ALC - Administrative Rules
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Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
members thank you for your attendance we will call this administrative
rules subcommittee to adjourn to start here thank you for being here want to remind everybody that if you wish to comment on a rule to go ahead and sign in at the sheets in the back of the room be sure to specify which rule and which you wish to comment on and it will be taking up that sheet momentarily
members go ahead and log in and to your station if you've not already done so so we can begin i also want to make a quick note to indicate that the revised agenda posted last week that rdot utility accommodations rules were pulled from the agenda at the agency's request in addition we will pass over the upper southwest regional solid waste management districts rule at the agency's
request as well so just make note of those on your agenda strike those as we go forward but before we start let's go ahead and stand and let's pray and kick off our meeting
thank you lord thank you for today thank you for safe travels and to get here and to do the people's work we ask that we stop and put our eyes fixed on you the author and perfect for our faith to give us wisdom and guidance as we try to do the work of the state well and that we filter all through you and honoring you and thanks for this ability to get to serve these people and we don't take that lightly do the same pray amen all right all right members let's go to b this is a report
from the executive subcommittee concerning the emergency rules so let's see here all right this month we have two reports in your packet from the ALC subcommittees let's see excuse me we have we have one report from the executive subcommittee concerning its review and approval of the emergency rule the report is in your packet if there's any questions please light up the screen if not this without objection this report will be filed seeing none this will be filed all right moving to C
This is ALC subcommittees concerning the review of rules. This month we have two reports in your packet from the ALC subcommittee concerning the rules and the review of their rules. We will take those two rules up under item E today. They'll be later in the agenda. But if there's any other questions, please light up the screen. If not, these will be filed. Without objection, these will be filed. Okay. All right. We are moving to D. All right.
all right we have our quarterly reports the administrative rules um administrative directives which are in your packet neither neither the department of corrections nor the post-prison transfer transfer board had any new directives and so uh if there's not any other questions we'll move on from item d any other questions for that group all right thank you all right we'll move on without objection those will be reviewed and approved all right so moving to e on your agenda all right this is our rules and we'll go start going through them let's see we've got agency
rules for this month so let's see let's just start out we've got the department of transportation and the state highway commission you're welcome to join the table thank you for being here
once you get seated and turn on your microphone please introduce yourself for the record. Good morning, I'm Michelle
Speaker 14
6:42
Davenport. I'm the Chief Legal Counsel for the Arkansas Department of Transportation. Good morning, I'm Jeff Holmes. I'm the Chief
Speaker 19
6:50
of the Arkansas Highway Police. Thank you
Speaker 14
6:55
for being here today. You are recognized to present your rule. Thank you. The first rule that we have to come before you today is our permit rules for the movement of oversized and overweight vehicles on Arkansas State highway system this rule was amended due to two separate acts of the legislature one dealing with the definition of a manufactured home and the second dealing with a definition change of a farm equipment dealer to include a farm equipment hauler while we had the rules that we knew we
needed to be amended we went through and conducted a thorough review of the rules updated any outdated language as well as any language that did not fit well within the new arkansas code of rules style so we took
Speaker 20
7:35
that opportunity cleaned up our rules and that's what we have before you today happy to answer any
questions thank you members any questions on 1a i think the only question i have is um i do want to take this opportunity to to speak about something going on in my district and it does
relate to this the overweight changes on state highways now i didn't
see anything in this rule but please help us understand when there are changes on state highways on weight requirements
what does the public comment situation look like how how soon and how easily is the community communications sent down to the communities where there's changes on major volume highways so
Speaker 24
8:23
sir on the if it's a state law that applies to the
general freight or movement on oversized overweight then it would be communicated after it would take effect but as far as changing the the weight limits on publishing a rule and special permits that would be for like over dimensional and oversized load so they would
follow the same format as we're doing here i think the concern has been um we've had whether it's maintenance or if it's uh completely a change due to the due the weight requirements of a state highway bridge specifically in my district um and then a highway patrolman is sitting there issuing out tickets in which
communication was not sent out and it maybe just changed a slight change on a on a sign that there's been some frustration there so i think that's what i i
think the people would like to understand is is how should communication be handed out when there
Speaker 24
9:19
are those changes happening on the particular situation I believe you're talking about so there's press releases that go out and then our officers are more or less education trying to keep those heavy trucks from crossing the weight-restricted bridge by trying to stop them before they get there and then
if if they are trying to explain the reason for the reduction in weight on on that specific instance because of the the limits of the bridge and then they try to educate instead of just write tickets for it so it's more of an education trying to keep people from crossing the bridge then then let's get you so you in your opinion i hate to harp
along on this but in your opinion you believe tickets shouldn't be issued until at least after the press release is sent out correct correct okay that's helpful thank you yes all right members any other questions on this
roll oh we've got one here representative
lady men in a second
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
10:17
you will be recognized you're recognized thank you mr chairman um over here uh i just was wondering it doesn't look like it changed but uh oversized loads uh
the time limits did that change at all or or kind of give us a summary of what that is are there certain hours that extra wide loads can be moved
Speaker 24
10:40
yes sir it's from sunrise to sunset and and and the permit rules it was kind of confusing because it said during daylight hours so this just helped clarify to what it's always been
the sunrise to sunset okay thank you yes sir all right so you know further questions without objection a1 is
Speaker 20
11:04
reviewed and approved. You can go to B.
Speaker 14
11:07
Thank you. Our second set of rules is rules regarding automatic license plate readers, and that is concerning the retention and use policy for
Arkansas Highway Police. These rules were adopted due to the passage of Act 668 of the General Assembly, which included Highway Police in the definition of a group that needed specific rules governing how that data would be retained and how those license plate readers would be used by the department so that is what we have done we mirrored the existing rules for the division of state police so that there would be uniformity across law enforcement
Speaker 20
11:46
and so these rules are substantially
similar other than changing our name basically to the ones that were already in effect by
the state place. Thank you for the description. Members, uh, if you've got any questions, I
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
12:05
see Senator Reich recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, just scanning through these, I don't
see the, uh, okay. It said, and I just quickly went back and looked at the bill. This says the designation, uh, for a period of not
more than 150 days. Did I not see something about
60 days in the legislation i went
Speaker 14
12:28
back through the legislation and used the same language that state police had i did not see a reduction to 60 days in that we maintained the 150 days for any type of data and then 100 or 18 months for any cumulative data if there was a summary report done or statistical data that would then be deleted
Speaker 50
12:49
after 18 months individual data is I believe at a very lesser level unless there's an investigation.
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
12:55
Yeah, what I saw was on, it just said the terms of contractual agreement
shall be expressly prohibited. A third-party processor from using a captured data for any other purpose and impose a data retention period not to exceed 60 days from receipt of the captured plate data. Yes,
Speaker 14
13:22
we handle the data once it comes to us.
Each contract with a provider for those services would have that 60-day retention rule that that outside provider was not able to retain that data for anything more than 60 days. And that's a lot of
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
13:36
the public's concern. I don't think it's as much about y'all having it as it is sharing it. Thank
you. You're welcome. Thank you, Senator. Representative Long, you are recognized. Thank you,
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
13:48
Mr. Chairman. I'm not a member of the committee, but I appreciate you giving me a chance to ask a question. I'm just wondering, what type of cameras are y'all using?
We see a lot in the news about the flight cameras. Does the Department of Transportation use flight cameras, or is this government-owned cameras?
Speaker 14
14:07
We actually have several different types of cameras. So we have a type of camera that is used at our weigh stations. We have a separate type of camera that is used at our virtual way station. And then for security purposes on our facilities, we do have a contract with Flock for providing the cameras that are on our actual campus.
Those are under a lease. We do not own those. The
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
14:34
rest of the cameras we do own. In the cameras that
we see, I believe they're used for speed, checking people's speed and speeding in the work zones. And also it also has, I guess, the capability of making out if you're using a cell phone. Do those also read the license plates? Sir, they just take a picture of the
Speaker 24
14:58
license plate. They don't just take a picture to share with the officer to help him identify the car or the vehicle.
But then it's deleted immediately if he doesn't issue a citation. Okay.
Thank you very much. I appreciate you, Chris. Yes, sir.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
15:16
Thank you. All right. Senator Irving, you're recognized. Thank
you. In your contract with Flock, is there provisions of protecting the data to where it is not used by that company? yes ma'am it can
Speaker 24
15:33
only be used in accordance with the arkansas law
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
15:36
right okay but so there's no law
Speaker 24
15:41
enforcement purposes only for and it's it's not accessible by non-law enforcement agencies so so
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
15:49
the the company that you're doing a lease
with a third party with flock in the contract that you've signed with them it states explicitly that they have no uh they have they have no right to access or view or sell that data is that correct that is
language explicitly stated in the contract you signed with them well
Speaker 24
16:16
without the contract in front of me ma'am but i don't have it here in front
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
16:21
of me but i'd like i'd like if you don't mind um i would appreciate if you would look at that or give me a copy of that contract so i could see that because i want to make sure that language is explicitly stated in that contract with this company the contracts that i've seen and reviewed that they have signed with other entities outside
side of you that is posted on their website says that they have the ability to retain that data and to use that data for their own purposes as they develop more technologies. And so that is problematic in my opinion. So I would just like to make sure and verify that it is only for your purposes and you're the only ones that can see that. We'll be happy to get that information for thank you
Chair
Unverified
17:12
recognized uh thank you mr chair i appreciate
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
17:18
senator urban's uh request and just ask if they could send that to the committee i think that would help us uh report back to the public that's got heightened the word heightened awareness right now that we read through a contract herself thank you absolutely all
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
17:36
right co-chair shepherd is recognized thank you mr. chairman and just just to be clear I wanted to make sure I
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
17:42
understood correctly which what your testimony was earlier with regard to the flock cameras themselves I think you testified that those are only
deployed around our dot property could you specific be more specific as to as to their use yes sir they are
Speaker 24
18:03
located in interstate rest areas interstate truck parking areas and then around the central campus in little rock so
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
18:14
those flock cameras are are at least the ones that that you um have and and have access to
are not um stationed on public highways no no sir they're
Speaker 24
18:29
on the interest entrance of truck parking areas on the interstate uh the rest areas and then around our central campus and we're up thank you yes sir well thank you for
the clarification on that and and um it probably probably would be good clarity too for folks to realize that believe it's my understanding that you took the very similar language from the state police and applied it to your rule here today is that correct that is correct
okay thank you for that clarity members see any other questions see none
this will be reviewed and approved okay thank you thank you for your your time today you're dismissed we're passing over C as a reminder we'll come back to that in future months moving to e2 Department of Commerce you're welcome to join the table. Alright, when you get situated, please turn your microphone on and introduce yourself for
the record. Good morning. I'm Sarah Farris, General Counsel for the State
Speaker 88
19:27
Insurance Department. Thank you. Thank you. You're recognized to present your rule. Thank
you so much. This is our vision plan coverage rule pursuant to Act 142 of 2025. I want to point out we had two public comment periods for this rule, as well as two public hearings. we believe we have a good rule here that has been thoroughly vetted by all interested parties and I'm happy to take any questions thank
you for the description members any questions for 2a see none this is
without objection this is reviewed and approved thank you thank you so much all right members going to
three Department of Education you're welcome to join
Speaker 92
20:17
the table Good morning, Courtney Solis-Ford,
Department of Education. Thank you. Thank you for being here.
Speaker 92
20:25
You're recognized to present 3A. So 3A is the rules governing the course choice
Speaker 95
20:29
program, which was created by Act 237 of 2023, the LEARNS Act, and then modified by Act 730 of 2025.
The course choice program allows students in grades 6 through 12 to take courses that are not offered by their local public schools or to take courses at another school that is required for graduation if they are in a d or f letter graded school so this rule is new it sets forth the standards for a provider to become approved to be in the program it sets the standards for funding and the responsibilities for school districts and again those course choice providers it was put out for public comment we did receive a few public comments made non-substantive
changes and the rules were given final approval by our state board on July 9th and I'm happy to answer any questions
thank you Ms. Ford just for clarity for this rule if it were to implement what's the
timing again for this this rule to take effect for which school year it would take effect
Speaker 95
21:31
for this school year because the law was already in place we went ahead and sent out information to schools in the spring that would allow students to go ahead and start enrolling so these would take if the rules would of course take effect in 10 days and but it's already
available for the school year thank you for the clarity members any questions see none without
Speaker 95
21:54
objection this is reviewed and approved item b item b is rules governing overnight travel and use of public school lavatories revisions to these rules were necessary to implement act 119 of 2025 the amendment allows athletic personnel to enter a multiple occupancy restroom or changing area to address supervise or treat student athletes if that individual is overseeing that student during
an athletic event so this was just kind of a common sense modification if you will so that necessary personnel could enter those spaces if necessary to treat the students we did hold a public comment period and the student state board gave final approval on July 9th happy to answer any questions thank you for the description members any questions on B
seeing none thank you for taking our
student safety serious with this with this rule I appreciate that without objection this rule is reviewed and
approved item C and then finally these are the rules governing
Speaker 95
22:52
consolidation and annexation of school districts which really these changes were to implement act 919 of 2025 and act 157 of 2026 which allows schools that were previously consolidated or annexed to have a local vote to detach from that existing school district so we needed to put some provisions in place that address funding and distribution of property after such a vote we did have three schools schools detached from their previous school
districts and so those schools are already up and running for this school year and so we're excited to see how they how they succeed throughout the year and I'm happy to answer any questions about the rules members any
questions for C C none without objection this rules reviewed and approved
thank you for being here today thank you our members moving to four department of finance administration you're welcome to join the table
we're on page 19 in the packet for those following along at home all right thank you for being here if you'll turn your microphone on and and
Speaker 110
24:09
introduce yourself for the record good morning i'm christy lorigan the regulatory administrator for the regulatory division of
Speaker 111
24:14
dfa and i'm katie anahosa i'm head of legal for the regulatory division
brandon crawford staff attorney for dfa thank you being here you're
Speaker 112
24:24
recognized to present your rule we are seeking review of medical marijuana rule
for management contracts the proposed rule has three components it requires disclosure of the management contracts upon certain events it imposes substantive requirements on the management contracts and it places responsibility in the medical marijuana commission for approval or denial of those contracts happy to answer any questions thank you for the description members any questions
well thank you for being here today i do know that this had extensive review in previous subcommittees um i i know for myself i would like if you could help me understand managing contracts maybe versus other
vendor contracts and could you add a little bit more clarity on that for the for the committee
Speaker 112
25:18
today absolutely a management contract it's a defined term in the rule it's an agreement between a licensee and a separate entity or person for services related to the licensee sale of medical marijuana
Speaker 120
25:31
okay so this would not touch other types
Speaker 112
25:34
of contracts outside of that that's correct and there are specific exclusions and some specific Inclusions as part of the rule
as well. Just to provide some
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
25:47
additional clarity. Okay representative lady may be recognized Thank
you, mr. Chairman over here in the meeting that we had Previously, there was some discussion about the time delay and some of these changes that the industry might be Delayed in decisions might be a two-month delay if they were making a change in management or
some other change. Can you talk about that a little bit and describe, you had some
comments on that, so what was your response to those comments about the time
Speaker 110
26:21
delays? Sure, so the Medical Marijuana Commission meets once a month. They also have a submission deadline for the previous month to get on that agenda, but this is standard practice for any other transfer of location, transfer of ownership. The industry has been always submitting those before the next meeting so i can understand that there might be the assumption that there's a delay but
in the practice of how things are working everything is submitted before the next meeting right now anyways for any other transfer of location or transfer of ownership
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
26:53
well i mean if you're running a business and you need to make a decision it might need to be made before 60 days uh is there any exception is there any way that uh in an event of a serious situation that need to be addressed is there an exemption or a way that some that
a company could come to you and
Speaker 110
27:15
get a quicker decision there is not an exemption built in but we are always happy to schedule an extra meeting if we understand that time is of the essence for a specific reason we can always hold an extra emergency meeting as long as we follow FOIA to make sure that we can get
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
27:30
everybody so the board could call an emergency meeting and address a serious issue if
Speaker 110
27:34
requested we have never been requested requested to do that since i've been there but there's no reason why we couldn't do it all right
thank you thank you thank you all right seeing no further questions uh this is considered
without objection reviewed and approved thank you all right members moving to five department of health you're recognized to join us at the table
all right turn your microphones on and introduce
Speaker 131
28:26
yourself for the record please Charles Thompson, Attorney, Arkansas Department of Health.
Shane David Branch, Chief Health Systems Licensing and Certification,
Chair
Unverified
28:38
Department of Health. Craig Smith, Attorney for Arkansas Department of Health. Thank you for being here. You're recognized to present 5A. 5A is our proposed amendments to the list of controlled substance. As a reminder, the Department of Health is required under Arkansas Code 564216 to update this list annually. The proposed amendments are to include substances that have been identified under Act 934 of 2025 regarding intoxicating hemp substances, as well as other schedules related to DEA substances and substances identified as concern in Arkansas.
The department published notice on 425 last day for comments was 526 public hearing was held But no comments were received and these rules or this list has been recruit reviewed by a joint public health earlier this month Thank you members looking for questions senator Hester
you recognized I think my colleague sitting next to me push my button.
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
29:32
Well, that's that's fine and I'm sure you were going to ask who is the sponsor of this bill,
and it was me, and I do believe it is a great bill, and I'm glad
we have this rule tied to it. So thank you for drawing the attention to that. Members, any other real
Chair
Unverified
29:57
questions? Seeing none, without objection, this is reviewed and approved. You can move to B. Yes, sir. 5B is our proposed repeal of the rules and regulations pertaining to synthetic marijuana products. products on this list or these rules are duplicative they are identified on our list of control substances and so it is more efficient to go ahead and repeal
these rules and rely on the list of control substances for identifying those substances and regulation thank you description
members any questions seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you for being here today thank you chair all
right members moving to six let's see psychology board with the Department of Health all right thanks for joining us
today if you'll turn your microphones on and introduce yourself
Speaker 142
30:59
for the record Matt Gilmore Department Health Colin Davies Arkansas Department Health Arkansas Psychology Board here to present four acts
Speaker 144
31:05
that affected us at 432 433 434 and 869 be happy to take any questions all right members any questions on 6a
all right will you give us a little description about what 6a is yes
Speaker 142
31:22
Yes, sir. 432 created the behavior analyst registration. 433 created the technician limitation removal, so they expanded their scope of practice. 434 created the licensed psychological practitioner, and 869 accompanied 432 with adding qualified behavioral analyst credentialing board
Speaker 149
31:46
as a support with credentialing for them.
great members any questions seeing none this is without objection this is rule is reviewed
approved thank you for being here all right moving to seven department of health archival state board of acupuncture
Speaker 153
32:21
introduce yourself for the record Sorry, Russell Burns, Director of the Arkansas State Board of Acupuncture and Related Techniques.
Matt Gilmore, Department of Health.
Speaker 155
32:31
Thanks for being here. You're recognized to present 7A. Okay. The rule revisions the board is proposing today are based upon the following three factors. First, Act 141 of 2025, which allows a health care provider to create, maintain, transmit, receive, and store medical records in an electronic or written format. Second, the updating and clarification of language to reflect the code of Arkansas rule format.
And finally, the updating of language to reflect the recent name change of the National Certification Board for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. I thank you for your consideration of the proposed rule revisions. I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Mr. Burns. Members, any questions for 7A? Seeing none, without objection, this
rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you for being here. Thank you. All right, we'll move to the Arkansas State Medical Board.
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
33:32
8A. Mr. Chair, my director couldn't be here today, so I'm going to present this one. Thank you. Matt Gilmore, Department of Health members. This is the rule to go along to go along with Act 437 of 2025. This allowed physician assistants to delegate, mirrored some language that was already there for physicians, and so just added that to their scope. We didn't receive any public comments. We received A question from BLR, we addressed that, did a second round of public comments, and happy to take any questions y'all have.
Thank you for the description. Members, any questions for 8A? Seeing none, without objection, this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you. Thank you.
All right, moving to 9, Department of Human Services. Division of Aging, there we are. thank you
for being here turn your microphone on and please introduce yourself for the record
Speaker 166
34:37
thank you mr. chair jay hill with department of human services division of aging
Speaker 169
34:45
adult and behavior health thank you i'm deborah inman i'm an assistant director in
aging with the division of human services thank you for
Speaker 172
34:54
being here you are recognized to present 9a thank you sir so this uh this presentation of you this morning is to bring forth the the Arkansas Personal Care Manual and ARIA Manual, our Arkansas Independent Assessment Manuals for Change and Presentation. The agency has been working for several months to streamline, make improvements to our state plan personal care process, this program.
These changes will really serve two purposes, to streamline the process and make it faster to get persons who qualify for personal care enrolled in the program and then secondarily to do a better job to ensure that the persons who are receiving personal care are actually qualified for this service and if not to help potentially direct them to more appropriate services that would meet their their their respective needs under state plan independent assessments are not required we do complete independent assessments
our current contractor with the state is Optum for our waiver programs, but this is an expense in our state plan process that we don't have to have this particular measure in place. And so our intention is to create some efficiencies, save some funding by eliminating the necessity for an actual independent assessment, but to continue to use our contractor, our provider in this case Optum, as our front door for the process by having them conduct a claims data analysis.
So going forward, Optum will be able to utilize our MIS system to look for medical diagnosis and to run checks against applicants to make the determination that they do in fact have an identifiable medical diagnosis that is a qualifying factor for state plan personal care for that medical eligibility piece. Again, it'll eliminate the necessity to schedule, send out a staff, a registered nurse, and conduct an actual independent assessment. And then the financial eligibility piece is also in place.
And so eligibility for these programs is twofold, medical and financial. We are making some improvements to the medical determination side of this. Simplifying the manual, we are also going to lengthen the prior authorization timelines from six months to 12 months. And it's just to also, that benefits our beneficiaries and reduces a lot of the administrative burdens on the agency for that continued process. We have approximately 15,000 beneficiaries in personal care.
So this will really help us to just eliminate and streamline that workflow for those prior authorizations. Also, bringing the manual to you to bring it into compliance with Act 853 of the 25 General Session, which now moves licensure for personal care agencies to Arkansas Department of Health. That was previously at DHS, and we need to clean that up in the manual as well. So with that, happy to take any
description. Members, any questions for 9A?
Scene 1, Representative Ladyman, you're recognized. Thank
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
38:03
you, Mr. Chairman. Well, this was a lot of changes, and I noticed that you had a lot of comments. They were summarized, but I know you touched on a couple of things that you responded to there, but what were the major concerns that you got in the comments? Did you kind of summarize that? Yes,
Speaker 166
38:24
sir. Yes, sir, sure can. So the biggest question, what we did, we took those
Speaker 172
38:28
comments and tried to put those into buckets.
Primarily, they were around the background check requirements for the state. This is a vulnerable population, and the state has moved to, our DHS has moved to implement two-year background checks for persons that work in these industries who serve vulnerable populations. That really makes that consistent across the agency for what we require in background checks. There were questions around the utilization of hours. So the person-centered service plan, it's called, we call it a PCSP, this is developed
for each individual, and it is unique to that person's needs. Personal care is limited to 64 hours a month, and a person may not need all 64 hours. But for the hours that they qualify for and need, our providers work to develop a plan of care for them so that we can guarantee and ensure that services are provided throughout the month, rather than all of your hours be used up in the first three days, and then And there's no, you know, there's no services for a person for the remainder of the month. So we require beneficiaries and ask them to develop these plans to stretch those services out.
We are making a provision to allow for a change in what your daily allowance is. For instance, if an individual goes to a hospital, may have a hospital stay, they may miss a few days of services. But it may also be that when they discharge back home, there is a greater need for a period of time to help them in their recovery. So we're creating a process by which our providers can ask for exemptions or exceptions to what their person-centered service plan outlines as their array of services in order to meet the individual's needs.
Speaker 177
40:09
Deb, what was some other questions? Do you remember? Yes, we had a lot of questions about what Director Hill was just speaking about, and we have let all of our providers know that if they provide medical documentation in their clients records there will be no negative consequences for changing the days up other than that pursuant to cms guidance the hours need to be delivered in accordance with the treatment plan and also if the treatment plan isn't working for that client they can change it they're the ones
who create that plan so they're they don't have to wait for the year to run
Speaker 172
40:48
up before they change that representative there are also several questions around the protection of proprietary data that belongs to the beneficiary, their care plan. There were several questions around insurances that these changes would not necessarily impact the pass and how our passes provide personal care for those beneficiaries that receive through them. And standardizing the
personal care certification process, which again, as I just mentioned, under the acts passed in the 25 general session, licensure for personal care agencies, private care agencies, now transitions to the Department of Health. All right, thank you.
Representative Johnny Rye
Unverified
41:30
Thank you for the question. Representative Rye, you're recognized. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Jim, with these folks that we're speaking about here, is this folks that are actually mentally and maybe physically unable to take care of themselves, sir?
Speaker 172
41:45
Yes, sir. This is not a mental health program. This is a program for persons who are physically disabled, have a need for, or medically have a medical diagnosis, what I should say, that really warrants justification for personal care services. These are not skilled services. These are not services provided by licensed nurses. These are, for instance, as an example, services for your activities of daily living. It may be that you need assistance with getting up, with changing, with toileting, with transferring
or ambulation you may need assistances with meal preparation so it is service that provides those types of service assistances to individuals to help them stay safely in their home thank you thank you
mr chairman thank you for the question members any other questions on this rule see none without objection this is reviewed and approved thank you for being here thank you
all right members will move to 10 the division of county operations and division of medical services
Speaker 157
42:49
it's on page 46 in your packet all right
thank you for being here if you'll turn your microphone on and
Speaker 187
43:10
introduce yourself for the record good morning i'm mary franklin with the division of county operations with department of human services this is a medicaid eligibility rule it does a few
things one it clarifies that foster care and adoption subsidy income is excluded for all age the age blind and disabled eligibility groups. It also clarifies that a 529 education account is considered an asset and is will affect the determination of the person who owns the account not the beneficiary of the account. Also on independence accounts we're clarifying a few things. One that there's no
limitation on the type of account or the number of accounts that can be designated as an independence account but the account must be established and approved by DHS during an individual's enrollment in the workers with disabilities program they will remain those approved accounts will remain disregarded during the workers with disability enrollment and continue to be disregarded uh if the workers with disability coverage is ended there is no minimum or maximum
limit that can be deposited into uh the existing account and withdrawals and actions that come out of the independence account will the treatment of that will follow regular eligibility rules um and that no additional deposits can be put into those accounts once the individual is no longer end workers with disabilities one final clarification that was made in this update to the policy is that although tax refunds or advanced payments of tax refunds are excluded for 12 months
any interest accrued and retained on that on those funds would be counted as an asset happy to take any questions thank you miss franklin members any questions on
10a Seeing none, thank you for your description. Without objection, this is reviewed and approved. Thank you. Okay, members, we're going to 11, Department of Human Services,
Division of Medical Services. All right, if you'll turn your microphone on and introduce yourself for the record.
Speaker 190
45:43
Good morning, Elizabeth Pittman, Division of Medical Services.
Thank you for being here. You're recognized to
Speaker 191
45:52
present 11A. The first rule I have for you today is a rule regarding continuous glucose monitors. This rule was implemented as a result of an act that was passed in the last session
Chair
Unverified
46:04
to require us to move the continuous glucose monitor benefit back to be split between pharmacies and durable medical equipment providers. We worked with the providers over the past month.
implemented a pilot program to test to make sure our systems will process the claims the same way for both pharmacy and durable medical equipment providers as required by the act it is all working as intended and then we worked with those providers to put out some messaging that also indicated the parity between the two programs and everyone seems very happy with it so we're here today to get approval of this role and happy to take any
questions thank you for the description members we've got some questions representative hate baity you're recognized.
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
46:44
Over here. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just wanted to make certain that the concerns
raised by Representative Wardlaw, that those have been taken care of and addressed and everyone's satisfactory approval on this rule. Yes, sir. That's why we spent the past
Speaker 191
46:56
month working with those providers to do that pilot program. The concern was that the pharmacists and the DME providers were not being treated the same. So we worked through that process with them to make sure it would work the way we intended it to so far everything has worked according to the way it was supposed to go they feel very confident in this process have been very complimentary of my staff about it and how well they've worked with them and then we again put out some messaging in
coordination with that group of providers to make sure that it
Chair
Unverified
47:25
did not raise the same concerns as the messaging that was put out that representative ward law had asked
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
47:31
about all right so all parties are
happy yes sir good deal thank you very much thank
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
47:40
you leader Beatty uh senator Irving you're recognized yeah just thank you thank you so much I know that was a difficult bumpy road perhaps but I mean doing our job and you're doing your job so appreciate y'all uh working with us of course and public health committee and uh not just representative Wardlaw but many others that
knew that this issue had happened kind of because of an unintended consequence from a previous act that was passed so we kind of had to fix it and and follow up with the rules so I just want to extend my appreciation thank you yes thank
you thank you senator members any other questions seeing none without objection the rules are reviewed and approved thank you all right
Speaker 191
48:18
moving to b the second rule I have for you today is regarding maternal health it is implementing several pieces of legislation that were passed in 2025 is that right sorry I'm losing track of my
years now. Initially, the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies. So it includes the implementation of doulas in Medicaid. So we will now
Chair
Unverified
48:36
be paying for doulas effective September 1st. It also implements the law requiring us to pay for lactation consultants. So that piece is also being implemented effective September 1st. There was also a piece of Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies that required us to pay for remote monitoring for continuous glucose monitors and blood pressure cuffs for pregnant women we already paid for the equipment this rule will turn on the monitoring
codes themselves and allow those providers to bill for monitoring those patients it also will transition from paying for blood pressure cuffs on a daily rental to actually allowing them to purchase the blood pressure cuff for that pregnancy and have it for themselves so those two changes are being made regarding remote monitoring and then the last piece of this that may
Speaker 206
49:22
be it hold let me check yes I believe that is
Chair
Unverified
49:32
it I think I think the other piece got split
off so happy to take any questions thank you for the description members any questions seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved thank you item C All
Speaker 171
49:59
right. If I'll reintroduce yourself for the record. Jay Hill with DHS, Division of
Speaker 168
50:04
Aging and Adult Behavioral Services. Deborah Immen with DHS, Division of Adult Behavioral Services.
Thank you for being back here today. We are on 11C. You're
Speaker 171
50:12
recognized to present your rule. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This rule is the,
Speaker 172
50:16
are changes and updates made to our PACE manual. PACE is the program for all-inclusive care for the elderly. This is a state-plan, home and community-based Medicaid service. It is a facility-based service, and it serves individuals who are 55 and older and can demonstrate that they can safely live in the community.
The manual changes are really to cover two things for us. One is to be responsive to new federal requirements around nomenclature, pertaining to plans of care, medical personnel, grievances and appeal process, requirements for services and timelines, and secondarily to bring the program manual into compliance with Act 144 of the 25 general session in which our PACE organizations, and presently we have four in the state, are exempted from
licensing as private care agencies through the Department of Health. These are hospital-based programs and working with adh it was agreed to allow them to to be exempt from that as they do provide personal care services to their beneficiaries and with that mr chairman happy to take any
questions thank you for description members any questions for
11c c none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved
Speaker 210
51:41
thank you moving to d thank you sir D is an amendment to the
Speaker 172
51:46
Arkansas Medicaid state plan concerning our PACE programs.
It is an update to the rate determination methodology. And so primarily what has taken place is that the state has removed all references to upper payment limits when determining PACE capitation rates and replaced that with a new term. Now, this is a federal requirement. It's called the Amount That Would Otherwise Be Paid, or AWOP. So we're replacing UPL with AWOP. What this is, the amount that would otherwise be paid is a projected cost of providing comparable services
similar to PACE Medicaid beneficiaries, but to persons who are outside of PACE. And so it is a cost comparison that we're looking at the cost of services provided to PACE beneficiaries and what that would be to persons who were not in the program, and it ensures that pace capitation rates must remain below the amount that would otherwise be paid to persons who are not in the Medicaid program, and that is what we are bringing to you today. Thank
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
52:54
you for the description. Members, any questions?
Seeing none. Without objection, this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman. Thank
you, sir. All right. Now we're moving to E, F,
and G. Alright, you don't need to reintroduce yourself. You can present, you are
Speaker 191
53:14
recognized to present. Thank you. Rule E is for electronic visit verification for in-home personal care, attendant care, and respite, as well as home health. This rule does
Chair
Unverified
53:22
several things, including cleans up some language in our old electronic visit verification or EVV rule.
It also does some cleanup of our provider enrollment section. For provider enrollment, it removes the requirement to submit a w-9 tax form which had resulted in several issues with providers in the past so this just we are still required to verify the tax identification number social security number but this gives us flexibility and how we do that it does not have to be via a w-9 form and it also requires that they submit a national provider identifier if they have one or an NPI number if that's an applicable part of their provider type
which had already been required under federal rules but this adds it to our our manual for EVV additional to the cleanup language we are also setting some floors of when you have to use the electronic visit verification system versus what we call a manual override which means that for whatever reason the electronic system did not capture the visit or it captured it incorrectly and you go in and you actually hand key that into the computer system a certain percentage of that is allowed but after a certain threshold it will flag it for
that provider we'll send them a letter noting
Speaker 193
54:30
that concern and ask them to to try to fix it before we implement any penalties we'll work with them thank
you for your description members any questions on 11 e see none without objection the rule is reviewed and approved item F I think
Speaker 193
54:47
mr. Ector stone is going to join me for
F great all right turn your microphone on and reintroduce yourself for the
Speaker 214
54:58
record. Good morning. Paula Stone, Director of the Office of Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Department of Human
Services. Thank you for being here. You're
Speaker 214
55:07
recognized for item 11F. Yes, this is the permanent rule. This body already heard the emergency rule that we had last month, and this is to allow a general hospital to open up a substance use disorder unit a locked unit on within that hospital to and Medicaid to reimburse for adolescent treatment services within that unit. Thank
you for the description and it's my understanding this is happening now where is the
Speaker 214
55:35
hospital that this is really being requested? Yes so the hospital that joined us in providing that service is Unity Hospital in Searcy. So they've had grand opening of their unit they've not accepted their first patient yet but they anticipate that within the next week wonderful members any questions
seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed approved thank you item g my last rule
Speaker 203
56:04
for you this morning is a rule that updates our hospital manual it does two things
Chair
Unverified
56:10
the first thing it does is it extends what we
Speaker 191
56:14
call our medicaid utilization management program or MMP review. That is the review of hospital stays that currently exceed four days. This extends that time frame to seven days, which would mean that that hospital stay would not get reviewed until day seven. If
Chair
Unverified
56:27
after day seven, you would have to have a review for us to continue to pay for it. The first seven days will remain on retrospective review, so we'll pull a random sampling of those claims and review them for appropriate medical care. The second part, with
the month also just rehabilitative hospitals will remain at 10 days that's in line with the medicare time frame for review is a 10-day month review the second piece of this rule is actually allowing for us to pay for a lower level of care in acute hospitals currently we have one level of care a hospital is reviewed for providing that level of care it is an acute level of care if the hospital does not provide any acute services for that day our current practice is to deny the day So they just do not get paid for that day.
What this rule will allow us to do is actually pay for that day at a
lower level of care, a rehabilitative level of care. Okay. Thank you for your description. We've got
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
57:26
a few questions lighting up. Representative Painter, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just kind of help me. I was reviewing some of the comments, and it looked like there was a pretty lengthy comment from Children's. Yes, sir. And my concern is, by reading your response, they state they're not allowable to do this under their licensure and so forth like that. But when you guys responded, you didn't really respond to that aspect.
You kind of responded to the pediatrics. So can you help me understand, or what
is the response to their legal questions? If we didn't want to respond there, maybe we can get
Speaker 203
57:59
it on the record here. Yes, sir. So we have actually discussed this with them quite
Chair
Unverified
58:04
a bit. We do not believe that they cannot do it under their license. We have checked with the health department on this, and any level of care under your license, you can provide. So they're providing rehabilitative services in the hospital already.
When they provide those services, we just don't have a mechanism to pay for them. So where we had run into problems is they did not believe they could enroll as a rehabilitative hospital. To accommodate that, we, instead of requiring them to enroll as a rehabilitative hospital, have created a
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
58:32
level of care under their acute patient license. Okay, so let's just assume for a minute here that Children's is right. They can't do this. What's the plan for DHS then? Because, I mean. Well, we have had
Chair
Unverified
58:44
approval from CMS to allow us to pay for this,
so I don't think there's going to be an issue with whether
Speaker 193
58:50
or not Children's would be allowed to do this. We have been given federal authority to make this payment to an
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
58:56
inpatient hospital. Okay, and I appreciate it, Mr. Chair. I just hope that it may behoove you to have a plan because if the children is saying they can't, by their legal authority, it may be safe to have a plan if they're saying they can't do it. Yes, I understand. And if you do that, I'd like to be part of those conversations because I'm concerned if we don't have a plan, where are our children going to go?
So I'd appreciate it. Thank you. Thank
you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the discussion. I think that's probably what we've
heard from others as well, just carrying on that line of thought. There may be a legal side to this where maybe legally they can, but economically it sounds like there could be
an issue. With a well-intended rule here, do you have any concerns that services start getting turned away at some of these acute facilities just because the dollars and cents don't make sense anymore?
Chair
Unverified
59:49
Do you have any concerns there? I understand the concern that you're expressing and have heard it as well. It is our belief that this will actually open up a door for those acute facilities to provide these services that we are not currently able to pay for. So as I said previously, if you're providing this level of care and we get a day submitted to us for review that does not include any acute inpatient services, we deny that day. We just give you zero dollars for it. This would actually allow us to
Speaker 191
1:00:16
pay you at the rehabilitative hospital rate for that service.
Okay, thank you for your description. Representative Ladyman,
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
1:00:24
you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, Director Pittman, I know y'all are working hard to try to resolve this issue, and it's a thorny issue, very difficult to know how to fix this. But, you know, to build on what Representative Painter said, you know,
this decision may go back to the families, and they may be in a difficult situation because the hospital may choose not to keep that patient
because their cost for a critical bed is higher than the cost for a rehab bed and they're going to get paid at a lower rate. So they've got overqualified people. And they also are taking an acute bed and using that for rehab, which may be needed for an acute situation. That's the problem. But my question, and we talked about this in public health meetings, and we don't have a rehab hospital that can take children
or is in the business of taking children. And I know you've worked with some hospitals and they've taken them, but that's not an absolute. So my question is, can we contract or make an agreement with an out-of-state hospital? We're real close to Memphis up there in northeast Arkansas. They have hospitals there that can take children. Can we somehow make an agreement so that those children can go to those out-of-state hospitals
and still get paid under our program so that these families at least have an option? They may choose not to use that option, but at least there's a definite option, whether it be Memphis or Shreveport or St. Louis or Tulsa. There's a number of large cities around Arkansas that could address this. Is that allowable? Can we do that, and can we pay for those children to go to those hospitals? Yes, sir. It
Chair
Unverified
1:02:22
is allowable, and we have two mechanisms to work with out-of-state hospitals.
Most of the cities you're talking about, we actually are called border cities in our state rules, and we actually enroll them as regular Medicaid providers. So like Le Bonheur in Memphis, we actually enroll them as a regular Medicaid provider and pay them as we would any other Medicaid provider. Other hospitals that are not in those bordering cities that we just regularly enroll, we can do what's called a single case agreement. And we do that often for children who need services that are not able to be provided here. And we enter into an agreement with that hospital to provide services for that child, and then they enroll with us.
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
1:02:59
So that can be done without legislation or rule of
Chair
Unverified
1:03:05
changes? Yes, sir. We do it all the time.
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:03:09
All right. Thank you. Thank you, Representative. Senator Disman, you're recognized. Thank you. And so if I'm kind of listening to everything, there's probably some disconnect between Children's and DHS and what they think the outcome is going to be. And how much have we worked towards trying to reconcile, I guess, the disagreement or maybe Children's just as a misunderstanding? I mean, my concern is we pass, and I think you've heard it, we pass this out of here,
y'all start implementing rule, and we've got consequence that maybe y'all didn't perceive or whatever, maybe you're completely right and there's this is a better situation for children's I just but I think the fact that there's an inability to get to an agreement on what's going to happen is is a little concerning and I think that's what you're hearing about how do we get past that I mean is there have you already gone through hours of education with children's and that just no one agrees or what's
happening we have had conversations with children's hospital on this issue and for a
Chair
Unverified
1:04:06
while uh i i don't know that we're going to agree at this point they they have given you their opinion um we we believe that this will allow us to pay for services that i'm i mean quite frankly we have
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
1:04:18
denied for both children's and other hospitals in the past so
and there's just i mean that's it's such a big void between seeing it the way that you're seeing it and seeing it the way that the provider's seeing it and again i have concerns because i don't want to have some unintended consequences that we all find out about here in the next couple of months or whatever so
how do we reconcile that to make sure that we're all comfortable in doing the right thing today i mean we can continue to talk
Chair
Unverified
1:04:50
to children's hospital about this and make sure they understand what we're doing outside of that i we if this is not passed we will not have a mechanism to approve care that does not include acute services and we will continue to deny those okay thank you for the question
senator irving you recognized thank you so this
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
1:05:14
isn't just about children's hospital it's about every hospital in the state of arkansas that has the ability to now provide rehabilitation within those hospital walls with beds that are not being utilized. So if you have a small rural critical access hospital, this opens up another avenue and a pathway for them. So for example, the hospitals in my district now have the opportunity to become a rehabilitative beds and be paid for that. And so, you know, this is a really, really important
pathway and a door that's being opened for a lot of rural hospitals in the state of Arkansas. This isn't just about one hospital and just a representative ladyman's point my husband sends patients all the time and has for the past 30 years to Le Bonheur for care when they can't get into children's hospitals so Le Bonheur of course St. Jude they have an incredible working relationship with a lot of the providers all across the state to be honest with you and they've done
an amazing job with our patients and they have for years that are on Medicaid but my understanding to me is if you're not providing a critical act critical care acute care you're providing a lower level of care we're paying for that appropriately with this rule that's my understanding of this you may want more money everybody wants more money but we're paying at the appropriate level of care so we're instead of denying it we're saying okay you can keep these people no matter
who they are adults or children and children also can be served in a rehabilitative manner not just at children's hospital but at any other hospital I mean that's true if you have rehabilitation and they can provide that level of care at their hospital they can provide that to children as well as adults at any hospital. So this opens up a pathway and it's incredibly beneficial to all the hospitals in the state of Arkansas, in my opinion. And so, and I want to
make sure that we're paying for something appropriately. And I think that's what this rule does according to the testimony that was in public health and to this testimony. I don't want to pay for acute level of care. This is the same argument we have with, you know, long-term nursing care which is completely different from assisted living or home health or personal care we're paying for the appropriate service we're not paying for a higher level of service that we're not getting so I appreciate this rule and I think that it's important that we talk about it from the
standpoint of all the hospitals particularly rural hospitals of allowing this we had this meeting down in um was it archadelphia um but those hospitals down in south arkansas really gonna they we talked about this and they wanted this pathway when we went to texarkana and archadelphia because they have areas of their hospital that are not being utilized because they just don't have the numbers of inpatient critical acts critical acute care so this opens up a whole another source of service line and pathway for that hospital down in Texarkana and Hope
and Arkadelphia area. So I appreciate the rule. I support the rule, and I thank you for
Chair
Unverified
1:08:38
your work on it. Thank you. I think it is important to remember this is for all hospitals, all
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
1:08:45
hospitals that are providing acute levels of care. Thank you. Co-Chair Shepard, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a question in particular related to Children's Hospital. Have attorneys from both sides sat down and talked through this yes sir well i mean i i guess i don't i know attorneys can have different opinions but i would certainly encourage uh folks to just
continue those discussions because it seems like uh something that should be able to be worked out thank you
yes it does seem like there are still some concerns on on both sides as i said before i
think the rule aims to do good and there's a lot in here that is good without controversy um i
think the the review from four days to seven days is a is a great measure and great effort that there are some concerns um and i'm i'm hearing from those i'm receiving um texts and calls
about those as well and so here's what i'm going to ask um members i'm going to ask for
a motion that we hold this rule in this subcommittee for further review and discussion. But that does take a vote, and so we'll make that motion. I would need a second. There's a second. And then all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, say no. No. And the
ayes have it. So we will hold this in our subcommittee for further review just to get some of these answers back. Thank you for being willing and able to answer questions,
Ms. Pittman and your team. But please be ready with with those who we can continue this conversation. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for being here Hold on one second miss Pittman hold on
one second members we're going to ask staff a few questions just one second
all right thank you ms pittman and thank you members for just clarification on
rules and and um procedures there so that that motion did pass and we will hold this in our committee at
this time i will tell you that we are going to look to see i would encourage um y'all to maybe be working with some of the interested parties even in the next 24 hours because if there is sort of any agreements or changes that could be brought to the table for tomorrow we do want to make sure that's available so stay tight for what any other action we may make in this committee later
through the agenda. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Oh, uh, Senator Irving, you're recognized. Thank you.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
1:12:11
I'd like a legal statement from the attorneys from Children's
Hospital as to the legal standing as to why you believe that you cannot, uh, meet this under your current license. And then I would like a legal statement from DHS and the department of health because the department of health is the one in charge of their licensure. If that is the issue, because what I don't want is a money grab. I'm just going to be real frank about that. And so I think I want to see those legal statements, and I need that. You need to be on record in public testimony, Children's Hospital does, about this.
Thank you. All right, members, here's what we're going
to do. in good faith effort to try to give grounds for these interested parties to continue to work on this. I'm going to ask that we expunge that vote that we just took so that it gives the option for these interested parties to be working in the next 24 hours to potentially bring forward solutions or changes. So staff, I just want to confirm. So that'll be a motion to expunge the
vote by which it passed um will that need a second yeah we'll need a second all right we got a question on that motion representative painter you're recognized so help
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
1:13:32
me with that motion so if we expunge it you said and we're then we're giving them 24 hours are you talking about
till friday just take it up on friday yes then if that's the case then i will work with them and i'll second that motion then but in good faith yep if we're going to make other people come on the record and everything else we dadgum better be working in good faith both sides both
sides thank you mr. chair understand and and i will direct this to staff so uh
if this motion passes and we expunge that vote uh would we need to pass this rule in order for it as is i want to make sure that's that's clear i don't believe that's correct but i want to make sure
we do that the right way please give us some direction there mr chair you would expunge the vote that
Speaker 246
1:14:18
was just taken and then you would there would be a motion to hold this till council tomorrow so that the full council can determine perfect
that's the clarity we needed all right members any questions
on what we're doing here okay all right so I'll say it again we're going the
motion is to expunge that last vote to hold this in subcommittee and we're just checking double checking one more time back here all
right we have a motion to expunge the vote by which it just passed do we have a
second we have a second all those in favor signal say an aye opposed like sign all right motion to sponge passes okay all right so
now we have a motion to hold this item which is 11g to hold till tomorrow's full alc committee i need a second we have a second all in favor signal by saying i opposed like sign all right motion passes all right thank you members i appreciate the leniency
to get that done right and correct um and co-chair shepard recognized
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
1:15:47
thank you mr chairman and hopefully uh the parties involved i mean i would expect over the next well not even 24 hours now that there would be in-depth discussions about where things stand and hopefully it may be that everybody can get on the same page but i think that um i mean one of the concerns i had about holding it for a month is that that's that's a long time and that there could be a hardship
worked in other ways but hopefully both sides will make a really concerted effort to try to resolve this or to understand which understand and hopefully reach a consensus on what the rule the application of the rule would be so I would hope and would be disappointed if there's not extensive discussions over the next 24 hours. Thank you, Representative
Shepard. All right, members, appreciate the time on
that. Let's move to 12, Department of Labor and Licensing.
You're recognized. You're welcome to the table. Thank you for being here. If you'll turn your microphones
Speaker 252
1:17:12
on and introduce yourself. Lacey Kirchner, counsel for the department. Lindsay Moore, Director of Code Enforcement, Arkansas Department of Labor
and Licensing. Thank you for being here. You're recognized to present 12A.
Speaker 254
1:17:19
Today we're here to produce, or excuse me, we're here to present the rules changes for the Elevator Safety Board. This is a result of Act 735 and Act 746 of 2025. They're changing the clarifying, the consistent, modernizing the verbiage of application of the elevator safety board framework. We're including electronic mail. We compacted down and clarified the Administrative Procedures Act to a more easier-to-read type of document.
And we clarified the information of having inspections performed 30 days prior to the expiration date of the certificate. With that, I'll be happy to take any questions. Thank you for the description. Members, any
questions on 12A? Seeing none, without objection,
this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you. All right, members 13, Department
of Labor and Licensing, Arkansas Motor Vehicle Commission. This is page 66 in your packet.
all right miss kirchner you don't need to reintroduce yourself but if you
Speaker 257
1:18:35
will please morning daniel pace director of the arkansas
motor vehicle commission glad you're here thank you for being here
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
1:18:43
and you're recognized to present 13a members 13a is a very minor exception that's been added to the authority of the motor vehicle commission for new sales of electronic bikes classified as type 1 or type 2 and these are ones that are rated for less
than 20 their 20 miles per hour or less therefore your big box stores Walmart Lowe's anyone can sell these bikes without having to have a dealer's license from the Commission and I'm happy to
Sarah Moore
Unverified
1:19:11
answer any questions thank you for the description members any questions
on 13 a seeing none without objection this rule
is reviewed and approved. Thank you. All right, members, moving to 14.
All right, you'll turn your microphone
Speaker 260
1:19:37
on and introduce yourself for the record. My name is Heather Henrys. I'm the Deputy Director for the Arkansas Real Estate Commission. Thank you for being here. You're recognized to present your rule. Thank you. The rules presented today are necessary to comply with acts 392 which creates two new property management licenses act 559 that creates an exemption for continuing education and act 335 which clarifies language
regarding dual agency and we're happy to answer any questions thank you for the description
members any questions seeing none nope nope seeing none without
objection the rule is reviewed and approved thank you thank you for being here all right members move into 14 oh I'm sorry 15 excuse me 15 a
Arkansas towing and recovery board all right if I introduce yourself for the
Speaker 261
1:20:40
record good morning sir uh paul brunette the director of
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
1:20:47
arkansas towing recovery board thank you you recognize the present 15a members um today we are presenting rules for the arkansas towing recovery board these are rules that we have modified in uh excuse me uh after the act of 932 of 2025 i'm sorry members and these rules are to comply with that act as well as some cleanup language that we have noticed when we converted to the cars format of the rules and we are happy
Chair
Unverified
1:21:16
to address any questions all right representative painter
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
1:21:27
you recognize get you turned on here thank you mr. chair some of these rules kind of concern me as the sponsor of this bill um and work very hard to get something to satisfy the big issue in our state and for example I've heard from folks about on page 51 of the rule it's the proof of insurance part you know in in the in the
bill itself it specifically says what that proof of insurance is a letter from the insurance company not just a simple card because i can carry a simple card and it's not valid and so i think that's very vague that doesn't meet the legislative intent of what we were trying to do second question is or just very puzzled is on the same page of the rule 51 the type of assurance of future financial responsibility that is very very vague and i've had towing companies and cargo
companies tell it calling me saying we've read the bill that's not the intent there's shall in there this has may and so just kind of help me through
the process of where you guys are coming from because as the legislator of this bill that that's
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
1:22:44
not where we're wanting to go of course sir um so specifically i'll start with the part about the proof of insurance so we were looking in that particular instance there the statute does state that they have to provide the individuals provide
an insurance of future financial responsibility the statute actually does not clarify it does not define the future financial responsibility in that particular section as to what that would be so we were trying to give tow companies and the consumers an understanding of what they could present as an option of what that future responsibility could look like as same with on the second half of the question about the may it's not to say that that they shouldn't take a
financial and assurance of future financial responsibility it's saying that the tow company or the cargo or the owner or the cargo owner can help determine what that future what that looks like what that assurance of future financial responsibility looks like it was trying to help give some clarity because we received those same questions what is a few what is an assurance of future responsibility we've had when this first passed we had calls where people were wanting them
to sign to hand over their bank statements to hand over their tax records to hand over a surety of $5,000, you know, from the bank, a letter of credit saying that they've got $5,000 that they can hand over to this company if necessary. So we were trying to give examples and opportunities of where these sorts of instances could be. It was strictly trying to give an understanding of what an assurance of future financial responsibility is. It wasn't even touching that second half of
the act where it does mention the the letter from the insurance company that particular section wasn't on the future financial assurance from the individual owner that was a separate instance where if there is a dispute regarding a not a police tow and the payment and receiving that cargo and when it comes out and how they can get it this particular instance was focusing on the earlier language of specifically the future financial assurance i i just i
Speaker 265
1:25:11
mean mr chair i've got a
motion at the proper time but i think we just need
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
1:25:17
we need to sit down i i think we've got a lot of issues with this rule and and those are just the top two of my concerns with this and and maybe we can work offline and narrow this down a little bit thank you for
the question members any other questions all right seeing none represent painter you're recognized for your motion
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
1:25:41
oh sorry mr. chair I make a motion to not approve this rule due to
not the legislative intent all right you've heard the motion members as a reminder in this committee any rule that that is deemed to not follow legislative intent or has fees and penalties is subject to this type of of motion and so it is a voice vote so one more time the motion is to deny this rule based on those situations so
all in favor to deny this rule signaled by saying aye opposed like sign motion carries this rule is denied thank you for your your time being here today all right members we
We are moving to 16, Board of Electrical Examiners, 16A. All right, thank you for being here
today. If you'll recognize yourself. Lindsey
Speaker 271
1:26:36
Moore, Director of Code Enforcement, Arkansas Department of Labor and
Licensing. All right, you're recognized for
Speaker 254
1:26:43
16A. We're here to present today the rules as a result of Act 746 and the adoption of the 2026 National Electric Code.
We reduced two licenses with Act 746, and we increased the scope of work with a third license. We also clarified apprentice registrations to make a smoother registrations for both the students and the employers. With that, I'll take questions. Thank you for the description. Members, any questions for 16A?
Seeing none without objection, this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you. Thank you.
All right, and thank you for being here.
All right, members, we're going to 17. We're on the homestretch here. Thank you for your time and attention. 17A, Department of Parks and Heritage and Tourism. This is page 81 in your packets. all right gentlemen thank you for being here if you'll
Speaker 274
1:27:47
introduce yourself for the record marty ryle director of legislative affairs department of parks areas
Speaker 275
1:27:52
and tourism jeff king deputy director division of state parks
Speaker 277
1:27:54
mike wilson assistant parks director arkansas state parks thank you for being
here you are recognized to present 17a so
Speaker 275
1:28:07
the proposed rule regarding firearms hunting explosives and fireworks in Arkansas State Parks is being presented for amendment. This amendment brings our state park rule regarding possession of firearms in compliance with current state laws and in alignment with opinions provided by the Attorney General's office.
The rule also maintains restrictions regarding discharging of firearms to those areas designated for that particular use within state parks. The amendment also expands hunting beyond just Hobbs State Park Conservation Area to include any property jointly managed by Arkansas State Parks and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. This includes Queen Wilhelmina State Park and the newly added property associated with the Trails at Mena project totaling 8,865 acres. The rules were published for notice on June the 14th and comments were accepted through
July 13th with no comments being received. A public hearing was also held on July 13th and we did not receive comments. With that I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank
you for the description. Members, we've got Senator Rice. She recognized for
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
1:29:14
a question. Thank you, gentlemen, for being here, and I'm sorry. I just saw this day, and it looked just like you said. It updated where it should be, but there was absolutely no comments? That's correct. They thought you did a pretty good job.
Thank you. Members, any other questions? Seeing none, without objection, this rule is reviewed and
Speaker 277
1:29:41
approved. 17B. All right. Good morning. We'd like to present an amendment to the hang gliding and paragliding rule currently permitting hang gliding and paragliding at Mount Nebo State Park and also Mount Magazine State Park. The proposed amendment includes three key adjustments. One is the reduction of the personal liability insurance from $1,000,000 to $500,000.
Second, adding passenger-related safety and rating requirements consistent with the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association standards and clarifying language concerning pilot rating requirements. The primary change, the reduction in the personal liability insurance aligns with the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association's current insurance standard and reflects improved equipment training protocols and robust national pilot rating systems that have contributed to the exceptional strong safety record of that report. Arkansas State Parks has also documented significant
and ongoing declining in hang gliding and paragliding at our two parks largely due to the the existing higher personal liability requirement. The proposed update is intended to restore reasonable access for recreational pilots while maintaining safety expectations consistent with the nation's best practices. So we're respectfully requesting these amendments to the policy. Thank you for your description.
And now this one did have a wealth of public comment.
Yes, sir. But it looks to be in favor. In fact, I didn't know we had quite the hang gliding and paragliding community in Arkansas. So I was glad to
see that. But overall, it did look like
Speaker 277
1:31:25
they were in favor of the rule. Yes, sir. I'd like to point out that, as Deputy Director said, we also published the rule on June 14th and then also had those public comments on the 13th. And I would like to point out that the Buffalo Mountain Flyers, which is the primary flyers in the state of Arkansas, very much to help with this policy.
So I wanted to go on record thanking them for their participation and help
in this policy. Great job. Members, any questions?
Seeing none, without objection, this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you for being here, gentlemen. Thank you. All right, members, 18, Department of Shared Administrative Services. All right,
I'll turn your microphone on, introduce yourself for the record.
Speaker 282
1:32:15
Grant Wallace, Director of the Employee Benefits Division and Office of Property Risk.
Thank you, Mr. Wallace, you're recognized. The rule you have before you today is in response to Act 956 of 2025 and just lays out the process by which we will have an independent party review the data that vendors who work with EBD submit in response to fiscal impact statements. The party that we've identified is our actuary, public consulting group. It was in their contract to do this work when we agreed to that process.
This rule has been reviewed by the State Board of Finance and the ALC State Insurance Subcommittee yesterday. I'd be glad to answer any questions.
Thank you, Mr. Wallace. Members, any questions for EBD rule? Seeing none
without objection, 18A is reviewed and approved. Thank you. Our members, 19, Section 529, Plan Review Committee.
Michael Harry
Unverified
1:33:25
All right, if you'll introduce yourself for the record, please. Yes, sir. My name is Michael Harry. I'm the Chief Compliance Officer and Director of Government Affairs for the Treasurer of State. Thank you for being here. You're recognized to present your role. This rule, as regards to the 529 accounts, it is in direct response to legislation that was passed that required 100% divestment from Chinese investments. Wonderful. Thank
you for being here. Members, any questions on the 529 accounts? Seeing none. Without objection, the rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you.
Thank you. All right, members, 20, Treasurer of State. Oh, yes, go ahead. Me
Michael Harry
Unverified
1:34:06
again. Yes, sir. This is basically incorporating the same statute with the ABLE accounts. Okay. Members, any questions
on 20A? Seeing none. Without objection, this rule is reviewed and approved as well. Thank
you. Thank you all. All right. Members, as a reminder, we're skipping over 21 per the agency, which takes us to the last few items on the agenda F.
As a reminder, this is the review of the Group 3 agencies pursuant to act 781 of 2017 and act 65 of 2021 and so uh we now continue our review of those eight group three agency reports under act 71 today we have
the office of early childhood here on site for the report we will invite them to the table for a quick review are they here today there we are yes all right if
you will introduce yourself for the record
Speaker 92
1:35:07
good morning courtney solace for department of education
Speaker 95
1:35:09
the office of early childhood has six rules that we are requesting to keep and continue we feel these rules are necessary to implement state and federal requirements for child care facilities any outdated or unnecessary rules have already been
Speaker 285
1:35:22
repealed and so we're just requesting that these continue on thank you for description members any
questions for the agency seeing none as a reminder this does take a motion to and a um okay
we have a motion and a second so all in favor to keep these rules signal by saying
aye opposed like sign all right congratulations it passes we will keep these rules all right uh
that is all thank you so much we're moving to g now g and h this is our outstanding rulemaking process for 2021 or 23 and for 25 and so on g uh let's see here we actually have all these
agencies available um they've sent their response in your packet if anybody has any questions you can light up the screen otherwise we will thank them for being here
any questions see you none okay thank
you for being here um that takes us to h as well the
same requests all these agencies are here as well for the 2025 regular session pursuant to act 595 of 2021 any questions for any of these agencies seeing none thank you all for being
here and being available all right quick check with staff all right nothing else on the agenda
members thank you for being here we are adjourned
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Report from the Executive Subcommittee Concerning Emergency Rules
C. Reports from ALC Subcommittees Concerning the Review of Rules
D. Reports on Administrative Directives Pursuant to Act 1258 of 2015, for Quarter Ending June 30, 2026
E. Rules Filed Pursuant to Arkansas Code § 10-3-309
F. Evaluation of Rule Review Group 3 Agencies Pursuant to Act 781 of 2017 and Act 65 of 2021
G. Agency Updates on the Status of Outstanding Rulemaking from the 2023 Regular Session Pursuant to Act 595 of 20211
H. Agency Updates on the Status of Outstanding Rulemaking from the 2025 Regular Session Pursuant to Act 595 of 2021
I. Adjournment
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Senator Tyler Dees Chair
Unverified
Speaker 14
Speaker 19
Speaker 20
Speaker 24
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
Speaker 50
Speaker 56
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Speaker 75
Chair
Unverified
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
Speaker 88
Speaker 92
Speaker 95
Speaker 110
Speaker 111
Speaker 112
Speaker 120
Speaker 131
Speaker 142
Speaker 144
Speaker 149
Speaker 152
Speaker 153
Speaker 155
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
Speaker 166
Speaker 169
Speaker 172
Speaker 170
Speaker 177
Representative Johnny Rye
Unverified
Speaker 157
Speaker 187
Speaker 190
Speaker 191
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
Speaker 206
Speaker 171
Speaker 168
Speaker 210
Speaker 193
Speaker 214
Speaker 203
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
Senator Jonathan Dismang
Unverified
Speaker 246
Speaker 252
Speaker 254
Speaker 257
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
Sarah Moore
Unverified
Speaker 260
Speaker 261
Speaker 265
Speaker 271
Speaker 274
Speaker 275
Speaker 277
Speaker 282
Michael Harry
Unverified
Speaker 285