Representative McGee, I, I,
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
2:39:31
I would disagree that he doesn't have anyone to answer to. I mean, he's still running a medical practice in the state of Arkansas. He still has to answer to all the rules and regs that are already in place to begin with. I mean, a good way to think about it is let's say I own a clinic, I'm not a, I'm not a provider. I'm an administrator. I don't
have a medical license, but I'm directing that clinic in the way it operates. Um, because like, let's say it's like a nonprofit, like a rural health clinic or something like that. Um, and so, so I'm still have oversight of me and, and, and, and everything that goes along with it. And so we're basically just saying if they are a medical doctor and they kind of want to go into this admin role, you know, there's still, there's still oversight to them. There's not just, they can do whatever,
Speaker 423
2:40:15
um, and but who, who offers that oversight of That position. He doesn't have
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
2:40:20
to answer to anyone. Well, the current like if an administrator right now, I mean, you could ask the same question about hospital CEO, who is the oversight of that person? I mean, the board of the organization would be the oversight of that director. Um, and so, And like I said, this is an administration role. Now the doctors themselves that are working in that practice, they are ruled by, of course, the medical board, and they've, you know, they've got, they've got standards that they have to apply to because this does that answer your question? I
Speaker 421
2:40:47
don't, I don't agree with you. I don't agree.
Speaker 426
2:40:51
Let me also add that the existing regulatory framework through the Arkansas Department of Health provides the compliance framework that every medical organization has to comply with. So I, I don't think it's fair to say that there is no oversight. There remains oversight and anyone who is providing medical services still remains under the authority of the. I'mhury. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and
I, I kind of have a follow up to Representative McGee's question
on the surface. I don't have any
issue with that. I think what you're trying to accomplish here, which is to allow a retiring physician to maintain their practice and just employ people to work for them. I, I think Representative McGee brings up a good point and Representative Pilkington's point, a CEO of a hospital is overseen by a board of directors. I agree with that wholeheartedly, and they're keeping a check and balance in place, but what I don't think was answered was Representative McGee's question. If he owns his practice and surrenders his license, there's not a board of directors to
provide oversight to him, and the medical board doesn't provide oversight to him, so would that fall under the Department of Health, who would provide the regulation to make sure that that clinic was operating
Speaker 426
2:42:04
appropriately. Ultimately, the Department of Health provides the uh rules and regulations for Every type of medical organization in Arkansas. So do they have to license each clinic? Every clinic, I'm sure you're familiar with ADH regs. The
rules and regulations for hospitals and related institutions, um, applies to clinics and outpatient facilities and so that. Provides The guidelines. So for someone that's acting in bad faith in that
situation, that there's no board of directors, no medical
board oversight, the Department of Health would have the ability to revoke a license for that facility. Well, yes, they
Speaker 426
2:42:45
would, but the other thing is is that depending on all of the other actively practicing physicians for that organization. They also have the
ability to address that through their regulations and disciplinary action process, OK, thank you sir. Any further
questions? See you not anyone in the audience speak for or against the bill? See
you no, send her, you recognize the representative close your bill. Yeah, sorry, when you started,
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
2:43:15
I was in the bathroom, so I didn't realize we were doing this bill so I came up a little unprepared, but um I just want to tell you the, the reason why I was excited to run this bill
was um for a lot of families in Arkansas, uh, practicing medicine is, is just, it's becomes part of the family tradition. Um, and so the idea, I think sometimes that a provider would have to relinquish control of their clinic because they would like to retire, but maybe their their son or their grandson is not able to take over the practice just yet, um, you know, they built, they built a practice, they built a A clinic and it's something they want to be able to pass on to To younger generations and not being able to, I think this is just a weird
Um, cork in our cork kirk, sorry, I can't pronounce the word corkirkirk cork. Anyways, that word, uh, in our law that, that, that's not allowing this to happen and and I think this is just a simple way for us to to fix it, cork cork, OK, anyways, um, um but, uh, but I do think I, I just think this is good law and, and like I said, you know, there's still,
there's still your oversight by, by, by the government, we still license practices. Uh, you know, providers are still under the medical board. There's still rules and regs
that are in place. No one's going to be able to practice just willy-nilly out there, um, because they used to have a license and now they're retired, um, that's, that's not gonna happen. And so I just think for, you know, I think for future generations, this is just a good policy to to help some people who build a practice keep it and do what they actually want to it without, you know. Without being burdened by this law. We appreciate a
good vote. Representing Pil did not get tongue tied all the time, so I enjoy watching someone else do it.
What's pleasure committee? You made a motion to pass. That's a proper motion, any discussion, Representative McGee, you recognize. Colleagues that I can understand. A
Representative Richard McGrew
Unverified
2:45:16
physician that would want to sell his practice. And, uh, Maintain some ownership and direction of how the practice ran. I mean, it's your legacy for your practice, but I can tell you in most Groups of practices.
Physicians were there multiple partners. They have all have agreements that when you die or become disabled or you retire, you are forced to sell your practice to the remaining physicians. I just did that 3 months ago in my practices. The problem I have with this is if that person is not an active Practicing physician that has an active medical practice, and by the way, our individual
practices, the state board of health doesn't do anything with our individual practices. We don't get a certificate of need or service. We just hang our plaque up and pay our municipal taxes or whatever property tax, whatever it is, business tax and we can practice in Little Rock or Jonesboro or wherever we want to go. I have a real problem with this because here's what can happen. You get someone that comes out from out of state. Say they come from California. And they buy my practice.
And they're part of a corporate group in California. And then they retire. So now they're sitting here and you got a doc from California who's retired, who owns the practice, who has a corporation in California that may be not Markol may not apply to. I think you're just opening up a quagmire of difficulties with this bill. I'm going to be a strong no, and I can understand if people want to vote yes on it, but I'm going to be a strong no, and I'd
appreciate a no vote on it. Thank you. Representative Will you recognize for discussion? Thank you, Mr. Chair and um again,
like I said when I was asking questions, I, I want to support this bill. I like what you're trying to do. I think you're trying to solve a problem that exists for providers in the state, um. But to follow up on what Representative McGee said, I did reach out to the Department of Health also. I didn't get a chance to come back in and ask questions before we started closing for the bill, but, but
they reported to me the same thing that they do not license these clinics. Uh, therefore, I do have some concern about who would be providing that oversight, and I understand that there are doctors that are licensed in the clinic and they may could be held accountable, um, but for some of the other reasons that he had, I do have some concerns with the bill. This bill has been filed and on the books for a while and and we're here at the end now. I think it's important to get it right. I'm not sure that that it's right the way that it is. I think that the amendment to allow them to forego the the
continuing ad to maintain some version of license for oversight would probably be a better approach to this bill, but those are my thoughts on it. I
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
2:48:22
appreciate the discussion. Representative Pilkington, thank you. Um, you know, one of the things I'd just like to say is, and I can understand, appreciate Representative McGee's worry here, but, you know, the reality is, is you've got Calm spirit down the road here, CHI. It's, it's owned by a company that's based out of, I believe, California. They're all over. I mean, you've got Mercy, which is actually out of Springfield. I mean, you've got
other states that have practices here in the state of Arkansas, that that do good work. Um, I think there's no problem saying that we're basically just going to allow someone to be able to still maintain control of the practice that they built that they put their sweat and tears into it so that they can still retire but still remain some active role in The directing of of that practice. um. You know, to to represent Wooldridge's point. I mean, there are still inspections of these facilities that occur.
You know, there's, there's definitely rules and regs, you know, you can't just start practicing medicine willy-nilly and pull up the shingle and just think that you're not going to get a knock on the door, and especially too if you're going to start billing insurance, you've got to go and, and, you know, you're going to make sure people are, you know, especially Medicaid, that you're up, up to, up to compliance with everything. I mean, these are, these are complex organizations, anyone who works in Buckfield knows that. I mean, just compliance on the loan is, is huge, but I think just saying because you retire and you're no longer going to practice medicine that you
Somehow have to give up the business that you built, uh, like I said, I, I don't think it's a, I don't think it's the good way, the law, and I think if we want to keep some providers here in the state, you know, they know that they've got a got a clinic that's owned by their grandfather or father that they can one day take a part in and help grow and make even bigger. I think we should give them that opportunity, but at the same time not have a provider not take retirement they want to because they have to keep Working as a as a provider and keep their license so that they're able to pass that on when in reality, maybe they're
just at the point in their life that they're not, you know, cognitively there enough to actually practice quality medicine. Uh, so I do think it's a good bill. I mean, the reason why we're here at the session is just timing wise, get it over from the Senate. I would run this sooner had we had time, but we hadn't. I was ready last Thursday, um, and so, um, obviously we could have done things differently, but this, this is where we are and and I think this is a good bill. I don't think anyone's going to get hurt by it, so I appreciate. that That's why I'll be voting yes. Seeing no other discussion. I'll favor, say ah.
I posed. More eyes have it. You're gonna
do it by yourself. So members will move on to Senate Bill 585. Senator Leding. I'll let
you out there. So you know one with Passover. OK, we're gonna need you to be a little faster next time. We're a
Unknown speaker
2:51:19
little more efficient in public health.
OK. OK. If you would introduce yourself
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
2:52:12
for the record and you recognize start. Thank you, Chair. My name is Diana Gonzalezworthen, Arkansas State Representative, District 9, Springdale. We're here to discuss. Senate Bill 585. And this bill essentially
Benefits working youth under the age of 18. Um, Senate Bill 585 is an act to amend the law regarding employment. To require certain records be provided to an employee who is a minor. Currently, um, Pay stubs are not required, um, and so this particular bill amends the amends employment law, um.
To to require every employer who has at least 10 employees, more than 10 employees that they would provide a pay stub to an employee who is under the age of 18, considered a minor, and so what that pay stub would include would be pay basis and hours or days worked, the rate or rate of pay. Gross pay, all the deductions from the pay and and that would
be in a form it could be either provided electronically or it could be provided on paper. Um It's very difficult, um, when, when you're trying to buy your first car as a minor. I think all of us have, uh, that's part of, um, your rite of passage is your first job, and once you have that, what record do you have for that? And so that's what's been the impetus of this particular
bill and so a pay stub is required to buy a car, uh, to rent an apartment, um, etc. And so without that pay stub, it's difficult to check hours worked, if the if the hours are correct over time and we all make mistakes, we're all human, so that's it, there could have been a mistake, but you're not, you're not quite sure because of pay stub is not. Required. Again, this is only for employers that have over 10
employees, um, and the state Chamber of Commerce, um, has this, has we have their support on this bill, and they requested the over 10 employees. Yeah. Hello, my name is Samuel McCullo. Um,
Samuel Mcculler
Unverified
2:55:00
I feel very honored, uh, this is a really important bill to me. I actually got in touch with letting to try to get involved so I could present this because this is my first time presenting in the house, but it's also, I think.
A very good one to start on. This is a really important small bill, but it'll go a long way and you're absolutely right, uh, we had sent out surveys and one of our survey answers was actually they answered, well, the question was, has not being provided a pay stub ever caused you any trouble, such as not having one available when needed for things like renting an apartment or providing proof of income to potential landlords, and we got multiple answers of yes, that is. A very common.
Occurrence, I mean, if you get an apartment anywhere, they're going to need your proof of income. A lot of people, y'all know that, um, this is something that originally when I actually found out about this, I thought I was like, why was this not a thing 20 years ago. This is to protect like minors, children that are working. I did this. I mean, I was one of the people that uh got the waiver to start working when I was 15 in high school, um, and that was great and my boss was wonderful. He gave me pay stubs, he explained all
that stuff, but if I didn't have someone there for me that was going to walk me through that. I wouldn't have that economic literacy to understand some of my own interests, and it's just the fact that. There are gonna be some people out there that will take advantage of children that are working in these jobs, and that does happen. I mean, we saw Here, here's a citation, um. Child labor law violations along with the national increase rose
266% from 460 to 1,685 between 20 and 2023. And that amount is likely deflated as a decrease in the number of investigators and staffing at the Department of Labor and Licensing has almost negated the ability to proactively investigate and severely hamper the ability to thoroughly investigate claims made, but that's a lot of people, and we don't even know for this year. I mean, that's 2 years. I don't have data on, but I would imagine that that's increased. That's a pretty upward trend. Um There are just a few points I
want to hammer on. It's pretty simple, and I'll just get it done, um. This doesn't cost employers anything. This isn't really saying you have to do this form or you have to fill it out this way. You can put it on a piece of paper. You could have it. There's a lot of systems where it's automatic payment. Most workplaces automatically pay, and you just have to hit a button. It'll text you put the numbers in, it texts them they're face stubs. It's pretty simple, uh. So I really don't, there's no cost that's going to be
involved. I don't see how this is going to in any way negatively impact business owners. If anything, it may protect them because like you brought up, sometimes mistakes happen on both ends, and this is going to protect business owners and the kids that work for those business owners who need that experience, uh, in general, right? And it's not going to cost taxpayers anything. It's not going to cost our Arkansans, anything at all. In fact, the ability of miners and their
adults to understand their wages and deductions will decrease the number of complaints to the DLL. thereby allowing investigators to pursue claims that have been examined by minors and their adults. So Um, with that said, this is really important. I feel like we should. This is, I mean, Arkansas is one of 8 states that doesn't have this, and that's like talking general pay stubs. This is just a very small bill for kids, and this is what I
hope is a very small step in the right direction because we should have had something like this years ago. So with that said, I appreciate the opportunity and I hope you vote in favor of this bill. Representative
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
2:59:10
Laman, you reckon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um Would this affect the developmentally disabled that might be under 18, that might be working in workshops and that sort of thing and with DHS have
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
2:59:25
to develop a program for it, maybe DHS needs to come up and talk about that. I don't know. I'm, I don't know if DHS a representative here. The bill mainly is
for Well employ employers with over 10. Employees We're gonna hold back on DHS because I still got members with questions for sponsors, but we'll come back to DHS. Representative Richardson, you recognize.
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
2:59:56
I, I, I guess I'm a little confused, so. You're saying that pay stubs aren't giving to employees. Right now And the reason I'm asking, I, I own some businesses and I have to
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
3:00:12
give everybody a pay stub, so a lot of employers do give pay stubs to their employees, but it's actually not mandated. But many of them do, and I, I would say I'm sure that probably over the majority of them do,
but they don't always, and those who are most impacted are minors. When they do not receive a pay stub, so it's not a
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
3:00:35
law for us to give pay stubs. That is correct. I
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
3:00:45
didn't know that. We're one of 8 states. We're, we're one of, we're one of 8 states with no mandatory pay stubs. I did want to mention one other thing, um.
The Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, they did a, they did a study um labor force participation study and one of the, they, they categorize the age of workers and so miners were included in the age 16 to 19 category, so 16 and 17 year olds were were in there along with the 18 and 19, so we do have some minors and then we have some, um, Adults, but just looking at that
line item for or looking at the data, um, they made up 40%. Of participation in the workforce. So we have a lot of miners that are working, um, in the workforce. So this bill would, would definitely um help them with, with receiving that pay stub and and then they would have, we, we don't really think about it until later when you're trying to rent an apartment or you want to buy a car, all the things that are tied to, you
need to show proof of income. I mean, how many times have we heard that throughout our life. You need to show proof of. become so
Speaker 13
3:02:09
many different things. Any other questions for sponsors? Representative Woolrich.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I, I think I want to follow up
on Representative Richardson's question, so I wasn't aware that there was no Arkansas law that required that. Um, I assume that you had to provide a pay stub for W-2 employees. So my, my question would be why limit your bill to minors? Why not just
require this across the board? Would there not be value in a pay stub for all of the same reasons for
someone that's over the age of 18. That is exactly what I have
Samuel Mcculler
Unverified
3:02:40
brought up when I talked to Senator Leding about this, and I think for the past how many years was it? Like Former State Representative Greg Letting on
Senator Greg Leding
Unverified
3:02:50
time as always. Yeah, for the past like
Samuel Mcculler
Unverified
3:02:53
8 years, that's what we've been trying to do, or mostly he's been trying to, I want to do that now too,
but hey, uh, yeah, we should do that, but this is hopefully the first domino and getting normal labor laws in the state of Arkansas. Hopefully something like that because yeah, pay stubs are important for everybody. Everyone should get pay stubs, but this is today, this is just about people who are particularly affected by not having these pay stubs, people who are at the most risk, uh, because you could say, you know, expect an adult to understand things like that, but, uh, which is debatable, but.
Uh These are children, you know, I didn't know this when I was working in high school. I doubt a lot of people knew very much fiscal responsibility in high school. I didn't. I was wanting to buy a motorcycle, so. Yeah. Mr. Vice Chair, I, I have literally every single session
Senator Greg Leding
Unverified
3:03:48
I've been down here filed some form of a pay stub bill because my predecessor in the house asked me to continue this issue. We've just never been able to get it done, so this session, that's why it's limited to minors, just trying to get some form of it. I would certainly support that. Obviously, I will
not be around next session, but maybe you could pick up that
Speaker 54
3:04:06
torch. Maybe he can run for your seat.
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
3:04:12
Appreciate the answer. Representative Long. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Since you're trying to basically
limit this to minors, and miners can't enter into contracts or anything, um, they really couldn't use it to rent an apartment or buy a car because they're not of
age to purchase anything. So how's this really help anything? Yeah. If they're trying to purchase a
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
3:04:35
car, their first car, oftentimes they're asked. Can you show proof that you work and a pay stub,
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
3:04:43
it would be that proof. But if you're paying cash for it, of course they wouldn't care, but if you're financing a child can enter into
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
3:04:50
a contract and finance a car. That's true. That is, you are absolutely correct, but in my in my uh. Um In, in my, um, as being a, being a teacher, I'll just say that being a teacher, that was um that that came up from time to
time, you know, having proof that you work. Are you working? What are ways to prove that you have a job. But they did
Can I answer that as well? No, sir. I'm gonna get DHS
to the table. Representative Richardson. But It was Ladyman. Representative Ladyman, DHS the table to answer your question. Uh, you want me to repeat my question?
Speaker 211
3:05:39
Or did you get it? I think you were asking about um any of the clients that are with the HDCs or with um IDD on programs, I mean, they, they get paid a
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
3:05:49
small amount and it's usually a little piece of paper with what the amount is. So would that cover them and would that
be a big problem for y'all? Yes, sir. Thank you for the question, Janet Man, DHS. I did text um some
Speaker 211
3:06:02
of the team, um, back at the office. We do not do. Currently do a lot of pay stubs,
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
3:06:11
but we are willing to do those. We do not think it would
be a problem for us. Any other questions for DHS? So Yan Anyone else in the audience speak for or against the bill? We do have someone
from Citizen's First Congress speak for the bill. You guys would evacuate the end of the table, so members of the
public will have a place set to speak for or against the bill. If you would introduce yourself for the record, you reckon I'd speak for the
Speaker 463
3:06:56
bill. Is it on now? OK. Uh, my name is Leila Chisholm. Um, I'm speaking as an individual, I'm not speaking on behalf of my employer, but I am going to mention them. Um I am the assistant payroll manager for the City of Little Rock, and I'm urging y'all to support this bill, which would guarantee minor workers pay stubs every year at the City of
Little Rock hires about 300 young people and our summer internship program, and as part of that, they receive pay stubs and trained on how to read them, learning how to track their hours and understanding their deductions along with managing their earnings. For many, this is their very first paycheck in this education, we'll set them up for financial responsibility in the future. This also helps protect employers. The city has over 2500 employees and my division will process hundreds of uh changes every cycle. We've seen cases where workers have claimed months later that they never signed up for a deduction and
demand refunds, sometimes hundreds and even thousands of dollars. This is not only something that will help them to address these discrepancies promptly, but also will protect the employers from fraudulent and mistaken refund claims. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm nervous for no reason. I don't even know why. Oh. Sorry, because I was sitting there for so long watching y'all talk. Anyways, oh, OK. So this will not only help the workers, it protects employers. I've had people come to me 8 months later wanting thousands of dollars in refunds for deductions that they did sign up for and they can see every 2 weeks. Um, minor workers
are some of the most vulnerable employees and uh many of them don't even know what they should be receiving documentation wise, let alone how to check for their mistakes, um, by guaranteeing this, you would ensure that they're paid fairly, they learn financial literacy and that they are protected from payroll errors. And thank you for your time. I don't know why
I was so nervous. Any questions? See you none. Thank you for your testimony. Anyone else in the audience speak for or against, ma'am,
you are recognized, if you would introduce yourself for the record, and are you speaking for or against for?
Kamara Seals
Unverified
3:08:54
Good morning. My name is Kamara Seals and I am the policy director at the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and uh the lady before me pretty much said what I was gonna say, so I don't want to reiterate that, I kind of wanna ditto what she said, but we have been working tirelessly to try to get a pasted up bill passed and so at this point, the bill only addresses youth and it's important again for
Financial literacy that young people know what they are making. They need to know what they're making per hour, they need to know deductions, they need to know everything there is to know and just like the gentleman was saying he was working because he was trying to buy a a motorcycle. Well, when you go to a bank, when you go wherever you're trying to, whatever you're trying to purchase, they're gonna want proof of employment. I mean, that's, we all know that you've got to show proof of employment that
you've been employed steadily for so many months and so for for us doing this work, it just seems like a no brainer, uh, but it's been a real fight. It's been a real fight for years and so at this point, uh, with it just being minors, uh, we think it's just morally. Morally the right thing to do. Uh, it's not that difficult, it
is literally uh every business has a accountant, there is a process, you hit the button and it prints out. A pays up. So while their money is going direct deposit, they can be emailed uh this pay up, so, uh please take into consideration, uh, uh, helping our youth, uh, get the right start, helping them understand.
how the system worked, the process of working, earning wages, what are their deductions because even uh at at 16, uh, Social Security is held out, uh, uh, you know, and other deductions, you know, and uh state taxes, federal taxes, that is a part of the learning process and so um I, we ask you to please uh vote in favor of this.
So that uh our young people can have a good solid foundation entering into the workforce. He questions from committee. Seeing none, thank
you for your testimony. Thank you. Anyone else in the audience speak for or against the bill? Seeing no, you're a recognized clothes for your bill.
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
3:12:01
I think we all would like to assist and help our working youth, and this would be a first step towards that. I am closed on my bill. And ask for a motion do pass on this pay stub bill. Thank you. Have a
Speaker 276
3:12:17
motion from Representative Allen to pass. In discussion on the bill, Representative Pilkington. Um, I, I'm in support of
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
3:12:24
this bill, but I do want to talk about some of the unintended consequences when you have these kids start seeing how much
they're paying in taxes. They're all going to become Republicans. So just saying be careful what you wish for. All right. Any further discussion? Seeing on all as
a favor. Say ah. All opposed. I'd have a congratulation bill passed. Thank you committee. Representative Penzo, Senate Bill 591.
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
3:13:17
Clin Penzo, Senate District 31. Representative Carolyn
Speaker 396
3:13:24
Brown, District 67. You present Senate
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
3:13:27
Bill 591. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, This bill seeks to prohibit race selection abortions in the state of Arkansas. It introduces a new chapter to the Arkansas code that is very similar to other non-discrimination abortion bans such as the sex selection and Down syndrome band that are
already in code. It stipulates that a physician or any individual cannot perform or attempt to perform an abortion if they know that the pregnant woman is seeking the procedure solely based on the race of the unborn. child. Um, this act will take effect if Arkansas's existing laws against abortion are struck down or repealed. Before performing an abortion, the physician must inquire about the race of the unborn child and inform the woman of the prohibition against race selection abortions. This bill
also outlines criminal and civil penalties for violations categgar. Categorizing knowingly performing a prohibited abortion as a class A misdemeanor physicians who violate the law may face suspension or revocation of their medical licenses and women who undergo such abortions without being informed of a prohibition may seek damages. This bill ensures that women who receive or attempt to receive an abortion in violation of this chapter will not be prosecuted or held
liable. Um, as of April 1, 2025, the following states have enacted laws prohibiting abortions sought specifically due to the race of the fetus. Arizona prohibits abortions performed solely on the basis of race. Mississippi bans abortions based on race, sex, or genetic anomalies and Missouri prohibits abortion sought due to race, sex, or potential disability diagnosis in North Carolina bans abortions based on race in Tennessee prohibits abortion sought
because of race. And I'd be glad to take questions or Senator Pin I would like to add to that.
Speaker 253
3:15:34
Go ahead. Any questions for committee, Representative Richardson. So Representative Brown, just help me
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
3:15:40
understand why this is necessary. What, what, what happened to lead to this? Why? I mean, it's my understanding we have some of the strongest abortion laws already, so what
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
3:15:53
Why this? So, so in section 2 of this bill, it's, it's a trigger bill. Um, this doesn't go into effect unless any of those protections you're discussing, uh, are, are overturned. So this is just kind of a safety net for, for. You know, race selection abortions, other Other You know, like she said, for Down syndrome and things
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
3:16:14
like that. So do we know that race selection abortions have happened and I mean I'm sure they're not happening now, but do we know this is been an
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
3:16:24
issue? I would, I would, I would probably make the statement that there, there have been probably mixed race couples where uh the, the, the race of the of the baby has. been a factor in having abortion. I would Pretty, pretty sure that's happened. Any other questions for committee Representative Bennett.
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
3:16:55
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, well, this bill violates somebody's um constitutional rights. No. Under the equal protection clause under the 14th Amendment. No. No. Thank you. Any other questions from the committee? The fiscal impact No.
See, no further questions anyone in the audience speak for or against the bill.
Speaker 257
3:17:33
We can request one. You can do whatever you want. I'm requesting a fiscal on it. I'm on. Representative Richardson, you have a request fiscal on this fiscal
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
3:17:53
impact. What's your grounds for requests? If they are if this goes into effect, there's got to be a cost attached to the uh.
Speaker 269
3:17:59
The What's the word, the, uh. I can't think of the word. uh I just lost
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
3:18:14
my train of thought. There's got to be a cost to perform these procedures, right? So I want to know what that cost would be. The Proper request.
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
3:18:30
There would be no fiscal impact to the state. And they're the only fiscal impact would be if a physician is not allowed to perform abortion, but currently they're not allowed to perform abortions in Arkansas anyway. But there's no fiscal impact to the state. All right, well, I get a
ruling from the parliamentarian. I'm going to let the witness speak. So we have a witness to speak for or against. You're what you're recognized.
And we do have 2 people signed up. Are you one of the ones signed up, ma'am? No, sir. Would you like to go first? No, ma'am.
Gail Choate
Unverified
3:19:12
You go ahead. What's your name? My name is Gail Choate. You recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I'd like to speak against this bill for two major reasons. Number 1, as Senator Penzo testified, this is a trigger bill that will go into effect should anything change that would negate or disregard our current uh. Very
extensive laws on abortion. My biggest concern about this bill is that throughout this particular session of the General Assembly. I've heard a lot of conversation, especially as it pertained to SB 3. Talk about how in this state we are no longer to make any decisions based upon race. Putting in a clause with this bill actually making the foundation of this bill to be about Race seems to be quite hypocritical and fly in the face of all of the testimony that's
been given so far this term. Why would this bill be requested? I believe that it is because if in fact the woman who is presenting under this bill says that she knows the race of the child. It requires the physician to request medical records of all of her past care, that in itself creates an extensive time delay and a burden on the woman who is presenting to her physician for her care. That time delay
quite likely will impose such restrictions that any potential time limit associated with gestational period of the child will be exceeded in essence, stifling her right to receive the medical care that she is requesting from her physician. Doing that solely based upon race, again, as I mentioned earlier, seems to fly in the face of this session's a commitment to eliminating racial decision making, and instead,
trusting people to make their own decisions. So for that reason, I urge you to vote no on this bill.
Speaker 411
3:21:23
Thank you. Any questions for the witness? Seeing none, we'll go to Kristen Stewart for the next uh
Kristen Stewart
Unverified
3:21:33
speak against the bill. Hello committee, um, thank you for letting me speak today. I am also here
to speak against this so-called racial discrimination
by abortion prohibition Act. I just want to be clear, I don't think this bill is about protecting communities of color. It's a thinly veiled attempt to further restrict abortion access in Arkansas, which we already know is severely restricted, total abortion ban. Um, this legislature has done little to address the very real racial disparities in our healthcare systems, our schools, our housing, and our criminal justice system, um, but now we're suddenly super concerned about race, um, if this body
truly cared about brown and black lives, we'd see an investment in maternal healthcare, access to contraception, family paid leave and affordable childcare. Instead, we're seeing bills like this designed to shame. prevail and punish people for making personal medical decisions. We couldn't even pass an expansion of postpartum Medicaid to one year, it failed to make it out of the Senate committee just last week. Arkansas ranks among the worst states for maternal mortality
and our numbers are even more horrifying for black maternal mortality. SB 591 would force providers to interrogate patients about their reasons for seeking an abortion, violating their Privacy. And undermining the sacred trust between a patient and their doctor. Um, so let's just be honest, we know exactly who will bear the brunt of this law. Women of color will be the ones scrutinized questions and potentially criminalized. Um, this racial profiling is just
racial profiling, dress up as concerned, um, it's another way to create additional hurdles to abortion access, whether that's now or in the future, as it's a trigger bill, it lays the groundwork to further complicate. intimidate providers and make an already inaccessible service, even harder to obtain. I find it offensive to use the language of civil rights to push an anti-abortion agenda. This bill exploits the very communities it claims to protect while ignoring the systematic
racism that actually harms them. I don't think this is justice, I think it's hypocrisy, um, abortion is already illegal here in Arkansas for any and all reasons, unless a pregnant person's life is at risk. So what, what are we even doing here? Um, it's redundant, unnecessary, and frankly, a waste of everyone's time. Um, I spoke with an OBGYN this morning and she was very concerned. She wished she could be here, um, but this is just another reason
why OBGYNs will not want to practice in our state, um, so many don't want to come or are leaving because of our state's abortion ban. So this will further restrict OBGYNs to coming in to our state to practice, um, when we already, as we've discussed many times about the rural disparities, um, in our state for healthcare, so I really would urge all of you to vote no on this unnecessary and
hypocritical bill. Thank you. Any questions for the witness? Seeing none, I still have Carol, thank you for your testimony, Carol Egan, to testify
Speaker 484
3:25:07
against the bill. Hi, my name's Carol Egan, um, I'm here as a citizen.
Speaker 191
3:25:13
My issue with this bill, I'm agree with the last two witnesses as well, but I think the question that I have is how
is this actually supposed to work. So first, a woman presents to a, uh, her doctor and that she would like to terminate her pregnancy and the physician or nurse is supposed to ask, do you know the race of your child? That that is just such a, like if somebody asked me that question when I was pregnant, I would be like, what? You, you think I don't know the race of
my child. What what, how, what, what do you think? I, I, it's just such an insulting question. Of course, I know the race of my child. It's the kind of question that 99.999% of the women are going to have to answer in the affirmative, and ironically, if I say no, my questioning ends there. So interesting. Then, if I do answer yes, which of course I'm
going to, um. It, it, everything stops and all my medical records have to be presented to the uh to the physician, you know, I had my last child when I was almost 40. That's a lot of, you know, medical records, um, but it, but then what happens? It's not clear to me, right? It, it's like how, how does a collecting the medical records affect
anything regarding the intent of this bill. It's, that is confusing to me. Um, The It's so that's my issue with it. I don't think it's well thought out. I, I don't want racial profiling and people choosing what child they have. I mean, I don't think anybody's for that, but I don't think that's the intent of this bill in any way, shape, or form, um, if there was some kind of, if somebody had
had genetic testing or, well, but anyway. I don't think this is a good bill. I don't think it's claimed intent. It's, is it's actual intent, and I would really encourage you to vote no and Preserve the dignity of the
Speaker 192
3:27:39
women of this state. Thank you. So no questions. Thank you for
your testimony. Anyone else in the audience speak for or against?
Good morning again. Are you here to speak for
Kamara Seals
Unverified
3:28:09
or against? Again. You're recognized and say your name for the Cara Seals. Policy director at the Arkansas Public Policy Panel. However, I am speaking in my capacity. As a black woman. A citizen of Arkansas. When I first read this bill,
I was confused. The second time I read this bill. I was even more confused. The 3rd time. I read this bill. I became angry. We discussed this bill in staff meeting. I never could really understand the intent. And I've heard some.
I've heard you all litigate, uh, not litigate, discuss or or just the session, I've heard it discussed. And it disgusts me. I feel like it's racial profiling. And um It's It's um it's humiliating. For me to walk in if I was, I'm beyond childbearing years, but um my daughter, she's in
childbearing years and if she was to go and be asked. Uh This question. I, you know, I'm almost lost for words. Um, I don't have a lot of good words to say. Uh, it's confusing. What message are you sending to women. I mean, just the intent. I'm really confused. I really
am, um, and I, and one of the things I do, cause I've been in policy a long time. I always try to read with an understanding whether I agree or not. I try to read with the understanding so that I can comprehend and this is what I tell myself, we may not agree on everything, but let us understand what the author of the bills are trying to do. And with this bill,
It has been very, very challenging. To simply understand. Uh, this bill, you've already heard, um, the witness talk about the hypocrisy. Um And I'm taking my time because I'm hurt. And I don't wanna say the wrong thing. Uh, so, so I'm just going to say. That I believe with everything
in me. This is not, this is not good for Arkansas. It's not good for Arkansas. It's not good for women. It's not good for the, the doctors or the people who care for us when we are expecting. It's just not good and because of that I wanna ask you all to
ask yourselves, do you really understand the intent of this bill? The purpose, where are we going with this? What, what president are we trying to establish what message are we sending to Arkansas women? What are we saying to them? I just don't get it. I know I can't ask you questions. I understand this process. Uh, but this is really puzzling. It's troubling.
Um, and all I can say is please let's not do this. Let's don't do this.
Thank you. Any questions for the witness. Seeing none. Thank you for your testimony. Anyone else in the audience speak for or
against? Seeing none, Senator Pennzo, you recognize clothes for your bill, Representative Brown. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um.
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
3:32:43
That was uh that was a lot, um. There was mention of the intent of this bill. You, you, you've, anybody that knows me knows that and I've said in this table, when my primary goals is to, to protect the vulnerable in our community, whether it's children, the elderly, or the disabled. The majority of the legislation I've ran this session is, is to protect the least of these, uh, to protect the weak, I don't stand up for corporations. I don't stand up for anybody but the people in my district, um,
to, to imply that it's hypocritical or racist or um that it's not civil rights, it's mass. There's ill intent, you know, those are, those are hurtful things to say, um, because that is not what this is about. This is protecting the unborn. Ultimately, sure, we have things in place and other states, those things have been degraded, um. We know that genetic tests are done in some places, and that's
why we have a bill that says if somebody has Down syndrome, that's not a reason to have an abortion in Arkansas. This is the same thing. We, we all know that there's instances where people of different races. have children Um, and if it's an unintended pregnancy, That baby may not look like mom. And we all know that that's a reason why children are aborted in this country. Um, this isn't, this is just to say it's not a civil rights
issue. I mean that that's, I mean, we should eliminate that as an excuse to have an abortion. I mean, that's, that's a horrible thought just because of a child's skin color that they might be aborted. Um, so there is no ill intent. My goal is just to protect the unborn, um, and protect those that are unwanted because their skin color, um, and that's all that this bill is. um. And I don't, I don't know if she'd like to
close on anything specific, but I just wanted to clarify the intent of the bill.
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
3:34:49
And I would reiterate Senator Pena's comments. This is a nondiscrimination bill, and it is meant to be, uh, for those of us who, who respect the sanctity of life. It's just a further protection in case our our big, uh, our total ban on abortion except to save the life of the mother, uh, is ever pulled down these other protections will be in place, so there will be um.
The determination of whether the race or the health or Uh, sex or whatever of the child is not used as an excuse for an abortion. That's a very discriminatory, uh, choice to make, um, well question was asked about the um the physician requesting medical records, uh, as pertains to the pregnancy, not the entire medical records of the of the woman seeking the abortion, and
I think to me that that is just good medical practice rather than just going into an abortion. a clinic and just wham bam, they just do the abortion. That's just how it's done there, they don't care about the health or life of the mother. So, uh, I believe medical records are important when you're being responsible. Um, And with that, um,
I would ask for a good bow. Thank you committee. It's a pleasure committee. And a motion do pass represent
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
3:36:41
Pilkington any discussion on the motion. Representative Bentley. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you for bringing this bill. I just think people need to understand that when abortion was legal in Arkansas that although black Arkansans only make up 13% of our population. There were 48% of the abortions that were done in our state, and I think it's it's horrible. I think the founder of Planned Parenthood,
Margaret Slager, her whole purpose was to wipe out the black race, and I think that this is a bill for us to say
Speaker 291
3:37:03
we're not going to tolerate that in Arkansas,
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
3:37:10
and I'm definitely do pass. Thank you. Representative Pilkington. Thank you. Um, There's a really scary elements. On the far, far right of white nationalists who have actually been trying to influence the conservative movement to be more pro-choice. In the issue of race. And to me it's a really scary
thing that you see that, and I think this is a good step in fighting back against that kind of white nationalist extremism where they've said we should legalize abortion just for certain races. Uh, that's scary and it's sad that I, you start seeing it more and more being discussed openly on some political forms, and it's, and I think this is a good way for us in Arkansas to say we will not stand for that kind of extremism here that we should
kill a baby simply by their because of their race and so that's why I But yes. Any other discussion?
Seeing all those in favor, say ah. All opposed. I'm roll the eyes have it.
Congratulations bill is passed. So Senator Davis, Senate Bill 622. Representative Pilkington.
Unknown speaker
3:38:33
622. It's a tire bill and your name on the bill? Doesn't matter to me. Yeah. Sorry, man. I'm just pulling it up real quick.
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
3:39:03
OK, this is one of those great builds that all we're doing is just striking out language, so it's an act to remove the prohibition on tire retailers from charging other fees to a person who purchases the service of removal of a tire from a rim, uh, And that's um If you just read the bill, it says this is the part we're taking out, except for the rim removal fees imposed under this section, a tire retailer shall not charge any other fee to the person who purchases the service or removal of the tire that's been striking out and also
struck out as if a person established that he or she has paid one of the fees over the tire, so essentially we're just um We're just taking up that prohibition so that you can charge that now since I think we're moving towards trying to fix this issue of with the recycled tires, um, we're just trying to simplify this so that we can
potentially help these people. Make more money so that it will be a more effective system. Rivers and Pilkington, wouldn't
you agree or do you know, um, the problem with
the tire deal as it stands today and as I said last meeting in my long speech, I've been involved since one day one. It's been the entire districts and the tired districts charging, uh, more money than the system has to pay. To process the tires, uh, which is why I was in favor of Representative Woolridge's bill, which privatized that and eliminated those tire districts. Obviously, they could stay in business as a private business and charge those fees and keep
going, but this, this allows them to stay there and charge the customer. Exorbitant amount of money to pick up their tire and go, so it doesn't fix the number one. is the tire districts. So
what's your solution to deal with the tired districts? Well,
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
3:40:56
I mean, my preference is, uh, was representative Wooldridge's bill. I voted for it. I supported for it. I think that's what we should have done, um.
I guess I would agree this isn't necessarily solve the problem. I just find it hard to support a bill that gives them the ability to have more money when they've already proven to us they can't manage money that we've already given them. Yeah, um, so
I mean, Not to be a dampener on a parade, but I got a real issue with that, but I'll open up the rest of the
committees. Representative Woolridge. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and thank you, Representative. I appreciate the support, uh, last week in the privatization bill, I, I
agree with the chairman that, that what we're doing currently is
not working and, and I think that kind of the center of the problem is the tire districts that creates a monopoly, as we discussed last time during, during uh testimony and and I commend you and obviously Senator Andrew Davis, uh, for being engaged and trying to help us solve a problem that we know is existing. We know that these programs uh currently are not funded in a way that they can be successful, um, and I think that that the privatization is what really allows us to open that
up. I, I share the chairman's concerns. I think that what this bill will do is allow retailers to charge a higher fee and it historically has never been enough. I don't know what makes us think that this would be enough so I could see over the course of the next 2 years until we have another opportunity to look at this and and try to solve the waste tire issue in Arkansas that that this could continue to just drive ultimately fees up to uh to Arkansans. So for that reason, I, I agree with the chairman. I
have some mix, I have some concerns, so I think, I
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
3:42:45
think all of us here are trying to look for a solution to the tire issue, and I think this is one potential one. Like I said, I support the privatization of your bill. So, you know, committee, do what you do what you want and I appreciate this position
to this bill is not because mine's not heard. Um, I agree with you. We've got to solve the problem. I'm just, I think that getting it right is, is better than getting it right now. So I appreciate you bringing this forward for discussion. I would, I would agree with you, Representative Wooldridge.
Any other questions from the committee? So you're not anyone in the audience speak for or against the bill. I figured Craig
Douglas would tear the door down to speak for this. Um. seeing none of your clothes for you, Bill. I'm close for my bill and
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
3:43:36
I guess you make a motion to pass. Yeah, like I make a motion too fast. I think we all know where this is going
Speaker 415
3:43:45
kind of used to it. All those affairs say.
Speaker 31
3:43:51
All of those say no. No. Representative Pilkington, I'm sorry
to tell you your bill has failed. So members, here's where we're at. We have about 15 minutes
to go. The reason we're making a hard stop and the reason we started at 8 a.m. is because B committees will meet at 1 o'clock, and I want to give each and every one of you a break before the committees meet, um. So, we do have a few bills I think Representative or Senator Penzo wants to run a few bills
that have failed, um, We have 15 minutes. Get running OK. Remember seeing no further business, we stand adjourned. Uh, members, I will make it clear we are at the call of the chair
for the rest of the day in case any other business is transmitted from the Senate.
Agenda
CONCUR IN SENATE AMENDMENT
Number Sponsor Subtitle
HB1131 Pilkington TO AUTHORIZE AN ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSE TO DELEGATE CERTAIN TASKS TO MEDICAL ASSISTANTS AND OTHER UNLICENSED STAFF.
HB1841 L. Johnson TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS REVENUE INVESTMENT IN VITAL EMS SYSTEMS (ARRIVES) ACT; AND TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS REVENUE INVESTMENT IN VITAL EMS SYSTEMS (ARRIVES) FUND FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES AGENCIES.
HB1186 Vaught TO CREATE THE PAIN RELIEF PARITY ACT; AND TO REQUIRE PAIN RELIEF PARITY IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM.
HB1801 K. Moore TO AUTHORIZE AN OUTSOURCING FACILITY OF LEGEND DRUGS AND
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES THAT COMPOUNDS A PRODUCT TO SELL THE COMPOUNDED PRODUCT TO CERTAIN ENTITIES.
HB1963 Gonzales TO CLARIFY THAT AN ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSE WHO PRESCRIBES A STIMULANT MAY SUBSTITUTE A THERAPEUTICALLY EQUIVALENT MEDICATION.
HB1762 Hall TO REQUIRE REVOCATION OF A PERMIT FOR THE DISPOSAL OF INDUSTRIAL WASTE IN AN AGRICULTURAL OR PASTORAL APPLICATION FOR A CERTAIN
NUMBER OF VIOLATIONS.
REGULAR AGENDA
Number Sponsor Subtitle
SB238 J. Payton TO AMEND THE USED TIRE RECYCLING AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT.
SB473 Stone TO AMEND THE DUTIES OF THE ARKANSAS FIRE PROTECTION SERVICES BOARD; AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE ARKANSAS FIRE PROTECTION SERVICES BOARD TO ADVISE THE ARKANSAS FIRE TRAINING ACADEMY ON CERTAIN
MATTERS.
SB117 C. Penzo TO CREATE THE NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIAN PRACTICE ACT; TO PROVIDE FOR LICENSURE OF NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIANS IN ARKANSAS; AND TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS STATE BOARD OF NATURAL MEDICINE.
Notice: Silence your cell phones. Keep your personal conversations to a minimum. Observe restrictions
SB444 K. Hammer TO AMEND THE MEDICAL ETHICS AND DIVERSITY ACT.
SB507 G. Leding TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO COVER APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS SERVICES FOR CERTAIN BENEFICIARIES.
SB554 C. Tucker TO CREATE THE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM.
SB120 C. Penzo TO REQUIRE LICENSURE FOR ALL PRIVATE CARE AGENCIES IN THIS STATE; AND TO ENSURE CONSUMER PROTECTION FOR VULNERABLE AGING ADULTS.
SB347 C. Penzo TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO INCREASE
REIMBURSEMENT RATES FOR CERTAIN DENTAL SERVICES AND TO SET AN ANNUAL REIMBURSEMENT CAP FOR ADULT DENTAL SERVICES.
SB576 B. Davis TO AMEND THE COVERAGE OF CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITORS WITHIN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM.
SB601 Hester TO CREATE A PATHWAY FOR A GRADUATE OF A FOREIGN MEDICAL SCHOOL TO BE LICENSED IN THIS STATE IF HE OR SHE IS OFFERED FULL-TIME
EMPLOYMENT AS A PHYSICIAN FROM A HEALTHCARE PROVIDER.
SB2 C. Penzo TO REPEAL THE STATEWIDE FLUORIDATION PROGRAM; AND TO REMOVE THE MANDATE FOR WATER SYSTEMS TO MAINTAIN A FLUORIDE CONTENT.
SB121 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT; TO APPLY THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT TO PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS.
SB122 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT; TO APPLY THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT TO PHYSICIANS.
SB217 C. Penzo TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO REQUEST A WAIVER TO EXCLUDE CANDY AND SOFT DRINKS FROM ELIGIBLE FOODS UNDER THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.
SB255 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "DRUG" WITHIN THE FOOD, DRUG, AND COSMETIC ACT; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
SB262 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE CORPORATE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE DOCTRINE; AND TO AUTHORIZE A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WHO OWNS A MEDICAL CORPORATION TO MAINTAIN OWNERSHIP UPON AN INACTIVE LICENSE OR RETIREMENT.
SB603 C. Tucker TO REQUIRE AN AIR AMBULANCE TO CONTACT THE ARKANSAS TRAUMA SYSTEM FOR DIRECTION ON THE BEST DESTINATION TO TRANSPORT A PERSON.
HB1998 Torres TO CREATE THE JAMES MCFERRON MENTAL HEALTH, WELLNESS, AND
RESILIENCY ACT; AND TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO SERVICES AND TRAINING TO FIRST RESPONDERS.
SB585 G. Leding TO REQUIRE CERTAIN RECORDS BE PROVIDED TO AN EMPLOYEE WHO IS A MINOR.
SB591 C. Penzo TO PROHIBIT RACE-SELECTION ABORTION IN THIS STATE; AND TO CREATE THE RACE DISCRIMINATION BY ABORTION PROHIBITION ACT.
DEFERRED BILLS
Number Sponsor Subtitle
HB1008 A. Collins TO REQUIRE MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR POSTPARTUM MOTHERS FOR ONE YEAR AFTER GIVING BIRTH.
HB1010 A. Collins TO SET THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM FOR MATERNAL HEALTH SERVICES.
HB1011 A. Collins TO CREATE THE RESTORE ROE ACT; AND TO RESTORE A WOMAN'S ACCESS TO ABORTION SERVICES.
HB1012 A. Collins TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO EXTEND ELIGIBILITY TO CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS FOR FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES.
HB1013 Hudson TO PROTECT FERTILITY TREATMENT RIGHTS IN THIS STATE.
HB1029 D. Garner TO SET THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND SERVICES RELATED TO ADDICTION.
HB1032 A. Collins TO BAN CONVERSION THERAPY.
HB1132 Pilkington TO INCREASE ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE SERVICES PROVIDED BY ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSES; AND TO AMEND THE PRESCRIPTIVE
AUTHORITY OF AN ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSE.
HB1224 Nazarenko TO AMEND THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT; AND TO APPLY THE AUTOMATIC OCCUPATIONAL LICENSURE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT TO MASSAGE THERAPISTS.
HB1244 K. Brown TO AMEND THE REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAIN A CERTIFICATE OF FULL
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE AUTHORITY BY A CERTIFIED NURSE PRACTITIONER OR CLINICAL NURSE SPECIALIST.
HB1270 Pilkington TO ESTABLISH A PRESCRIBED PEDIATRIC EXTENDED CARE PILOT PROGRAM THROUGH A SECTION 1115 MEDICAID DEMONSTRATION WAIVER; AND TO
DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
HB1401 Pilkington TO INCLUDE ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY SERVICES WITHIN THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT.
HB1463 Hudson TO PROHIBIT DISCLOSURE OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST MATERIALS OR TEST DATA.
SB187 Irvin TO AMEND THE COMPOSITION OF THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID DRUG UTILIZATION REVIEW BOARD TO INCLUDE PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS.
HB1566 McClure TO REQUIRE ADOPTION OF A STATEWIDE PRACTICAL NURSING PROGRAM CORE CURRICULUM TO INCREASE CONSISTENCY IN PRACTICAL NURSING EDUCATION.
HB1592 J. Mayberry TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS ALZHEIMER'S AND DEMENTIA PUBLIC HEALTH ACT.
HB1718 Gramlich TO ESTABLISH STANDARDS FOR SURGICAL SMOKE EVACUATION IN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES LICENSED IN THIS STATE.
HB1723 Pilkington TO AMEND INITIATED ACT 1 OF 2000, ALSO KNOWN AS THE TOBACCO SETTLEMENT PROCEEDS ACT; AND TO DIRECT THE ARKANSAS MINORITY HEALTH COMMISSION TO ESTABLISH AND ADMINISTER A GRANT PROGRAM FOR SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTERS.
HB1781 Crawford TO AUTHORIZE THE LICENSURE OF CLINICS, HEALTH CENTERS, OR OTHER FACILITIES IN WHICH A PREGNANCY IS TERMINATED OR ABORTED IF CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES ARE MET.
HB1588 McAlindon TO REQUIRE APPROVAL OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEFORE THE
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES SEEKS OR IMPLEMENTS AN EXPANSION OF COVERAGE FOR THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM.
HB1776 Lundstrum TO AMEND THE CERTIFICATE OF NEED REQUIRED TO OBTAIN A SOLID WASTE LANDFILL OR TRANSFER STATION PERMIT OR AN EXPANSION OF A SOLID WASTE LANDFILL OR TRANSFER STATION PERMIT.
HB1795 A. Brown TO CREATE THE FERTILITY CLINIC LICENSURE ACT.
HB1882 Pilkington TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF ENROLLABLE MEDICAID BENEFICIARY
POPULATION AND ALLOW THE GOVERNOR TO DESIGNATE MEDICAID POPULATIONS TO BE ENROLLED UNDER THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED
ORGANIZED CARE ACT.
HB1888 Steele TO AMEND THE DIVISION OF WORKFORCE SERVICES LAW; AND TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT RECORDS FOR INDIVIDUALS.
HB1890 J. Mayberry TO ALLOW SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO BILL FOR HEALTHCARE SERVICES; AND TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO REIMBURSE SCHOOL
DISTRICTS FOR CERTAIN HEALTHCARE SERVICES.
HB1906 Lundstrum TO REQUIRE WRITTEN CONSENT OF A PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN WHEN PRESCRIBING LONG-ACTING REVERSIBLE CONTRACEPTION TO A PERSON WHO IS YOUNGER THAN EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE.
HB1791 C. Cooper TO CLARIFY THAT THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION AND THE UNITED
NATIONS DO NOT HAVE JURISDICTION OR POWER IN THIS STATE AND DO NOT HAVE AUTHORITY TO ENFORCE OR IMPLEMENT ACTIONS IN THIS STATE.
HB1880 Hudson TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS HUMAN LIFE PROTECTION ACT AND THE
ARKANSAS UNBORN CHILD PROTECTION ACT TO ADD CERTAIN EXCEPTIONS.
HB1908 Long TO CREATE THE PROOF OF RESIDENCY FOR PUBLIC ASSISTANCE ACT; TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING PUBLIC ASSISTANCE; AND TO REQUIRE PROOF OF RESIDENCY FOR ADULT APPLICANTS.
HB1909 Long TO CREATE THE PUBLIC SERVICES ONLY FOR CITIZENS ACT; AND TO REQUIRE VERIFICATION OF CITIZENSHIP AND RESIDENCY IN ORDER TO RECEIVE
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE.
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE- HOUSE, Apr 15, 2025 | Agenda | 4 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Representative Jeff Wardlaw Chair
Unverified
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
Speaker 29
Speaker 31
Speaker 34
Speaker 35
Representative Brad Hall
Unverified
Representative Jeremy Wooldridge Chair
Unverified
Speaker 61
Speaker 64
Speaker 69
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
Speaker 77
Speaker 96
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 101
Speaker 103
Speaker 104
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
Speaker 53
Speaker 131
David Cook
Unverified
Speaker 133
Speaker 139
Speaker 149
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
Speaker 153
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
Speaker 167
Speaker 169
Speaker 170
Speaker 176
Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
Unverified
Carol Egan
Unverified
Speaker 191
Speaker 192
Speaker 194
Speaker 197
Speaker 199
Speaker 201
Speaker 203
Speaker 41
Speaker 202
Speaker 207
Speaker 211
Speaker 212
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
Speaker 6
Speaker 204
Speaker 219
Speaker 225
Speaker 232
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
Speaker 235
Speaker 222
Speaker 242
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
Speaker 258
Speaker 255
Speaker 263
Speaker 262
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
Speaker 276
Speaker 277
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
Speaker 279
Speaker 112
Speaker 302
Kristen Stewart
Unverified
Speaker 21
Speaker 328
Speaker 342
Speaker 355
Speaker 371
Speaker 297
Speaker 82
Speaker 379
Speaker 381
Speaker 383
Speaker 386
Speaker 388
Speaker 392
Speaker 326
Speaker 11
Speaker 124
Speaker 417
Ted Chills
Unverified
Speaker 421
Representative Richard McGrew
Unverified
Speaker 423
Speaker 426
Speaker 427
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
Samuel Mcculler
Unverified
Speaker 13
Senator Greg Leding
Unverified
Speaker 54
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
Speaker 463
Kamara Seals
Unverified
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
Speaker 396
Speaker 253
Speaker 257
Speaker 269
Gail Choate
Unverified
Speaker 411
Speaker 484
Speaker 291
Speaker 415